by Amy Pine
Maybe Matthew and Alissa’s story hadn’t ended in a happily-ever-after, but it wasn’t as if he’d walked out the door without a backward glance. Alissa pushed him to leave as much as he pushed to stay.
“Your dreams aren’t here,” she’d told him all those years ago.
“But you and Gabi are.”
“And we’ll still be here when you finish school. We’re not going anywhere, but you have to, Matt. You have to so you don’t resent us one day.”
He was a kid. He didn’t understand then what he did now. His real dream—was them.
When he’d finally found both the towel and the glass, he braced himself, setting the items on the island that was full of Alissa’s stress baking. Before he could appease Evelyn, though, he saw the familiar pink box with TAKE THE CAKE stamped on it in a white whimsical font. A small stack of black-and-white cookies peeked out from the cellophane window. And he knew that despite everything that had likely been going through her head today, Alissa had thought of him.
“Do you have anything to say for yourself?” Evelyn added when he still hadn’t spoken. “How could you let something like this happen?”
That snapped him out of his stupor.
She could be mad at him for anything that happened between Gabi’s birth and her graduation. But he and Alissa were grown-ass adults when they let nostalgia get the best of them on Gabi’s graduation night.
“Well, Evelyn, when a man and a woman give each other a special kind of hug…” He chuckled as he used Alissa’s joke in his own favor.
Evelyn narrowed her eyes. “Everything’s a joke to you, isn’t it? I sat by and watched my daughter throw her ambition away for you because it was in the best interest of my granddaughter. Now Gabi’s graduated college and is ready to have a life of her own. Alissa is going to be forty. She just opened the bakery. She’s starting her life, Matthew. And now what? She raises another baby alone?”
“How’s that water coming?” Becca called from the living room.
Matthew swallowed the lump in his throat. “On it!” he called back, then made eye contact with Evelyn once more.
“I messed up,” he said. “More than once. But I’m not the same guy.”
He’d accepted the job at the Chicago Botanic Garden weeks ago. He had all of his earthly possessions—which wasn’t much for a wanderer like himself—in storage and was crashing at his parents’ house until he found a place of his own. Something permanent—with the hope that he could also be a permanent fixture in his daughter’s life.
Alissa’s too.
He clumsily filled the glass from the tap and dampened the towel before heading back toward the living room.
“Those two girls made a life without you, Matthew. Maybe even in spite of you,” she said over his shoulder.
He gritted his teeth and nodded, not looking back. Because as much as her words stung, she was right.
Matthew pushed through the swinging doors and let out a relieved breath when he saw Alissa sitting upright, Gabi on one side of her and Becca on the other. The fiancé balanced on the arm of the couch, one hand massaging Gabi’s shoulder. His little girl’s shoulder.
He accidentally bumped said fiancé’s knee as he passed, forcing the guy to let go of Gabi’s shoulder and grab the back of the couch for purchase. Matthew bit back a smile.
“Water for drinking.” He handed the glass to Alissa. “And for this.” He folded the damp cloth into a long rectangle, knelt in front of her, and placed it gently on the back of her neck.
She let out a moan that brought him back to their hotel room two months ago, the night after Gabi’s graduation. Their fateful trip down memory lane. And despite Evelyn’s tirade and the guilt he’d been carrying for longer than he was able to admit, he couldn’t help but react to Alissa’s utterance in an utterly physiological way.
Between his legs.
“My hero,” Alissa crooned as she leaned back against the couch cushion and sighed.
“You’re probably concussed,” he said. “You’ll think differently when your brain unscrambles itself.”
Becca snorted and waved him off. “I gave her a quick exam. She’s fine. Even the head wound stopped bleeding.” She slapped Matthew on the knee. “I think our girl’s going to make it.”
He heard the kitchen doors swing open. In his peripheral vision, he could see Evelyn approach. While he’d garnered enough of her disdain to last him at least a decade, he was grateful when her presence negatively affected that pesky physiological reaction.
Now that it was safe to stand, he did so, grabbing his daughter’s hand.
