by Beth Rinyu
She gasped. “Oh, honey. I thought everything was going well. You said you had a great time with him on your little getaway.”
“I had a great time, Sylvia. I don’t think it meant anything to him.” I took my napkin and dabbed my eyes, filling her in on all of the events of the past seventy-two hours.
“What a putz!” She shook her head. “So he basically accused you of getting pregnant on purpose when you weren’t even pregnant at all?”
I nodded.
“I’d like to choke him!”
I’d never seen her so angry before, especially with someone she didn’t even know.
“It’s fine, Sylvia. Really, it is. He didn’t want kids. He didn’t ever want to get married, and I want to keep my options open. Maybe I would like to have another child and get married someday. It was like there were two different versions of him. When we were at work he was so focused and serious, and then when we were together outside of work, he was funny, caring, and sweet. He took Joey and me to the boardwalk a few weeks ago, and Joey dared him to go on the rides with her…and he did.” I smiled just remembering that night. “Then there was another time I had the worst migraine ever, and I had promised Joey we’d go and see the new Princess Petunia movie. He took her for me—by himself.”
Sylvia gave me a sympathetic gaze.
“I just don’t get him. Not to mention I totally set my daughter up. She’s fallen absolutely in love with another man just to have him exit her life.”
Sylvia reached over the table and took my hand in hers.
“I never wanted anything from him but his heart.” I quickly grabbed my napkin to catch the tears that were flowing once again.
“Oh, honey. I’m so sorry. He was raised better than that.”
“What?” I narrowed my eyes in confusion.
“Oh...I meant he was probably raised to know better.”
“Oh,” I replied, pulling it together as the waitress came to bring our drinks. Sadly, I had no idea how he was raised because I was never privy enough to be introduced to anyone in his family, and now I’d never know.
Chapter 35
Gabe
“What did you do?” my grandmother shouted as I entered the crowded restaurant where I was meeting her, my father, and my father’s girlfriend for dinner. I bent down to give my grandmother a kiss before taking a seat, and she backed away. “I mean it, Gabriel. You’ve been avoiding my calls for the past week. You broke that poor girl’s heart!”
I groaned, hoping my grandmother was over it. Clearly she wasn’t. “Grandma, I’m not getting into this here.”
“How have you been, Gabe?” Renee, my dad’s girlfriend, asked.
“I’m doing well. What about you?” I asked.
“Excuse me? But I believe I have the floor here,” my grandmother interrupted. “Answer my question, Gabriel, how could you have done this to my girl?”
“Mom, enough!” my dad snapped.
“Jacob, you’re gonna condone this behavior from him? He finally meets a nice girl instead of the usual hussies he’s with, and he goes and ruins it because of his stupidity! Why didn’t you ask her if it was her pregnancy test first?”
“What?” My dad’s voice rose in alarm.
Why the fuck did I agree to come here tonight?
“Ask your son, Jacob. Ask him how he messed up quite possibly the best thing in his life. A girl who genuinely cared about him and not about his bank account. A girl who would do anything for him.”
“Mom, Gabe is a grown man. He doesn’t need to take dating advice from his father.”
“Well, obviously he needs advice from someone, and if he had taken the advice I’d been giving him all these years about covering that thing up, this misunderstanding would have never happened!” my grandmother chimed in.
“First of all, I’m sitting right here, so can the two of you stop talking about me like I’m not? Secondly, any conversation about my relationships is off-limits for the rest of this dinner or I will just end it by leaving.” I directed my comment to my grandmother.
“Fine, all I’m gonna say is you’re a putz. Now let’s eat, I’m starving.”
She always had to get the last damn word in.
***
The weeks passed and I still couldn’t bring myself to fill Faith’s position. I had a sinking feeling in my chest every time I looked at her empty desk. I missed her smile. I missed her laugh. I missed her contagious personality, and most of all I missed her. Why couldn’t I just bring myself to call her?
