Nathan gave me the stink eye. “He’s test driving on this road. I can hear the car from here. He’ll be right back.” He refocused on Dr. Green again. “The no one goes alone rule still applies, even here.”

  Dr. Green tried to give Nathan the stink eye back, but he ended up rolling his eyes, made a raspberry noise and gave up. “Fine. I don’t want to drive though. I’m too tired of driving.”

  ♥♥♥

  If I was going to see the Colemans, and it was Gabriel’s family, I wanted to get a little better dressed.

  I wondered if the Colemans were at all like Gabriel. I tried to picture what they looked like.

  I shuffled through a collection of clothes we bought on the way up, looking for something warm and nice. Something not too fancy, but still presentable.

  I found some slacks, and a light sweater combination that I thought might work. Gabriel was usually picking out clothes for me, but I didn’t want to ask his opinion just now. I wanted to give him a break so he could be ready for meeting his family.

  As I was getting dressed in the back, Gabriel called to me from the kitchen. I called back, letting him know where I was.

  The door to the back room opened and he peered in. There wasn’t much space, but I’d just taken my top layers off.

  He’d seen me naked before. We were getting used to changing in front of each other even more lately.

  However, this time he stopped and peered at me, toward my chest in a way that made me pause. Was there some dirt or something I’d missed while cleaning myself? I tried to look and touched at what he was staring at but I couldn’t see it. “What?”

  He made a guttural noise. “You’ve got some bruising.”

  I touched the spots gently. A couple, I imagined, were the ones he made. Were they that noticeable? “I can cover them up,” I said. “I should probably disguise myself a little for meeting your family... but should I go in with you or sit in the car?” I didn’t want to impose. We needed to stay together but we always had a choice. Dr. Green made it clear. I wanted to give Gabriel every opportunity to do this his way.

  Slowly, Gabriel reached out, drawing my hand away from the spot. He gazed at my skin.

  To see it better, he shifted the bra strap.

  He was breathing slowly, but heavily. His chest lifted with every breath. His gaze settled on the spot.

  And then drifted down, to where the strap had settled on my arm. It was like his eyes could trace my skin just by looking at it, and I could almost feel a warmth following wherever he looked.

  “You shouldn’t need to. You can come in and I can say you’re my girlfriend if you’re going with me.” There was a pause and his eyes suddenly shot up to look at my face. “Are you okay with that?”

  It surprised me he was asking. “Yes, of course,” I said.

  “I mean, I can cover the bruises and just say we’re friends. We’re still going to have to do something about your eyes and hair a little. And change how you look. So if you want to be just friends... for some reason...”

  I shook my head slowly, puzzled over why he was so concerned about it. Was he thinking it’d be better to meet his family with me being just a friend?

  “No, it’s okay,” I said, unable to figure out if he was really trying to make sure it was okay with me, or if he was trying to be very polite about asking me to be just friends for this. “I want to be your girlfriend, if that’s okay.”

  He seemed to struggle with how to respond.

  He was nervous. Nathan said as much. I related to it, since I was nervous about finding my own family here. I was kind of glad he was going first... but that meant he had the most stress out of all of us right now.

  So I simply reached up and pressed a palm gently to his cheek.

  This seemed to redirect his attention. Those crystal blue eyes landed on me, at first at my eyes and then lowered down to the bruising spot again.

  I redirected his face once more so he was looking at my face instead of the bruises.

  I was right here. Right in front of him now. An echo from the past, from Lily, seeped into my brain, about not letting them dwell too much when they were with you. Especially when you were together. Every moment mattered.

  I didn’t know how else to do it, so I kissed him.

  It was a strange feeling because I never really initiated much before. They kissed me and I welcomed it gladly. I never went in for a kiss. The more the relationships grew, the more confident I felt in doing so.

  It seemed to change his mindset instantly. He turned fully to me, held me by the waist and kissed me in return. Like a rejuvenation.

  Right before he pulled away.

  “I don’t want to stop, but we should get going. I want to go while I’m still feeling brave enough to do this.”

  Completely understandable. We didn’t need to spend too long dwelling. It would be a long enough trip without delaying what we came to do.

  But he seemed a bit happier at least.

  He Wasn't Sure He Was Built to Last

  Years Ago

  Gabriel

  Gabriel sat on the front stoop steps of his father’s trailer house.

  Uncle Steven had promised he’d be there that afternoon to pick him up.

  He was going to talk to Pam about taking him home. To Kentucky.

  Gabriel hadn’t ever been to Kentucky. He never even thought of it as a possibility.

  Would there be snow?

  Would his cousins like him? They were so wild at the church that they’d barely said a word to him. He tried to picture what life would be like with them. Would he be running after a little brother, trying to get him to settle down?

  And his aunt... he didn’t get much of a chance to talk to her at all. Was she nice? She seemed to be so overwhelmed with the kids that she barely had time to do much more than wrangle. Would he be one of them soon?

  Despite the questions, going somewhere new seemed to be a good idea. He’d already talked to Kota about it.

  “If you’re really sure you want to move,” he’d said. “And I don’t blame you. It sounds like a nice big family.”