“Look at you.” His throat grew tight. “When did you grow up?”
When you weren’t looking, he expected her to say. Or When you were gone, which was more often than not.
But instead she stood to face him, a slight blush in her cheeks as she smiled at him.
“Come on, Dad. You know I’ll always be your little girl.”
She pulled him over to the side of the couch, next to—Edgar? Was that his name? Her tone was only slightly mocking, but she always replied that way—singsong and teasing. Him referring to her as his little girl and her playing along? It was their thing, which meant that if she was still doing her part, they were still okay.
“Hug it out?” she added, another one of their things.
“Hell yes,” he said, unable to contain his grin. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed. His little girl was a college graduate. A woman. Who was getting…
“Married?” he whispered. “Are you sure?”
He released her, and she kissed him on the cheek before grabbing Evan’s hand. Or was it Estaban?
“I know this all happened quickly, Mr. Bloom. Or should I call you Dad?” The young man laughed nervously.
Matthew’s jaw tightened.
“Okay,” the fiancé said. “Too early for the Dad joke.”
“How about Matt?” Gabi asked. “Mom calls you Matt.”
Alissa was the only one who called him Matt.
His teeth ground together harder.
“Okay,” the other guy said. “Mr. Bloom it is. Look, Mr. Bloom, I know this wasn’t what you were expecting with your daughter’s homecoming, and if we’d met in a more traditional way, I’d have gone the traditional route by asking for your blessing first…”
“But it’s the twenty-first century, and I don’t need your permission to get married, Dad.”
She pleaded with him with those green eyes that looked too much like her mother’s.
He sighed. “This guy makes you happy?”
She squeezed this guy’s hand with both of hers, and a smile spread across her face unlike any he’d ever seen before. Or maybe she had smiled like that in the past, but he hadn’t been around to see it.
Gabi nodded but then narrowed her eyes. “You do remember his name, don’t you?”
He opened his mouth to protest but then realized he had zero defense other than the truth.
“You caught me off guard,” he admitted. “And then your mother fainted. So maybe cut me a little slack?” Also, you barely know this guy, and it’s never going to work out. Your mom and I knew each other like we knew the goddamned alphabet, and look how that turned out.
Her gaze softened, and he guessed for now he was in the clear.
“But—you’re saying Ethan and I have your blessing?” Her eyes were no longer pleading but basically telling him this was how it was going to be. His daughter was an adult who was going to make her own decisions whether they were the right ones or not.
Matthew groaned, then held out his right hand. “Welcome to the family, Eli…”
“Dad…” Gabi warned.
“Ethan,” he amended.
Ethan responded with a strong grip and firm handshake.
“Thanks, Dad.” He grinned, then cleared his throat when Matthew’s expression remained impassive. “Right. Still too soon. Mr. Bloom.”
“Come meet Gabi’s mother, aunt, and grandmother
.” Matthew began to smile. “They’re going to love you,” he lied.
They’ll eat you alive, which means maybe, just maybe, I won’t be the only one in the hot seat anymore.
Chapter Six
Gabi swallowed what was left of her second glass of red wine, hoping the mix of jet lag and liquid courage would give her the final push to say what she needed to say. They hadn’t even opened the two Lou Malnati’s pizza boxes yet, but the wine started flowing freely as soon as her grandfather, her uncle Jeff, and the twins had arrived, and everyone had determined that Gabi’s mother did not need to take a trip to the ER, though her parents had spent a good amount of time arguing on the front porch when the pizzas were delivered. In fact, her whole family—at least, all the women plus her dad—had seemed on edge since she and Ethan had arrived. There was always tension when her parents saw each other for the first time after several months or sometimes even a year had gone by. But there was something else in the air tonight. Something palpable. It was probably just the fainting and the surprise engagement, but still, things felt a little off.
She set her glass onto the table and took a steadying breath. Under the tablecloth, Ethan’s hand rested on her knee, and he gave her a gentle, reassuring squeeze.
