Page 10 of Forever Christmas
Chapter 4: Gavin
Jenny and Corabelle spend a lot of time together making sure Tina’s wedding will be nice, since Tina isn’t crazy about the whole production.
I take the opportunity to work extra hours at Bud’s. I want to take Corabelle somewhere nice to celebrate the adjunct job. I’m so proud of her. She’ll be teaching her own class pretty much the moment she hasher master’s.
I don’t have those sorts of aspirations. I like working at Bud’s. It’s steady work and I’m friends with the people there. I know I’ll have to figure out the next step when I get my degree, but that seems far off still. Corabelle deciding the baby should wait after all has taken the pressure off.
The stacks of old worn tires are three deep in the back room and getting in the way,so I volunteer to load them into the recycling bin. It’s a real chore, rolling or lugging them out behind the shop and pitching them into the metal bin that gets picked up every month.
The task is below my pay grade, and I should be making Barry, the garage grunt, do it. But I haven’t had as much time to lift weights since I moved in with Corabelle, and tossing tires is pretty much the best workoutyou can get paid for.
The garage is quieter than usual, so I’ve got time to step away from the mechanic bays. The sun beams down, and I feel pretty fine as I flex and let another tire fly over the rim of the bin to land with a thud inside.
My phone buzzes. I tug it out of my pocket. It’s Corabelle. Wonder what she’s up to? She’s supposed to be with Jenny.
She sounds a little upset as she asks,“Did you hear from Rosa?”
It’s not her favorite topic. Rosa is the mother of Manuel, a little boy she raised without telling me he was mine. She’s from Mexico. I was too stupid back then to know my vasectomy didn’t work right away.
“Yes,” I tell her. “Looks like we’re on for June. Just in time for Tina’s wedding.”
Her next words don’t quite match her tone. I can tell she’s distraught over something.“I’m so glad, Gavin. It will be good to see him.”
“Are you okay, Corabelle?” I ask. I’m not sure if this is about Rosa or if it’s been hard for her to be around Jenny’s baby. I can hear her friend calling to her in the background.
“Hold on, Gavin, Jenny’s running at me. We’ve been making Tina’s wedding stars,” she says.
I listen in as she asks Jenny what’s going on.
I can’t hear what Jennyresponds.
The sun bears down on me. The air smells of tires and asphalt and oil.
Corabelle’s breath changes, her breathing hard.
“Corabelle,” I say. “Everything okay?” I know it’s not, but I’m not sure what I can do. I start walking to the shop to tell Bud I’m leaving. I think Corabelle needs me.
She doesn’t answer, so I poke my head through the opening to the pit. “Mario, can you sign meout? I’ve got to go.”
He nods. I was an extra on hand today anyway.
Bud comes out in his overalls, wiping his hands on a towel. “You all right?” he asks.
“Not sure,” I say and just walk away. I can clue them in later. Once I know myself. I keep the phone pressed to my ear. “Corabelle, are you at Jenny’s? I’ll come get you.”
“No,” she finally says. “I mean, yes, you should come, but you don’tneed to get me.”
I’m so relieved to hear her say something finally. “What’s going on, baby? Can you tell me?”
She hesitates, then says. “I took a pregnancy test. Jenny had one. Leftover. We were just being silly.”
My heart thuds. She wouldn’t mention this unless it was important. Still, I have to ask. “How did it turn out?”
I flash back to that day, so many years ago, when she peed on thestick in the bathroom of her parents’ house. We were teens. Scared. But we decided we could do it. We’d make it work.
“It’s positive, Gavin. We already did it. It’s already there.”
Thankfully, there’s a bench three steps away, so I sit on it.
