2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

When they were third in line for Santa, Gabriel asked the woman to hold their place so he could fetch the boys. They were both salivating over the latest remote drones that were all way above his budget.

After they were back in line, Brandon started to beg for one, and Gabriel was embarrassed he couldn’t even pretend to think about it. He couldn’t give his brother false hope. “Not this year, buddy.”

“Mom would have bought it for me!”

That was the card Brandon used a lot, but the more he used it, the clearer it was to Gabriel that it was pure manipulation. It still hurt, but the sting was dulled. “We’ll talk about it at home.”

After throwing Gabriel a scathing look, Brandon crossed his arms over his chest and refused to look at him.

That was more relief than punishment.

When it was their turn, Gabriel set Tristan on his feet, and he ran over, excitedly talking to Santa without bothering to get on his lap. “Santa, I’ve been real good! Can I get dinos?”

Santa looked over at Gabriel, and Gabe saw the smile in his eyes, even though the fake beard covered most of his face, including his mouth. “Well, that is something we can discuss, sure!”

Again, Santa looked at Gabe and Gabe gave him a nod.

Santa collected Tristan on his lap, and Tristan started listing all the dinos he wanted. Santa listened patiently, nodding along, then said, “I think you’ll find a few of those under the tree come Christmas morning. What’s your name? Just so I’m sure to take them to the right little boy.”

Brandon, beside Gabe, mumbled, “If he was really Santa, he’d know.”

Gabe placed his hand on the back of Brandon’s neck, squeezing just enough to get his attention before he leaned down to whisper, “There are other kids behind us.”

He didn’t say a word.

When Tristan was done, Santa had his hand out to Brandon, and Gabe was shocked to see his little brother moving over to Santa. Then he remembered that Brandon was going to ask for their mother back.

Tristan was in his arms as Gabriel tensed, expecting a tantrum, but he climbed on Santa’s lap and said, “I want my brother to get a better job so he can buy me better stuff.”

About to fall over from shock, Gabriel just stared.

Santa glanced over, his dark brown eyes looked right into Gabriel’s. He turned back to Brandon and said, “Well, I, myself, hire a lot of elves to work in my shop, but what does your brother do? Maybe I can ask around the North Pole.”

“God, just be serious.”

“Brandon don’t be mean,” Gabriel called to him.

Santa shook his head at Gabriel before turning back to Brandon. “I happen to have a friend who is really good at finding jobs for people, Brandon,” Santa called over the elf helping him, who was actually a teenage girl in a green and red striped outfit and he whispered to her.

She went into Santa’s cottage and returned quickly, handing Santa a card.

“Here, Brandon. Take this to your brother and have him give my friend a call. He might be able to help.”

Gabriel wanted to die of embarrassment, but he took the card from Brandon and smiled thinly at Santa before shoving the card in his jacket pocket.

Thinking for sure it was some charity group for disadvantaged people, he didn’t want to look at it. He felt completely humiliated, and although he wanted to scream at his brother, Brandon didn’t do anything wrong. Not really. It was no secret Gabriel wanted a better job.

They went to the food court and the boys had pizza while he got a diet soda. While they ate, he took the card out, fully intending to toss it in the trash along with their paper plates when they were finished, but then he saw it.

It read: Alan Martinez, President, Sunrise Arts of New Mexico Group, 200 Mesa Ridge Rd. Suite 9, Raton, New Mexico, 575-555-0593

“Sunrise Arts Group?”

“What’s that? That Santa perv wants you to mow his lawns or something?”

“Stop calling people pervs, Brandon.”

“Okay, next time a stranger offers me candy, I should take it?”

Gabriel growled, “Quit.”

Thankfully, Tristan ignored the conversation while he picked pepperoni off his pizza slice.

When they got home, he let the boys take an hour of screentime with their tablets while he sat in the kitchen, staring at the card. He was skeptical, of course, but it felt like hope creeping in, and that scared him worse than no hope.

He took out his phone to look up the address, knowing it was likely fake, but he found it: a sandy-colored building resembling old adobe houses.

