“You did not just say ‘hood’, did you?”
“Damn straight I did.”
I took him to a strip mall where we ate pizza and calzones. The music was loud, the tables utilitarian, and the menus laminate. Gabriel declared it the best he’d ever had. We left hand in hand, looking like every other normal couple in the country.
By the time we’d gotten back home, the delivery truck had just pulled into the complex. I watched how in no time flat, a crew of men delivered and maneuvered all the furniture into place. Gabriel tipped them all generously, thanking them for coming out on such short notice.
Then the heavy work began.
I ran over to my apartment. I came to a stop when I saw the neat little blinking box attached to the wall. Gabriel followed me over, poking his head in the door and seeing me standing there in fixation.
“Good. It’s up and running.”
“Gabriel, what’s this on my wall?”
“Your alarm.”
“Yes, I see that. How did this get installed without me being here?”
“I let them in.”
“How?”
“Details that don’t bear repeating. Needless to say you’re safer than you were before.”
“Gabriel, when did you get a key to my place?”
“Ah, well, you see…”
“I want my key back.” I held my hand out and waited.
He looked wounded as if I were a mean kid trying to take away his favorite toy. “Why? I already have mine on my keychain. Look how cute it looks on here.” Gabriel held a ring of keys up in the air. “I promise it’s in good hands, Emma.”
I threw my hands up. “You are so lucky I trust you and am used to your…viewpoint…on life.”
“Good! Here, Emma. I have one for you too.”
“I already have a key to my place.”
“I know, silly. This one is to mine.” Gabriel pressed it into my hand. “Now you can come in anytime you want. You don’t even need to call ahead of time.”
Although I grumbled, I couldn’t deny the thrill coursing through my veins. Gabriel had a way of making the insane sane. Honestly, if any of this were coming from anyone else I’d lay him out. No doubt. But Gabriel…
“Hey, if you have the key how’d they get in? I didn’t see anybody over here.”
“Emma, did you need to grab something?”
“You’re not going to answer, are you? Do I even want to know?”
“You can trust me. Honest!”
I shook my head, wondering if I truly had driven off the deep end. I grabbed my cleaning supplies and vacuum cleaner. Gabriel neatly plucked it from my grip. We locked up my place and went back to his apartment. I zipped through his place, spraying, wiping, and sweeping in fast, sure movements. Gabriel followed me from room to room and watched me work with something close to awe.
“You make it look effortless. Can you teach me?”
I didn’t even snipe over Mr. Billionaire getting his hands dirty. Instead, I waved him over and showed him the techniques my mother had taught me. Every task had a system, designed to minimize time and unnecessary movement. Gabriel took the work seriously, showing a meticulousness that my mother and her coworkers would’ve enthusiastically approved of.
“If being crazy wealthy fails, you can always get a job on a cleaning crew.”
“Really? That’s good to know!”
After I was satisfied that the apartment was clean enough, we then set to work on putting away all of his newly purchased things. His unit came with a washer and dryer so I taught him how to use them, assuming he’d never touched the machines in his life.
He hadn’t.
“Keep things separate. Lights with lights. Darks with darks. Whites on their own. Towels by themselves. Sheets by themselves.”
“Got it.”
“Let’s wash your sheets first. Then the towels.”
“Why?”
“Because you don’t want any of the colors to run on you while you sleep.”
Gabriel looked at the packaged sheets blankly. “Would they really do that?”
“Yes, sweetie. They would.”
I couldn’t get over how much he hadn’t experienced and how much joy he took in learning them. If things were like this with Gabriel, what was missing in my life that I was completely ignorant about?
What’s Gabriel going to teach me about life? Maybe how to enjoy it better?
Once we got everything washed, put away, or laid out, I took Gabriel to the local grocery store.
“Do you shop here, Emma?” he asked while looking around him in curiosity.
“Every week.” I didn’t have to ask him if he shopped for his groceries.
“Good. Then I’ll shop here every week as well. We should do it together, Emma.”
I tickled his neck. “You’re really going all out, aren’t you?”
Gabriel lifted his chin, reminding me of a cat giving access to the sensitive parts. “It’s the only way I want to live—all out.”
We shopped for well over an hour. I showed Gabriel how to go about picking fruit and vegetables. He listened intently, doing everything short of taking notes. At one point I had to stop and ask him, “Are you sure you’re not putting me on?”
“What do you mean?”
“This. Are you sure you don’t already know how to do this?”
Gabriel clasped his hands behind his back. “No, I don’t. Emma, I usually pay people to do this for me.”
I guessed correctly then. “All right. Here’s how you shop for canned goods…”
I put up his groceries while he set up the TVs, but only after Gabriel assured me he was quite familiar with the contents of his refrigerator and pantry. I then popped some popcorn and we settled on the couch to watch one of my DVDs.
