The Photograph
: Chapter Seventeen

Aelin

It’s been nearly two weeks since I’ve seen Gabe. October fifteen came and went, and our lives have returned to almost normal.

Work is picking up slowly, and I have a couple of new clients. The Peters, new parents expecting twins and need an all-genders—or would that be no gender—nursery and an older couple, the Cabos who want to transform a floor of their house into an apartment for their daughter—a doctor, they proudly announce—and her family.

Thanks to the CoW stamp on her resume, Cara’s in demand and busier than ever, .and has been hired to ‘create a catering experience’ for one of the largest IT conferences in the country. The organizers gave her a huge budget and a team of forty or so people for the event which will welcome next to fifteen hundred expected attendees. Although she’s stressed out of her mind, she’s embracing the challenge.

Around 8:00 PM, I climb out of my Lyft to meet with Mitch. We’ve been meeting as often as we can. Between our non-nine-to-five respective jobs and me trying to avoid Gabe while Cara doesn’t want to see Mitch, we navigate our platonic Romeo and Juliet situation with remarkable flexibility.

Tonight, we’re trying a new bar where the servers will recite a personalized poem based on our names and order. I arrive first and request a table on the terrace. The space is sophisticated without being pretentious. The cream walls are covered in framed quotes by famous artists and writers. I love the silver bar and wood stools. The lower patio reminds me of pictures of islands. The colors are diverse and varied with tall plants strategically placed to hide patrons while giving them an unobstructed view of passersby.

I sit down when a server wearing a bright pink mohawk and an intricate tattoo on her upper arm takes my order, notepad in hand.

“Gin and tonic, please. Sorry, I haven’t had time to look at the menu… Do you have fish tartare?”

She lifts her eyes from her black electronic gizmo. “We do. They come with two oysters, tuna, or salmon?”

“Tuna, please.”

She watches me with narrow eyes, slides her notepad in the front packet of her black apron, and says, “You’re the perfect pearl in those choppy seas.”

Oh, this is terrible.I laugh as she bows deeply. “My name’s Jessie and I’ll be your poet this evening.”

“Thank you, Jessie, my friend should be here soon.”

As she strides away, Mitch crosses paths with her and hugs me before dropping his long body in the wicker armchair next to mine.

He rakes his fingers through his overlong hair. “I know we said no Cara or Gabe, but … is Cara seeing someone?”

It’s odd to experience Mitch so … intense. “I don’t think so. Why?”

He sits back and exhales sharply. “She won’t talk to me.”

When I touch his wrist, he squeezes my fingers and lifts his aquamarine eyes to mine.

“What do you want with Cara?”

Mitch’s reply is quick. “Her. I just want her. That’s all I ever wanted.”

I like that. I like that a lot, so I grin at him.

Later, Mitch tells me more about his life. Things I didn’t have time to ask ten years ago. He tells me how Gabe and he lost both their parents when he was eleven years old, and Gabe seventeen. Their mother’s sister and her husband, a childless, cold but dutiful couple—his words—took them in, treated them well, but were never affectionate. When Gabe left for university, he visited his baby brother often, and as soon as Mitch turned eighteen, he went to live with his brother. As I lean in over the glass table, I’m struck by the similarities of our upbringing and how lucky we were to have extraordinary siblings who stepped up for us.

“Our aunt and uncle provided for me, but Gabe’s my only family.”

When he slants back in his seat, I smile. “It’s nice to have you back, Mit…Michael.” I narrow my eyes. “Which one do you prefer?”

A small smile curves the corner of his lips. “Gabe calls me Mike. Our parents used to call me Mikey, but after they died, it didn’t feel right, so I asked him to call me Mike.” He winces. “Michael comes out when he’s pissed off. Gabe can do pissed off really well.”

“Yes, I know.”

Mitch studies me with narrowed eyes and my face catches on fire under his scrutiny, so I hide behind my cocktail.

His muscles swirl under his black t-shirt as he edges closer. “Yeah? And you’re not scared of him?”

I whip my eyes to his. “Of Gabe? No.”

Jessie steps to our table and sets Mitch’s beer glass on a coaster. He dips his chin and turns to me. “He scares a lot of people.”