Mesa Ridge Road was a new addition to the town, one of the few newer ones that came in recently when the town started to grow a little. When he looked up Alan Martinez, he stared at his phone like he couldn’t believe his eyes.

The man was gorgeous. Dark hair, caramel skin, short, trimmed beard, laughing dark eyes that were as inviting as they were beautiful. And familiar. “You’re the friend , aren’t you, Santa?”

A phone was a dangerous thing when it came to sucking someone into their quest to find out about someone else. He spent the next two hours reading about the guy who’d graduated with honors from Raton High School, went on to Princeton, but returned home after starting a lucrative career in graphic arts in San Fransisco.

He built his company specifically to be based in his hometown once it grew enough to be able to move. The number one goal he’d had in his life was giving back to his own community. The small town on the border of Colorado, where no industry had grown for decades, and he planned to bring a bit of prosperity home.

“Wow. You’re actually a good person.”

“What’s for dinner?” Brandon complained as he came into the room and threw open the fridge door.

“Shoot, sorry, buddy, I haven’t even thought about it. Probably turkey leftovers.”

“We could get burgers.”

He’d already blown his eating-out budget on the pizza for them. “I’ll make hamburgers.”

“Gross,” he said, then slammed the refrigerator door and huffed back out of the room.

Looking at the time on his phone, he realized how long he’d been looking up information about Alan Martinez. “Two and a half hours on you. Well, let’s hope it wasn’t wasted.”

After making dinner and eating at the kitchen table with his brothers, he helped them prepare for their baths and then let them watch a couple of cartoons before he put them to bed.

Nighttime alone was always his favorite time of day, and he felt guilty for loving the moment when the house was quiet and his brothers were asleep. Catnip, their family cat, jumped on the couch again, and he gave the big tabby pets while he took out his phone again.

He stared at the picture of Alan Martinez, wondering if he was married, had a girlfriend, or even a boyfriend—better yet if he was looking for a boyfriend.

That was the one thing he didn’t look up. For one thing, he doubted it would be online. That was reserved for celebrities, but the other reason was he didn’t want to know. Gabriel knew he’d have a tiny hit to his heart if he saw a picture of Alan and his gorgeous wife. Because if that gorgeous man had a wife, she’d have to be model-beautiful.

When he fell asleep on the couch, he woke to his hand being tugged by Tristan. “Gabe are you awake?” he whispered in Gabriel’s ear.

“No. I’m sleeping,” he teased, barely controlling his laughter.

“When you gonna wake up?”

He waited a couple of seconds to build the suspense, then came awake, sitting up and grabbing his brother while shouting, “Now!”

The giggles his brother made were the absolute best sound in the world. His laughter could end wars, cheer the most depressed person, and solve world hunger. Tristan giggled loudly while Gabriel tickled him, finally begging him to stop.

“You wanted me awake!”

“Hungry! I want Coco Pops!”

“We don’t have any. How about pancakes?”

“Yum,” he shouted as he wriggled away from Gabriel, got off the couch, and started running for the kitchen. “I’m gonna beat you there!”

“Yes, you will. It’s too early to run.”

As Gabriel started the coffee, Tristan pulled out the syrup and butter and then his favorite dino plate from the lower cupboard, where he kept it.

Gabriel mixed the pancake batter while slurping his coffee. When the skillet was heated enough, he poured a small circle of batter. “Did you sleep well, buddy?”

“Had dreams.”

“Oh? What about?”

“Santa came and gave me a doggie.”

Gabriel swallowed his guilt as he thought of a way to distract him. There was no need. Brandon came in and said, “We can’t have a dog, Duffus. They shit and piss all over.”

“Language, Brandon!”

“Oh, sorry, like you never say those things.”

“I’m an adult.” To Tristan, he said, “Maybe one of these days, dorkness. We’ll see in a few months, okay?”

“’kay.”

Tristan was as easygoing as any kid Gabriel had ever seen. Brandon, well, he hated to admit it, but he was much more like Gabriel. One of the reasons he could put up with it as much as he did was his guilty memories of how he’d treated his mom when she started to date Ben.

