Page 8 of The Odds of Happily Ever After
“I don’t want to pressure her right now.”
“Maybe she needs that pressure.”
Tala sighed. “Why are you so worked up about this?”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “I hate seeing you get taken advantage of.”
“I’m not. She’s family. We take care of each other.”
“It’s unfair.” The words came out in an angry burst that I didn’t anticipate.
Tala was silent for a moment. “Maybe it is, but that’s my choice. I need you to respect that.”
My breath left me in a gust of frustration. “Right. I’m sorry.”
“You know, Luna’s not like your?—”
“Tala,” I snapped because I already knew where she was heading and I refused to go there.
“Fine,” she grumbled. “Just give her a chance, will you?”
Normally, I wouldn’t let someone talk me into conceding a point I strongly believed in, but Tala was the only person I cared about without reservation. She respected my boundaries and rarely asked for favors. I couldn’t deny her something that mattered to her.
So I promised her I’d try.
Maybe Ihadbeen wrong about Luna. She’d gotten a job—finally—and she seemed determined to be independent. For Tala, I would check on Luna every couple of weeks. She shouldn’t need more supervision than that.
With that settled, I opened a beer and dug into my sandwich. I was nearly done when my phone rang. I checked the caller ID and held back a groan. “Pai,” I answered.
“Gabriel!” My father’s deep voice blasted into my ears. “Como vai?”
“I’m fine. How are you?”
He tsked. “Ah, Gabriel. Don’t you still know your language?”
“Sim. I just prefer English,” I said. Just like I had the last time he asked.
“You should visit so you can practice. You have not been to Rio in years.”
I took a drink of my beer. “I’m busy.”
“Still studying? Aren’t you tired of that?”
Of course I was—thus, why I’d taken a hiatus from my PhD. Not that I’d told my father. He’d traded me in for his homeland without hesitation and spent years barely acknowledging my existence. I doubted he even knew what I’d majored in, and I wasn’t about to enlighten him now.
“You’re wasting your prime,” he continued, saving me from inventing a response. “There’s more to life than school, Gabriel.”
Ironic how he chose to parent me when I was a grown adult, but not when I was younger. “I also have work outside the university, remember?”
“Playing around with money.”
“It pays the bills.” That was more than he had done for me.
His silence rang loud. After a minute or two, he said, “Money can’t buy you happiness.”
Maybe not, but it could buy food on a regular basis. A house and car. Security. Everything he and Ma had failed to provide their only child. “Let me worry about that. Anyway, I have to go.”
“Do you have a date?” His voice sounded lighter than it had before.