  A big family. His mother always talked about having more kids.

  And he’d be closer to his other uncle, his mom’s brother. The one inside talking to Pam right now. Gabriel had no idea what they were talking about. He really didn’t care.

  Moving to Kentucky. He was so excited about the change that he couldn’t stay in the trailer a second longer. He was ready to say goodbye to it forever.

  Except the afternoon turned into evening. The wrestling match from the TV next door, and the kids inside all hollering at it, got louder as it got darker.

  It was getting chillier outside. Maybe he should have waited in his room. Still, he remained in place. He wanted to catch his uncle when he first showed up.

  Just as the sun was starting to set over the forest behind the trailer park, the door to the house opened.

  Gabriel stood up just as his mom’s brother was stepping out, and Pam was behind him.

  “I’m sorry if I’ve kept you too late, Leo,” Pam said.

  Gabriel hadn’t learned his name yet. Leo. That was interesting.

  Uncle Leo offered a small smile to Pam. “I’m sorry to go. But I should get back to the kids. They’ve probably destroyed the motel room by now.”

  “You could have brought them over,” Pam said.

  He turned then, looking at Gabriel to include him in this bit of the conversation. “I didn’t want them being annoying. They’re restless from the long drive down and wouldn’t have left you in peace.”

  Gabriel appreciated that. It had been a long day already.

  “Be safe getting home,” Pam said. “I’ll send you updates on how we’re doing.”

  “I’d appreciate that.” Uncle Leo went down the steps, and at the bottom, turned so he was more at eye level with Gabriel, still sitting on the steps. “You take care of your stepmother. She cares a lot about you.”

  Gabriel clamped his lips shut to avoid blurting out that would be impossible. That he would be gone soon. Instead, he simply nodded vigorously.

  Pam could take care of herself.

  She could have the house. He didn’t need it. And Kota and the others would look in on her.

  His uncle got into the car he’d come in, and within minutes, he’d pulled out of the short drive and was gone.

  “Are you going to come in?” Pam asked.

  “No,” Gabriel said and because he couldn’t contain it any more, he blurted out, “Uncle Steve is going to be here any moment.”

  “Your uncle?” Pam said, confusion dripping in her tone. She glanced around, as if he were right there and just hiding. “Did he change his mind?”

  Gabriel perked up, twisting where he sat to look up at her better. “What?”

  “He called earlier and said something about heading back up to Kentucky tonight. Said to tell you goodbye and that you’re invited to come for Christmas if you’d like.”

  Gabriel’s jaw fell open. “What are you talking about? He was supposed to come here and get me?”

  Silence fell between them, and the realization of what each had just said settled into the other.

  Pam’s face fell, a sweeping level of sadness working over her features, something Gabriel hadn’t seen all day.

  “Gabriel,” she said in a soft tone.

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” Gabriel said. He wanted to stand up and march to his room, but he didn’t want to move yet. He’d been sitting for so long, his knees ached and his butt hurt, but getting up felt like too much energy to utilize in the moment.

  Especially since he was holding back from crying.

  How could they just leave him?

  Pam slowly lowered herself until she was sitting beside him. “I’m sorry, sugar,” she said in her gentlest tone. “Maybe they should have come over before they left...”

  “He was going to have me live with him,” Gabriel said without looking at her. Instead he was straining to look ahead, at the trailer wall next door, to try to avoid any visible tears. “I was going to go to Kentucky.”

  “Hon, you can’t go with them,” she said. “I get why you probably want to go. I’m... I don’t really have any experience being a parent but... I don’t think...”

  “I wanted to go with my cousins,” he said.

  “I know...”

  “And be in a big family.”

  “I get that...”

  “And I don’t want to die here!” he cried out.

  Pam paled and placed a gentle hand on his back. “You’re not dying, Gabriel. And going with your uncle wouldn’t have made you feel any better. I couldn’t let you go with them.”

  Gabriel suddenly sat up, pulling away from her touch and stared dead at her. “You... you told them no?”

  Pam blinked at him. “Your aunt wasn’t exactly excited about the idea and your uncle was really rushing and wanting to talk to a lawyer...”

  Gabriel couldn’t believe it. He wasn’t really listening anymore, livid that Pam could do this to him.

  She ruined everything.

  He could have been in a real family.

  He wouldn’t have had to die here.

  He got up, stomped his way to the door, escaping Pam calling for him.

  He didn’t want to hear it.

  He wouldn’t speak to her again. Ever.

  It was as if she’d condemned him to death herself.

  Now He's Dragged Up from the Past

  Present Day

  Gabriel

  The little blue car wasn’t terrible. That was the nicest thing Gabriel could say. The center console had a velvet pillow someone stuffed into it. Gabriel wasn’t sure why, but it made leaning on it to drive more comfortable. It was a little luxury in an otherwise very plain and old vehicle.

  It was the only comfortable part of the car. The rest of it felt cramped. His hair brushed the top of the roof, creating a little static and making it stand up.

