Page 33 of Gaming with the Gargoyle in Hallow's Cove

On the last, Gabe takes a different tack.

Gwen,

I miss you. I miss you so much I can’t breathe sometimes. I think I’m in love with you, but it feels cruel to tell you while I’m away. Instead, I’ve decided to write you these letters, in hopes that when I’m home, you’ll be able to see how true my feelings are. So, I guess this is the first. It feels weird to start with “I love you,” but I think saying anything else would be dishonest. So… I love you.

Gabe

Tears prick at my eyes and I hold the letter close to my chest. I can just imagine Gabe, cramped in his tiny little flat on another continent, balling up papers and starting over. This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me… and over the last year, Gabe has done a lot of sweet stuff.

The next mine is a bit harder, but I am really motivated to find it now. I place the red token and then move Rena to whatshouldbe a safe space on the board. When I move her, more spaces open up around her, revealing what looks to be a treasure chest. I move her to it and a little happy chime plays. “Congrats!” Recorded Gabe says. “You’ve earned one helper!”

The door opens, and Jake walks in, carrying a platter of food. “Thank you,somuch for freeing me—”

“Your character isn’t free you dork, you just get to help her now!” Brook’s voice calls from the stairs.

A peal of laughter leaps from my chest. “Hey! Thanks for the help, what’d you bring for snacks?”

“My famous… chicken tenders.” He places them on the table with a flourish. The man loves chicken tenders, I am telling you.

I pick one up and bite into it. “What do you think?”

“I think… that Gabe is a huge dork. But this is very cute. I also think that you know that I am no good at minesweeper… but that I helped Gabe hide all of these little hidden compartments around this room, so I’m your first helper in case any of them get stuck… sorry.” He smiles sheepishly, because he’s right, he’s garbage at minesweeper, but he’s been my friend almost as long as Gabe, and I wouldn’t want anyone else at my side. It’s sort of weird to see him without a baby. Hayley gave birth a few months ago and since then, Jake’s always got at least one of their triplets strapped to him.

“Kid’s all settled?”

“Snug as bugs in rugs. The nursery was a great idea.” Because we wanted to move game nights to the new game den, we set up a big nursery area on the second floor. Between Brooks’s grandpa and Matilda, Ssthress and Betsy, and my mom, we’ve got plenty of babysitters. Tonight is a Ssthress and Betsy night, because it’s Hayley and Jake’s first “night out.” Hayley’s aunts have been a huge help with little Stella, Ollie and Penny, so it made sense for them to do the first game night babysitting shift. If I’d let them, all of the extended relations would be here watching the kids, but Betsy and Sthress are more than capable.

My next roll passes whatever the DC is for the trap—Rena has like plus seven for traps when you add her Dex and proficiency modifiers. The next hidden compartment clicks and a box slides out from the side of the table, revealing more letters. These seem to span the rest of a semester at school, and are really just snippets. They are, I assume, the parts that he felt like he couldn’t put in his regular letters to me.

Talked to you on the phone yesterday, Gods I miss you. Just thinking about you gives me butterflies and I am starting to get worried if I will act all weird when I see you this summer…

You just told me that your dad is sick. It’s taking everything in me not to come home, but you told me you’ll be really mad at me if I do. I just… need to hold you, to tell you that it will be okay, and that I will always take care of you. I hate that I can’t do that from all the way across the ocean…

Do you think, if I told you how I feel, that you’d want to come here with me for my last year? It’s far, I know… but it’s so hard not to say anything…

Your dad isreallysick. I’m looking into flights, because I can’t let you do this alone. I’m scared about how I’ll act when I see you when I do, but I can’t let you do this alone.

Nevermind. You just called. Your dad passed and I am across the world, where I can’t help you with anything. You told me not to come, that you’ll never forgive yourself if I come home… but you need me, I justknowit.

We talked on the phone, and you reminded me that I will be home in two weeks and it was silly to leave during finals. I think I might need to tell you how I feel when I get home, because then maybe you will understand why it is so hard to me not to.

“That’s so fucking sweet,” Jake says over my shoulder, jolting me back to the present.

“Holy fuck, warn a girl!”

“Sorry, thought you knew I was behind you.”

“We aren’tallmonsters with amazing hearing you goof!” I dash the tears from my eyes and squint at the map again. “Let’s get this done.”

I know my voice is hard but this last letter has really brought things into perspective. Because we are about to get intoyearsof hard times in these letters and I am not looking forward to it. Because he came home and I surprised him that I was with Preston. It’s gonna get hard to read these, I’m sure. But if Gabe could do it, if he survived it, the least I can do it is go through this small amount of discomfort for him.

“Gwen, You okay?” Jake asks.

“Yeah, I just know where we are. He’s about to come home and I am about to tell him I am engaged to Preston.”

“Oof.”

“Yeah, oof.”