Chapter 38

If I found one more pack hidden in this room, I was going to lose my mind.

To be fair, Uncle Drew only had a few packs of cigarettes stashed in random places. And it didn't come across like he'd been hiding them. It was more like he'd put them somewhere and forgotten where he'd put them. Most of them were missing only a couple of the cancer-causing sticks, so it felt like a ton of money going down the drain as I tossed them in the garbage can.

Would he be mad at me when he got home tomorrow and found them all gone? Maybe, but I didn't give a shit. This had been one health scare too many.

Gabriella stood in the doorway to the bedroom, holding up yet another half-empty pack. "Did you find any more?"

"Only a few. Thanks for helping me with this, Gabi."

She grinned. "You know, when I was really little, my momma called me Gabi. No one has really called me that since. Grandma constantly insisted that a lady should always go by her full name."

I snorted a laugh. "Your grandma was full of crap. You should be who you want to be."

A blush painted her cheeks as she came into the room and sat on the corner of the bed. Her skirt fanned out around her hips and she toyed with the edge of it. I quickly learned that she did it when she was either nervous or had something on her mind.

"How long did it take you to be comfortable with who you are?"

The question was loaded. I sat on the floor and looked at her. The more time I spent with her, the more obvious the family resemblance became. I sort of liked having a cousin to talk to. "It took longer than it should have. I made some mistakes because I was scared to be me."

She nodded. "Was Chase one of those mistakes?"

I sighed heavily, crossed my legs, and shook my head. How did I go about explaining this to her? "I hurt him. But I think things are finally back on track."

The smile that spread across Gabriella's face was so blinding it could have lit up the entire house. "I'm glad. I think you two are so sweet together."

The conversation seemed finished, and she offered her hand to help me up. We had to finish several more things to make sure the house was ready for Uncle Drews return tomorrow.

Chase showed up halfway through the day to help. He'd taken over Uncle Drew's computer and was able to check the properties and help people who were renting in his absence. It also gave us a job to do again. The houses weren't going to clean themselves.

At the end of the day, we sat at the dining table for a home-cooked meal of steak with garlic mashed potatoes and green beans. It all felt a little surreal; like we'd somehow become a little family unit over the last couple of weeks that Uncle Drew had been in the hospital. Gabriella refused to let us eat out most days and even Max was putting on a few pounds since she'd looked up a few pet food recipes and was making his meals from scratch as well. She'd even packed up a few containers for Chase to take home to Oreo.

"So what are your plans, Gabriella?" Chase asked her.

That blush was back, and she cleared her throat. "Please, you can call me Gabi. I think I like it."

He smiled, looking back and forth between the two of us. "No problem, Gabi. Do you have any plans once Drew is back?"

She sighed as she set her fork down on the table. "Part of me wants to stay here with my dad until he gets a little more settled again. He shouldn't overdo things right away."

I nodded and agreed. "But you took care of your grandma for years as well, didn't you?"

She shrugged. "I did, but I think that might be my calling. I've been thinking about what you said earlier about not being afraid of who I really am. I'm a natural helper and working at Homeport is nice and all... but it's not me. Maybe I can look into nursing school."

I could see her doing it, even if I didn't know her all that well, but that meant leaving Uncle Drew by himself for a while. You couldnt do nursing school online. You had to attend a physical location. But maybe that was the push Uncle Drew needed to finally move somewhere his health could get some better attention.

"If that's what you want, I think you should go for it."

That smile from earlier was back as we finished dinner. The three of us collaborated to clean the kitchen, and afterward, Chase and I left Gabi for the night.

Things were dark at the camper and when we walked up to the door, I almost tripped over the damn bike that Chase had insisted on riding around so much when I first got here. I hadn't realized it was his only mode of transportation, but I felt better knowing he was so close to the center of town and that walking wasn't that much of a hardship.

"You seriously told her not to be afraid?" Chase's eyes were full of awe as we sat in the dim lighting of his tiny dining table. Oreo purred on my lap and Chase made a face, calling her a traitor for the millionth time.

My heart fluttered in my chest, and my stomach swam with butterflies. "I messed up. I don't want to see anyone miss out on anything like I did because they were too afraid."

Chase rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. "I really hate you sometimes."

I laughed and leaned toward him. Oreo let out an annoyed little chirp as she jumped out of my lap. "You don't hate me. Why would you say something like that?"

"Because you know how to say the swooniest shit sometimes. It makes it hard to be mad about anything."

We both chuckled before he leaned in and placed a quick peck against my lips. There was no way I would ever be content with that. My hand hooked into the hair at the back of his neck, holding him in place. He gasped and my tongue swept into his mouth.

God, I could get drunk on the sounds he made when I kissed him.

"Chase..."

He didn't let me finish when we broke apart. He just pulled me from my seat and sealed his mouth over mine once more, dragging me to bed.

"Quit being so damn ornery."

"I'll be ornery if I want to. I'm old. I earned the right."

I rolled my eyes as my uncle tried once again to go to the backyard to work on whatever the hell it was. He wasn't that old, especially since I didn't consider my parents to be that old.

"The doctor said you need to rest." Gabi rested her hands on her hips and gone were the skirts and dresses, having been replaced with jeans.

"Rest. Bullshit. I rested for two damn weeks in that place and now for three days since I've been home. I'm about to go crazy."

Max jumped about the room excitedly as we tried to block my uncle from going out the back door. Maybe Max needed to go out, but for the time being, both of them were staying in until Uncle Drew calmed down. "I get it. You want your normalcy back."

Uncle Drew deflated and sat in one of the kitchen chairs. He didn't look anywhere near as lively as he had before the heart attack. It had changed him and not for the better. You'd think he'd learn.

"Can you blame me?"

Gabi crouched in front of him. "Papa, we want you better. All that stuff can wait."

Uncle Drew's eyes grew misty as he stared at the girl in front of him. His hands shook as he cupped her face. He must have realized just how scared she'd been to almost lose her entire family. Much the way Chase had.

"You're right."

I never thought I'd see the day that Uncle Drew gave in that easily to anyone, but it must be different when it came to your own flesh and blood. Not that we were any less special, but Gabi was the daughter he'd been denied.

He got up and made his way back into the living room. The tension eased and I let Max out the back door that he still danced in front of. The poor dog had to be holding it while we'd been fighting with my uncle.

Uncle Drew sat on the couch and Gabi brought him a glass of water. She sat next to him and grabbed the remote from the table. The television clicked on and the room filled with the dull rumble of two women arguing over who'd been dating the man in between them first. I had to fight back the laugh as Gabi didn't bother to change the channel. Did she enjoy watching these shows as well, or was she merely tolerating them in order to spend time with her father?