CHAPTER 38
Fabio
I entered Brighton carrying two gift bags, one in each hand. “Buongiorno, Zoey bella.”
“Fab! You’re back,” she squeaked behind the counter.
“And I come bearing gifts.” I handed her her bag.
Her cheeks puffed, and when she opened it, she gasped. “The magic bra. OMG thank you!” She spread her arms as if she was gonna hug me, but then she retracted them awkwardly. “Gabi is gonna kill me if I do that. Anyway, does that mean I’m no longer in the corner?”
“Yes,” I chuckled.
“Thank God. But wait a sec.” She threw a suspicious glance at me. “Why is that? What has changed?”
A sheepish smile twitched on my lips, but I sealed my mouth with an invisible lock and threw the key.
“No way. I was right?!” Her hands balled into fists, and she put them together in front of her face, shaking. Then she bounced, looking like she’d been holding pee in for a day. I didn’t get this woman’s reactions. “You’re in love with her.”
“Hushhhhh.” I looked at Gabi’s office, freaking out. “Don’t make me put you back in the corner.”
“Relax. She’s not here.”
“She’s not in yet? That’s not like her.” Cazzo, was she still mad about yesterday? “Wait a minute. When I came in you were psyched I was back. What was that about? Did you think I wasn’t coming back? DidGabithink I wasn’t coming back?”
“No. I was absolutely sure you weren’t gonna bail.” She totally thought I was.
“So she told you about our last conversation?”
“She did,” she confessed, guilty. “But you know what? She never questioned your return. She has real faith in you, by the way, even though she doesn’t show it often.”
“Where is she?” I really needed to tell her I managed to remain celibate, and I missed her. I was getting used to seeing her every day. I’d waited all night for the morning so I could see her again. It felt so crappy that she wasn’t in.
“She doesn’t come to work today.”
“She’s off on Thursdays?”
“No, Fab. Justtoday. March 25th.”
“What’s so special about that date?”
A dull shadow fell on her face. “It’s when the accident happened. She takes the day off to visit Jack and Adam’s graves.”
Merda. I sighed and nodded in understanding. She must be feeling awful. I hoped there was something I could do to make a day like that a little bit better for her. I still got sad on Priscilla’s anniversaries, and it’d been seven years. “Who’s Adam?”
She blanched. “She didn’t tell you?”
A bad feeling engulfed me just by the expression on her face. “No.”
“Adam was their only son.” Her eyes blurred with tears. “He died immediately in the crash. He was only ten years old.”
My lips parted in shock. A heavy mist clouded my head and my heart.Oh my God, Gabi.Why didn’t you say something?How could I have been so blind? I should have known there was more to her sadness than losing the love of her life. Gabriella’s pain was much deeper than mine or anybody’s. No parent should outlive their children. No mother had to watch her child die.
“The three of them were coming back from a celebratory dinner when it happened,” Zoey clarified.
“That’s terrible. I can’t imagine how she must have felt.” I couldn’t imagine how she must have felt now that she’d been living in the same apartment where her son used to play, all alone with the memories and an empty room. Was that why she had no family pictures either here or in her apartment? She couldn’t bear the visual reminder of what she’d lost on what must have been the worst night of her life? And was that what Fletcher meant by Jack’s crime? Killing their son? If Priscilla had hurt Carmen in any way let alone had done something that awful, despite how much I’d loved her and understood she was sick, I didn’t think I’d have been able to forgive her like Gabi obviously had forgiven Jack.
“Gabi had more than one drink that night, like always. She used to be a lot different, a lot more fun, like we could smash whole bottles together, and with Jack for a husband, nobody could blame her,” Zoey continued. “Anyway, it turned out Jack had more than one drink, too, but somehow he’d convinced her he was sober enough to drive.”
