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Which meant they’d both be up early and getting ready for work around the same time.
They hadn’t done that yet and it should be interesting in her eyes.
“You’re a big girl,” her father said. “You’ll be fine.”
She sighed. She wasn’t sure why she was so nervous about this.
“You’ll make sure Willow gets her basket from me?” she asked, her eyes landing on where she’d put it on the table. That was why she came over. So that she could leave it here for her brother to get.
“Elise. You’re stalling. What time do you have to be at Gabe’s?”
“I’m going to his house at eleven. I’ll meet Jayce then and we’ll drive to his parents’ after.”
Her father looked at his watch. “It’s ten thirty.”
“I know,” she said. “It only takes me twenty minutes to get there.”
“Go now and get it over with,” her father said. “Stop acting like there are concrete shoes on your feet. You did this when you didn’t want to go to your mother’s. I thought things were going well with you and Gabe.”
“They are,” she said. “But isn’t this like a big step? It hasn’t even been three months since we’ve been dating. I’m having family holiday dinners now.”
Her father rolled his eyes. “You’ve known Gabe for years. I understand that you just broke the news to everyone, but you’re acting ridiculous. If you weren’t ready for a holiday dinner then you wouldn’t have been ready to let everyone know.”
“I didn’t want Diane and Carolyn setting Gabe up,” she said, grinning.
She was making a joke about it now because looking back she realized it might have come off as jealousy.
“You tell yourself that all you want,” her father said. “If it makes you feel better.”
There was no use arguing with her father. She kissed him on the cheek and left after that.
She arrived before eleven at Gabe’s but didn’t think he’d care.
She knocked on the front door and opened it to hear, “When are you going to stop being such a slob, Gabe? You’ve got a girlfriend now. She’s going to get sick of it. This is gross.”
“Ice cream must have melted or something in there,” he argued. “What’s the big deal? It’s frozen.”
“And sticky,” Jayce said. “Give me something to clean this up.”
“Thanks,” she said, moving in. “I’m sure I would have had to clean that if I’d seen it, but I haven’t been in his freezer yet.”
Gabe turned and his face was red. Jayce started to laugh. “A woman after my own heart. Hope you like sticky surfaces. You’ll get them a lot here.”
“I swear to God, you can start staying with Jocelyn,” Gabe said. “Every time you come here you find something that no one else would ever find.”
“I doubt that,” she said. “Anyway, I’m Elise. Guess Gabe isn’t good at introductions either.”
“Don’t be a wise ass,” he said. He wasn’t even laughing and that wasn’t like him either. Now she felt bad and moved over to kiss him and then shook hands with Jayce.
“Nice to meet the woman that will put up with this,” Jayce said, laughing.
“What were you doing in the freezer?” she asked.
“He’s inspecting shit,” he said with half a snarl.
“Huh?” She was pretty sure she’d be livid if someone did that in her house.
“I’m trying to help him out and finding nasty things before you did. No reason for you to go running for the streets when a creepy crawly piece of moldy food grows behind some surface.”
