Mitch laughed. “Believe me, that would give me a great deal of pleasure, but it’s not in the cards. The man’s a cheapskate. He wants a top-dollar renovation on a shoestring. Apparently Mary Vaughn was overly optimistic about cost being no object.”
“I see the dilemma,” Gabe told him. “Better you than me.” He gave his cousin a long look. “No one would blame you if you tore up the contract and walked away from the job. Sounds as if he’s given you plenty of cause. I imagine Helen Decatur—isn’t she the best lawyer in town?—could find a loophole for you.”
“I’m sure she could and she’d be eager to do it, too,” Mitch conceded. “But I don’t do business that way. Once I give my word, I like to keep it.”
Gabe nodded. It had been a long time before anyone took his word. He understood, perhaps even more than Mitch, how important that kind of respect could be and why a man would do anything he had to in order not to violate that trust. Sure, people might understand or even cheer if Mitch halted his dealings with Ernesto, but Mitch would find it hard to live with himself.
“Let’s talk about something else,” Mitch pleaded. “Have you gotten together with Adelia to go over those cost estimates?”
Gabe shook his head.
His cousin’s expression turned puzzled. “Didn’t I hear you had dinner with her at Rosalina’s just last night? The subject of the renovations never came up?”
Gabe could tell his cousin was fishing for details that had absolutely nothing to do with any home renovations. “Nope. Forgot all about it.”
Mitch didn’t even try to hide his amusement. “Then what was the topic that was so fascinating it kept the two of you there till closing?”
A frown spread across Gabe’s face. “Do you have some sort of pipeline to what’s going on at Rosalina’s?”
He was half joking, but Mitch apparently took him seriously.
“Well, let’s see,” Mitch said. “You got there about seven-thirty, the way I heard it. Adelia came in right on your heels and joined you. You were huddled over lasagna and salad for at least a couple of hours. Then you ordered pie. She turned down dessert.”
“You mean to tell me you missed out on the kind of pie I ordered?” Gabe inquired sourly.
“Apple with ice cream on top,” Mitch said. At Gabe’s incredulous expression, he added, “That was just a guess. I happen to know it’s your favorite.”
“Well, thank goodness the gossips left out a few of the details,” Gabe muttered.
“Did I forget to mention the kiss?” Mitch asked innocently. “Word on the street is that it looked pretty memorable.”
Gabe groaned. “I have to leave town,” he muttered. “Who can live like this?”
“Most of us survive,” Mitch said. “The reports about Lynn and me flew around town pretty quickly, too. I learned to ignore it. Lynn had more trouble with it than I did, because her ex-husband got worked into a frenzy every time he heard we were together, never mind how he reacted when he spotted me with his kids.”
“I now have an inkling of what my mom must have gone through,” Gabe said wearily. “No wonder she drank herself to death.”
Mitch looked alarmed by the bitterness in his voice. “Different situation entirely,” he said firmly.
“Really? You think so? You think she deserved to have people in her business?”
“No, of course not. People, especially family, should have been more understanding. We should have stood up for her.”
Gabe closed his eyes against the pain that washed over him just thinking about how all that talk had eaten away at his mom. Sure, it was the alcohol that had killed her, that and a long string of bad choices, but being picked at by everyone in town certainly hadn’t helped. She’d had no one but him on her side, and he’d been a kid who hadn’t really known how to help. Bailing him out of scrapes at school had just added to her downward spiral.
“Words hurt,” he said softly. “I wonder if some of the gossips in this town understand that. They may think that it’s all harmless fun, but it’s not. Sometimes careless words can destroy lives.” He met Mitch’s gaze. “I won’t subject Adelia to that.”
Once more his cousin looked startled by the ferocity of his words. “Gabe, if you like this woman, don’t back off, not unless she asks you to. Both of you are tough enough to weather a little gossip. She’s certainly been through worse, thanks to Ernesto.”
“Then she deserves a break,” Gabe said. “Find someone else to oversee that job at her place, Mitch.”
Just then Grace arrived with their meals. Gabe held up a hand. “Could you make that to go, Grace? I have someplace I need to be.”
She looked from him to Mitch and back, then nodded. “Give me a minute. Mitch, are you staying?”
Mitch nodded. She set his plate in front of him.
When she’d gone, Mitch regarded Gabe with real concern. “I’m not putting anyone else in charge at Adelia’s,” he said, his tone unyielding. “Not until you’ve had time to think this through or unless she asks me herself to make a change.”
“Don’t do this,” Gabe pleaded, determined to do the honorable thing. “It’s for the best.”
“I don’t see it that way,” Mitch said. “And last time I checked, you were working for me.”
Gabe frowned at his cousin pulling rank. “That could change in a heartbeat,” he said angrily.
Fortunately Grace returned just then with his meal. He took it, turned and walked out before he could lash out further at Mitch. He had a hunch if he said what was on his mind, he’d live to regret it. He already had enough regrets on his plate for one day. That amazing kiss he’d shared with Adelia was suddenly right at the top of the list.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Adelia had no sooner walked in the front door than Selena stormed out of the kitchen, her expression sullen.
