Page 73 of Unrequited Sloth

He nodded, getting tearful, and she gripped his hand again.

“You do like to put yourself through the wringer, don’t you?”

“I can’t help how I feel about him.”

“Of course you can’t. I saw it ages ago, but I knew you wouldn’t act on it. That’s not you. It’s why I was so shocked when I heard you’d got married. I couldn’t believe you’d do something like that to anyone, let alone your own sister.”

“That was just a silly drunken mistake. We didn’t even think it was legally binding, or we would have tried to get it annulled when we were still there.”

“Maybe it was fate.”

Gabriel snorted. “You think everything is fate.”

“It was fate for me and your dad.”

“He came round to fix your plumbing. That’s more like a plot from a porn film than a romance book.”

“Cheeky sod.” She was smiling.

It was a running joke Gabriel and Alex had made for years. Given they’d met young, when his dad was still an apprentice, they weren’t as up on the half a dozen recycled porn scripts, so they thought how they’d met was really romantic. Thankfully, they’d seen the funny side when their kids had told them. Their friends had confirmed they’d thought the same for years but had said nothing.

His mum’s coffee was brought in at that moment, giving Gabriel a minute to think. Was it fate for him to end up with Bobby? If so, then the fate gods certainly liked to put you through a lot of drama first.

“Bobby’s a good man,” said his mum when they were alone again.

“The best.”

“Just remember, you’ve had feelings for him for a long time. It’s still new to him. Don’t put him under unfair pressure. Just see what happens.”

“And you don’t have the same issue with Alex and Dillon?”

“It’s different. Dillon reminds me of a furtive little weasel. Bobby is like a golden retriever.”

He laughed at her description. She wasn’t wrong about either of them.

“Besides, I was looking forward to having Bobby as a son-in-law.”

“I think we’re a long way away from something like that.”

“Isn’t he technically already my son-in-law?”

Gabriel laughed with her, but he couldn’t help wondering if perhaps one day he would marry Bobby again. This time maybe he’d remember it, though, and be able to tell the man how much he loved him.

“What are we going to do about your sister?”

“I don’t know. I’m not sure I’m ready to forgive her yet, but we need to get her away from Dillon.”

“Why? I mean, I agree, but why have you got that ‘big brother’ look on your face you always had when anyone hurt her as a kid?”

“I’m going to play you something, and you’ll see why.”

He took out his phone and played the recording of his conversation with Dillon. Gabriel watched her closely. His mother rarely got angry. She kept control of her emotions. Gabriel was like her in regard to getting angry, although he cried at anything. Something else he seemed to have in common with Bobby.

“Can you send that to me. I think your father needs to hear this.”

“They’ll just deny it and say we faked it with voice cloning.”

“Your father doesn’t have a clue about all that. Give me a couple of days to come up with a plan.”