Darlene had gone about it as slowly and gently as possible, but she was his. All his. To have that change was unacceptable.

The therapists that he’d seen as a kid and the couple that Brandon had seen since the accident all said it. Too much change turned a child’s world upside down. Patience, firmness, and discipline that was consistent, but fair. Give the child choices, but don’t over-stimulate.

The boys were the biggest reason he hadn’t sold the house and moved to where he could make better money. They were the reason they hadn’t added a pet or changed bedrooms. Afraid to freak them out, Gabriel slept on the couch instead of in their parents’ room.

The boys shared a room until Gabriel graduated college and went to graduate school when he moved into a shared apartment with friends in the city. Brandon had taken his old room, and though he thought about taking it back, the therapists said no. There were no more changes for a while until Brandon began to work through losing his parents.

When the pancakes were ready and the boys were eating, Gabriel watched the clock carefully. As much as he didn’t want to call strictly at nine that morning, horrified at looking desperate, he didn’t have the luxury to appear casual.

He managed to get the dishes stacked in the dishwasher and get Tristan dressed before he went back into the kitchen to call.

A woman picked up the phone, which jarred him, as he was not expecting that. “Hi, uh, I’m calling for Alan Martinez. He gave me his card yesterday. Well, someone did. I didn’t get a chance for an introduction.”

“Oh, let me put you through.”

Of course, he had an assistant. Calming some, he waited for Alan to pick up the phone, and the moment he did, he answered it in a way that jarred Gabriel all over again. “Is this the gentleman with the two little boys?”

Gabriel couldn’t believe he remembered. The only thing that came to mind for him to say was, “Is this Santa?”

“I certainly am. Ho, ho, ho, as I should say. Anyway, we have a few openings here, and I’d like to interview you.”

He shook his head a second and asked, “Why?”

“Is there something wrong with you?” he asked with humor in his voice.

“No! I mean, well, you don’t know me.”

“I didn’t offer you a job, uh, what was your name?”

“Sorry! I’m Gabriel. Gabriel Ortiz.”

“Well, Gabriel, I generally only consider offering positions in my company after the application process, which, for me, the important part of is the interview. In fact, most of the time, I interview first before I possibly waste the time of the people involved.”

“I’ll need a babysitter, but I’d like to do it today.”

“Today is perfect. When can you be here?”

“Let me call the sitter, but I can be there in an hour at the soonest.”

“I’ll be here.”

Gabriel sat hard on the chair as he said, “Thank you.”

“I’ll see you then.”

He called the lady that watched the kids for him now and then, and she was out shopping but said to bring them in an hour.

Smiling, he got up to scrounge in the fridge for their Thanksgiving leftovers. After making a sandwich, he sat at the table, looking through his phone. His good mood diminished once he saw some of his school friends posting selfies from their travels or their great jobs.

Two of his friends worked at the San Diego Zoo, and another was in Kenya at an animal rescue. Traveling, seeing the world, and helping animals wherever he went had been his dream.

“ Gabe! Gabe, a spider! ”

Huffing, he smiled and left his sandwich to go kill the spider.

After dropping the boys off at Felicia’s, an old friend of his mother who didn’t mind babysitting when Gabriel was in a pinch, Gabriel drove to the building where the graphic arts group was. He saw the place as he parked, , and calmed his hands from their shaking.

When it was time, he forced himself out of the Jeep and walked with his back straight and his chin high, trying to at least pretend he was confident.

The glass door had the name of the group painted in small letters, and there was an open sign hanging. Simple and yet charming.

Once through the door, he was transported to a place he hadn’t expected. The outside of the building looked like most other buildings in New Mexico, blending in with the Spanish style. Inside, however, it was sleek and modern, with an abstract painting on the wall across from the door and plants warming the room beautifully.

To the right, a woman sat at a desk in front of another painting, one of three Native American women weaving baskets in the desert. It could have been a picture it was so lifelike, and their faces were so beautiful that the receptionist had to clear her throat to get his attention.

