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10
The smell of spices and tomatoes reaches me before I step into the kitchen a couple of hours later, where I find Gabriel cooking ground beef in a skillet on the stovetop.
“Calla,” he greets in a low voice. It seems… off. Not kind or gentle like I’m used to. He must have gotten home a while ago, because he’s wearing dark gray sweatpants and a black V-neck. There’s no chance he wore that to work.
“Hey,” I say, “I didn’t know you were home.”
He nods, smiling at me over his shoulder as he keeps stirring the meat, but his usually bright eyes are dull.
“Are you… um, okay?”
Gabriel sets the wooden spoon on the counter and turns to face me. “I’m glad to be home,” he says in lieu of a real answer. “How was your day?”
I exhale heavily, leaning against the counter, and steal a mouthful of shredded cheese. I sprinkle it into my mouth and ask, “Did you talk to Kade?”
He arches a brow. “No?”
“My day was fine,” I say, forcing a cheery tone.
He sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “What did Kade do?”
“Nothing.” I wave him off. “Never mind. Tell me about your day.”
He gives me a knowing look. “Let’s both agree not to talk about our days and make dinner instead. Sound good?”
I nod, coming around the counter. “I talked to my parents,” I blurt, then press my lips together.Where did that come from?I shouldn’t have said anything. This is something I should be talking to Brighton about. If Icouldtalk to her about it…
“You did?” Gabriel asks; I have his full attention. “What happened?”
I run my fingers through my hair to have something to do with my hands and watch the ground beef sizzling in the skillet. “Not much of anything. They asked how I was, and my mom got all emotional and apologized. As if any of this is her fault.” I pause. “I wanted to tell them not to call again, but I couldn’t do it.”
He frowns. “Calla—”
“What, Gabriel?” My voice comes out harsher than I was expecting. I swallow past the lump in my throat. “Should I have told them everything was great and invited them to come visit?”
His gaze softens. “I’m sure your relationship with them is complicated.”
“Yeah,” I say without meeting his gaze.Which is partially your fault, I don’t add, though part of me wants to.
Gabriel glances toward the counter where his phone is vibrating. “Excuse me. I need to take this.” He picks it up and answers in a hushed voice. His expression darkens, and he looks at me for a fleeting moment before leaving the room.
So much for getting any information from Gabriel. I sigh to the empty room. I’ll have to try after dinner.
Approaching the stovetop built into the island, I pick up the wooden spoon and start pushing around the meat, hoping Gabriel will return in enough time to finish cooking, because it is definitely not my forte.
“Something smells delicious.”
I jump a little, turning my head to look over my shoulder, and see Lex walking into the room, grinning softly as he rakes his fingers through his white hair only for it to flop back across his forehead.
“I thought Gabriel was cooking,” he comments, walking closer and leaning against the counter next to me.
“He was,” I say. “Someone called him, and he left looking all weird and tense.” I force a nonchalant shrug. “I have no idea what I’m doing, by the way. You should probably take over if you want this to be edible.”
Lex presses his lips together against a smile and comes up behind me. His arm brushes my side as he reaches for the spoon and keeps stirring. His chest is against my back, but I don’t move away.
“What did you do today?” I ask to fill the silence and to distract myself from wanting to lean back into Lex. He smells of citrus and spice, a perfect fall evening, and it makes me want to wrap myself in it—inhim.
He switches the burner off and drops his hand to my hip. “Nothing exciting.” His voice is low in my ear, his lips close enough his breath tickles the shell of my ear.