“No, Grandma. We don’t have a ring yet. I mean, I saved the pretzel ring Ethan proposed with…Though I hope it’s not crushed in my purse right now.” She winced. “But we were thinking a winter wedding. Christmas Eve falls on a Saturday, and since we’re all Jewish—”
“Christmas Eve?” her grandmother interrupted.
Gabi let out a nervous laugh. “Yes. Christmas Eve. All we ever do on Christmas Eve is go out to dinner and a movie for Mom’s birthday. This can be a double celebration. And the odds of a rabbi not being available on Christmas Eve are pretty low.”
Her grandmother scoffed. “Well, I’ll call Rabbi Becker in the morning and see if she’s available. If she’s not, then we need to talk about a different date. Four months is hardly enough time to plan a wedding anyway.”
“Four months?” Alissa asked. “What’s the rush when we could do it next winter?”
Grandma Evelyn shot her mother a look, and then Gabi’s mom volleyed that look over to her dad. It was like all three of them were having a silent conversation, but none of them wanted to let her in on it.
Gabi wasn’t sure where her urgency was coming from. She just knew that once Ethan had proposed, she wanted the wedding to happen yesterday. “I don’t want to wait, Mom. I’m sorry if that sounds childish or selfish, but when it’s right it’s right, and I can’t think of anything more beautiful than a winter wedding. Can you?” Every word was the truth, yet something niggled at the back of her mind, a warning that if the wedding didn’t happen soon, it wouldn’t happen at all. Which was ridiculous, of course. She loved Ethan. And he loved her right back. Still, the sooner the better.
“Then we’ll make it happen,” Gabi’s father said, and her eyes widened at his unexpected show of support. “If this is truly what you want.”
Gabi nodded.
Ethan’s hand slid off her knee, and he cleared his throat. “Actually, speaking of rabbis, my parents might want it to be theirs. They always do brunch with my sister on Saturdays, so we’re going to join them tomorrow and tell them the news. Maybe we should hold off on the rabbi calling until they’re looped in.”
Gabi’s mom stood suddenly. “Oh my goodness. Your parents. They should be here. Give me your mother’s number and I’ll invite them.” Then she braced her hands on the table as she seemed to sway.
“Mom?” Gabi said. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, but across the table, her father stood too. And then her aunt. Her uncle Jeff rose, but less out of concern for Gabi’s mom and more because Gabi’s five-year-old cousins had sprung up—and started a game of tag around the living room couch.
“I’m fine.” Alissa pressed the tips of her fingers to her temple, the one that was now covered with a butterfly bandage. Then she pressed those same fingers to her mouth, swallowed, and sighed. “Just a little woozy from the head wound. The heat.” She waved off everyone who was still standing, then sat back down.
“Daddy can’t catch us! Daddy can’t catch us!” the twins squealed as Gabi’s uncle Jeff chased them and—as proclaimed—could not catch them.
“A little help, Bex?” he called to his wife, throwing his hands in the air.
Becca forced a smile and joined her husband in the chase. Gabi’s parents and grandparents began whisper-shouting across the table—about seeing a doctor in the morning. Well, Gabi’s parents and grandmother. Her grandfather sat back in his chair with his arms crossed and a hint of a smile on his lips as he watched the scene like it was something out of a sitcom.
This was more like it. This was their version of normal. But even though it brought a smile to her lips, Gabi somehow felt removed from the Adler/Bloom dinnertime chaos. Everyone looked different to her. The same—but different. Even though the wedding was the hot topic of the night and Gabi was technically the center of attention like she’d often been growing up an only child, she saw the worry in her mother’s eyes even as she painted on the hostess’s smile. She saw her dad steal glances at her mom when he thought no one was looking, how Grandma Ev rested her hand atop Papa Mike’s on the table—or the way Aunt Becca and Uncle Jeff only seemed to speak to each other when it was about the twins. They weren’t just her family. They were people. People with lives of their own—secret lives she realized she didn’t fully know, just like they no longer knew everything about her. Gabi had lived her whole life thinking she was the center of their universe, but there was more to who they were than her.
Huh. This was new. The melee, however, was not.
