The First Time I Saw You

The First Time I Saw You, Chapter 4

It really was on him, Gabriel thought. He should have said something about the window. It had a defective latch that opened only when he slid the lock to the center. It was one of the few things he was planning on talking to Elizabeth about, but then her dad, a big lug of a guy, had taken care of the problem in another way. Now he was staring at broken glass, a hole he'd need to fix, and the back-and-forth arguing from Frank and Chloe, Elizabeth's odd and eccentric nosy parents.

"I am so sorry," Elizabeth said, and he took in her hand pressed flat to her chest, the sweetheart neckline of her faded blue tank showing a hint of cleavage.

"It's fine," he said, though it wasn't, really. Now he'd have to put out for a new window, and windows weren't cheap.

"No, it's not fine. I'll pay for it, of course, and clean it up." She was already kneeling down on the floor, about to pick up the glass.

"No, Elizabeth, I'll get a broom and sweep it up—"

Chloe interrupted. "Just tell me where your broom is. Frank here will sweep it up," she said, and he noted the hint of a southern accent as she stepped in and gestured to the mess.

"It's in the laundry room. Just let me grab the garbage can to dump all this in."

Gabriel stepped out of the room, taking in his bare feet, and he stopped at the open front door, hearing the voices of Elizabeth and her parents. He shoved his feet into his sneakers and went into the laundry room to grab the broom and dust pan before stopping again at the front door and spotting one of the empty plastic cans by the gate. He leaned the broom against the wall and went outside, grabbed the plastic can, and walked back in the house with it, then hoofed it down the hall and saw all three pair of eyes turn to him.

"Oh, we'll take that from you," Chloe said. "Frank, you can clean this mess up..." The broom was taken from his hand, the garbage can too, and Elizabeth was rolling her eyes and walking his way.

"You got a second?" she said as she stepped out of the room and into the hall. "Again, I am so sorry about the window. My dad tries to help, but..." She gestured helplessly.

"No, it's no biggie. I'll get another window in." And be a few hundred more bucks in the hole, he thought. "But we should square up a few other things. I haven't seen your little girl, Shaunty?"

She smiled as she stepped outside onto the front porch. She had an incredible smile. "She's with my sister, Ruby. She said she's taking her to the park, but that's more a ruse to take her to the shopping mall, where she's likely going to come home with a few too many useless toys, outfits she can't wear, and things she doesn't need."

Ah, so there was a sister too. Her mother was intrusive, all right. No, he was still feeling as if he'd been nipped in the ass by a passing tornado. "Anyway, you have the keys, and the rent..." he started.

She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a wad of bills. "As promised, four hundred dollars." She handed him the cash. "It's all there, but feel free to count it," she added.

For a second, he wondered whether she was insinuating something, from the way she said it, but then he couldn't tell for sure. "No, no, of course not." He tucked the cash in his pocket. "Hey, I thought maybe we could sit down after and talk. Maybe you have questions..." He let it hang, taking in the way she stared back at him as if she wasn't impressed. Okay, so no chitchat right now. "Or maybe I can help you bring in furniture, the bed, dresser, anything else you have."

Why was he babbling? She opened her mouth as if to say something and instead just pulled in a breath before closing her mouth and squinting, then glancing out and down the street.

"No furniture," she said. "Just an air mattress and some blankets to bring in, and then I'd say we're set." She started down the steps and out the open gate, not waiting for him to say anything. She stopped at an older-model Lincoln that had a huge open trunk. This was it, an air mattress for her and her little girl?

Then he heard a really loud motorcycle and turned with Elizabeth to see a bike coming toward them, one of those long Harleys. It pulled up in front of his truck and stopped. Ah, shit, biker dude. On the back was a kid wearing a helmet.

"Marty, what the hell are you doing putting Shaunty on your bike? I told you before I don't want her riding on it. Come on, hop down, honey."

He watched as Elizabeth lifted Shaunty off the bike just as the kid unfastened the too-big helmet. Marty then turned off the engine, which rumbled with an awful racket. He had to fight the urge to look over his shoulder to see if any of the neighbors had stepped out of their houses, maybe to see who it was who would be pulling into a neighborhood that was all families, middle class, an ultraconservative lot who he figured were all in bed by nine.

"Ruby got called into work," Marty said, "and you know how she can never say no to a shift for extra cash, so she called me and I swooped on down and picked up my niece." He lifted off his black helmet and stepped off the bike the way guys do, lifting his leg over the seat and resting the helmet on it as he winked at the little girl, who actually winked back.

"No, the problem is that Ruby spends money faster than she can make it on the slots. She's never learned to prioritize anything or follow through on a promise."

Gabriel picked up the edge in Elizabeth's voice and figured it would be wise to keep his mouth shut, considering he was still stuck on the fact that biker dude was there. At the same time, he was at a loss as to how something like this could happen. How could Elizabeth in any way be related to this unnerving man, who could be affiliated with some really bad people? It was the kind of thing he didn't want around him.

Marty turned his piercing hard gaze on Gabriel before sticking out his hand as he walked over to him. "See you met my sister, and thanks for renting her a room. She said it's real sweet looking."

Gabriel was used to strong grips, but the way this guy squeezed his hand and then pulled him into him, he bounced off his chest.

Marty slapped his back. "Don't mess with my sister," he said in a low voice in Gabriel's ear before he could step back.

What the hell was he supposed to say to that? He took in Elizabeth squatting down before the little girl, ignoring both of them, and he couldn't figure out how she fit with Marty and the odd couple inside his house. His house!

Marty slapped his hands together. The fat in his bare arms wobbled over the muscle he had felt from that grip. "Well, come on, show me around," he said. "I want to see these new digs of yours."

Gabriel just stood there and watched as Marty strode up to his house, and he was left standing with Elizabeth and her little girl.

Elizabeth made a face and shrugged. "That's my brother, Marty. I'm wondering by your face if you're now regretting renting a room to us."

He didn't know what to say as he looked down at Shaunty, who was holding her mother's hand, quiet, polite, her hair sticking up everywhere. Elizabeth was standing there, looking gorgeous, and she still didn't fit the mold of this crazy family that seemed to have taken over his house.

"Of course not. I'll get this." He lifted out the blankets before Elizabeth stepped over to the trunk and rested her hand on his arm.

"Just in case I didn't say it, Gabriel, thank you." She said it so humbly before pulling her hand away, looking down to Shaunty, and walking away with her, carrying a bag stuffed with clothes and talking to her daughter as if he didn't even exist.