Gabriel's Inferno (Gabriel's Inferno #1)(161)
Gabriel and Julia didn’t say much on the drive to the restaurant. Almost all the words they needed to speak had already been spoken. They held hands like teenagers in the car. Julia beamed when Gabriel gave her his Magdalen College scarf and said that he wanted her to have it. When they arrived at the restaurant, Tom’s truck was nowhere to be found.
“I guess we’re lucky.” Julia sounded relieved.
“He’ll have to be told eventually. I’ll tell him, if you wish.”
Julia turned her head to see if he was serious. He was. “He told me to stay away from you. He thinks you’re a criminal.”
“Then you should let me tell him. You’ve taken enough abuse to last a lifetime.”
“Gabriel, my father never abused me. He isn’t a bad man. He’s just — misguided.”
Gabriel rubbed his mouth but said nothing.
“I’m not going to say anything until we’re back in Toronto and the semester is over. It will be easier to explain on the phone. But I should go.
He’ll be here any minute.”
Gabriel kissed her lightly, caressing her cheek with the back of his hand. “Call me later.”
“I will.” She kissed him again and slipped out of the Jeep.
He pulled her luggage out of the back and placed it at her feet, leaning forward to whisper in her ear, “I’m already fantasizing about our first time.”
Julia blushed and murmured, “Me too.”
Tom Mitchell was a man of few words. He was incredibly average-looking — of medium height and build with medium brown hair and rather medium brown eyes. Despite his failure as a father and whatever failures he had been guilty of as a husband, he was a dedicated volunteer and very active in municipal life. In fact, he enjoyed an excellent reputation amongst the townsfolk of Selinsgrove, and his opinion was frequently sought after in all matters municipal.
To Tom’s credit, he and Julia spent an enjoyable day together. The regulars at Kinfolks restaurant welcomed her gladly, and he was able to brag to them about how well she was doing in graduate school and how she was applying to Harvard for her PhD.
He took her for a drive around town to see some of the new building projects, pointing out how Selinsgrove had grown even during her short absence. And he brought her to a first-aid training session that was being hosted at the fire house so that his colleagues could tell her how much her old man talked about her. Afterward, they went grocery shopping, because for various reasons Tom didn’t keep a lot of food in the house. Later that afternoon, he skipped the football game so that they could watch an old movie together. Yes, it was the director’s cut of Blade Runner, but it was a film that they both wanted to see, and they quite enjoyed it.
When it was over, Julia handed him a beer, thus encouraging him to watch football while she made Grace’s famous chicken Kiev for dinner.
Finally alone, she sent a short text to Gabriel: G, Just making Grace’s chicken Kiev and a lemon meringue pie for Dad.
He’s watching football. Hope you’re having a great day.
I’ll call you around 6:30. Your Julia. XO
A few minutes later, while Julia was in the middle of assembling two casseroles of chicken Kiev, one for that evening and one for Tom to freeze, her iPhone chirped with an incoming text:
My Julia, I’ve missed you. We’re watching football too.
R and A have kissed and made up and set a date.
Richard is something of a miracle worker, I think, or perhaps it was you?
You don’t know what it means to me to hear you say that you are mine.
Looking forward to your call. I am yours, Gabriel XO
Julia fairly floated in the kitchen, buoyed as she was by Gabriel’s words and the moments they’d shared the previous night. Her dream was going to come true. After years of dreaming, Gabriel was going to be her first.
All the tears and trouble and the humiliation with Simon were now forgotten. She’d waited for the man she loved, and now she was going to have the first time she’d always desired. And in Florence, of all places. She had many things to be thankful for, including the string of pearls around her neck. She was pretty sure that Grace had had a hand in everything, and she silently whispered her thanks.
When she was finished with her preparations, Julia placed one of the casseroles of chicken Kiev in the oven and walked the second one down to the basement. Upon opening the freezer, she was surprised to find a lot of pre-made meals, stored in Tupperware or wrapped in tin foil, many of which had little notes on them signed Love, Deb.
Julia resisted the urge to gag at the sight of them. Deb Lundy was a nice lady, and she seemed to take good care of Tom. But her daughter Natalie was another story, and Julia couldn’t even fathom how upset she would be if Deb and Tom decided to move in together or God forbid, get married. That would be disturbing on more than one level.
Julia pushed all thoughts of Deb and Natalie aside and devoted her full attention to preparing her father’s favorite dessert, which was lemon meringue pie. He tended to prefer the pie that was served at Kinfolks, but that didn’t stop Julia from making her own.
She was just putting the pie into the oven when the telephone rang.
Tom answered it and within seconds was cursing loudly. After a few brief sentences that sounded work-related, he slammed the phone into its cradle and disappeared upstairs. When he returned, he had changed into his uniform.