Page 120 of The Odds of Happily Ever After
My brain bombarded me with memories of each of my parents telling me they had to leave and Inez telling me I couldn’t give her what she needed. “I know I don’t have the best track record with relationships”—more like none—“but I promise?—”
“Gabe, this is me. I know you’ll treat Luna right.”
Her certainty humbled me. “I wish I could be sure.”
“None of us know for sure how things will turn out. All we can do is try our best and choose each other every day. Also, talk to Luna. Don’t try to control the situation because that’s not how relationships work. Trust me,” she said drily.
“I do.” Though we didn’t talk often, she’d told me enough about her struggles with Jason, especially when they had to maintain a long-distance relationship for almost a year. I couldn’t imagine going through that with Luna.
“You okay there?”
I took a long sip of liquid courage to aid me in the second part of my talking points for this call. “Tala . . . I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate our friendship. You’ve been a lifeline for me, especially during those first years.” I heardher inhale but carried on before I lost steam. “I never want to jeopardize what we have.”
“Gabe! Can you give a girl a heads-up before you go all sentimental?” Her voice sounded rougher than usual. She gave a shaky laugh. “Why does it sound like you’re breaking up with me or something?”
In a way, our friendship had changed long before this talk. I just refused to acknowledge that until now. “Youaremy longest relationship.”
“Only because you keep blocking out your dad.”
I rubbed my neck. That would need to be tabled for another day. “I had many reasons to keep Luna at arm’s distance. But she’s . . .” Amazing. Beautiful. Unforgettable.
None of the words seemed to encompass all that Luna was.
“Sticky.”
“Sticky?” Tala burst out laughing. “I hope you work on your compliments, Gabe, because sticky is not going to cut it.”
“Damn it.” I ran a palm down my face and realized I was sweating. “You’re enjoying this.”
“You bet I am. The unruffled Professor Martins, so . . . ruffled.” Her laughter rang in my ear for a solid minute.
“Nice to know my best friend is enjoying my misery,” I said when I could get a word in.
“You know I love you.” She seemed to pull herself together. “There’s no better guy I could think of for Luna. You just have some baggage, which I hope you’re working on.”
“I am. Actually, I was wondering how Jason dealt with his career shift last year.”
She gasped. “Does this mean what I think it means?” Without waiting for me to answer, she shouted, “Jase! Can you come here real quick?”
I heard the muted thump of feet, then Jason’s voice came in the background. “What’s up?” he asked.
The audio seemed to echo, like Tala had put me on speakerphone. “Guess who’s finally moving on from the denial stage?” she said.
“You say that like you weren’t in denial about me for the longest time,” Jason replied. “Hi, Gabe.”
“Jason.” I smothered a laugh, knowing Tala wouldn’t let his comment pass.
“Remind me again, who ghosted me for six years?” she drawled.
Jason’s answer came without hesitation. “A sorry boy who didn’t realize he almost lost the best thing in his life.”
“Right.”
“I love you, dance girl,” he said solemnly.
“Uh huh. Like I was saying, Gabe is finally ready to put his heart on the line for the love of his life,” Tala declared, as though daring me to contradict her words. When I stayed quiet, she continued, “He was asking how it was for you when you gave up your basketball career.”
“Ahh. First off, congrats, man,” Jason told me.