“What’s wrong?” Adelia asked. “Has something happened? Are your sisters and brother okay?”
“They’re just fine,” she replied sourly. “Maybe I’m just tired of babysitting.”
Selena had suggested that she be responsible for watching her younger siblings after school since she was confined to home, anyway, so Adelia wasn’t sure what to make of her sudden change of heart. One thing she was sure of, she didn’t like the attitude.
“I don’t know where this mood of yours is coming from, but I don’t appreciate it,” she told her daughter.
“Well, I don’t like a lot of things,” Selena retorted.
“Okay, that’s it,” Adelia said, pointing to the living room. “In there right now.”
Though she didn’t look happy about it, Selena went into the living room and sat down. Only when they were both seated on the sofa, albeit with a good bit of distance between them, did Adelia ask, “What is going on with you? You were perfectly fine when you left for school this morning.”
“I want you to lift my grounding,” Selena said.
Something in her tone suggested she thought she had the upper hand. “And why would I do that?” Adelia asked. “We agreed that a month was appropriate for leaving school without permission.”
“Well, I don’t agree anymore,” her daughter replied, her expression belligerent. “Not after what you did.”
“Watch your tone with me, young lady.” Adelia looked into Selena’s increasingly stormy eyes and went still. “What is it you think I’ve done?”
“You made a spectacle of yourself, that’s what,” Selena said angrily. “Just like Dad. Why should I respect anything you say after that?”
Given her choice of words, Adelia had a pretty good idea where Selena had gotten her information. “Since you were in bed at your grandmother’s last night when I made this so-called spectacle of myself, I suppose your cousin is the one who filled you in.” Jose, Carolina’s oldest son, would happily spread bad news.
Only a year younger than Selena and possessing a surprisingly mean streak, even at twelve he had a knack for trying to make her life miserable. “What did he tell you?”
“Joey saw you kissing that Gabe person right on Main Street. He was with Aunt Carolina coming home from shopping at the mall in Columbia. He said it just proved you were no better than Dad.” Suddenly there was more hurt than anger in Selena’s expression. “Is it true? Did you kiss Gabe?”
“Sweetie, you’re my daughter and I love you, but I don’t have to keep you posted on my actions, much less justify them to you. And this is nothing like what your dad did. Men and women sometimes kiss. It’s very different when that kiss is between two single people who haven’t made vows to other people. What your dad did was a betrayal.” She watched Selena’s face closely to see if her words were registering. “You do understand the difference, right?”
Tears welled in Selena’s eyes and she sighed heavily. “I guess,” she admitted.
“Then what is it you’re really upset about?”
“Do you like him?” Selena asked, her tone plaintive. “Gabe, I mean. It looked like you might when he was here for dinner.”
“We hardly know each other,” Adelia said honestly.
“But you were on a date. You must have been if you kissed him.”
Though she chafed at having to explain herself to her thirteen-year-old daughter, Adelia wanted Selena to understand. She’d already seen too much for a girl her age. It was little wonder she was angry and confused so much of the time.
“It wasn’t a date,” she said. “Gabe and I ran into each other at Rosalina’s. He invited me to join him. Then he walked me home. I told him he didn’t have to, but he insisted. That’s the way a true gentleman treats a lady.” It was behavior both of them had far too little experience with, and she wanted Selena to learn to watch for and appreciate such gestures.
“But what about the kiss?” Selena persisted. “Was that some kind of weird coincidence? Your lips just accidently locked?”
Adelia smiled. “It was...” She thought of the word Gabe had used the night before. “It was unexpected.”
Selena frowned. “Did you like it? Are you going to do it again?”
“It was a nice kiss,” she said, her voice softening as she remembered. “I don’t know if it will happen again. Would you mind so very much if it did?”
“Yes,” Selena said forcefully. “You said it yourself. We don’t even know him. Things are already changing too fast.”
“Does it feel to you as if I’m betraying your dad?”
The troubled expression on Selena’s face answered the question, but her words came more slowly.
“I know you’re divorced,” Selena replied carefully. “And I totally get why. I’m even glad about it.”
“But you miss your dad.”
“I don’t!” Selena all but shouted, clearly agitated by the suggestion that she missed a man she’d sworn to hate forever.
“Of course you do,” Adelia soothed. “And, sweetie, it’s okay to miss him. No matter what happened between your father and me, it’s okay for you to love him. And he will always love you.”
“Like I believe that,” Selena said, her voice radiating skepticism and pain.
“Well, I believe it,” Adelia told her. “He might not always show his love in ways you might like him to, but I remember the look on his face when you were born. You were this tiny little bundle with the most amazing lungs on any baby ever. Your face was scrunched up and red. You were screaming your head off, but he looked as if he’d just seen the most perfect angel.”
That story—and the snapshot commemorating that exact moment—had always calmed Selena. At one time, when she was struggling to accept her father’s actions, she’d clutched that photo and asked to hear the story over and over as if she needed reminding that at one time they’d been a happy family and she’d been the center of it.
“Not anymore,” Selena said wearily. “He hates me now.”
