She walked into the daycare, seeing Shaunty with six other kids, sitting on a long bench, putting on her shoes. She lifted her hand to the owner, Betty, an older graying woman with thick glasses, then reached for Shaunty’s hand without saying a word.
“Mommy, who’s this?” Shaunty asked as she ushered her out the door. Andy closed it behind them.
“This is Gabriel’s dad. He drove me here to pick you up, and now you get to have a ride home in a really nice truck.” She made herself stop talking, because now she was sounding ridiculous, the way she was babbling on to her daughter, who pulled her hand from hers and looked up and over at Andy.
“You’re Gabriel’s father? You know he made me and Mom dinner? It was really good, fish. I’ve never had fish before.”
The way Andy was watching her daughter, she noted the hint of amusement that touched the sides of his lips. “So then you know what a good cook he is,” Andy said. “Didn’t get it from me, though.” He pulled open the back door. “Come on over here, Shaunty. You get to have the entire back seat to yourself.” Then he lifted her daughter in, and Elizabeth hesitated only a second before walking around to the passenger side. She really was not used to someone taking over like this with her daughter, with her, and she was starting to see a lot of Gabriel’s personality and qualities and where he’d gotten them from.
“So who taught Gabriel to cook if you didn’t?” Shaunty asked.
Andy slid behind the wheel and fastened his belt, and she noticed he now had a softness about him as he glanced in the rearview mirror to her daughter. So he liked kids. “My wife, Gabriel’s mother, a good woman who looks after us and keeps us fed and everything else, kind of how your mom looks after you,” he said. For a second, she wondered if there was a hidden meaning in his words.
“Mom and me are being really frugal right now. Do you ever have to be frugal?”
“Shaunty,” she said, jumping in before her daughter could say anything else to embarrass her. “You know you don’t need to share everything.” She glanced over her shoulder, staring at her. Shaunty was sitting in the back seat, not getting that there were some things you didn’t talk about. Elizabeth hoped she was figuring it out by the way she narrowed her gaze at her.
“You know what, Shaunty?” Andy said. “I’ve never had to be frugal. I grew up with more than enough, more than I needed, in a big house, and I never knew what it was like to have less, like you and your mom, but that was how I met my wife and Gabriel.”
She turned sharply to stare at him. “You’re not Gabriel’s father?” She couldn’t stop herself from blurting it out, and this time Shaunty said nothing.
“I am his father. A father is someone who loves his kids, who’s there for his son. That’s what a father is. Any fool can father a child, but very few can actually be a father to a child.” He lowered his voice as he said it to her, and she didn’t know what to say. MM loved Shaunty in his own way, but he didn’t have a clue how to be a father, or how to be in a relationship, or how to have any idea of what responsibility meant.
As she rode the rest of the way in silence, she listened to the back-and-forth chatter of this man, Gabriel’s father, with her child, and he seemed so comfortable talking to Shaunty, a different man than the one who’d driven her before. If this was how he’d been with Gabriel, she could see now how lucky he was.
Chapter 15
Elizabeth had been on the phone since walking through the door with Shaunty after his dad had dropped them off—talking with her mother, Gabriel thought, from the side of the conversation he could pick up. She was talking about how Marty was thinking it would be a good idea to confront her ex.
Gabriel had installed the window, stuck in the shims, and sealed it up. “So how was school?” he asked Shaunty, the precocious four-year-old, as she sat on a stool at the island, ready to share her day with him.
“It’s called preschool, and it was good, except there was some man who came today and told Mrs. Perkins that the tire swings in back have to go. She was arguing with him about it, and she told us he’s a government guy who likes to go around ruining fun for kids.”
Gabriel had to smile. For a minute, he wasn’t sure what she was getting at, but then he realized all the new safety policies they kept implementing. Some people thought kids could get hurt on just about everything. “Right, I think it’s a safety thing. They’re afraid of kids getting hurt, you know, liability.”
She frowned, and he had to laugh. “Huh,” she said. Yeah, she didn’t get it, and neither did he, so he reached over and ruffled her out-of-control kinky hair. She was just one of those kids that he realized could sneak into his heart when he wasn’t paying attention.
“It’s a thing adults say because they’re worried of something bad happening. You’re right, it is silly.” It was as if everyone had forgotten about taking responsibility for themselves and was too busy looking to blame everyone else for everything, looking at what could go wrong instead of living. “So, dinner, how about steak and grilled vegetables, asparagus, carrots? I’ll whip up a béarnaise sauce to go with.”
She made a face. “I thought Mom said tuna sandwiches tonight.”
He took the little girl in just as her mom walked into the kitchen. He pulled two steaks out of the fridge and rested them on the counter.
“Right, dinner,” Elizabeth said. She squeezed her hands together and gestured to Shaunty.
“Gabriel said we’re having steak with…what did you say we were having again? Bear sauce?” She was so patient and the kind of kid that was fun to have around. She had already slipped into his heart to steal a little piece of it.
“Béarnaise,” he said. “It’s French, delicious, and you’ll like it.” He couldn’t help the easy smile that touched his lips.