“Sorry! That is just lovely, really.”

“Isn’t it? Alan is a great artist.”

“The owner? Or, well, is he the owner?”

“Yes. Did you have an appointment?”

Alan exited a room off the hallway to their left and answered for Gabriel. “Yes, Marsha, he sure does.”

He walked to Gabriel with his hand proffered, and Gabriel took it, staring into the man’s face.

His internet pictures didn’t do him a bit of justice. “Hi, Mr. Martinez.”

“Call me Alan. Hello, Gabriel. Come with me, please.” Gabriel followed him down the short hall and into his office, which had walls covered with more art.

In fact, the man’s desk was a piece of art, a long piece of wood with the bark still attached, sanded smooth, and clear blue resin filled its center like a river flowing through the wood.

Gabriel took the simple wooden chair in front of the desk that Alan offered as Alan sat behind the desk, smiling. “Let me confess something, Gabriel. I am an artist, and that part of me never rests, even when I’m covered in sticky, and even a little pee, from having little ones on my lap all day.

“I saw you, and you struck me as someone I had to know.”

“Me? Why, if I may ask?”

“You’re…those two little boys are your siblings?”

How he knew that Gabriel couldn’t guess, but he nodded and said, “Yes.”

“Mother is gone, I’m assuming. I don’t mean to pry if it’s private, I completely understand.”

Gabriel shifted in his chair and confirmed, “She is. She’s…gone. Both the boys’ parents are gone. Almost half a year now.”

“I’m terribly sorry. I only guessed because you look much too young to be their father. You and they had different fathers?”

“Yes.”

“And you’ve stepped up to care for them. Gabriel, you are exactly the kind of person I want working with me.”

He barked a little laugh and again told him, “You don’t know me. How can you possibly know that?”

“Anyone who puts their life on hold to care for another person, no matter who the person is to them, is worth my time.”

The thick white sweater he wore contrasted against his dark caramel skin, and it lay perfectly over his nicely formed body.

Alan sat back and threaded his fingers together over his flat belly. Gabriel saw he was a thousand times more handsome than his pictures had shown. “You don’t know if I have a degree, and if I do, what field, or if I…need a job, but of course, I do.”

“You’re right to be skeptical. There are a lot of people in the world today that take advantage of others. I can promise you all day long that that isn’t me, but you don’t know me either. The thing is, degree or not, it doesn’t matter. You have an artist inside of you. You have a heart, and for most people, that is all it takes to create something beautiful.”

Pretty words. His mother had warned him about men with pretty words.

“What just happened?”

He noticed a change in Gabriel’s face, and it was huge. He was an expert at hiding his emotions. He had to. He had two little kids who couldn’t read doubt and sorrow in him.

“My mom, she told me about men who said nice things.”

He laughed and said, “I think I would have liked her. It’s very true, but I’m interviewing you for a job, not a romantic relationship. That is where the sweet talk is generally bullshit. Excuse my French. I should know. I met a few pretty men with pretty words in my life.”

He was gay. For some reason, that made him happy, though he just said he wasn’t after Gabriel for romance. It wasn’t like he had time for that anyway.

“Tell me a little of your story, if you don’t mind. I’ve already painted a picture in my mind, and I’d like to know how far off my people-watching has become.”

Gabriel wouldn’t normally go into his story with someone he’d just met, but he felt so comfortable with Alan that it began to flow from him like a purge. “My mom was young when she had me, only sixteen. She lived with her dad, and he kicked her out. She struggled, but she stayed with friends, couch hopping while she got her GED, and the college had a daycare, so she took nursing. She got jobs, really shitty ones at first, and after she had me, she lived with a friend in a tiny apartment, but she kept going to school until she became an RN.”

“Commendable. How strong she was, my God.”

“She was. She was…everything. The two of us were all we had for a long time. She was a great mom. Then she met a guy, and…they hit it off. I hated him. He took her from me.”

“And your dad, he was never in the picture?”

