4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

After licking his lips, Alan stared at him as if he were taking in the answer and sorting it in his mind. “Just when I think you couldn’t be more perfect.”

His voice was a trembling of deep, low tones that shook through Gabriel. The words, however, were all wrong. “I’m nowhere near perfect. I lick my wounds about missing out on my former dreams. Usually, when I’m alone after the boys are asleep.”

“Former dreams?”

“Yes, I mean, they’re still there, but they’ve just moved down in the queue of the goals in my life now. My mom raised me, probably giving up any dream she may have had. I owe it to her and to the boys to do the same for them. I love them, so it’s not the giant sacrifice it could be.”

Alan finished his coffee and set the cup down, staring into it as he asked, “You’ve told me about your career goals, dreams, whatever you’d like to call them. What about personally?”

Gabriel watched him avoid looking over, avoiding Gabriel’s eyes. “Personally, like…guys?”

Finally, Alan’s eyes moved up, and he smiled, finally fully confirming Gabriel was gay, perhaps. “Or, you know, a guy.”

Without a clue what to say, he fumbled, “I don’t know, I, uh…I haven’t had time to think about it, but…it would be nice. Yeah.”

“Final intrusive question, Gabriel, and this isn’t from me, it’s from…Santa. What do you wish for, those nights after the boys go to sleep besides your career?”

Gabriel was at a loss until, suddenly, he wasn’t. “When I lost my mom, you know, it took the foundation of my life away. That person, the one you can always count on, to give you completely unconditional love. I guess it would be that.”

“I’ll see if Santa can’t help you out.”

Polly came in then and interrupted the look across that table that floored him. Alan’s eyes met his joltingly, and it was all Gabriel could do to keep from crying.

“Hey, Boss? You busy?”

“No, Polly, what’s up?”

“Karen Mallory is on the phone for you. She wants ten more landscapes for her new London offices.”

Alan gently slapped the table and told Gabriel, “Looks like you’re about to get a crash course.”

“Let’s get it done.”

In the office, he sat at the computer with Alan over his shoulder. The warmth of his sweet breath smelled of espresso, and the heat of his body so close was distracting, but he managed to focus on the screen enough to do what Alan was asking.

“Okay, there, see landscapes? Open that file.”

He did, and the document said it was eighty-seven pages long. “Wow, that is a lot.”

“I told you. Okay, now, open the Karen Mallory file. Her preferences are included in it, including those of the artists she’s purchased previously. Polly should have already input the information on sizes she needs for the new space.”

With a few clicks of the mouse, he had her file pulled up and the sizes and preferences there in a separate window. “Okay, that’s easy enough.”

“Okay, now, cross reference her wants with the landscapes we have in those eighty-seven pages. You should get around two hundred.”

“Two hundred?”

“Yes,” he said with a chuckle. “I told you; we have a lot.”

Gabriel’s mind finally got off Alan and onto the task. “How do I know which to send?”

“Read her profile, go through the two hundred, and let your imagination go. Most of our clients send pictures of the offices or whatever, and we give them our expertise.”

“I have no expertise.”

“Shh,” he hissed, then laughed. “She doesn’t know that. Don’t worry, Gabriel. We won’t let you send something terrible. I’ll personally look over your first offers.”

That was a huge relief. “How many offers do we usually send?”

“Sometimes one. Other times, like with her, it could be upwards of fifty. By the time she narrows her choices, you’ll be able to read her for next time. She’s a very gifted architect. Buildings all over the world, and the reason she took a chance on us is because someone took a chance on her.”

Gabriel let out a long breath and whispered, “No pressure.”

“Not much.”

Gabriel read over the client's demands. Saying anything less than demands was a huge stretch. She was clear, concise, and forceful in her email.

She did include pictures of the offices she wanted the art to decorate, and the more Gabriel looked over the layouts, the more familiar he became with their feel.

As he started to look through the hundreds of pictures of the landscapes, he found they weren’t the kind of landscapes he was used to seeing. They weren’t desert scenes with cacti and amazing sunsets. They were much more abstract, much more beautiful, and almost monochromatic.

