Page 20 of Redemption
“Hey, we can buy you a new lamp now,” she said with a disbelieving laugh, motioning to the lamp I broke in my lust for her.
“We can buy a lot more than that,” I said.
We sat there for a moment, looking at each other, an unspoken understanding passing between us. She flushed, a pink tinge coloring her cheeks as she laughed slightly, her fingers brushed against the fabric of my shirt she wore. Her eyes fluttered, then she pulled back as the curious gleam in her eye took over again.
“So you have no idea who donated? What do you know?”
“Nothing,” I said with a perfect poker face.
Her eyes narrowed, and she stood up. I guess it wasn’t perfect. Her persistence was making me uneasy.
"We don't always need to know the source of our blessings to be grateful for them." I looked past her, as if there were something curious far in the distance. “Honestly, I think we just manifested it."
Clearly, it wasn't the answer she was hoping for. She looked at me suspiciously, but there was a lightheartedness to it. “It seems like you know something I don’t.” A cute smile formed with her accusation.
“Really, there is nothing to say. It was anonymous,” I said with finality in my tone.
A look of sad confusion flashed across her face but was gone so fast I couldn’t tell if that’s really what I saw. She was more perceptive than was good for her. “So, what will you do now?” I said with optimism.
She just sat in her chair playing with a loose thread on her big shirt. The silence stretched on. I realized it wasn’t in contemplation of what new life she might lead, and I moved close to her.
“Gabriel, I know this seems strange but I… never mind.” She tore her gaze from me. I saw something new in her for the first time. For a moment, she just looked like a sad little girl.
I crouched down. “What is it?” I asked softly.
She kept her eyes away from me and sighed.
“I feel like... I feel like you aren’t telling me something, but I want to trust you. I don’t really know what to think.” Hope mixed with fear twisted on her face, and I had no idea what to say. I just stared into her big green eyes, and they stared at me. “Will you promise to not lie to me?” she whispered.
I took her weak hand in mine. “Of course.”
She studied me for a long moment, then finally, she relaxed and smiled. I don’t know why she was so torn up, why this was surrounded by such strong negative emotion, but I wanted my words to be true as much as she believed they were. I came here for a new life, but I was already falling back on old ways. Extortion, now lying. She had just lied to Henry, yet now she was asking me not to lie to her, but that was different.
“Truth is usually a long story,” I said.
“It always is, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't tell it.”
She knew something was off.
I let out a long breath and stared at those big eyes that demanded honesty. “The truth is, Sophia, I like you and want good things for you. The world is a dark place, I want to take any chance I can to lighten up just a small part of it, for myself and those I care about. Especially when they deserve it."
There was no trace of apprehension on her face now. She took a moment, her fingers nervously clutching my hand, before her lips curled into a warm, understanding smile. "Well, that's quite the confession," she said quietly.
Every part of me screamed to leave it at that. I had told her a truth. The most important aspect of the truth. The details didn’t have to matter. But it felt wrong. Goddammit.
I kissed her on her forehead. “Let’s get you home. You need to get ready.”
“Ready for what?” she asked.
“Lunch. I’m taking you out for lunch.”
Sophia
The door to the gallery chimed as I opened it, the scent of recently cooked breakfast lingering in the air. I expected Henry to demand an explanation for not calling him last night, but the gallery was eerily silent. I walked through the display cases towards the narrow hallway and climbed the squeaky stairs to my room. Slipping inside, I let out a relieved breath. I didn't have time to make Henry feel better about himself today. I didn’t even have time for myself.
I peeled off my clothes, adding them to the pile in the corner, and looked at myself in the mirror. My makeup was ruined, my hair a sticky mess from the whiskey. I felt my neck where Gabriel kissed me, then ran a hand down my cold, tacky chest where the wet clothes had hugged me. Desperately needing a shower, I turned on the hot water. I didn't know how long I stood in the bathroom, trying to fully accept that this was all real. Reaching out, I felt the hot, crooked streams of water shooting out of the old showerhead and stepped in. The hot water grounded me, I wasn’t poor anymore. I didn’t have to worry about security. I smiled, recalling the vision board I made a year ago, even though it didn’t last long on my wall before I stuffed it under my bed, feeling stupid. Could that really have been how this happened?
If anyone were to look at my life from the outside now and analyze the events that led to my financial security and a hot guy in the picture, there would be a logical explanation, not a mystical one. I imagined Gabriel standing behind me in the shower, his arms around my waist. He wasn’t my boyfriend, but he had treated me better than anyone else I’d ever had. I lathered myself in soap, rushing to wash my hair. He made an absolute mess of me, but he did a good job getting all the glass out of my hair. I rinsed off, hurried out of the shower, threw on a light blue sundress, and dried my hair. Emma told me guys preferred minimal makeup. I didn’t believe her, but with so little time left to get ready, I needed it to be true today.