  Sang held the address for the Coleman house along with a map. Not using GPS for security purposes made trying to find the right street a little tricky. It wasn’t difficult, it just took much longer to work out the navigation, especially when they were new to the area.

  The streets were lined with red brick, small homes with small front porches and black pavement driveways. Yards were dry and patchy. Trees were mostly barren except for a handful of evergreens here and there bursting out of backyards with the deep green color that added the variation in the layers of brown.

  Gabriel soon found the right address. He parked near the mailbox. The house was similar to others near it, although this one needed painting at the trim, and the yard in front was a little overgrown, like they stopped mowing a little too early last fall before the grass stopped growing for the winter. There was a trail from the front door to the street that had been pushed down by walking through the yard and that path was mostly bare dirt.

  And then there were the collections of cars, two in the drive, one in the street in front of it, and it looked like one or two parked in the backyard beyond a short fence. How they got them back there was questionable.

  The Colemans.

  He hadn’t seen any of them in person since that day of the funeral, just the pictures inside the Christmas cards.

  They never came back for him. He hadn’t gotten phone calls. No asking to visit or asking for Gabriel to visit. Gabriel didn’t ask because at first he was young and didn’t really think to do so, but when a few years went by and they never invited him over, he thought they didn’t want him to.

  And here he was. With a knot in his stomach and his heart twisted and pained.

  With Sang here. He wondered if it had been a mistake to bring her along. Maybe they’d forgotten all about him and they’d just dismiss him completely.

  “Maybe I should have called ahead,” Gabriel said.

  Sang stared up at the house, the cars, the yard in need of mowing. “We can go back. If you want...”

  It was a tempting proposition. He would have rather stayed in the RV.

  With her.

  Kissing her.

  There would be time for that later, though. And much more time for it in the future. If he didn’t do this here, they’d focus on Sang and her family and when that was done, they’d have to go back home. And Gabriel would be left behind to do what he came to do. Or he’d have to come back.

  He just wanted to put off knowing.

  How come they’d never come back for him? How could they’d just let Pam tell them no, that he couldn’t go with them? Why hadn’t they fought harder to bring him back?

  At that second, as if knowing he was here, his phone rang. Victor would only allow particular people to call through to them.

  Gabriel answered, anticipating some emergency.

  “Where the hell are you?” Pam asked him. “Why haven’t you been answering me?”

  Gabriel was stunned. Had she been calling and Victor wasn’t letting the call through? He probably wasn’t redirecting calls unless it was deemed an emergency. “I told you. I’m doing an extended visit to one of the colleges connected to the school.” It was the lie a few of them told their parents so they wouldn’t be missed while being gone for so long. “Is something wrong?”

  “Everything is wrong!” she said. “The electric is all shot in this house. Luckily this man, I think he said he was Mr. Bubble, he knew how to fix it. But...” she seethed into the phone, “Gabriel, I hate to ask, but can you come back?”

  Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “I can’t really... unless it’s a real emergency.”

  “It is!” Pam huffed into the phone. “Clay is driving me crazy. I need someone else here to talk to the electrician because he has to get a lot of approval from me, and Clay keeps talking over me but the electrician keeps asking me because I’m the one paying for it... Please. Get over here right now.”

  “I can’t! I’m too far away. By the time I get there...”

  “What college are you at?”

  Gabriel hesitated to say it. He hadn’t mentioned and he had to impress that they were some distance and he couldn’t just pop over when she wanted him. The first one that popped into his mind was the local college in Kentucky. “Well this week we’re at the University of Kentucky.”

  Maybe he shouldn’t have said that. Should he have said further away?

  Pam was so quiet on the line; he wasn’t sure the line was even connected.

  Eventually she said, “Why would you want to go there?”

  The tone was very accusatory.

  “Why do you care where I go to school?” Gabriel shot back. “It’s college. I’m lucky if I even get accepted.”

  “Yeah, but you could go here locally and save a ton of money by being in state,” she said. “You never talked about it before. You’re going to go that far away from everyone you know?”

  “Yeah well, I wouldn’t be totally alone. There’s some family nearby...”

  At that, Pam said a bunch of things that Gabriel couldn’t understand due to some line static.

  Eventually he did catch, “...you can’t just leave me.”

  “Listen, I don’t need anything,” Gabriel said, knowing he had no intention of going to the college, but he wanted to prepare her for him moving out, since that was in the game plan for the immediate future anyway. “Whatever college I go to, you can keep the house. I don’t care about it. I’ll sign off on it if I have to. But I have to go eventually... so whichever one it is, it’ll be...”

  “I don’t care which one,” she said. “Just don’t go to that one.”

  Gabriel tilted his head, angling the phone appropriately to be sure he was hearing her. “What’s wrong with it?”

  “Listen, sugar, you don’t want to get involved there with your family. It’s not... good.”

  “How would you know?” Gabriel asked quickly. “You’ve spent all of five minutes with them years ago and you’re just going to tell me off for—”

  Suddenly someone called her name on the line, and Pam, instead of responding to Gabriel, said to whoever was on the other end that this was ‘nothing’ and suddenly the line was cut.