Page 116 of A Lot Like Adiós
Ava’s smile was smug. “And I didn’t. Because I knew at some point, you’d be ready to see it. I think you’re ready now.”
Grumbling, Michelle used the cheese knife to slice the packing tape at the end of the tube. Opening it, she reached in and gently pulled out the rolled sheet of photo paper. Her heart twisted when she looked at it, but a smile tugged at her lips.
She’d compiled photos of herself and Gabe from their visit to the Bronx Zoo, their day in Manhattan, the shopping trip, and the quinceañera, combining them with a few old photos from their childhood and high school years. There was a Halloween picture from the year Gabe had dressed as a Jedi and Michelle had been a vampire. Another from Michelle’s thirteenth birthday party, when they’d gone to Jones Beach. Gabe in his baseball uniform and Michelle in a school play, the two of them sitting on the steps of her house and playing on the swings in his backyard, the first day of middle school and their high school graduation.
Across the bottom, in bold script, it read:
Part of me will always be waiting for you.
“What do you want to do with it?” Ava asked.
Michelle didn’t answer. Instead, she grabbed her phone and sent a text message.
Michelle:I need his mailing address.
Chapter 26
Gabe read over the page he’d just written. Was it picking up the story threads well enough? Fuck, he couldn’t tell. His eyes were bleary and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten something. Or showered.
He’d been working on the fanfic all week, ever since he’d signed the papers turning the gym over to Powell. It was all up to the lawyers and the financial folks now, but Gabe suddenly found himself in possession of a lot of money and a lot of free time.
Having never been in this position before, he hadn’t known what to do with himself. So he’d turned to the only thing that had brought him joy during this darkest of times.
Celestial Destiny.
It was a little ridiculous how happy rereading the fanfic had made him. It had lifted his spirits, bringing him back to a time and place where the possibilities had felt endless, where he’d indulged in his creative whims and controlled the fates of characters he’d grown to adore. And most of all, it reminded him of Michelle. Of the story decisions they’d made together. Of the drawings she’d made of their characters—some of which still lived on his hard drive. Of the hours they’d spent talking aboutBeyond the Stars, theorizing about what could have been going on behind the scenes in the space kingdom so they could bring it to life in the pages of their shared story.
It had been a simpler time, and the memories brought him a sense of contentment and optimism he never could have predicted.
He really loved this silly story.
Reading over it now was a trip. For one thing, he had some writing tics that made him smile and shake his head every time he saw them, like a tendency to overuse the wordssuddenlyandshrugged. Some things he didn’t even remember writing, and he mumbled, “Who wrote this?” more times than he could count.
But the biggest surprise was... himself. He’d written himself into the character of Zack in a way that was glaringly obvious, and as a result, reading the story was like opening a time capsule and finding Teenage Gabe.
Zack Salazar, a Latinx space prince with telekinetic powers and major family baggage, was slow to trust and second-guessed himself and others constantly. He went through periods of extreme caution before throwing it all to the wind in an impulsive act fueled by emotions. And he had been head over heels in love with Michelle’s character, Riva.
Riva, as Gabe had written her, was daring and smart, brave and beautiful, and far too cool for Zack. She was, in essence, how Gabe had always seen Michelle.
It was while reading episode 9, the one where Zack and Riva kissed, that Gabe had realized the truth. Michelle was the love of his life, and she always would be.
Which meant he had once again tossed aside something most people only dreamed of.
After finishing hisCelestial Destinyread-through, he’d gotten his shit together to sell the business. One step in front of the other, Gabe had worked with Fabian, Powell, and a team of lawyers. It had gone smoothly. They’d broken the news to the employees and gym members. Shortly after, Rocky Lim had texted, saying he was sorry to see Gabe leave Agility, but he hoped to hire him for one-on-one sessions if Gabe was willing to take on private clients. Gabe said he was open to the idea but needed to think about it, only to get a number of similar messages over the next few days from other clients, both famous and not.
If he wanted it, the next phase of his business was there. But right now, he still needed to come to terms with closing out this chapter of his life. Needed to let himself mourn the loss, even though he could now see it was the best decision all around. The thing he’d loved the most had been choking him. And while he’d never thought of ending it this way, he was free now. He just needed to figure out what to do with that freedom.
The first thing he’d done was pasteCelestial Destinyinto a new document. Then he’d started revising it from the beginning, fixing typos and clunky sentences, filling in details and beefing up story lines that had gotten dropped. It was hard work, employing skills he hadn’t used in what felt like a million years. He went for long runs on the beach when he needed to think out a plot problem, something he hadn’t had time to do in ages. The repetitive, methodical act of running gave his brain the space toproblem-solve, and in the process, it crunched the experiences of the past few weeks.
New York.
Michelle.
His parents.
Powell.
Inside, Gabe felt like he was healing a wound he hadn’t even known he bore.
