I don’t say this to shame him or her. She’s not the reason our country fell apart.

All marriages, just like all countries, have conflict. Sometimes patriotism is strong enough to overcome it—weighing what is shared against what could be lost—but sometimes, the conflict highlights that the country itself was founded on unsteady ground.

xoChani

Chapter 26

Chapter
26

WE’RE EVENTUALLY REJOINED BY LAUREN and Elizabeth, the latter offering dessert, but it’s clear that this part of the evening has come to an end.

I’m nervous as we drive away—Gabe’s expansive truck seeming to shrink with each passing mile. I’d been offered wine at dinner but I’d declined.

Neither Gabe nor I say anything on the ride back to his apartment.

I rest my hand on my chest, my fingers against my throat where I can feel my pulse chattering. Both Gabe and I know what’s going to happen next. It feels inevitable and impossible.

And I want it. I want it so bad.

But just as he’s about to turn off the truck, I reach out and stop him.

“Gabe,” I say.

“Uh-oh,” he says. “That sounds serious.”

“I just said your name.”

“I know,” he says. “But in a serious way.”

He’s joking, but not really. He has a worried look to him. I can’t really blame him. We’re so close and yet…

“We just need to talk about the call,” I say.

He wrinkles his brow.

“The call.”

He seems so confused that for a moment I think there’s the possibility I just imagined the whole thing.

“You called me,” I say. “The night before you went to rehab.”

“Which time?” Gabe asks. His tone is dry, but I can hear the shame beneath it.

“The first time,” I say.

I hadn’t known any of that at the time, of course. Things between Jeremy and me had been fine, but not good. We were in couple’s therapy. I could only sense his resentment at that point, bubbling under the surface, but hadn’t known the root of it.

It had been fall.

I’d gone to a movie by myself, had just gotten out of the subway and was heading home when he called. Seeing Gabe Parker (Team L.A.) show up on my phone had been a shock. After the interview, I’d hoped for a call, a text. There were even times I’d go back and read the few messages we’d exchanged, but after the Broadway incident, I was convinced I’d never hear from him again.

Still, I’d never been able to bring myself to delete his contact information.

“Gabe?”

“Chani,” he’d said.

It hadn’t been right, though. The pronunciation was fine, but it was drawn out and sloppy and I could tell just from those two syllables that he was extremely drunk.

“Gabe, are you okay?”