Page 94 of It Couldn't Be You
When I told my mom the night before on the phone about how Katie couldn’t come and how Gabriel would be coming with me to take her place, she chuckled a little and said, “Oh, you two are sneaking off together, huh?”
“What? Wait, wait. What do you mean by that?” I demanded, stunned. “Sneaking?”
“Oh, I’m just teasing, honey,” she said. I could hear her shuffling around in the kitchen as we spoke.
“Sneaking off?” I reiterated, aghast. I had been in the middle of packing, but now I was just stood in front of my suitcase, holding a pair of sandals.
“I just mean, I feel like you two are always…you know.”
“I don’t know. At all. How are we alwayssneakingoff?”
“You two are just sneaky.”
“How so?” I was tired of my mom and Gabe’s mom’s strange little remarks.
“I don’t know, sweetie. Let’s forget it.” Mom was over it.
“Mom!” I shouted like a whiny toddler.
“Okay, fine. I mean that you two feel like you always have some little secret between you. It’s like there’s always a joke only you both are in on.”
“How?” I attempted to fold a dress.
“Oh, come on, Emma. You know how. The eyes you make at each other, the whispers, the jealousy—he was boiling at that silly Easter setup. Your ears looked like they were burning to hear what he was saying. It’s been a decade of it.You know,” she said. And I did know. I just didn’t know that anyone else knew. Heck, I wasn’t always convinced Gabe knew.
Mom sighed. “I mean, for being sneaky, you two aren’t exactly good at the sneak part of it all.”
“So, you think we…” I couldn’t say the words aloud. I think all this time, I never had.
“Oh, I’ll just say it, Emma. I know you two have always had a crush on each other. And why shouldn’t you? How couldn’t you? You’re two peas in a pod. Always have been.”
Tears came from my eyes, leaking over my phone. I felt seen, and there was relief in that. But I also felt exposed and embarrassed. I set the dress I’d been holding down.
“Am I not supposed to say anything? All this time, I’ve erred on the side of not saying anything. Especially with Jordan in the picture, but my God, years later and you two are still all googly. I feel like someone ought to!” my mom said, and I could see her shaking her head at the two of us.
“Am I wrong?” she finally asked.
“I don’t know what he feels,” I whispered. I sat down on the ground beside my bed where my suitcase laid open.
“After all this time, you two have never talked about it?”
“I don’t even know if there’s anything to talk about, Mom.” I pulled my knees against my chest.
“Babe, that’s like a house on fire, and you’re asking if it’s really that warm.”
“I think it’s always been this way, at least on my end,” I admitted. “It’s been this way for him, too, at least for the last few years, I think.”
“From where I’m sitting, it’s been a two-way street since we first sat down beside them in church,” she said, the sound of water splashing in the background. “His mama and I have always joked about it behind your backs. She stopped when you and Jordan were an item, but on Easter, we kept having to hold back our laughter.”
My face was ablaze. His mom noticed.
“Does Katie…” I let my voice trail off.
“I don’t know how she couldn’t. But you never know with Katie. Has she never said anything to you?”
“Not a thing.” I rested my forehead against my knees.
“How you guys have all resisted talking about the giant, noisy elephant in the room is beyond me.” I could just imagine her rolling her eyes. A cupboard door slapped shut.