With his eyes darting from one window to the other, he began to find a rhythm. The other colors in the offices, between furniture and wall color, helped. The subtle colors in the marble in the floor tiles were brought out, in his mind, with the similar colors of the artwork.

Before he knew it, he’d chosen a dozen pieces, but his phone alarm was sounded, and he stood and stretched.

Letting Polly know he’d be back with one of the boys, he left feeling accomplished. He was sure she wouldn’t like his choices, but it didn’t seem like such a daunting task as he first feared.

Gabriel lined up with the other parents at the elementary school, and then he got a call from Alan, which surprised him. He picked up, answering, “Hello? I hope Polly told you I had to pick up Tristan at two.”

“Of course! Never let this get in the way of the boys! No, I was calling to confess I sneaked in to see if you’ve found anything we could send to Ms. Mallory, and I was shocked at the paintings you’d chosen.”

“Awful,” he said, cringing.

“Quite the contrary, Gabriel. These are perfect. I’ll be surprised if she finds something wrong with them, but with her, eh, she probably will. You’ve got the knack. I’ll see you soon. By the way, you missed lunch, you know.”

“I got so into working that I didn’t think about it.”

“I’m ordering in for the office. What does your brother like to eat?”

“Pancakes, ice cream, candy, pizza.”

“Burgers?”

“Sure, he loves those too. Could you possibly get one for Brandon, too? I’ll pay for it, but I’ll get him in an hour and a half, and he’s always hungry.”

“I’ll get him one fresh, then, and I said it was on me.”

Gabriel smiled. “I’ll remember to pack us some food tomorrow.”

“You don’t like taking help, I see. Well, I think you’d better get used to it.”

When the call ended, he whispered to the phone, “Are you trying to make me fall in love with you? Dang!”

Tristan was waiting in line with the other kids. As soon as he was up, he parked and rushed out to grab him and get him into his booster seat. “How was your day, buddy?”

“I ate paste, and Miss McGee was mad! She said that wasn’t good for me.”

“Well, it’s not.”

“’kay,” he said and wiggled as Gabriel tried to buckle him in.

“Tristan, settle your hyper butt.”

He started to giggle and yelled to his teacher, “My brother said butt!”

After he snapped the belt, he turned, embarrassed, but she just waved, so he got back in the Jeep quickly, moving the thing so the line could move too.

Gabriel explained as they started for the office, “Okay, bud, we’re going to Gabe’s new work. You’re going to stay in the daycare, okay?”

“’kay.”

“And no eating paste! How about a burger?”

“Yum. No pickles!”

“I’ll take them off if they have them.”

“’kay.”

After Gabriel took a turn on one of the side streets, Tristan started to go into one of his long stories that rarely went anywhere, but Gabriel loved to hear him talk, so he didn’t mind.

“I found a quarter in the play balls, and Ms. McGee let me keep it, but Hannah wanted it, so I gave it to her, but she didn’t ask her mom.”

Gabriel waited for more, but Tristan was already watching the people walking by the Tasty Freeze.

“And? Did you keep it?”

“Kin we have ice cream?”

Laughing, Gabriel said, “No, buddy. Not now.”

“’kay. Where’s Brandon?”

If Gabriel had a quarter for every time Tristan asked that…

“You know where he is, Tristan.”

“School?”

“Yes, Tristan.”

“When I grow up, I’m gonna be a teacher. Kin I teach about dinos, and Brandon could learn dinos from me, about their bites and how they stomp on the little dinos and stuff?”

Never realizing before he’d taken over raising the boys, he figured out quickly his mother had been a saint. With all the patience he could muster, he answered, “Yes, Tristan.”

“’kay.”

When they were close to work, he gave Tristan a couple of rules. He’d never been to the daycare. “Tristan, when we get there, best behavior, okay? No hitting. Share toys and be nice to the other kids, okay? We want to be good for Gabe’s new job.”

“Does paste taste like may-maise?”

“Mayonnaise?”

“Yeah.”