Shaking his head, he confessed, “Never wanted me.”

“Shame. I’m sorry, Gabriel.”

The interview was much more personal than he’d ever expected, but for some reason, he felt comfortable telling this stranger things he’d barely thought aloud, let alone said aloud.

“And yet, you’ve taken on the children. You’ve stepped up. Let me ask you one more question, and you don’t have to answer it. In fact, maybe just think about it. Who’s stepped up for you, Gabriel? You’re important, too. The children, of course, are terribly important, but you are too.”

That wasn’t a question he’d ever considered. Sure, he’d licked his wounds of putting his dreams on hold, but it was what people did. They took care of their family.

His eyes were on his knee, and he felt like he’d run a marathon. Suddenly, he was so exhausted he could fall asleep for a year.

“Welcome to the company, Gabriel, if you still want this job after all my prying.”

That was when his exhaustion moved aside for his awe. “Really?” Then he thought about it quickly, realizing he had no idea what the job was about. “Okay, I guess I should ask some questions now.”

“Of course, please!”

Those dark eyes were so beautiful he had to move his sight to right in the middle of them, or he’d never get his questions sorted. “Um…how much do you pay?”

“We start at five hundred a week. I know it’s not much, but there is a lot of opportunity for advancement. Oh, and that’s salary. We sometimes work crazy hours, so keeping track of hourly would be a nightmare.”

“I can’t work when the boys are out of school. I hope that’s not a problem.”

“We have a daycare, Gabriel. I have one woman working here with four kids, all under five years old. Without the daycare, she’d never have been able to work here. And please understand that crazy hours don’t mean you’ll be constantly working. It simply means that sometimes, no one will have to be here on Monday, but we may have to come in for a few hours on Tuesday evening. Nothing past ten, ever. Weekends are usually free, but not always.”

That answered more questions than he had to ask. There was only one that stood out in his mind. “What is the job?”

His laugh sounded like an acoustic guitar, so melodic, not loud, something Gabriel could listen to forever. “Maybe I should lead with that. Honestly, I’m still getting used to hiring people, Gabriel. Everything for me has been small, usually only me and a partner.

“To answer that question, we are an art consortium. We gather artists from all over the country to bring their art out of their studios and into galleries, into buildings, public and private spaces, you know, into the public eye.”

The excitement he showed as he explained was contagious. Gabriel knew nothing about art but watching Alan’s eyes dance, and his hands rub together, the energy was coming off him in waves.

“Bringing little-known artists, unknown artists, into the public, that is what we do. We get their art in doctor’s offices, high-end hotels, and business offices, getting people to see it. We hold street fairs all over the country, and we feature new artists in magazines, newspapers, online, and print. We work to bring art back to the world.”

“That’s amazing, it is, but I’m not an artist. I don’t know art. Not really.”

“Where you will work is in-office, coordinating people to places. We have long lists of all those places I’ve just mentioned and what they’re looking for. On average, we get seven hundred emails a week from artists or companies looking to add art to their offices. You will look through samples and match people with companies. I know it sounds simple, but it’s not. If there is one wrong placement, our reputation will be lowered. Right now, we have so many clients that we’re becoming known worldwide.”

Gabriel was blown away, but he was also scared half to death. “I, uh, don’t know art.”

More of that acoustic melody came from the man’s supple, full lips. “You’ll get a crash course, but I and a few others place the samples into categories. Contemporary, abstract, landscape, and so on and so forth. You’ll be looking for colors and for paintings of women or men if they want portraits. Mountains or deserts for landscapes.”

“Oh! I can do that, sure.”

He stood, reaching his hand across the desk. Gabriel stood, too, taking his hand, but instead of shaking it, they didn’t move for a long moment. Alan’s eyes looked into his, those eyes he’d first seen through the fluff of the beard and Santa hat. Those eyes sent chills down his spine, and at the same time, he felt waves of warmth through every muscle in his body.

With a low and gritty voice, Alan said, “Welcome, Gabriel. Let’s see how we can improve your life.”