“Yo, Gabe. I got an extra ticket to the Phillies game tonight. You want to come?”
I wasn’t sure how long Chad had been standing in front of my desk, but I had only just noticed him.
“Oh no, thanks, man. I gotta get caught up on some things.”
“So did you want me to advertise the position?”
“No, it’s fine.” I stared past him and out to what was once Faith’s desk.
“Dude, you need to snap out of it. She’s not coming back.”
“I didn’t say she was.” My voice rose in defense.
“Okay! Whatever!” Chad threw his arms in the air and made his exit, stopping when he reached the doorway. “Why don’t you just call her and beg her for forgiveness? You’re fuckin’ miserable without her.”
I pretended to be interested in my computer screen instead of his suggestion. “Can you shut my door, please?” He was right. I should call her and I was miserable. So why was it so hard to bring myself to do it?
Chapter 36
Faith
I tried to ignore the chaos that was quickly invading my life. I was frantically searching for a new job, had just enough money in my savings to get me through the next two months, and had received an emancipation letter from Cole stating he would give up all paternity rights to Joey to absolve him from child support. Just when I thought I couldn’t hate him more. Since I couldn’t afford a lawyer, I relied on the Internet for all my legal advice, and if everything I was reading was correct, things were definitely in my favor.
Joey was officially a first grader come September and her upbeat personality and adorable face were the only things making me happy as of late. I had signed her up for summer art camp two days a week and was using those few hours she was there to get everything I needed to get accomplished.
I turned down the radio when I heard my phone ringing from my purse. Pulling over to the side of the road, I took a deep breath, hoping it was one of the companies I had interviewed with last week. “Hello,” I answered in anticipation.
“Hi, is this Faith DiNatale?” the male voice on the other end of the line inquired.
“Yes, this is she.”
“Hello, Faith, this is Ari Stein. I’m Sylvia Schwartz’s attorney.”
“Oh...hello.” I was totally confused. Why was Sylvia’s attorney calling me?
“Ms. DiNatale, I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, but Sylvia passed away last night at her sister’s house.”
I felt the vomit rising to my throat. I had just spoken with her yesterday morning, when she called me to let me know her flight arrived safely. “How?” My voice cracked with emotion.
“They think it may have been a heart attack. She went peacefully in her sleep.”
I hated when people said that when it came to death. How did they know it was peaceful? Sylvia was still so young at heart. She wasn’t ready to leave this earth, and I was sure she put up a fight, trying to stay.
“Which leads me to my call. Sylvia had a will, and you were named in it.”
“Me?”
“Yes. Mrs. Schwartz was quite taken with you and your daughter and had her will updated a few months ago.”
“Oh, Mr. Stein, that was very kind of Sylvia, but I can’t accept anything that should be going to her family.”
“Well, Miss DiNatale, these were her final wishes. I’m just doing my job to carry them out. Would you be available to meet at my office Thursday at noon?”
; Thursday? Sylvia hadn’t even been gone for twenty-four hours and they were already delving out her belongings. “Well, yes, but what about her funeral? Aren’t they having a viewing for her or anything like that?”
“Miss DiNatale, we don’t do viewings in the Jewish faith. It’s customary to bury the dead in the first twenty-four hours and then sit shivah for seven days after, which will be done at her sister’s home in Florida.”
So there I had it. I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye to my friend. I choked back a tear, confirmed my appointment, got directions to his office, and hung up the phone, allowing the tears I had been holding back to flow freely. What was I going to do without her? Over the past few months, she’d become more of a confidant than Natalia. How was I going to break this news to Joey? Sylvia had become another grandmother to her.
***
The next two days went by in a blur. I broke the news of Sylvia’s death to Joey, and was surprised over how well she took it. She tried to reassure me Sylvia was a beautiful angel with glitter wings now, but it still wasn’t chasing away the pain in my heart over losing my friend.
