Page 154 of Breaking Hollywood

“I won’t sit here and say I’m proud of what I did. But, if I were put into that situation again, would I do things the same? If it meant keeping a roof over my brother’s head and being able to feed him, then yes. We all do things that we’re not proud of, but when you go to judge me for my decisions in life, think about yourself—what you would do for those you love. And then think about me again and see if your judgment would still be the same.

“So, that’s it. Thank you for listening to me. And I’ll see you guys soon.”

I look at Ava, and she ends the video, holding the phone in her lap.

“How did I do?”

“Amazing. Gabe…that was…perfect. If people don’t understand and love you even more after that, then they must be stupid. The views were into the hundreds of thousands, and the comments were coming through thick and fast. I could barely keep up with them, but they all seemed to be comments of support. There was an awful lot of love hearts flying across the screen.”

“Really?” That picks me up.

“Really.” She smiles.

She comes over and straddles my lap, handing me my phone. “You should take a look, see for yourself.”

“I will. In a minute.” I put the phone on the sofa beside me. “I just want five minutes with my girl.”

I take her face in my hands, bring her to my lips, and kiss her.

“Thank you for being here,” I murmur against her mouth.

She leans back, looking me in the eyes. “Where else would I be?”

“After the way I treated you, I wouldn’t have been surprised if you had never come back to me.” I sigh. “I know I’m difficult and an asshole ninety percent of the time, but I do love you.”

“Ninety percent’s a bit generous. More like ninety-nine-point-nine percent of the time.”

“Funny.”

“I’m a comedian, didn’t you know?” She grins. “You’re being too hard on yourself. Let’s just forget everything that happened and focus on the future. You’ve got a house to build me, remember?”

“Yeah, I do, don’t I?”

She nods.

“I’ll still have to deal with Digby and Sandy though.”

“I know. But we’ll do it together, Gabe.”

“Together sounds pretty fucking good to me.” I tightly band my arm around her, bringing her closer.

“Baaahhh! Baaahhh!”

“Sounds like Gucci’s finished her food.”

I chuckle, and Ava laughs.

“I’ll go let her out.” She gets up from my lap and walks to the kitchen.

The next thing I know, the bundle of fur called Gucci comes flying into the living room. She jumps on the sofa and head-butts me in the arm.

“Jesus, Gucci! Nice to see you, too.”

“Babe, you want a coffee?” Ava calls from the kitchen. “I’m making one.”

“Sure,” I say.

Gucci settles down on the sofa beside me.