She glanced at Ethan and winced. “You sure you want to get tangled up in all of this?”
He leaned over and pressed his lips against hers. “It’s you and me, Bloom, no matter what.”
She smiled, her forehead still leaning against his. “You and me. No matter what.”
“Can we please get going on these pizzas?” Jeff held Grayson under his arm like a football as he giggled and wiggled. “I have a deposition to work on tonight, and the twins have gymnastics in the morning.”
Becca and McKenzie walked back to the table hand in hand, the young girl dancing and twirling as she did. “Sorry.” Becca got her daughter settled in her seat. She gave her husband a kiss on the cheek as he deposited Grayson into his chair. “You’re a prince.”
He laughed. “Can I get that in writing for the next time we have an argument and I’m losing?”
Becca gave him a self-satisfied grin. “You’re the lawyer. Surely you’ll win one of these days.”
They both sat down, the whole table quieting as Jeff opened the box with a small, thin-crust pizza for the kids.
All eyes focused back on Gabi and Ethan.
“You were saying, Ethan, something about your rabbi?” Grandma Ev circled back to her previous interrogation.
“Right,” he said. “Um first, thank you, Mrs. Bloom, for offering to invite my parents, but they don’t know I’m home yet. I wasn’t supposed to fly home until Monday, but I changed my flight so Gabi and I could travel together.”
Grandma Ev raised her brows. “It’s Adler.” She gave Gabi’s father a pointed look, to which he rolled his eyes and Gabi’s throat grew tight. The reminder of not only her parents splitting but of her mom changing her name back to Adler had always sat like deadweight in Gabi’s gut. Her dad wasn’t around all the time, but he was a good man—and the best dad he knew how to be. But the name thing suggested that her mom’s hurt ran deep, and that made Gabi hurt too.
“Mom,” Alissa said, but Grandma Ev waved her off.
“Alissa went back to her maiden name when she and Matthew split,” she added.
“It’s okay, Ethan,” Gabi’s mother interrupted. “You can just call me Alissa. Then there’s no confusion. And—your parents don’t know you’re home? Where are yo
u staying tonight?”
Ethan chugged the rest of his wine, and Gabi grabbed his hand under the table.
“My buddy has a condo in the city. I’m subletting his second bedroom.” He glanced at Gabi. “I figured we could stay there tonight, figure out our game plan for brunch tomorrow.”
“Nope. Sorry. Nope, nope, nope. Not happening.” Gabi’s father shook his head vigorously. “Helping you plan this wedding is one thing. Means I get four months to make sure you’re good enough for her. But my little girl is not spending the night with a stranger I barely know at this point.”
Gabi snorted. “Dad. Hate to break it to you, but what do you think I’ve been doing for the past two months? I’m twenty-two. I have sex. I like sex.”
Papa Mike finally joined the conversation with a loud guffaw while Gabi’s father pressed his palms against the table.
“I’m going to be sick,” he said.
“That makes two of us,” Alissa chimed in before springing up from the table and hightailing it to the nearest bathroom.
Aunt Becca grinned and raised her glass. “Welcome home, sweetie. Bet you forgot how fun we are when you put us all in the same room.”
Gabi jumped out of her chair. “Mom? Are you okay?”
“Don’t go after her!” her father and grandmother both said before glaring at each other.
“She’s fine, sweetheart,” Grandma Evelyn added. “But if a woman needs to toss her cookies, she certainly doesn’t need to do it with an audience.”
“Okaaay…” Gabi said. “But if Mom’s not back in five minutes. I’m checking on her.”
“I’m back!” Alissa said, rushing back into the room. “And your grandmother’s right. I’m fine. So let’s stop talking about me and get back to celebrating my daughter’s homecoming.” She stood behind Gabi’s chair, draping her arms over her daughter’s shoulders, and kissing her on the top of the head.
Gabi let out a relieved breath. “Then let’s eat. Ethan and I need to catch a train to the city before they stop running.” She raised a brow at her father, daring him to protest but then not giving him time to do so. “I’m marrying him, Dad. He’s not a stranger. Not to me.”
