Abel (5th Street 4)

“This morning you said you had no plans,” he reminded her as he pulled out into the street.

“I didn’t because I hadn’t heard from him yet, and I hadn’t confirmed for sure that I’d be going.” Nellie wasn’t sure what to think of this line of questioning, but one thing was for sure: Abel wasn’t even trying to hide the fact that he was irritated about all of this. The giant balls of brass on this guy! “He texted me this morning, so I agreed. He’d told me about this restaurant Friday night. It was as good as he’d heard it was, totally worth the two-hour drive.”

Nellie continued staring out her window, refusing to look his way. Her mind was made up, even if her heart wasn’t quite there yet. This ended now. She’d been naïve to think she could actually do this—that the incredible sex and the temporary times she got to pretend he was all hers were worth it.

“So you just met this guy Friday and agreed to let him drive you home that same night and then take a two-hour drive with him today? Kind of dangerous, don’t you think?”

“He wasn’t a complete stranger,” she clarified, the annoyance with his tone growing heavier with each question. “He’s a friend of Logan’s.”

“And how long have you known Logan?”

“What is this? Twenty questions?” she snapped, glancing back at him, sounding more defensive than she’d planned.

Truth was she hadn’t known Logan for too long or very well at all. She still thought him a bit peculiar. When she’d spoken with him yesterday morning to ask him about his ex and how she was doing, he’d been vague. She thought maybe he’d been embarrassed since Sam did say his ex was dramatic and that’s why he’d changed the subject so abruptly. Oddly, he’d seemed more interested in hearing how things had gone with her and Sam, but not in a prying, questioning way as she would’ve thought. He sounded genuinely pleased that Sam had called him that morning to tell him they’d really hit it off. He even asked if she’d be seeing him again.

Her sudden snap in mood seemed to have rendered Abel speechless for a moment because he was staring straight ahead, his jaw working, and he hadn’t responded. So she was glad for the interruption when her phone buzzed. Her mom had already called her once earlier, and not wanting to be rude to Sam she’d sent it to voicemail, but her mom hadn’t left a message. She had a thing about not wanting to take up too much of Nellie’s time, so she rarely called twice in one day unless it was important. At that moment, the last thing Nellie was worried about was being rude to Abel, so she answered.

“Hi, Mom, I was gonna call you as soon as I got home.”

“I know. I wouldn’t have called you again, but your father and I are about to board a plane, so I was going to leave a message.”

“Board a plane? Where are you going?”

Her parents were hermits, and if they ever did take a trip, it was planned out and talked about for months in advance. She’d just spoken to her mom the other day. Never once did she mention a trip.

She heard her mom sigh heavily. “It’s a long story, honey, but basically, Courtney is in mandatory rehab. I don’t know if you knew anything about this.”

Nellie straightened abruptly. “No, I didn’t. I haven’t talked to her in forever. She never answers or returns my calls.”

If neither having to run to Roni’s bathroom to try and compose herself nor Abel’s questioning hadn’t sobered her up completely, this did.

Her mother filled her in quickly on Courtney failing to pick up Gus at the daycare center one too many times and custody having been given solely to Rick. As far as Nellie knew, the jerk was a deadbeat dad who didn’t do half his part of spending time with Gus as Courtney had hoped. But it’d been so long since she’d actually spoken to her sister that things might’ve changed.

“Anyway, Courtney’s been in rehab for weeks already, and Rick is just now calling to tell us because he says she made him swear he wouldn’t. But he says he’s been struggling with Gus because his job requires him to go out of town a lot and was hoping to hire a nanny soon, only he can’t afford one yet.” Her poor mother sounded so worried. All those feelings of hatred toward her sister and Rick that she thought were long behind her came rushing back. “In the midst of the conversation, he mentioned how already he’s had to leave him in the care of neighbor for a few days at a time more than once while he goes out of town for work.”

“What?” Nellie squeezed the phone tighter. “A neighbor? Which neighbor?”

“Those were my first questions, Nellie, especially because Courtney told me just a few months ago that Rick had moved out of his girlfriend’s place and gotten his own apartment. If he’s only lived there for a few months, how well can he know these neighbors, and he’s leaving my grandson with them for days at a time?”

“What did he say?”

“That he’s gotta do what he’s gotta do.”

“That selfish bastard,” Nellie muttered. If she didn’t already, she now had Abel’s full attention.

“He leaves again day after tomorrow for a week.”

“And you and daddy are flying out to stay with Gus?”

“No. We’re bringing him home to stay with us until Courtney gets out. She only has a few of weeks left to go. When I voiced my concerns about him leaving Gus for a week with near strangers, he said, ‘It is what it is.’ Then he said if it bothered me so much and we wanted to come get Gus he was all ours. He’d even sign guardianship over to us.”