The Ex Files (Ocean View #1)(27)

The thought reminds me I need to figure out a date for my dad’s wedding. Shit.

“You can call me Gabi, you know.” Her voice comes through a mouthful of noodles, chopsticks resting in the white container from the killer Chinese food place down the road.

“Huh?” I look over at her, missing the guy catching his first glimpse of the woman and probably deciding to marry her and have a million babies with her.

“Gabi. You always call me Gabrielle. You can call me Gabi. All of… all of my friends do.”

“Oh.” The word sounds confused, and, in all fairness, I am.

“Or you can call me Gabrielle if you’re more comfortable with that.”

“No, it’s not—it’s…” How do I explain to my sweet assistant that I don’t really have friends and no concept for acting without sounding like a fucking loser? I’m sitting on the floor of my apartment, leaning against the couch she’s sitting on. My eyes lock on the TV, but I don’t see anything anymore. Before I say more, I take a huge sip of the sake I bought to go with our food. Considering the hangover I woke up with this morning, I should not be drinking again, but… “I don’t have any friends.”

She chokes on her food.

“Oh, my God! Are you okay?” She coughs a few times before taking a sip of her own sake.

“Yeah, sorry. What do you mean, you have no friends?”

I sigh. This is embarrassing. Ever since I met Luke on the side of the road, I’ve been one embarrassing overshare after another.

“It’s not that I don’t have friends. It’s more that all of the friends I have are married, and… we drifted. So I haven’t taken the time to… make new ones.”

“You’re very… formal with people,” she says.

“Yeah, I know.” I laugh. “But it’s a product of my childhood. Only child. We moved a few times when I was a kid, different schools every few years. I never had the chance to connect with people. And then my dad….” Gabi smiles, the look relaxed and friendly, like she’s settling in for a good story. Like she’s turned off the ‘employee’ switch and gone to ‘girlfriend.’

“Okay, that’s it. This might get me fired, but I’ve been dying to know what’s going on there. What is up with your parents?” I’ve never seen this side of her, this sweatpants-and-Chinese-and-gossip side. It’s… fun.

“You won’t get fired,” I laugh. For a moment, the uptight librarian in my mind warns me not to open up, not to tell personal details to my employee, but then I push her aside and move forward. Maybe Luke was right—perhaps I need to open up more, to have more fun. To be a human and not a robot. “It’s kind of a long story. My parents were together for twenty years and had me after they married. My dad traveled for work a lot, and we moved around a bit, but we never settled until we landed a few towns from here the last five years I was in grade school… When I graduated high school, he told my mom he was leaving her, and since we’d moved there, he’d had another woman on the side. So when he was ‘traveling,’” I use air quotes to tell her it’s a loose term, “he was living with his mistress. Actually, mistresses, since our moves were less about his work and more about his side pieces. We suffered financially when I was a kid—not a ton, but enough I noticed. It turned out he actually had a good chunk of money; he just was using it for his other life.”

“No way!” Gabi gasps, her eyes wide and unbelieving. I’m just realizing now this might be the first time I’ve told anyone the story outright, and it actually is pretty gasp-worthy. Instead of saying that, I just nod before continuing my tale.

“So my mom sued him for a ton of money and got alimony, even though the reason he stayed was so he wouldn’t have to pay child support. It was messy. Now she spends her days between rehab and wellness retreats. She’s my mom, but she’s kind of a mess. It seems valid, considering her entire life was a lie, but still. She feels like she wasted her best years on him, which… again… valid.” Gabi nods in agreement.

“Cassie, I’m so sorry. That’s crazy. It had to be so hard for you. Did they make you choose sides?” My mind drifts back to my college life, where I graduated in only three years by taking classes on campus instead of going home and avoiding having to choose where to go. Working my ass off to impress my dad so he wouldn’t forget me the way he forgot my mom.

What good that did.

Last I spoke with him, excitedly telling him about the successful business I’ve built from the ground up, he said, “So you’re a matchmaker who can’t find a man?”

The friends I made in college were superficial. We’d go to classes together, they’d invite me to parties, that kind of thing. But I was so wrapped up in graduating and avoiding home, and, as my therapist tells me, trying to process my own trauma after finding out about my dad’s deceit, I couldn’t create any bonds with my classmates. After graduation, most only reached out with requests to be matched or to invite me to lavish weddings to get a nice gift from their registry.

“Yes, and no. He left a few days after I left for college, and then during the first winter break, I stayed on campus. Most holidays, I would split, and then for summers and breaks, I just… stayed at school. That’s how I graduated early. I didn’t want to have to choose. Plus, he’s a bit bitter with me. I look a lot like my mother, so I think when he sees me, he sees the fact he stayed for so long to hold on to his money but still has to pay her alimony. It’s a mess, to be honest. When I graduated, I had an apartment and started The Ex Files. Most of the time, my mom is off on some retreat and my dad is occupied with his… wives.”