“Oh, he’s intimidating, but I’ve seen glimpses of goodness underneath the façade.” I scrunch up my nose. “You know when he’s not hell bent on revenge wanting to destroy someone and their whole family.”

When Mitch laughs, I clear my throat. “Anyway, we said no Cara and no Gabe.”

He raises his glass in a cheer.

****

On Cara’s and Emma’s advice, I’ve started dating.

With mixed results.

So here I am, standing at the bottom of the stairs leading to my front door, I turn my smile to Andy, a blind date one of my clients arranged, convinced we were made for each other.

I point at my door. “This is me. Thank you for the lovely evening.”

He wraps his hands around my shoulders and dives his kind brown eyes into mine.

“May I kiss you, Aelin?”

With my heeled sandals on, we’re nearly eye to eye. I nod with a smile.

His hands on my waist pull me to him. The assault of his aftershave combined with his plowing tongue… Nope. No.

I lean back with a smile, thank him again before making my way home.

In my bedroom, I kick my heels off which bounce against the last box I have yet to unpack and turn on the shower.

There’re a lot of sloppy kissers out there. And biters. And lickers.

Sliding under the covers, I curl on my side. Damn Gabe for making it so hard to get over him.

****

Curled up on the sofa in front of the TV I’m half watching a shoot-em-up movie when Cara, looking gorgeous, on her way out to meet some friends she made during her tour, blows me a kiss. I wave at her with a smile but straighten up as she slants her shoulder on the doorjamb.

She sets her purse on the coffee table, settles next to me, and takes my hand while I sit up.

“What’s wrong?” we ask at the same time.

I grin while she smiles, but her expression sobers, and I squeeze her hand as she leans in.

“What’s wrong, angel?”

I shake my head. “Nothing.”

When her green eyes laser on my chest, I instinctively touch my pendant. She pinches her lips. “Is this new?”

I clear my throat and nod.

“Did the asshole buy that for you?”

My fingers still on the crystal, I lower my eyes and nod again.

With a sigh, she tugs on my hand, and I lock my gaze into hers. “Angel, he’s not a good person. Give it to me and I’ll return it to that piece of shit.”

My heartbeat quickens, but I can’t move.No, this is mine.After a couple of seconds, Cara cups my face in her soft hands. “Angel, you deserve better—”

“I know, but I want to keep it.” At her frown, I clear my throat. “Gabe’s not that…”

Her eyes flash with anger. “Aelin, he’s a monster—”

I grab her hands. “He’s not. He was doing this for his brother…”

When she gets on her feet, I unfurl from my seat and catch her hand. “My Cara, you of all people can understand that. He loves Mitch—”

My chest tightens when she yanks her hands out. “You’re comparing me to that pervert!”

When I move to take her in my arms, she steps back “Cara, I’m sorr—”

Cara snatches her bag and strides to the front door.

Tears press behind my eyes, and I let myself fall on the sofa.

I grab my cell and check the time. It’s 11:00 PM in New York.

Emma sounds sleepy. “Hello?”

“Em? It’s me. How are you?”

There’s a smile in her voice. “Babe, how are you?”

Sitting up, I cross my legs. “I’m good. Is this a bad time?”

“No, it’s the perfect time. I’ve got the results of my exams yesterday—”

“All As?”

She giggles. “Yes. All As.”

Screaming and shrieking ensue until we run out of breath.

“How are you Ael?”

Emma is the only person I can be completely honest with. Everything I do impacts Cara in one way or another and my sister has sacrificed so much already to raise me, I don’t want to add to that.

I tell her of the contradictory feelings I have for Gabe, how I almost crave him while being scared I’m just infatuated because he was my first lover and is oh-so good at it. I tell her about my need for Cara’s approval, and how it’s no coincidence I met, slept, and got my heart broken by Gabe when she was as far away as possible from me.

I curl deeper into the pillow I’m hugging and wipe my tears. “I want to make her proud, Em, I want her to know she made the right choice when she took me in.”

“She is Aelin. I promise you she is,” Emma whispers.

I sniffle. “She really hates him, Em.”

My best friend hums softly. “But you don’t?”

