Unveiling The Sky by Jeannine Allison

Author:Jeannine Allison [Allison, Jeannine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-05-22T22:00:00+00:00

Ten minutes later we were sitting across from each other at Gabe and Derek’s kitchen table. I was still blown away that he did all this. When he first opened the door and looked at me, I knew I was doomed. I don’t like to need, want, or depend on things; I’ve found that expecting less also means hurting less. But the way he looked at me… I’d want that forever.

I took a bite of my garlic bread and looked at Gabe. “This is really good. Did you cook a lot growing up?”

He shook his head and finished swallowing before speaking. “Not really. My mom taught us a few things, some staples that she thought Sam and I had to learn, but other than that she always wanted to be the one cooking and taking care of us.”

“What about your dad? Where was he? I know you said he wasn’t around much…” I trailed off.

Gabe gave me a sad smile as he wiped his mouth and leaned back in his chair. “No, he wasn’t. He was always gone for work, but even when he wasn’t gone he never had much interest in us. My parents were only casually seeing each other when my mom got pregnant with me. I guess my grandparents had disliked my father instantly; they wanted their daughter with a ‘nice Jewish boy,’ as Mom put it. But she was never like that—she always wanted to be with someone she loved.” Gabe let out an exaggerated, humorless laugh. “But she also thought it was her duty to at least try to give me a normal family, so she married him when I was a baby. When I was younger his business had just started taking off so he was gone a lot, and by the time Sam was born he just wanted to reap all the benefits of his early success. He only really started becoming present in my life when I got to high school and he wanted me to work for him.” His eyes seemed far away as he looked over my shoulder. “I always hated the way he treated my mom, but when he started paying attention to me I was so happy I didn’t even think about it. I just started going along with everything and eventually I convinced myself I wanted all that.”

Gabe’s voice was laced with an unbearable amount of pain as he continued. “At the end, when it got really bad, my mom told me that she was sorry she didn’t try harder. Sorry she didn’t walk away from him and find someone who would have loved us like we deserved, not just when it suited his business.” He cleared his throat as he brought his eyes back to me. “I hated myself when she told me that. I hated that he was able to make me forget and I hated that it took losing her for me to see that.”

I reached across the table and took his hand in mind.

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