Breaking Down

Chapter 28

28

Tyler

The weekend when my father was home, I didn’t work at all. I stayed home with my father and Gabi. To say I was surprised by her was an understatement. Gabi was nothing more than kind to my father and helpful. She made plenty of food and even tried to adhere to my father's strict diet.

Her brother and cousins were still at the tournament, which I knew made her a little jealous. Though Hannah invited her and the other girls for a sleepover on Saturday, Gabi only went for dinner, saying she wanted to give my father and me some alone time. But she came back early, in case we needed her.

When Monday came, I had to go back to work. I hated leaving my father alone at home like that. Maybe I should have hired a nurse to stay with him. Or maybe I should have called the clinic and called out for the day.

I was messing with my phone, searching my contacts, when Gabi joined me in the kitchen. She halted by my side, a steaming cup of coffee in her hand.

“I know what’s going on,” she said, her voice low.

I glanced at her, then at my father, who was seated on the couch, watching the news in the living room, not too far away from us.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“You’re worried about him.” She turned to me. “I’ll take care of him. You don’t need to worry.”

I gaped at her. “You don’t need to do that.”

“I don’t need to do that,” she said with one short nod. “I want to do that. Besides, the guys are still away, the girls are either in school or working, and I have no one else to bother.”

“But …”

Before I could say anything, Gabi walked away from me and sat down beside my father. I watched in awe as she talked to him about their day. A walk in the nearby park, maybe go see a movie—she had found a movie theater playing classics, then come back for a nap.

“—and if you want, we can go see Branca, my mare. Would you like that?”

“My dear, I would love that,” my father said, his eyes shining with wonder. He was totally in love with her.

And I didn’t know what to do about that.

She looked at me with a grin, then winked.

I swallowed the lump that lodged in my throat. Before I thought too much about it and lost my nerve, I agreed to it.

Wednesday was my father’s last day with us at the apartment. The next morning, he needed to go back to the hospital for his treatment. Because of that, Gabi had prepared another banquet, though everything had been a little modified to fit my father’s diet.

Still, he had loved everything and couldn’t stop complimenting her and her food and her smile and her kindness … I had to grab his arm and take him to his bedroom, otherwise he would drool at her feet all night long.

After making sure he was okay and settled in bed, I went to Gabi’s room. She was already in her pajamas—a loose shirt and mini shorts that showed way too much of her toned legs.

Suddenly, the room felt too warm.

“Everything okay?” Gabi asked as she slipped into her bed.

I sat down on my makeshift bed on the floor. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but I wouldn’t want to sleep here for another week, or more.

I let out a sigh. “Yeah, I think so.” I opened my mouth to tell her how much I hated leaving my father at the hospital, but closed it again. I knew it was best for him there. I couldn’t take care of him properly here.

Without asking, I scooted closer to the door and turned the lights off. I slipped into bed but didn’t close my eyes. There was too much on my mind for comfort.

“I can hear your breathing,” Gabi said, her voice low. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

No, I wasn’t sure. “How about those interview questions?” I asked, changing subjects. Working on those would definitely distract me. “Do you know those by heart, or do you need the lights?”

“Hm, I don’t know them all by heart, but I do know there are a lot of questions about our childhood and growing up.” She paused. “Like, what do you remember when you were a child? Where did you go to school? What was the name of your best friend? Things like that.”

That was easy. I told her about my school, about my friends, about loving horses, about starting vet school, and about meeting Garrett. I also told her about how I had to drop school to work and pay the bills, which brought my mood down again.

But then Gabi told me about her tight family, polo, her family’s ranch, the horses, the thousands of tournaments, the trips … Her life looked divine, directly from a movie. There had to be something wrong with her family. Such perfection wasn’t true.

“Tell me something bad about your family,” I prodded. Seriously, if there was nothing, I would go nuts right here, right now.

But then she told me a few things. About Leo’s past with alcohol and his rehab time. About coming to the United States, and the mess with Hannah’s ex-boyfriend, who had actually killed her grandmother, her horse, tried to kill her father, and more. About Ricardo’s ex-girlfriend who sold the story of Leo’s past to a reporter because Eric had assured her they would all go back to Brazil after that. How Ricardo hadn't dated since that betrayal. Then, she told me about Bia. I knew Bia had met Garrett in Colorado, but I had no idea she had walked away from their perfect family because of the pressure she felt at being a Fernandes. Next was Guilherme and Hilary’s story with their own complications before they finally became a couple.

“And then there’s Pedro,” she said. “We thought he had met his soulmate when he started dating Iris, but a couple of months ago, she disappeared from our lives, and Pedro refuses to tell us what happened.”

I stared at the darkness around me. Why was it a little satisfying to know they weren’t that perfect after all? Though, of course I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, not even them.

I cleared my throat. “What else? The questions, I mean. What else should we know for the interview?”

“Hm, let me think.” She clicked her tongue. “Oh, about our parents. Did you get along with your parents? Did they get along with each other?”

Shit.

That topic had the same effect as talking about her family. It took my mind off my father’s illness, but it went directly to another dark place. Though, this one used to make me mad when I was younger. Now it made me sad. “I don’t know much about my mother. All I know is that she upped and left when I was four years old, and that now she’s married and has more kids.”

Gabi was quiet for a long time. “You never talked to her?”

“Nope.” I sighed. “In all these years, I only saw her once from a distance, and she was with her two boys and one girl.”

“Droga. I’m sorry I brought it up.”

I shrugged, though she couldn’t see it in the dark. “It’s okay. I guess you would have found out someday, somehow.” I pulled the thin blanket I had set beside me up to my chest. “Tell me about yours.”

“My what? My mother?”

“Yes.”

“Bom … I don’t know. I never had any problems with her, I guess. She was always there for me, and pushed me to be better, to do better. The only problem I have with my parents is polo.” She paused. “And now you.”

I chuckled. “Right. Me.”

“Speaking of which,” she continued, serious. “We should go to Brazil.”

I became serious. She had talked about this before we had moved in together. “Oh-kay.”

“I’m serious,” she said. “I think it’s better if we go and appease them there, then to have them come here to harass us.”

I wanted to tell her that I wouldn’t be going to Brazil, but that wouldn’t be fair. After all she had done for my father these past few days, it was only right if I repaid the favor.

Shit. “All right, we can go. Just tell me what I need to do.”

“All we need to do is choose a day and buy the plane tickets.”