Nobody Said It’d be Easy

  Lia opened her mouth only to close it. She’d completely forgotten about the built-ins. The materials were stacked in the building’s garage.

  “We’ll bake some cookies and then trim the tree I got—potted, which you’ll be happy to know.” He shot her a grin.

  A potted tree? Joy replaced the pain she’d felt a minute before. Decorating potted Christmas trees was a tip she’d included in the last edition of her building newsletter and hearing that he didn’t just read the newsletter, but followed her advice put another crack in the wall around her heart.

  “Gabriel, you’re…you won’t be with your daughters for Christmas?”

  “Sure I will. But I’ll be driving back and forth between here and there. I have a ton of work to do and can’t keep one eye on them while I’m doing it.” His eyes lit up. “Did I show you my latest plans?” He stretched to the top of the refrigerator and took down some papers. They were more of his amazing sketches. “Mine is going there, on that wall. Kim and Liv get my room. Their beds will fold up into these sofas. Remember? You picked this one.”

  She flipped through his sketches, saw he’d added desks and shelves and felt his excitement. “You should just take my unit. That one has three bedrooms. Would it help if I spoke to Mr. Kinsella?”

  “No,” he said firmly. “It wouldn’t. Look, I know this isn’t an ideal arrangement, but I’m doing the best I can.”

  She gasped and squeezed his hand. “I’m not judging.”

  Emmy ran in, clutching books in each hand. “Weed, Eee-uh.”

  Lia crouched down, examined the books. “You want to read? Okay. Go sit down. I’ll be there in a minute.” She stood up, looked into Gabe’s stony face. “I know better than anybody just how hard you work to make a good life for your daughters. I can see it. Gabriel. I feel it.”

  He winced and looked away. “I’m sorry for that.” He put the plans back on top of the refrigerator. “The whole reason I said yes to helping Paradigm part-time was so I can afford the difference in rent between this unit and the duplex. But, Lia, that’s a long way off. Years, especially after I bought—” He bit his lip and shrugged. “For right now, remodeling this unit will give us more privacy.”

  “Privacy? You’ll be sleeping in your living room while I have two unused bedrooms across the courtyard.” She folded her arms and shook her head. “That hardly seems fair.”

  “It’s business.” He shrugged. “I’m not taking it personally.”

  Lia took a deep breath, smarting at his implication that she was taking it personally. “I hate feeling that you need help, but there’s nothing I can do for you.”

  “Sure there is,” he said with a gleam in his eye. “You said you have two extra rooms next door. Can you store some of my stuff? If I can get this room and maybe the bedroom empty, that will really help make the work go smoothly.”

  She thought about that for a minute. “I have one room set up as a guest room. We could stack all the mattresses in there, maybe boxes for this stuff.” She waved a hand at the shelf unit currently in his living room.

  “Great. Thanks. See? You helped.” He pecked her on the cheek, then joined Emmy on the sofa and began reading her books. She watched him, her heart swelling.

  He’d given her the words.

  And now, he was backing them up with actions. Little ones, like reading her newsletter. Big ones, like supporting her wins, trusting her judgment…and paying close attention to the things that scared her the most.

  Yes, she thought. Yes.

  *

  The days passed painfully slowly—if you asked the Ivers girls.

  Lia’s punch board game was a hit with the first-graders in Maddie’s class, and her cookie-baking skills thoroughly impressed Gabe’s girls—even Olivia. She’d once told him she didn’t cook, but apparently, baking was a whole different set of skills for her.

  He wasn’t sure how he did it all, but he managed to get cookies, presents, decorations, and daughters all up to their grandparents’ house without losing his temper (the curses he spelled didn’t count) or forgetting anything critical. He’d told Jim at Paradigm he couldn’t make it into the city at all over the next few weeks because of the girls’ holiday break, and he’d told the tenants he’d be available only for emergencies. Any general maintenance would have to wait until after construction.

  It was Day Two of construction.

  Mike arrived on Day One along with two of his buddies that Gabe knew well. With all four of them helping, they got the furniture in Gabe’s living room and bedroom moved to Lia’s. Today, they’d start assembling the hideaway beds in the bedroom for Kim and Liv. He’d ordered white cabinets for the girls’ beds. Each unit had two side bookcases that remained stationary and the doors were concealed by small love seats that folded down when the beds were opened. The two units would be assembled where his bed had stood. There’d be a wardrobe plus a desk and more shelving on the wall surrounding the room’s two windows.