The heat was unbearable as I stepped out of my car to head into Sylvia’s attorney’s office. Unable to take the discomfort of my hair sticking to the nape of my sweaty neck, I stopped dead in my tracks, pulling the elastic band from my wrist and gathering my thick wavy locks into a ponytail.
“Hi, I’m Faith DiNatale,” I advised the receptionist as I walked inside.
“Oh, yes, Ms. DiNatale, let me see if Mr. Stein is ready for you.” She got up from her desk, while I looked around the ultramodern office, relishing in the cool air coming out of the vents overhead. “You can come back.” She startled me from my daydreaming.
“Okay, thanks.” I smiled, following her down the hallway and into a large conference room where an older man with thick dark glasses whom I presumed to be Mr. Stein was waiting for me.
He stood up and shook my hand, and I suddenly felt like a giant, towering over his short stature. “We’re just waiting for Sylvia’s grandson to get here and then we can get started.”
“Oh, okay.”
Sylvia never talked much about her grandson. In fact, she never talked much about anyone in her family. I tried to entertain myself while Mr. Stein sorted through the papers in front of him and we waited on Sylvia’s grandson. A light knock on the door caused us both to lift our heads.
I did a double take, hoping my imagination was playing tricks on me when my eyes locked with Gabe’s. He seemed equally as shocked as me and if my knees didn’t feel like Jell-o, I would have gotten up and run out. How could this be? There was no way Gabe was Sylvia’s grandson. I immediately thought back to all of her little slip-ups. The time she spoke about the Gabriel she knew, and not that long ago when she made the remark about him not being raised that way. She knew the entire time that my Gabe was her Gabriel, and she never said a word to me. Instead, she let me go on and on about intimate details of our relationship. Things I had never opened up about to anyone before…and things I would have never chosen to divulge if I knew he was her grandson.
“You...you’re Sylvia’s grandson?” I whispered.
He stared at me without responding, shaking Mr. Stein’s hand and taking a seat. A million thoughts raced through my mind. Did Gabe know the Sylvia I so often spoke of was his grandmother, and if he did, was that the reason he hired me?
“I-I really need to leave.” I started to get up before Mr. Stein raised his hand to stop me.
“This won’t take long, Ms. DiNatale, and I can assure you it will be in your best interest to listen to what I have to say.” He cleared his throat and looked down at the paper. “I’m going to read you this request Sylvia had left a week and a half before she passed.” He lifted the paper and adjusted his glasses.
Dear Gabriel & Faith,
If you’re reading this letter it means I’ve gone to a better place where I will have not one, but two husbands chasing after me for sex. Be happy for me, very happy. If you two foolish kids have finally realized you belong together then there is no need to continue reading this letter. Have a great life, be happy, have many years of wild and crazy sex, make me lots of great grandchildren and everything that is stated to go to you in my will is yours.
If, however, you are both choosing to be stubborn and deny your feelings for each other then you must work a little harder to obtain the goodies I’m leaving behind for each of you. Gabriel, I’m leaving you the house in the Keys as well as a lump sum of two million dollars. Faith, I’m leaving you a lump sum of three hundred thousand dollars as well as college trust fund for Joey. But in order for each of you to claim these items you must spend one week together along with Joey at the shore house. Don’t tell me you can’t take the time away from your job, Gabriel…just do it! And, Faith, quiet that goody good voice in your head that’s telling you no and get your bags packed with the bikini we had discussed. Once the week is up, the items stated above are yours regardless if you come out of this as a couple (which I’m hoping you will) or if you go your separate ways (if there’s a way I can come back to haunt you I will…if this is the route you choose). If even one of you decides not to partake in this then no one gets anything. The house in the Keys will be sold and the money I planned on giving to Faith will go to a convent to help out the nuns—since I know they’re your favorite group of people, Faith. You must stay the entire week and there will be no cheating…I’ll have people watching! So go ahead and sign the agreement and have a good time!