“Never,” Adelia said.
“Mom, I know you’re trying to make me feel better, but you can just stop. I’m not a little kid. I know the kind of man Dad is. Why would I still want anyone like that in my life?”
“Just because someone we love has flaws, we don’t always stop loving them. There’s even a part of me that can remember the good times I had with your dad. We’ve talked about that.”
“Well, I don’t love him, not anymore,” Selena said fiercely. “Not after what he did to you. And I don’t want anyone else to hurt you like that again.”
“No one will,” Adelia told her. “I’d like to think I’m smarter now. I certainly have more self-respect.” At least she was working on that, she amended to herself.
Selena studied her intently. “So you’re not going to let Gabe hurt you the way Dad did?”
“Not the way your father did, no. But, sweetie, falling in love comes with risks.”
Alarm immediately crossed Selena’s face. “You’re falling in love already?”
“Of course not. It’s much too soon. But I hope I’ll be open to the possibility someday, whether it’s with Gabe or someone else,” she said, aware of the irony that she was echoing Elliott’s words to her, advice she hadn’t been interested in hearing. Her brother would be thrilled by her apparent change of heart. She knew, though, she was saying them for her daughter’s benefit. She didn’t want Selena to grow up bitter and jaded, always keeping herself safely protected against any pain love might bring.
“But no matter when it happens,” Adelia continued when she was sure Selena was listening, “it won’t come with any guarantees that I won’t get hurt. That’s just life.”
“Then why would you take a chance? You have me, Juanita, Natalia and Tomas. Aren’t we enough for you?”
Adelia smiled at her naïveté. “You all are the very best part of my life,” she said. “But when relationships work, they can be wonderful. You’ll find that out for yourself someday.” She gave her a meaningful look. “A long, long time from now. Maybe when you’re thirty.”
Selena giggled, but her expression sobered quickly. “Do you think this thing with Gabe can be wonderful?”
“I have no idea. We’re just starting to get to know each other. I don’t even know how long he’s going to be in town.”
“So it might not get serious?” Selena asked, sounding a little too hopeful.
“It might not,” Adelia confirmed.
“Isn’t kissing supposed to be serious?”
Adelia hid a smile. It was a refrain she’d repeated to her teenage daughter a million times, hoping to keep her from making a mistake when she was still so young. “Yes, it is,” she said. “But this was just one kiss and, like I said, it was unexpected.”
“Well, I’m going to be keeping an eye on him,” Selena declared.
“You do that,” she said. It would be just one more person keeping him under close scrutiny.
“Do I have to like him if you do?”
“No, but just remember that we should always give people a chance to prove themselves. And we’re nice to everyone, no matter what reservations we might have about them. Understood?”
Selena nodded, though she didn’t seem entirely happy about it. Adelia realized that the reminder was one she needed to heed, as well.
* * *
Her conversation with Selena was still very much on Adelia’s mind when she opened the boutique in the morning. She told herself that was the only reason her pulse scrambled when she looked up as Gabe opened the door and walked inside. She was feeling guilty that she was glad to see him, she told herself. That’s all it was.
“You shopping for a gift?” she asked, aware that her voice betrayed her nerves.
He shook his head. “I came to see you.”
“
Oh.”
She studied him closely and realized he looked just about as nervous as she felt. “Everything okay?”
“I’m not sure,” he said candidly. “Did you catch as much flak yesterday over that kiss as I did?”
She laughed, oddly relieved that his feet had apparently been held to the fire, as well. “Probably more,” she told him. “My sister accused me of making a spectacle of myself. Her son filled my daughter in on my unseemly behavior, and then I had to answer a whole lot of questions about relationships, kissing and betrayal. Oh, and did I mention that my boss wanted to hear all the juicy details?”
His jaw dropped as he listened. “I thought it was bad enough that Mitch put me on the hot seat.”
Adelia shrugged. “It’s just Serenity.”
“You seem to be taking the gossip in stride,” he said, seeming surprised.
“Have you forgotten that I was married to a man who was having serial affairs for years? I had to tune out the gossip to survive.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Well, I don’t want to be the one to put you through anything like that again. I told Mitch I thought he ought to assign someone else to handle your renovations.”
The sensation that washed over Adelia caught her by surprise. She realized it was disappointment. “If that’s what you think is best,” she said stiffly.
He frowned. “Don’t you?”
“I suppose it depends on why you’re suggesting it. If you think you’re protecting me, I don’t need it. If you don’t want to do the job, that’s something else entirely. I liked the ideas we discussed the other night when you were at the house. I suppose another man could handle the work, but I’m comfortable that you and I are on the same page.” She smiled at him. “And I’m not sure anyone else will want my eight-year-old son on his crew.”
“What about the gossip, though?”
“Like I said, I’m used to it.”
“And it doesn’t bother you? Honestly?”
She suddenly realized she wasn’t the only one whose name was going to be spread all over town amid speculation, disapproval and who knew what else. “Gabe, does this bring back too many bad memories for you? If that’s it, I totally understand. I don’t remember the talk about your mom all those years ago, but you’ve told me how painful it was.”
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