“No, I’m fine. I ate before I came to Greenbury, and then I raided the fridge. I took the rest of the meat loaf. I hope that’s okay.”
“Of course it’s okay. Sit down. Tell me what’s going on in your life.”
They sat side by side on a blue-and-white print couch. Rina had originally decorated the rooms in multicolored chintz and florals. A year ago, she switched everything to prints in blues and whites. The house looked like a Ming vase with an occasional wood piece thrown in for contrast.
“Nothing much.” Gabe sat back into the cushions. “Just thought I’d stop in and say hello. I know it’s been a while.”
“It has.”
Rina smiled and waited for the shoe to drop. When Gabe chose to remain silent, she said, “How’s Yasmine?”
“Miserable.”
“Oh dear.”
“Not with me but with medical school. She’s either in class or studying.”
“I hear that the first year is the hardest.”
“Yeah, absolutely. Her parents keep bugging her to come back to Los Angeles and apply to pharmacy school. There are a ton of Persian girls who are pharmacists.”
“I thought her parents wanted her to go to medical school.”
“I dunno, Rina. Maybe they just want to get her away from me.”
“You’re engaged.”
“We are, but that doesn’t mean they’re happy about it.”
“You converted to Judaism.”
“Yes, I did. I even learned a little Hebrew and a lot of Farsi. But I’m not the guy they had envisioned for their daughter.” He smiled. “Although they do approve of the ring that I bought her.”
“Sparkle always wins them over.”
“Who doesn’t like bling? Yasmine is thinking about it . . . pharmacy school. I’d support her either way. I just want her to be happy, but I don’t suspect she’ll be any happier in L.A., living with her parents and away from me. But it’s her decision.” He looked at his watch. “I shouldn’t be keeping you up.”
“I’m fine, Gabe.”
“How did this man disappear?”
Rina sighed. “He lives in a facility. The residents were on a field trip to hike in the forest. The bus stopped off at a local diner off one of the rural routes. Apparently, it was a lot of people in a crowded space. When the group went to board the bus, he was gone. Peter and other local police departments are still searching. He’ll probably be out looking for a while.”
“Yeah, of course. Poor guy—the missing guy. Not Peter. Although I’m sure he’s working hard.”
She regarded her foster son. “What’s going on, Gabe? I know you love us, but you don’t take a three-hour trip from New York City without a reason. Do you need to talk to Peter?”
“Actually I came to see you, Rina.” He looked up at the ceiling and blew out air. “My mother is in the States.”
“That’s so nice!” A pause. “Or is it?”
“I dunno. My mom and I have a spotty relationship.”
“I thought you two had reached a rapprochement.”
“Sort of.”
“You’re on speaking terms.”
“We are . . . sort of.”
“She took care of you for fourteen years, Gabe. Even when she was destitute, she always made sure there was food on the table and a roof over your head.”
“I know, I know. I try to be charitable, but she did abandon me.”
“Not exactly. She left you with us.”
“Which, in retrospect, was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. But it still hurts.”
“Of course. Where is she now?”
“In the city. She called me about two weeks ago when I was working in Chicago, so I had an excuse not to see her. But she must have gone on my website and looked up my concert schedule. She knows I’m in New York now and that I’m teaching a master class.” A pause. “She wants to see me. Like sooner rather than like later.”
“Do you know why?”
“No idea. But after eleven years of living in India with a man who hates me, it can’t be because her maternal instincts suddenly kicked in.”
“Do you want to see her?”
“Well . . .” He made a face. “I’d like to see my half sister and my half brother.”
“They’re with her?”
Gabe nodded.
“What about Devek?”
“He’s not with her. That’s a plus. The loathing goes both ways.” He licked his lips and stood up. “I need some water.”
“I’ll get it, Gabe. Plain or sparkling?”
“Plain is fine.”
Rina went into the kitchen and retrieved a glass of plain water and a cold can of sparkling water. She liked to swig it directly from the container because it was refreshing that way. When she came back, Gabe was standing near the piano, looking at the many family pictures on top of the baby grand. Even though he wasn’t at the keyboard, proximity to the instrument seemed to calm him down. He came back to the couch, sat, and drained the water.
He said, “Devek and my mom are having problems.”
“Your mom told you that?”
“Not her. Juleen.”
“You talked to your sister, then.”
“Briefly. Juleen’s a stoic kid, but she sounded upset. She told me that her parents barely talk to each other. And she also told me that this trip was very sudden and without her father.”
“That doesn’t sound good.”
“No, it doesn’t. My mom ran away from a bad marriage once. I don’t put it past her to run away again. Her choices in men are debatable.”
“Did your mom say anything to you about her marriage?”
“Not a word. She asked about my dad. She wanted to find out if he was still living in Nevada . . . which he is. She did tell me that if I talked to him not to mention her being here . . . in the States. She’s worried that he still carries a grudge.”
“Understandable.”
“Actually, he’s pretty happy in his current life. Chris would never hurt her. He still carries a torch for her. He’s told me several times that he’d take her back in a heartbeat. But he’d probably just make her life miserable again.”
“He beat her up.”
“Yeah, that was bad. Thank God I walked in while he was slapping her. He stopped when he saw me. He was angrier than I’ve ever seen him.”
Rina nodded. She knew what had happened. Chris Donatti had thought that Terry had aborted his child. Lord only knows what would have happened if he had found out then that she was pregnant with another man’s child.
Gabe said, “I realize now that she had to leave, but it still hurts.”
“I know it does. But that was over a decade ago. Maybe it’s time to put it behind you. Both of your parents tried. They just have . . . shortcomings.”
“That’s a nice euphemism. Chris is a psycho. If he had lived in the 1930s, he would have been executed for a variety of felonies a lot worse than domestic abuse. I’m his son and he still scares me. But . . . at least he’s been in my life for the past eleven years. That is way more than I can say for my mom.”