Page 60 of The Call of Azure (Unexpected Love #3)

Gabriel is pure light this evening with our families. Not that he’s ever seemed like anything else to me. From the moment I first saw him across the room at the jazz club, with his floofy silk shirt, stacks of rings, and confident sexy smirk, I thought he looked like life itself.

The entire ninety-minute drive out to Ken’s house, he was a wreck.

He spent the whole time spinning his rings and rambling about nothing and everything nonstop.

I’ve never seen him so anxious before. I didn’t know how to help him other than to take his hand tightly in mine on the center console and smile and listen and nod along during his brief pauses.

I know that most of the time when folks try to talk me out of anxiety spirals, it just makes it worse because then I’m still just as anxious, but also anxious about being so anxious.

Sometimes, just knowing that I’m not alone while I work my way through it is best, so that’s what I tried to offer Gabriel.

Whether I managed to help in some way or he just eventually wore himself out, the moment he stepped out of the car, it was like he flipped a switch.

He put on his brilliant smile, brushed his hair back from his forehead, and transformed into the vibrant man he usually is.

While I know he’s plenty confident in himself, as he should be, it did leave me wondering just how often in his life he’s had to fake it for such a drastic change to have been such an apparently easy thing to accomplish.

We were the last to arrive, and I was nervous when we walked in the door.

While I never expected anything less than welcome and kindness from Mar or anyone she’d get romantically involved with, I don’t know Ken and his family, so there was always the risk that they’d harass Gabriel about his behavior during Ken’s first birthday event.

I shouldn’t have worried. They were all gathered in the front room, laughing and chatting away, with glasses filled with juice or wine and plates overflowing with snacks and finger foods.

Even though it was Ken’s birthday celebration, you’d have thought we were the guests of honor at the way every one of them jumped up the second we walked in, pulling us into a round of hugs and taking the bags and boxes we carried.

Ethan even snatched Cupcake away from Gabriel before hugging him quickly and hurrying back to his spot on the couch to sneak her bites of cheese while Gabriel was too distracted to see.

He only gives her cheese because he doesn’t live with her.

I snuck her cheese during my first successful dinner at Gabriel’s, too, but that was back when I slept in another bed.

I don’t give her cheese now that I share a room with her.

They guide us into the kitchen, all except Ethan and Cupcake, anyway, and press plates into our hands that they load with cheese and fruit and slices of the bread we brought.

They don’t bother putting the desserts out on the counter; they simply set the boxes and another stack of plates on the coffee table in the front room when we’re guided back to sit.

They ask how our drive was and how living together is treating us.

Blue talks about how amazing our final show was, and Gabriel steals all of Ethan’s cheese when he sees Cupcake getting bites.

Mar talks about how well her bees have done this summer, and how she thinks adding rows of lavender next to her garden has made them happy.

Gabriel smiles and listens when she talks, though his eyes are wary.

Ken and I watch them all loudly laugh and talk over one another as we share a heartfelt, contented glance that says neither of us understands how we found ourselves in this room with these people, but we’ll be eternally grateful that we did.

Gabriel steals the show, as he always does.

But not only do people not seem to care, they adore him for it.

We’re sitting side by side on a comfortable, well-worn sofa, and his hand is in mine, squeezing tightly as he tries to both gesture and eat with the other instead of letting go.

Ethan leans his head against Gabriel’s other shoulder from time to time, and Ken laughs at his jokes.

Once he and Mar realize they have stories to trade about festivals gone wrong, they’re suddenly the best of friends.

His wariness quickly fades as the group laughs along with them, and before the end of the night, even Cupcake seems to have decided that she’s okay with their newfound friendship and falls asleep on Mar’s lap.

I’ve watched him since the day he showed up at the aquatic center with Emma in my little cement room.

I’ve watched him bring joy and love and wonder into the lives of everyone he meets.

With Gabriel, even something like a simple conversation in line while waiting for coffee is an adventure.

More often than not, he’ll end up chatting with the people next to him, and with a handful of words and never-to-be-repeated moments, they walk away with their lives somehow just a bit better and their moods just a bit lighter.

He puts his whole heart and his whole soul into everything he does.

For him, spending months perfecting a performance is no more or less important than asking how someone’s day is going and making sure he gets their name and order right at the coffee shop.

He opens doors for people and helps them carry grocery bags.

He tells jokes and contorts his gorgeous face into flirtatious leers and expressions of heartfelt empathy.

He offers a tiny piece of his heart to everyone, no matter who they are, and until this moment, I don’t think he’s ever realized just how much love has been waiting to come back to him.

Watching him here with our families, all open and gorgeous and unafraid to let every little piece of himself shine through, is like magic.

It’s like watching him finally realize that he belongs, that he is loved, and that none of us are ever going to leave him.