Chapter 102

Chapter 102
Gabriel POV

"Sweetness!" I open the door to the pantry and face to face with Nancy.
"Sweet Jesus! Gabriel! Are you planning to make me get a heart attack?" She jumps.
"Grandma, I'm sorry. Where is Isabella?"
"Isabella? She is in LA, of course."
"LA? No, she came here to visit Dad." I gesture in the cemetery direction.
"She came here this morning to visit your parents. And she went back to LA. The last time I checked on her, she was in the house, preparing dinner for you."
I feel my heart beat so fast; she is there. In the house waiting for me. God! I need to see her now. I kiss my grandma's cheek. "Thanks, Grandma! See you on New Year's." I ran to the door.
"Jesus, Gabriel!" She follows me. "Drive safe, okay!" She says, throttling behind me.
I'm already at the front door. I stop and look back at her. "Grandma..." I inhale. I need to do this. Isabella is right. I want to make dad proud of me. I will make him proud of me. I will let go of all the past. If Isabella is right, that means Mom and Dad held the photo until I came. Because there is no way in this windy weather the letter and bouquet can sit still waiting for me to come.
That means... Dad wants me to let go.
I smile at Nancy. "Grandma, you haven't said happy birthday to me." My voice sounds shaky, but I can hear a relief in it.
My grandma's eyes widened. "Oh, god!" She runs (yes, she still can run, guys) to me and hugs me tightly. "Happy birthday, Gabriel! I wish you all the best. Be happy, Gabriel... be happy." Her voice is shaky. She hugs me so tight, and I realise Grandma is crying. And I can't help the tears leaking down from my eyes, too. I hug her tightly. "I love you, Grandma."
She pulls back and we smile so widely despite our tears. "I love you, Gabriel. Now, go! Get your woman." I nod and wipe her tears and go. I wipe my tears and look in the cemetery's direction.
Mom, Dad, thank you...

Despite my intentions to drive as fast as I can to the love of my life. I was stuck in the road. Damn, LA traffic! And damn, that drunk guy who broke my phone!
I arrive at home and run to our room in record time. "Sweetness!" I call her, but she's nowhere to be seen. "Sweetness, baby." I go to the dining room and pantry. Where is she?
¡Consuela!" I call her. ¡Consuela!"
She runs to me, with Paulo on her tail. "Jesus, Gabriel.. where is the fire?"
"Where is Isabella?" I ask instead.
"At her home," Consuela tells me nonchalantly.
I frown. "This is her home. Where is she?"
"No Gabriel. By home, I mean her apartment."
My heart falls to my feet. "Why?" I complained, "This is her house. She should've stayed here."
Consuela narrows her eyes at me. "You were incommunicado, Gabriel!"
Fuck!!!
"My phone is broken. When... when she left here?"
"At 10," Paulo answers. "She is driving her car."
I check my watch. It's 10.10. Damn it!
"I'm going to her apartment." I walk to the hall
"Gabriel, she made the birthday noodle for you. Do you want to bring it?" Consuela calls.
I turn around. There is a lump in my throat. Birthday noodles. My mom's food for us when we are having a birthday. "Just..." my voice cracks, and I clear my throat. "Just leave it there, Consuela. I will eat it later after I bring Isabella back here.. to her home."
Consuela nods with her smile, and I can see glassy in her eyes.
"Drive safe, sir," Paulo says. And I ran to the front door. Jack is already there with the Bentley. "Let me drive you." He opens the door and I nod. It's faster with him driving the car. I don't need to waste my time parking the car.

10.45 pm and I'm still stuck in LA traffic. I'm still thinking, should I run to Isabella's apartment? But if Jack arrived first, it would be a fucking idiot of me.
I call Isabella again with Jack's phone. Why is her phone off? I don't think her phone is broken like mine.
"Easy. She is in her apartment. I just checked her car's GPS. She just arrived." Jack says.
I stare at him in disbelief. "You... you put the GPS on her car?" I say, scandalised.
He just shrugs. "It's needed, like today. Or else you would think she was having an accident because her phone is off."
I just can't beat Jack's logic.
I glance outside, the Christmas season is so beautiful. I just realised the last time I looked at this was when my father was still alive. I wasted so many years mourning for my parents' death. Isabella is right. My parents wouldn't want to see me sad. They want to see me happy, with the woman I love. Have a family of my own.
Jack clears his throat. "Gabriel... there is something I want to tell you."
I raise an eyebrow at him. It's not him. He never said the preamble if he wanted to say anything to anyone, including me.
"It's about your father's accident 10 years ago..."
Jack never says a word about the accident. He was driving the car that day.
"I owe you an apology. I'm so sorry I couldn't avoid the accident that day." His voice is full of emotion, which is rare and comes from Jack (or never).
"I'm sorry for your loss, Gabriel. The accident left me with a visible cut in my eyebrow. But.." he doesn't continue, but I can hear the rest of his words. It left an invisible scar on the family. And finally, I know where that cut in his eyebrow came from.
"I'm sorry I failed in avoiding the accident."
"Stop, Jack. It's not your fault. No one can predict there would be a drunk guy driving the car over the limit in the night like that Jack. He is the one who killed my father and killed himself. Not you."