  Alphonse and Isaac, Mike’s pals from his upstate town, hauled up the materials from the locked area in the garage. Tools sat on nearly every flat surface in the apartment. Gabe was standing on a ladder when Mike asked, “So how’s Lia?”

  “Fine,” Gabe snapped, embarrassed to feel his face burn at the question.

  “You guys are good?”

  “We’re fine,” he said again.

  Alphonse exchanged a grin with Mike. “I got a glimpse of her a little while ago. You’re right. She is fine.”

  Embarrassment gave way to annoyance. “Can we just work, please? I gotta leave at three. The in-laws expect me for dinner tonight.”

  “Slacker.” Mike tossed a piece of plastic at him. Gabe just pressed his lips together, fastened another screw into the first bed’s cabinet.

  On the other side of the room, Isaac drilled a hole through the wall for the cable TV. “How many kids you got, man?”

  “Four.”

  He let out a whistle. “They must miss their mom.”

  Gabe’s patience was thinning out. “Sure do.” He stepped off the ladder, called out to Mike. “Okay. Let’s bolt these to the wall and then get the mechanism in place.”

  Mike put his power drill on a windowsill. “Let me the check the level first.”

  With a grunt, Gabe grabbed a stud finder while Mike picked up the level. He marked the locations of the studs in the wall. Mike marked the positions where they’d need to drill in the cabinet to hold the mechanism. After Gabe drilled the holes, Alphonse and Mike fastened the bolts.

  “This kit is great. Pretty easy, actually,” Al said. Gabe merely grunted.

  Isaac sanded the edges of the mattress platform and then fastened the foldaway legs that would support the bed when it was lowered. They’d just gotten the mattress platform connected to the mechanism when a knock sounded on the door.

  Gabe cursed and left the bedroom to answer it.

  “Hi!” Lia said brightly. “I brought you some food.” She held up a pizza box and a six-pack.

  “Oh. Yeah. Thanks,” Gabe muttered. He didn’t want her here. Not now when he’d practically taken off Al’s head.

  Still smiling, she stepped inside, kissed his cheek, and dropped the refreshments on his kitchen counter. “Do I get a sneak preview?”

  Sighing, he shrugged. “If you want.” He led her into what used to be his bedroom. “Guys, this is Amelia Blake. Lia, you know Mike. That’s Alphonse and this is Isaac.”

  “Hi, guys. I brought you some pizza and beer.”

  “Yes!” Isaac disappeared.

  Lia examined the cabinet of the first bed. “Wow. You got a lot done. This looks great. And the girls can operate it alone?”

  “Sure.” Gabe raised and lowered the bed, showed her how the legs that would hold the mattress rotated inside. “I’m using the mattresses I already have. They’ll fit and it saves me some money.”

  “Good idea. Can I help you with anything?” she asked but he shook his head, willing her to just go and let him do what he
needed to do.

  “Okay. You drive safely, okay? Before you go, will you knock on my door? I’ve got something for you.”

  Something else? Jeez. She’d already brought food. Swallowing back a sound of frustration, Gabe nodded. “Sure.”

  “Okay. See you.” She turned to leave, hesitated and then shot him a wicked grin over her a shoulder. “You know,” she whispered. “I never thought I was the kind of girl who got turned on by a guy in a tool belt…”

  Gabe felt his spirits rising. “Yeah?”

  “Oh, yeah. Maybe we’ll play super and tenant one night? I’ll call you to hang a shelf for me. You can bring your…hammer.”

  He snorted and gave her bottom a swat. “Get out of here before I embarrass myself in front of the guys.”

  She kissed his cheek again but that suddenly wasn’t good enough. He caught her before she could disappear and charged. By the time he lifted his head, she was swaying.

  He walked her out. “Bye, guys.” She waved when she reached the door. “Nice meeting you.”

  “Thanks for the pizza,” Mike called after her. “Ivers, what the hell did you do? She ran out of here like a bat outta hell,” he demanded when Gabe shut the door.

  “Bite me.” He snagged a slice and popped the cap off a longneck. “Eat fast. I want the second bed up before I go.”