Wrapped up in a blanket, my head resting on his shoulder, I felt content and happy.
This can be my life. Everyday spent just like this.
Gabriel ordered a couple of pizzas for dinner. We ate and talked about our lives directly after high school. We both skirted around any mentions of failed relationships, especially our own. I admired how hard he worked to keep his family’s company from going under after his father’s untimely demise. He admired my degree, lamenting that he’d never had time to go back and get his.
“Can you see forever, Emma? I can.”
The question had come out of nowhere. I could see forever, yet I feared how fast I was falling for Gabriel. I busied myself with picking off a piece of pepperoni and popping it into my mouth. He continued on without a hitch.
Still, my lack of answer dug at me. Why was I so afraid to take us at face value?
Because it’s never that simple with Gabriel. I can’t say yes now when I still don’t know exactly how this is going to work.
Later, Gabriel walked me to my door like an old-fashioned suitor. “I really enjoyed today, Emma. Thank you for all your help.”
“You’re welcome. I had fun. Let me know if you need anything. You have my number, right?”
Gabriel reached out and played with a tendril of my hair. He lingered, silent and thoughtful. “Emma?”
“Yes?” I hoped he would kiss me. I’d been dying for it since I saw him yesterday. I’d wanted it at Macy’s, I craved it in Aisle 7, and I yearned for it during the whole time we watched “Ocean’s Eleven”. Every time we touched, every slide of his hand against mine, stirred my desire until it fairly boiled. I know I didn’t mistake the lust in his gaze because I recognized it as my own.
He smiled and took a step back. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Disappointed that I was denied his kiss again, I whispered, “Good night.” As I lay in bed that night, hand between my thighs, I thought of the enigmatic man just on the other side of the wall. I came again and again with his name on my lips.
Gabriel definitely dangled me from his elegant fingers. I had a feeling he was waiting for me to pass a test he designed, except I didn’t have a study guide. All I had was the hope that his patience with my inability to solve the presented problem wouldn’t end.
Now with empty bellies, we walked through the glass doors and dodged the steady foot traffic. The limo gleamed ebony dark as it idled by the curb.
“No Escalade today?”
“Nope. I’ll save that for later.”
Waylon greeted us both warmly as he held open the door. Gabriel climbed in after me. He held me in his arms, guiding my head to rest against his chest. His cologne had quickly become my favorite scent in the whole world.
“How’s your day been, Ms. Adams?”
“Busy. Yours, Mr. Gordon?”
“Busy. Much better now that I’m with you.”
“Me too.”
“I missed you, Emma. Have you missed me?”
Closing my eyes, I let myself have the luxury of truth. “Yes. It’s hard to think about anything else when all I can think about is you.”
“I’m sorry that we didn’t get to spend the whole day together yesterday.”
“It’s okay. Really.”
Our Sunday trip to the zoo was a first for us both. Gabriel called ahead by about an hour, telling me he would be by my place around 11:00am. Apparently, he didn’t know about the sleeping-in-late-on-Sunday rule.
Gabriel brought me breakfast again just as I finished getting dressed. Seeing him on my doorstep with aviator glasses, a long sleeved white shirt, jeans, and boots, brought back all the desire I thought I’d exorcised the night before in bed.
“Hello,” I greeted him, breathless and suddenly shy.
“Hello, Emma.”
While eating a light meal of pancakes and fruit, I’d asked, “I thought you were busy today.”
“Hmm?”
“You know—the thing with your mom.”
“No. I cancelled.”
“Really? Why?”
Gabriel’s sultry stare answered him far better than “I had the insatiable urge to look at monkeys with you.”
He drove us down after breakfast, easily finding a parking spot. Gabriel opened my door, like he’d done every single time the day before, and we approached the ticket booth hand in hand.
I loved it. I loved being able to be with Gabriel in public, without having to worry about others staring and judging us. I loved our anonymity.
We made our way through the zoo. Walking slowly, stopping to see every exhibit, Gabriel and I weren’t the billionaire and the girl. We were just two people who liked the cheetahs, loved the polar bears, and thought the alligators were just waiting for us to turn our backs.
He’d asked if I could see forever. I could see it, taste it, and longed for it.
Spontaneously breaking out in smile, I wondered if life could really be this easy. Could you find love again just like that? Was I really this lucky?
Gabriel’s phone rang as we approached the last exhibit. He stepped away, apologetic and with a firm promise he’d only be a minute. Standing by the fox habitat, I watched him from the corner of my eye. The easy smile I so adored had disappeared, leaving his mouth tight with tension.
Whoever was on the other side had made Gabriel furious. It could’ve been anything. Gabriel looked over his shoulder and saw me watching. He ended the call immediately.