“Can I talk to you a second?” Elizabeth said, and he glanced over to her. She was staring daggers his way, and he was at a loss as to what he’d done. “Shaunty, why don’t you go play with your dolls in our room or pull out your coloring book until dinner is ready?”
He took in Shaunty, who looked from him to her mom and then slid off the stool. “Mom, if you want to have alone time and adult talk with Gabriel, you just have to say so.”
Holy crap, he couldn’t believe she’d said that!
Elizabeth quirked a brow. “I want to have adult talk with Gabriel without you overhearing, so you, little miss, go play in our bedroom.”
He noticed the way she pointed down the hall and then waited until Shaunty was out of the room, then crossed her arms under her amazing breasts. He couldn’t get the image out of his mind of walking in on her with his dad, her face tearstained and red as she shoved potato chips in her mouth. He knew she was embarrassed, and he would have done anything to take away her pain, seeing how vulnerable she was. Then she turned back to him.
“Although I appreciate you cooking us dinner the first night, you cannot again. We are not eating your food. You are not feeding us. We’re not a charity case. I have a perfectly good can of tuna and mayonnaise—oh, and before I forget, I also owe you money for the groceries.” She reached into the envelope of cash that was still on the counter and pulled out bills, counting them, then extended a handful to him.
For a second, he just stared back at her, knowing he should take it, but at the same time, it was just one more thing he’d be taking from her when he knew she had nothing. He crossed his arms over his chest, walking around the island, which he noticed she had kept as an obstacle between them, until he stood right in front of her.
“I told you before, wait until your payday. It’s not a big deal, and you’re trying to tell me that opening a can of tuna and making a sandwich is better than steak? I think not,” he said and took in the way her jaw slackened.
“Gabriel, of course it’s not better. That’s not the point. The point is you can’t be cooking for us.” She was still holding the bills.
There it was, these boundaries she kept erecting. Logically, if he really thought about it, that
kind of went with the territory of having a roommate, except there was something about Elizabeth that made him want to look after her. He wanted to knock down every single barrier she’d put up to keep him and everyone else out. It was crazy, and if he said anything to anyone he knew, they’d say he’d lost his mind.
“Why not?” he said, trying not to smile from the fire that had started to sizzle between them. It was in her personality and the energy between them every time they were together in a room. She stirred something in him, and he had to fight the want, the need, to change things in the dynamic of their relationship. He had never felt this way about a woman before, and he knew she had to feel it too, but by the expression on her face, he thought for a second that she might deck him.
“Why not? You seriously asked me why not, Gabriel? I pay you rent to live here. You can’t cook for me and Shaunty, feeding us. That’s crossing way too many boundaries. We share a kitchen, but my food is over there in that cupboard. Although it isn’t on the same level of quality as what you cook, it’s still food, and…”
“You cook tomorrow night,” he said, interrupting her. For a minute, she just gaped as if he’d pulled the rug out from under her, and she stared for another second before she blinked, pulled in a breath, and took a step back. She gestured around the kitchen but said nothing for another second.
“You want me to cook tomorrow for us, all of us,” she said.
He shrugged. “No sense both of us cooking every night. I’ll cook tonight, you tomorrow, and we’ll switch—and besides, the steaks are thawed and ready…”
She held up the flat of her hand, and he could see she was having trouble trying to put two words together, appearing rattled, which was also something he didn’t think happened to Elizabeth often. “Wait, let me get this straight. You want me to cook for you with my food when I know how healthy you eat? I somehow don’t think you’re up to bargain store mac and cheese, or a ground beef surprise casserole, or…”
He reached over and touched her hand, which was still holding the cash, and rubbed it gently, feeling the heat from her reaction. Then he pulled his hand away. “You’re right. I won’t eat that, but you shouldn’t either. Steak tonight, tomorrow something else, and we’ll work out a new arrangement.”
He didn’t have to touch her to see how she stiffened. She had taken it the wrong way, so he quickly added, “The arrangement of you and me sharing the cooking and deciding together on what we’re going to have. That’s what I mean.” Good recovery. He wanted to pat himself on the back, but she frowned.
“Gabriel, I’ve seen what you eat, and there’s no way I can afford that…” she started.
He could see she was getting ready to argue, so he reached out and touched her hand again. “We’ll work it out, but I’m starving. How about let’s just table this for now, and I’ll make dinner. You had a tough day. Why don’t you go have a bath before we eat?”
She was still frowning. “I’m not sure about this, Gabriel.” She stared down at the money in her hand, and he gently touched it again.
“Well, I am. It’s just dinner. Go have a bath, and after dinner we’ll talk and figure it out.”
She just stared at him for a second, and he could see the way she was thinking.
“Come on,” he said. “Go, go. You have a bath, and Shaunty can help me with dinner.”
“I still don’t agree with this and can only see how you’re the one getting the short end of the stick.” She held up the cash again to him, but he shook his head.
“No, keep it. Next payday, I already said.”
