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“It’s all good, Mom,” I assure her. “Trust me, it’s all good.”
“Fine, we’ll meet you around the corner from your place in an hour and a half,” my mother agrees apprehensively. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
I try not to smile but fail miserably. “I’m more than okay, Mom. I’ll see you soon.” I hang up the phone before she can ask me anything else.
“How far is this place?” Gabriel wraps his arm around my waist.
“Couple of minutes.” I’m pressed up against his chest.
“How long will it take you to pack?” He starts moving us toward the bedroom.
“About ten minutes.” My voice comes out breathlessly. “Less if I have no choice.” I don’t have to answer him because he grins and then takes my mouth while he leads me to the shower.
We walk out of the front door, hand in hand, my bag waiting at the door for when we return to head straight to the plane. “Are you nervous?” I ask him, and he shakes his head. “Good, at least one of us isn’t,” I mumble before we stop in front of the place and I point. He drops my hand to pull open the door for me, and I step in, Gabriel following me. Spotting my parents right away, I smile at the hostess and walk toward them.
My mother looks like she’s been crying, and my father has his arm around her, as he talks to her and she nods. “Hey,” I say, and they both look at me.
My father looks at me and then his eyes move to over my shoulder where I feel Gabriel is, his hand on my hip. “Mom, Dad.” I smile at them. “I don’t know if you remember Gabriel.” My mother’s mouth hangs open. “He’s Sofia’s cousin. He helped me out when I was down there.”
“Of course,” my father says, “it was a busy day, lots of people, but you look familiar.”
Gabriel reaches out, extending his hand. “It’s a pleasure to see you again, sir.” Then he turns to my mother. “Ma’am.”
“Please, call me Zoe.” My mother shakes his hand but you can tell the smile on her face is fake as she tries to guess what the fuck is going on.
“I’m Ethan’s son,” Gabriel says to both of them.
“That’s the oldest one, right?” my mother asks and Gabriel nods before turning to me.
“Sit down,” Gabriel urges, pulling out a chair for me and then sitting in the chair beside me. We both take off our jackets and he rubs his hands on the tops of his jeans, while he studies the menu in front of him. “What are you hungry for?”
“I’m sorry,” my mother says, “are you visiting the area?”
Gabriel smiles at her. “You could say that. I came down yesterday.”
“How long are you in town for?” my father asks, also trying to figure out what the fuck is going on.
“We leave as soon as we are done here.”
“We?” My father catches that. “Who is we?”
Gabriel looks at me and all I can think of is just do it like a Band-Aid, rip it off and then deal with the aftermath. “I’m going to go back down there until next week.”
“Oh, that’s nice.” My mother tries to hide that she, too, is secretly freaking out.
“That’s nice?” my father echoes like he didn’t hear her. “How is that nice? That isn’t nice.” He looks at Gabriel, who puts his arm around my chair, making my calm father not so calm. “What is going on?”
“I don’t think there is an easy way to say this,” I start, putting my hand on Gabriel’s thigh to feel his strength. “We are having a baby.”
My mother gasps out as my father leans in to the table and turns his head to the side. “A what now?” As if he didn’t hear what I just said.
“We are having a baby.” I take a deep breath in. “Gabriel and me.”
My mother looks over at my father with huge eyes as my father chuckles. “This is a joke?” He looks at my mother. “Are you in on this?” He keeps laughing. “You got me.” He points at me. “I will say, you got me.” He shakes his head.
“I’m not kidding, Dad.” I notice him watch me, then turn his eyes to Gabriel.
“That’s impossible.” He then turns back to me. “You”—he points at me—“and him?” He points at Gabriel. “It can’t be.”
