Page 78 of Jake's Angel

“You had a choice. You could’ve kept me. Raised me yourself.” A lone tear slips down my cheek. I turn away and swipe it with my finger. I look around at the furniture, the pictures, the accents, everything. I wonder what things did she pick out and what did he? Did he change it when she died so he wouldn’t have to remember the way it was?

“You could’ve asked Caleb and Liz to adopt me if you thought you would be a shitty father. Why Gramps and Eleanor?”

He chuckles. “Mom would’ve loved to raise you. The thing about it is, I was afraid if you knew about me, if others knew you belonged to me, that I’m your father, you wouldn’t be safe.”

He turns the faucet off, drying his hands on a dish towel, then grabs a strainer from under the cupboard, placing two tomatoes, and a couple of zucchinis inside to wash them.

“From what?” I nearly shout.

“Hey, no. I didn’t bring you here to talk about the bad shit. I brought you here to answer your questions about Maggie and me.” He drops the strainer, turning the water on, and pauses with his hands on the edge of the sink. “Why don’t you cut these tomatoes up for me, and I’ll tell you what I can.” I raise an eyebrow, not sure I’m going to get what I’m asking completely, but I do as he asks and take the knife, tomatoes, and cutting board from him and begin to dice them. Gabe turns the water off and removes the strainer with the vegetables.

“You know it’s not smart to give an angry female a knife, especially when said female is pissed atyou.”

Gabe chuckles. “Noted. But I’ll take my chances.” He winks.

I grab one tomato and begin slicing it. “What was my mother like? Did she have any hobbies? How did you two meet?”

“Whoa. Okay. Slow down.” He raises his hands, but he’s smiling at me, obviously pleased I want to know so much. He grabs another cutting board and does the same with the zucchinis.

“Maggie was one of the sweetest people I’ve ever known. She grew up in a wealthy home, as you know, but she didn’t care if you had two dollars or two million. Maggie treated everyone with kindness.” He smiles fondly as he speaks of her. “She was also a feisty little spitfire when she wanted to be. Like someone else I know.” He looks pointedly at me.

I shrug. “Gramps says I do a lot of things that remind him of her.”

Gabe nods. “Yeah, you do have some of her personality traits.” He seems deep in thought. “When I met your mother, she was a beautiful, confident, well-spoken young woman. She wasthe epitome of elegance and grace. I didn’t know what I could ever offer her to make her want a man like me.”

“What’s wrong with you? Are you a murderer? A rapist? Do you hurt children?”

His shocked expression is almost laughable. But I’m not joking.

“Jesus. No.” He’s kind of cute when he scrunches his face. Less intimidating. “I’m not going to claim I’m agoodman. We all have our demons. But I’ve never hurt women or children.”

“Then I don’t understand why you would think you weren’t good enough for my mother.”

Gabe’s eyes crinkle at the edges as he narrowly watches me. Pointing his knife, he says, “You are very much like my Maggie.” He starts chopping again, clearing his throat as he continues. “The point is—Maggie came from money and a society I could never hope to be a part of. Being a biker didn’t exactly fit your grandparent’s expectation of the man they hoped Maggie would marry.”

I scoff. “No shit. But then again, outside of Gramps, my grandmother’s choice in people leaves something to be desired.”

“Hmm.” Gabe grunts.

“So, how did you two get together then?”

He smirks, glancing up at me momentarily, then continues to chop the zucchini into small pieces. “Dad and Russell go way back. We were meeting with Russ to discuss the auto body shop and a couple of other business ventures we had in the works. Since they were old friends, Russell offered to look at the business plans and help us with our financial backing.”

I place the diced tomato in a bowl he’s placed on the counter for me, then reach across the counter, turning on the water and wash my hands from behind the sink.

“Maggie visited Russ while we were there. She didn’t have all the security measures like Russ has now. She could drive herselfaround and we both had those old crappy Razr phones everyone had back then.” He chuckles. “Dad asked me to walk Maggie to her car when she was ready to leave so he could talk to Russ privately. Maggie said she thought we were being set up. When I saw her 1970 Dodge Challenger in the parking garage, I knew she was made for me.”

“I’ve seen a picture of that car in Gramps’s office. He said she loved her car almost as much as Sadie loves hers.”

“I’d say Maggie runs a close second. No one loves their car as much as Sadie loves Loretta. At least Maggie never threatened to chop off my guys’ balls if they scratched the paint.” It’s my turn to laugh.

“Yeah, Sadie’s partial to maiming people over her car.”

“So, we talked about cars and the repair shop I was buying and by the end of the night we exchanged numbers, and I was a sucker driving down, pulling all night trips to see my girl as often as I could. When Eleanor found out, she lost her shit, of course. She wanted Maggie to marry some hotel mogul’s kid.”

Matthew Whittmore.

I gasp, but quickly recover and say, “Why would she have a say in who my mom married? It should be her choice.”

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