  Alphonse’s dark eyebrows shot up. “Jeez, sure Ebenezer Ivers.”

  As the other guys laughed at that, Gabe lifted his middle finger.

  *

  Later that afternoon, he knocked on Lia’s back door, as promised. She came to the door wearing jingle bells on her socks. It made him smile.

  “I gotta run. I’m gonna be sitting in a ton of traffic and they’re expecting me for dinner.”

  “I won’t keep you. This is for you and your girls.” She grabbed an enormous shopping bag from a chair in her kitchen and handed it to him. “Open it on Christmas Eve.” She winked.

  “Um. Wow. Yeah. Okay.” He felt like a dick. “Thanks, Lia. Really. But I’ll see you tomorrow.” He pulled her toward him for a kiss that wiped his mind clear.

  “I know. I just wanted the girls to see more presents and build their excitement, you know?”

  Building excitement? Oh, he knew a lot about that.

  He walked down the courtyard steps to his SUV, put the bag inside, and started the engine. He thought about Lia, about her kindness, her softness, her desire to help. And then he got out of the SUV and knocked on her door again—the front one, this time.

  “Gabriel? What’s—”

  “Okay, I get that this is completely spur of the moment and understand if you can’t just drop everything, but…um… Do you…uh… I’d really like… Shit. Okay, would you like to come with me upstate? Have dinner with Janey’s parents? I want everybody to meet you. I want them to know I’m with you.”

  Her jaw dropped and a moment later, her eyes filled. Suddenly, her arms were around his neck. “Oh my God! That…this…oh, Gabriel. You couldn’t have given me a better gift.”

  A feeling of warmth floated over him. “Yeah?” He grinned. Shrugged. “If you say so. So how about it? Can you throw some stuff in a bag and come with?”

  She let him go and beamed up at him. Didn’t hesitate. “I can and I will.”

  And she disappeared up the stairs, coming down barely five minutes later with a large bag on her shoulder. She moved to the kitchen next, tucked more cookies into a fancy gift bag, and then dove into her refrigerator for a bottle of wine. “Okay. I’m ready.”

  Ready, he repeated silently.

  Yeah…so was he. He’d been ready since Thanksgiving.

  Was she?

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Daddy!”

  Gabe hardly had time to close his door before Maddie was running down the driveway toward him. “Hey, Ducky. How are you? I missed you.” He boosted her to one hip and walked around to the passenger door.

  “I missed you, too. This much!” She let go of him long enough to spread her arms apart as far as they would go.

  “How’s Emmy?” he asked.

  “Emmy wet Grandma’s couch and Grandma got mad like this.” Maddie pulled a face that made Gabe roll his eyes and groan, but Lia laughed as she stepped out of the SUV.

  Maddie gasped. “Lia! Hi!” She wriggled free of Gabe so she could fling herself into Lia’s arms. “Did you bring cookies?”

  “Yes, I sure did.”

  “Yay! I’ll tell Grandma.”

  Maddie ran off, shrieking happily into the house while Gabe moved to the rear of the SUV and started unloading the bags Lia had given him.

  “You, uh, ready for this?” he asked her. “Chatty Maddie’s in there right now, spreading good cheer.” He wriggled his fingers. “I figure you’ve got about ten seconds before we’re surrounded.”

  Lia tossed hair that shined like fire over her shoulder, looked at him with a smile. “I’m ready.”

  Gabe glanced toward the house as the laughter and shrieks got louder. “Five seconds.”

  “Gabriel.” She gave him a stern look. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  Her words gave him a much-needed shot in the arm. Or maybe, it was a kick in the ass.

  Okay then.

  He flashed her a grin, took her hand and strode up the front steps and through the door with her at his side. “Hi, everybody.”

  “Gabe?”

  His grip tightened on Lia’s hand when his mother-in-law stood up from her spot beside Emmy on the sofa.

  “Dad-dee! Hi!” Emmy slid off the sofa, ran to the Christmas tree in front of a window and grabbed a toy.

  “Linda. This is Amelia. She’s…um, well. I—”

  “But we call her Lia ’cause we’re friends, right Daddy? Right? Right?”

  “Yes, Ducky.”

  “Dad-dee!” Emmy ran over to him. “See?” She batted him with a stuffed reindeer.