She shook her head and tucked the bills back into the envelope, then looked around the kitchen again before her gorgeous dark eyes landed back on him. He saw it then, a raw vulnerability, and he could see she was starting to think, which wasn’t a good thing.
“So you talked to Marty,” he said. “I know you didn’t want him going over to see MM.”
Great, change the subject.
She shrugged and actually slid out a stool and sat down, so he walked around the counter and pulled out a cookie sheet before unwrapping the steaks.
“He wouldn’t answer his phone, but he does that when he has his music on. I talked to my mom and Ruby, and Ruby said she was going over to see him anyway and would have a talk with him about staying far away from MM. Not that he’ll listen, mind you, but then, I wouldn’t put it past Ruby to tag along with him and, between the two of them, do something really stupid.”
He sprinkled salt and pepper onto the meat, both sides, and then washed his hands at the sink, seeing how she was worrying her lip, thinking. He couldn’t help wondering how her family had created her, considering, to him, she was like perfection. “You said MM came into your work and embarrassed you. What did he say?”
She actually shut her eyes, glanced to the ceiling, and groaned as he pulled out carrots and asparagus from the fridge. He rested them on the counter and put a heavy cast-iron frying pan on the gas stove, then turned on the flame to heat it up.
“He lied,” she said with sadness, the kind he’d never seen in her eyes before.
“What did he lie about? It was obviously something pretty bad to upset you like it did.” He pulled butter from the fridge and dumped a hunk into the frying pan, then poured in olive oil. When he glanced back to Elizabeth, she was staring at her fingers, and he remembered how she’d looked earlier when he’d walked in with his dad.
“Other than causing a scene at work, demanding to see me, and being an asshole…” She lifted her gaze to him, and she seemed to again become the tough girl who wouldn’t let anyone in. “He announced to everyone, after I spelled it out clearly how over we were, that I owed him.”
He could see she was going to say more, and he waited, never pulling his gaze from hers as she stared at him with dark eyes, the eyes of a girl who’d had the shit kicked out of her one too many times. “For what, Elizabeth? He said you owed him for what?”
She touched her head, covering her eyes, and he could now see her embarrassment. She pulled her hand away. “He announced to everyone how I owe him because I forced him to get a vasectomy so he wouldn’t knock me up again.”
He wasn’t sure what to say. He stared, and she gestured behind him to the stove.
“Your pan is smoking,” she said.
He turned off the burner and then turned back to her, wondering why some idiot would get off on announcing something so personal to everyone. “I don’t know what to say.” He gestured toward her, watching as she folded her hands together.
“He lied, though,” she said again.
“About…?” he started.
She rolled her eyes. “All of it. If he had a vasectomy, that was the first I heard about it. The fact is he got me pregnant by swapping out my birth control pills with a placebo. I can’t even fathom how he did it, but he did, and he got me pregnant with Shaunty because I was going to leave him. It was his pathetic last-ditch effort to keep me, and he laughed about it. So there. Now you know my sordid, embarrassing history.” She glanced over her shoulder, and he was at a loss for what to say. He watched her slide off the bar stool and reach for the envelope of cash. “And you know what? I think I will go and take that bath. Thanks for listening,” she said.
This time, when she lifted her gaze to his, he could see her tough exterior crumbling a bit, giving him a glimpse into the vulnerable woman she was. She started out of the kitchen.
“Elizabeth,” he said, and she turned her head but didn’t look right at him. “Just for the record, that was a really shitty thing for him to do. I’m sorry.”
He didn’t know why he apologized, but he felt the need to say it on behalf of all males who weren’t shitheads. He wasn’t sure what she was thinking, but then she looked away and started down the hall, and he listened to her saying something to her daughter. Then he realized that she’d just trusted him with something he thought she likely hadn’t shared with anyone else. Maybe he was getting somewhere after all.
Ch
apter 16
She’d filled out five applications at pizza shops, family restaurants, and hardware stores, and she’d even talked to a temp agency about options in the area, but since she couldn’t type and had no office or kitchen experience, no knowledge of computers or anything administrative or corporate, she was limited to service work, which again would be minimum wage, with crappy hours.
She was digging herself deeper into a life that was going nowhere. Oh, hindsight. If she could only go back… Back to what, though? She still didn’t have a clue what she wanted to do. The only thing great about her life was the fact that she had the most incredible kid a parent could ever want and a few free hours in this comfortable house of Gabriel’s until she had to pick up Shaunty. She stared at the cordless phone on the counter in the kitchen, willing it to ring. She’d left how many messages for Marty? And then Ruby too, but her cellphone kept going to voicemail.
She could call her mom, but then, she didn’t feel like being stuck on the phone for an hour while her mother went on and on about the latest shenanigans of the neighbors, her dad, her sister’s flavor of the week, or someone else her mother had cornered and questioned. So she instead pulled open the fridge and took in the package of ground beef, which was hers, and the fresh vegetables, which belonged to Gabriel, trying to figure out what she was going to cook tonight after that incredibly tasty and delicious steak he’d cooked for her and Shaunty the night before. She knew there was no way this could work.
The First Time I Saw You Page 9