Page 44 of Reeling in Love

“Are you sure you want the usual? No change?” she says, raising her eyebrows.

That’s when Lily’s eyes turn into large spheres. Eva is still blissfully unaware. I can feel the blood rushing into my cheeks.

“Oh. My. God!” Lily shrieks. “Is this…? Are you…? Really? When did this…? Oh, my God.”

Eva is as confused as a grandmother who’s starting off on social media for the first time and doesn’t even know what to write in her bio.

“What’s happening, Lily?” she asks. “What am I missing?”

Maybe she’s like the grandmother who doesn’t even know what a ‘bio’ is.

I turn to Gabs. He’s smiling and nodding, completely in control of the situation. “That’s what we wanted to tell you. But you beat us to it,” he says with a shrug, the smile never leaving his face.

“Nora? You vixen! Hiding this big a thing? From us?”

I bite my lips. “Didn’t want to jinx it,” I say. That statement always works like a charm.

Kelly bends down and kisses me on the forehead. “I’m so happy for you both,” she says. “I’ll bring all of your usuals. And today, it’s on me.”

She scurries off and picks up a bowl and a sheet of paper, then shrieks to the other customers, many of whom are regulars here. “Nora and Gabriel are a thing now. C’mon, pay up whoever needs to pay. Especially you, Graham, for saying that my love-dar picks up signals where none exist. I know my love-dar has never been wrong. Ever.”

Three of them reluctantly, including Graham, stand up and take out their wallets while a few others shriek in joy.

“What’s happening?” I ask.

“You don’t know?” Lily chuckles. “They’ve been betting on you two getting together for the past year or so. The bet is revised every six months. Kelly has been betting on you and losing till now.

As Kelly comes over to our table with the bowl, she winks at Lily. “Finally we win this time, girl,” she says and moves to the next booth.

“You’ve been betting as well?” I’m shocked that my close friends have been betting on my love life.

Lily shrugs. “What can I say? I always knew you guys were a perfect match. I’m astonished it took you guys so long to find that out. But better late than never.”

“So you don’t think this is a prank or something?”

Both Eva and Lily give us shocked glances. “No. Is it?” Eva asks. “Even I could see you guys were great together. And my love-dar is usually defective.”

“It’s non-existent, Eva,” Lily and I say, almost in harmony.

We drink our free hot chocolate and eat our free doughnuts and as we leave, we get thumbs-ups and ‘about times’ and ‘we’re so happy for yous’ from a lot of regulars who we don’t know but have seen in the café so many times.

As we wave goodbye to Lily and Eva and start our drive to Gabs’ parents’ home, he turns to me and says, “Well, that was easy.”

Yeah, way too easy.

I respond to him after some time. “Doesn’t it trouble you that none of them seemed shocked? They even had bets placed on us! I mean, what the hell, right? People we don’t even know are betting on us being together or not. Shit, man! You don’t really know anyone, it seems. And Lily! She’s been betting as well. And she’s never said a word to me. Never.”

Gabs is quiet.

“Say something. Am I the only one who’s pissed by what happened at Kelly’s? And Kelly! That woman. She made some money on us today.”

“Well, she did give us free food, didn’t she?”

“Yeah. But… I don’t like it. I don’t like my personal life being the talk of the town.”

Gabs gives me a quick glance before looking ahead at the road again. He’s smiling.

“What’re you smiling for?”

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