Love you, guys! Xo
“We all know she always had to have the last word,” Mr. Stein said, placing the paper down on the table.
“Well, I don’t want anything. I’m out of here.” I started to get up, and Gabe grabbed my hand. “Ari, can we have a minute?” he asked.
“Absolutely.” Mr. Stein got up and exited, leaving me alone and angry with Gabe.
“You knew! The entire time you knew that my Sylvia was your grandmother, didn’t you?” I snapped.
“She didn’t want me to tell you because she thought I’d do something to piss you off and you’d end up quitting. She didn’t want to put your friendship in jeopardy.”
“Is that why you hired me?”
“No. I swear to God, it didn’t matter to me that you knew my grandmother. I hired you because there was just something about you I liked.”
“Well, thanks for making me feel like a bigger fool!”
I went to get up again, and he took my hand once again, this time not letting it go. “Look, I know this is a crazy proposition she came up with, but I’m begging you to do this, Faith. It’s one week. You and Joey get a vacation out of it. You’ll walk away with more than enough money to pay off your mortgage, and Joey will be set for college.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
I closed my eyes, trying to think of an excuse that would justify walking away from something that should have been a no-brainer. “Because my boyfriend won’t approve of me spending the week with another man.” I was pretty certain he knew I was lying, but it was worth a shot.
A slow grin spread across his face. “You can tell your boyfriend I’ll keep my hands to myself.”
“I-I don’t know. This is going to send the wrong signal to Joey.”
“Just tell her we’re going as friends.”
“Have we decided?” Mr. Stein walked back in, breaking me from my inner turmoil.
Gabe raised an eyebrow at me, waiting for my answer.
“God, this is so crazy!” I grabbed the pen and scratched my signature on the paper, desperately needing to get out of there after making a deal with the devil or in this case a five foot, spunky redhead who always had to get her way…even in death.
Chapter 37
Faith
I knew I was crazy. I didn’t need Natalia reminding me of that every five minutes as I packed for my beach vacation. “Faith, you are totally setting yourself up again! What is wrong with you? You s
till have strong feelings for him.” I knew I should have never fessed up about mine and Gabe’s relationship to her.
“Nat, I’m a big girl. I can handle this, and in one week I’ll be three hundred thousand dollars richer and my daughter will have her college education paid for.”
She lay down on my bed while I threw my shorts in my suitcase. “You’re gonna sleep with him again. I know it.”
“I am not. We have a deal and we’re going to stick to it.”
“And what’s that deal?”
“We’re going as friends and he’ll keep his hands to himself.”
“Mmm hmm…but will you be able to keep your hands to yourself?”
“Piece of cake!”
***
Two days into it, and I was right...this was going to be a piece of cake. That was until Gabe decided to join Joey and me on the beach, reminding me of his beautiful rock hard chest I had rested my head upon so many times. I sat by the water as he and Joey played in the surf. This was the Gabe I loved to be around, the fun and carefree one. Why couldn’t he be like that more often? Not that it mattered anymore anyway.
“Mommy! Come in!” Joey shouted with a wave of her hand. She’d been trying to coax me in the water since we got here to no avail.
I liked to sit by the ocean not swim in it. I shook my head and smiled, happy she had Gabe to keep her occupied. I closed my eyes and took in the warm sun. After Saturday, I’d be set financially. I still had to find a job, but with the money I’d be getting, I’d be able to live comfortably, and Joey’s future would be set. Who needed Cole and his stupid child support? Yup, come Saturday my life would be so much easier, and Gabe and I would walk away from this like two business partners instead of two people who were once lovers.
Cool drops of moisture dropped onto my stomach, causing me to jump. I opened my eyes to find Joey standing on top of me, teeth chattering. “Mommy, you should go in, it’s warm.”
“It doesn’t feel very warm at all!” I grabbed the towel from the back of my chair and wrapped her in it, standing up from my chair and allowing her to have a seat.