  He scooped her up, propped her on a hip and reclaimed Lia’s hand.

  Linda’s gaze landed on their hands. When she gasped, Gabe knew there’d be no hiding it now. “Lia is Daddy’s girlfriend, Grandma. Right, Daddy? Is she? Lia, are you? Are you my daddy’s girlfriend now?”

  Gabe never took his eyes from Linda. “Yes,” he said simply.

  Linda’s lips wobbled…then curved into a smile that slowly spread. “It’s about damn time, Gabe.” She grabbed him in a tight hug and then turned to Lia. “Hi. Welcome. I’m Linda Haggerty, Gabe’s mother-in-law.” She hugged Lia, too.

  It took Lia a few seconds to catch up but she returned the hug. “I hope it’s okay that I’m here.” Maddie and Emmy hugged her, too.

  “Honey, like I said. It’s about damn time. Let me take your coat.”

  “Oh, um, these are for you.” Lia handed Linda the bag of cookies and bottle of wine.

  “Thank you. That’s so thoughtful.”

  “Where are Kim and Liv?” Gabe asked.

  “Upstairs, honey. They’re braiding hair.”

  “Be right back.” Gabe put the baby down and kissed Lia’s cheek.

  He headed upstairs to the room Linda kept for her granddaughters, found Kim brushing Olivia’s dark tresses on one of the room’s twin beds.

  “Ow, Kimberly! Not so hard.”

  “Well, if you tried brushing it once in a while, it wouldn’t get all snarled up like this.”

  “I wish it were blonde like yours.”

  “The color doesn’t matter. You have to take care of it. Use that brush Lia bought us.”

  “Lia’s hair isn’t like ours.” Olivia moved the clip so she could see. “It’s like, red.”

  “It’s called auburn.”

  “Daddy likes it.”

  The smile on Gabe’s face dimmed. Kimberly clipped a huge section of Olivia’s hair in front of her face.

  “So what?”

  Olivia shrugged. Kim took out the clip and started weaving sections into a French braid. “Maybe he likes it better than brown hair.”

  This time, it was Kim?
??s turn to shrug. “That’s dumb.”

  Gabe might have laughed if that hadn’t hurt so damn much. He cleared his throat. “Not dumb. But it’s impossible.”

  “Hey, Dad.”

  “Hi, Daddy.”

  He stepped inside, hugged both girls, and sat next to them on the bed. “Girls, just because Lia’s hair isn’t like yours does not mean I want yours to be different,” he began just as Maddie ran into the room, shouting the news.

  “Kimby! Livvie! Lia’s here and she’s got cookies and more presents!”

  Maddie skidded to a stop, a sheepish expression on her face when she found Gabe already talking to her sisters.

  “Madison. What have we talked about?”

  She held out her hand. “Want a bite of my cookie?”

  Gabe folded his arms. “Maddie.”

  “‘Christmas is about giving, not getting,’” she recited.

  He sighed, too tired to make a big deal out of this.

  Olivia pulled away from Kimberly’s hands, shook her hair out. “You brought Lia?” she asked, not meeting his eyes.

  Gabe put an arm around her shoulders. “I did. Is that a problem?”

  She folded her arms and said nothing.

  “Daddy. It’s cool. We really like Lia,” Kimberly said. “Right, Liv?”

  It took her a minute, but finally, Liv nodded. Gabe exhaled slowly. Good. This was good news. Not that he was anxious about it. Okay. Maybe a little. “Thanks, Cocoa-Pop.”

  “You’re not gonna forget Mommy, are you?” Olivia asked.

  Maddie laughed. “That’s silly. Daddy can’t ever forget Mommy ’cause he has us.”

  Gabe pointed a finger at Maddie. “What she said.” That pulled a small smile out of Olivia. “Come on. Let’s go say hi to Lia, okay?”

  “Daddy, will you braid my hair? Kim can’t do it.”

  “I could if you’d stop moving,” she shot back.

  “Sure, Newton. Come on.”

  “Me, too, Daddy? Can I have a braid, too? Please?”

  Gabe had a thought. “Maybe Lia knows how to do braids.”

  Maddie’s eyes lit up and she ran downstairs. To his surprise, Olivia grabbed the hairbrush and some elastics and followed.