“No, Tristan, it doesn’t.”

“’kay. That’s good.”

As he parked, he asked calmly, “Buddy, did you hear me about behaving at this daycare?”

“No being bad. I’m not bad. Brandon’s bad.”

“Brandon’s not bad. He’s…sad.”

“’kay.”

Gabriel huffed a laugh and got out, then grabbed Tristan from the backseat, took his hand, and led him into the office.

The moment they were inside, Polly came around from the desk and knelt on the floor. “You must be Tristan. I’m Polly.”

“Hi, Polly!”

She smiled up at Gabriel before turning her attention back to the boy. “Gabriel’s told us all about you. He said you were a very nice little boy.”

Tristan smiled up at Gabriel. “Gabe’s my brother.”

“I know. He’s a good brother, I’ll bet.”

Tristan rubbed one eye as he went into one of his long-winded explanations. “He reads me stories at night when I’m tired, but that’s after my bath, ‘cause I am a stinky butt, he says.” He made an O with his mouth as he looked up to Tristan. “Sorry. I cursed.”

“It’s okay.”

“’kay. He cooked turkey for us but,” he lowered his voice to a whisper to finish, “I don’t like turkey.”

“No?”

“But mashed tatoes were my favorite, and then we got to eat pie, and he let me put ice cream on it, so I just ate the ice cream, but he wasn’t mad. He didn’t cook it. He tried, but it burneded, so he got another one from the store.”

Polly stood and winked at Gabriel. “They’re waiting down in the daycare for you both, and his food will be sent down unless you want him to eat with you?”

“No, no, it’s fine. Thanks, Polly.”

They walked down the hall, and Alan met them near the door to the basement. “Hey, this must be Tristan.”

Tristan looked up to Gabriel and asked, “What’s musbe?”

“Must. Be. It just means they know you’re one of my little brothers.”

“Oh,” he said, then nodded to Alan. “I’m musbe Tristan.”

Alan held out his hand as he leaned down to Tristan’s level. “It’s very nice to meet you, Tristan, I’m Alan.”

Tristan looked up to see if it was okay that he takes the stranger’s hand, and once Gabriel gave the okay, he let go of Gabriel’s hand and shook Alan’s. “Hi, Alan.”

“I’ll see you later, okay?”

“’kay.”

After depositing Tristan in the daycare and watching him running off with the girls to play, he got back to his office right on time for the food to come. Alan brought it himself. “Come eat in the breakroom, then get your brother and head home for the day. You can finish this tomorrow.”

“Did I do something wrong?”

“No!”

They sat at one of the tables, and Alan handed him the bag with his food.

“This was your first day, and you’ve already done well. I know you are going to be juggling your job and those boys. Like I said, Gabriel, salary. I’m not stripping you of hours here.”

“I didn’t think that.”

“The landscapes you chose were great. I’m sending them all to her. We won’t hear back from her immediately, and that is fine. She’s discerning, Gabriel. And that is a nice way to put it. She may want to give back because someone took a chance on her, but she doesn’t just hand over opportunities. She is tough, and that is a good thing. People that know her that see her using our services, it’s a huge boost to our reputation.”

“So, am I coming in tomorrow?”

“Yes, you sure are. And we’ll get you another couple of clients. I’m not leaving you without a safety net, but I am confident you’re ready.”

His confidence in him was like warm arms on a very cold day. “Thank you, Alan. You don’t know what this job, what you’ve done for me.”

*****

Watching Gabriel leave with Tristan, Alan stood at the door, waving. Diedre stood beside him and said, “What are you doing, Alan? If you wanted to date him, ask him out. Don’t hire him.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Don’t bullshit me, kid.”

Alan smiled and tried to avoid it. “If you’d seen him at the mall, two little kids, and him, and he’s trying so hard to be a father. He needed a job, D. He needs…a lot of help.”

“Help him. But keep your heart on a leash. One thing that kid wouldn’t be able to handle right now is heartbreak.” She leaned in, whispering, “And neither can you.”

“I’d sooner cut off my own arm than to ever hurt him.”