Page 88 of Family Bonds- Gabriela & Luca

“I kept my clothes in the dresser when I packed up. I thought it’d be easier. That picture was on top of it and I shoved it in. When I got here, I knew it was still there and told myself to see how I felt without it. To take a step and just go with it.”

Her hand went to his left ring finger and traced it. “Just like removing your wedding band?”

“Yeah.” He looked down at his hand, then back to her. “I had to do it at some point. Looking at that picture or not isn’t going to make her come back. It’s not going to make her memories go away either. They will always be here.” He tapped his finger to his chest. “I honestly forgot it was there until I just saw you holding it.”

“Really?”

He tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “Really. We can talk about things. That’s fine. I don’t know the relationship rules. Is that a thing? Do people talk about their past?”

He was trying to be funny with a grin on his face. She got it. This didn’t have to be heavy. It didn’t have to be depressing either.

If he wanted it to be that way, she’d take his lead.

She shrugged. “It is a thing if we want it to be.”

“We can talk. I’m pretty open about things. Or that is how I operate.”

She patted his thigh. “Me too,” she said. “How did you two meet?”

“Funnily enough,” he said, smirking. “In the gym.”

“Get out,” she said, laughing and slapping his thigh.

“No. And guess what? She approached me first.”

The smile never left his face.

Interesting that she’d have that in common with Luca’s late wife. “She asked you on a date or gave you a cheesy pickup line?”

“She asked me right out. Or for my number. I was in med school so it’s not like I had a lot of time and told her that. She was fine with it. She taught yoga upstairs at the place. I hadn’t known that, but she’d been watching me.”

“Did she work anywhere else, or did that full time?”

“She was a senior in college,” he said.

“Younger than you.” She hadn’t realized that.

“Yep. Four years. We started dating, and by the time she graduated, we were pretty serious and talking about moving in together.”

“So you could see each other more?”

“Yes. She was working at a bank as a loan officer.”

“I thought she owned a yoga studio,” she said before she could stop herself.

He laughed, the sound soft and almost amusing. She’d been caught but didn’t care either. “I figured you would have looked into things. You could have asked.”

“I did it after I met you. It didn’t feel right to be that intrusive so early.”

“I get it. When I got my residency placement, she moved with me, then we got married shortly after. It was easy for her to get another job at a bank and find a gym to teach yoga. When I started working full time, she quit the bank and focused on her classes and online subscriptions.”

“Oh, I had no idea.”

She would have looked into that if she’d known.

“Yeah. Between that and the studio space, she did well for herself. She made her own hours. She was trying to line thingsup to be a mother. You know, income from the videos without really working all the time.”

“That’s smart.”