I close my eyes and exhale sharply. “No, I’m … I feel lot of things around him … and… I miss him.”

“Oh, babe.”

I know.

“Babe, do what your heart tells you. Cara loves you, she’ll understand.”

You didn’t see her tonight.I nibble my bottom lip.“Oh, it’s not even about that. I’m pretty sure Gabe’s not interested, but I just wish I could talk to her about him. It feels weird not to be able to share something so big with her.”

I can hear Em shuffle. “Are you sure he’s not interested? Because revenge or not, the way he looked at you was pure lust. And I don’t think that can be faked unless you’re a psychopath, and you told me he’s been okay since his brother came back.”

My chest tightens. “Even if he were, now that he knows, I’ve become untouchable.”

When Emma sighs, I sit up and take a deep breath.What am I doing? I’m failing the Bechdel test in spectacular fashion.

“Argh. Sorry, Em. How are you? Are Mindy and Sam settling okay?”

She giggles. “We’re good. I’m kicking ass in the course, I’ve met some fantastic people, some really weirdly interesting ones, and some who give a bad name to IT nerds.”

I chuckle. “How is that even possible?”

Within minutes I’m laughing so hard, I nearly drop my cell on the floor. Sam and Mindy are fine, loving the busy rhythm of the city, I ask Emma if they’d be back for Thanksgiving, and she swears she will because she’s not a fan of the colder weather.

After we hang up, I stroll back to my studio and smile. It’s been a while since I’ve felt inspired.

****

The next day, I climb out of my car and stride to the Peterses’ home, a lovely hacienda-style house located west of the city. My heels click on the paved stone walkway while I admire the dark brown trim that accentuates the windows and the Spanish clay tiled roof.

Before I reach the doorbell, the massive white oak entry doors highlighted by Heath tile columns opens on Piotr, my color expert. His face is flushed and the lines around his mouth carve deep.

He sighs and yanks me inside the cream tiled floor hallway. “Thank goodness. I’m out of here.” He points at the ceiling. “Talk to her.”

“All right. I’ll talk to you later.”

The front door slams behind me as I climb the arched staircase to the nursery. I stop in between the doorjamb of the yellow-walled room where Lilian, the expectant mother of twins, kneels in the middle of the floor, sobbing hard while her husband paces the freshly installed wooden floor.

I kneel next to her. “Hey, Lilian. So, this isn’t the right yellow?”

The short haired brunette lifts her wet face and shakes her head.

Aww.

She sniffles. “You were right. We should divide the room by painting the walls a different color.”

“All right, let’s pick your new colors.”

When she nods, her husband sighs so loud, I cough to cover my chuckle. After he helps her up, we go downstairs in the dining room where we sit side by side at the long table. I pull out my laptop where I’ve uploaded a schematic of the nursery and apply the colors they pick.

Lilian nods enthusiastically and squeezes her smiling husband’s hand over the table. “This is it. It’s simply perfect.”

“Good, let’s work on that, then.”

A couple of hours later, as I make my way to my car, my cell vibrates, and I smile at the caller I.D..

“Hi, Ann, how are you?”

My new friend chuckles. “I’m well, Aelin. I’m just picking up the last of my things from the office…” Her voice lowers, and she speaks fast. “Aelin, your sister’s here.”

I stop while my heart races and hurry to climb in my car. “What?”

“I don’t know what happened between you and Gabe, but I thought you might want to know,” she whispers.

Cara had already left when I woke up this morning and she was so angry last night.

“Thank you, Ann. How long has she been here?”

“Five minutes. Michael’s in there with her.”

Oh, God.I start the car. “Thank you, Ann. I’m on my way.”

At this time, the traffic is minimal and eleven minutes after leaving the Peterses’ home, I walk out of the elevator where Ann greets me with a very tight smile. “I have to go but come over for dinner before we leave.”

That’s right, they’re moving to the Bahamas.

After I smile hello at Erica who’s returned to her desk, I whisper, “Who’s in there?”

“Gabe, Michael, your sister, and Gabe’s best friend.”

“All right.” I kiss Ann’s cheek and stride to Gabe’s office.

After a deep breath, I knock on the door.