‘What are you supposed to be?’ she heard Gabriel ask the guy.
‘Sour grapes.’ The man grunted. Despite himself and his drunken situation, he laughed. Ana bit back a smile and saw Gabriel do the same as the human sour grapes gulped down the water and breathed a sigh of relief so hard, she thought the tent might blow over.
Gosh, Gabriel’s smile. He’d always lit up every room with that. His family adored him, and he them. In fact, they were the reason he’d said he’d never go anywhere else, even before he’d become a dad. The Romeros had never been the wealthiest family in the neighbourhood, but they’d never been lacking in love for each other. He was so good to them, just as now he was probably so good to his son Javi. He looked incredibly handsome in his uniform, too. And his cheekbones...
Ana had to look away before he caught her staring again. She just hadn’t seen him in a while, and her old self was still acting on autopilot around him, that was all. The mild crush she’d had on him was all water under the bridge; thank heavens he’d never had a clue! But she could see the impression he made on everyone who came in here. His warmth radiated and instantly made everything better.
‘You know,’ she said, raising her voice above the blaring music from the passing parade, ‘You’re pretty good at all this. Maybe I should be hiring you to work for me at the clinic!’
Gabriel smirked, and suddenly Ana was flooded by paranoia. Shoot, she shouldn’t have said that. Had that sounded as if she wanted him there with her? As if she needed him? That was the last impression she wanted to give him. He’d spent enough of his childhood, and his adult life, coming to her rescue.
As the hours went on and the patients rolled in, Ana found herself thinking more and more about that day at the beach—how they’d piled into a friend’s giant van and driven the four hours south, laughing the whole way—well, the others had been laughing. She’d been trying to keep the scowl off her face at the way Ines had kept raking her long fingers through Gabriel’s hair in the seat in front of hers. The job in Bariloche had been on the horizon then, but she hadn’t told anyone yet. In truth, she’d wanted to tell Gabriel first, maybe just to gauge his reaction. He had been her champion, of course, and had told her to go for it. So, bolstered by the fact that she’d already lost him, and feeling as though she’d only be getting in the way if she stayed, she’d gone for it.
They’d drifted apart after that. The baby had arrived. The texts and emails had dried up. Looking at him now, she couldn’t help wondering about his life now. They hadn’t really gone into it too much beyond work stuff...and maybe she’d talked more than him, no thanks to her nerves. He was a single dad, and she assumed was living alone, seeing as he hadn’t mentioned having a partner. And Ines had a new husband. The questions had been hovering on her tongue all day but the timing had just never felt right. Well, that and the fact that between them they could barely finish a sentence before someone blasted reggae, drum and bass or yelled over a microphone right outside the tent.
Finally, their tent was clear again. She wheeled back to the doorway, but Gabriel seemed glued to his phone now. Maybe he was chatting to a date, she thought idly, surprised at the pinpricks of jealousy that rose on the back of her neck. It had been weird enough when he’d admitted he’d had slept with Ines, let alone that he’d got her pregnant. Funny how she’d always kind of thought of him as hers.
‘Check him out,’ Gabriel said, walking over to her and handing her his phone. ‘Doesn’t he look great in that costume? I helped him pick it out at the fancy dress shop.’
Ana studied the photo of Javier. He was dressed as a ladybird in a bright-red fuzzy suit with huge black polka dots. He was so cute it almost hurt her eyes, and he was the spitting image of Gabriel when he’d been that age.
‘Where are they?’ she asked.
‘Out and about somewhere. My parents would have taken him to all the kids’ stuff. There’s a children’s parade soon; it’ll be his first time taking part in it.’
‘And you’re missing it; that’s a shame,’ Ana said before she could think. A look of mild remorse fell across his handsome face, just as four people brushed past them, twirling around each other in some version of a tango, and almost sent them flying into each other. Gabriel caught her chair from behind and twirled her himself. Then he danced with her a moment on the pavement outside the tent, making her laugh as she spun her chair round and round. A group of women in antlers waving glow sticks stopped to cheer and whoop.
Gabriel used to do that a lot, back when she’d been feeling sorry for herself at being stuck in the stupid chair. Most of the time she’d been the picture of strength and determination... Well, that was what other people had seen. Gabriel had always known better. He’d seemed to instinctively know whenever she’d needed a reminder that she could do anything she put her mind to.
‘You’re still an excellent dancer, chica,’ he told her, and she rolled her eyes, not quite managing to hide her laugh as one of the women removed her glittery antlers and placed them on his head. Gabriel went along with this new deer headpiece, performing another twirl to rapturous applause. He looked so ridiculous, she thought, smiling. Why would those butterflies not go away?
Gabriel was just doing a few quick steps of his own strange tango in front of her, making her laugh more and more with every exaggerated move, when another message came in on his phone. Soon, the headpiece and the onlookers were gone, and he was showing her a video. This time Javier was waving at him between his grandparents, whom she recognised, of course. Gabriel’s ever-enthusiastic, ever the life of the party, parents were wearing matching bumble bee outfits, looking the epitome of the perfect grandparents.
‘Hi, Papa!’ Javier called out to the camera.
A jolt struck Ana’s heart. Mixed emotions flooded through her as he stood behind her. She felt nothing but empathy for what he was missing, being here devoting his time to others; then a little guilt, and maybe a little envy too at just hearing the child’s voice! She’d never heard it, she thought now with a frown, but it resonated somehow. The look on Gabriel’s face was one of pure adoration and pride. He was a good father; she’d always known he would be, even if he hadn’t exactly planned for that part of his life to start with Ines and an accidental pregnancy. His beautiful heart had propelled him on that journey with Ines anyway.
Why had Ana not made more of an effort to keep in touch with him, to try and meet the person who meant most to him in the whole world? They used to be so close!
‘He really is adorable.’ She sighed to herself. ‘When do you get to hang out with him next?’
‘Next weekend, I suppose,’ he said. ‘He spends half the time with Ines now.’
‘And her new husband Pedro,’ she added thoughtfully. She could hear in his voice that it bothered him, being away from his son so much.
Gabriel cleared his throat, taking the phone from her hands. ‘What about you?’ he asked now. ‘Is there anyone special in your life, Miss Independent?’
It was her turn to smirk. ‘Me? I don’t think so. Too busy,’ she said. As the words left her mouth, she knew it was a lie. Yes, she was busy, but she had always made herself busy, too determined to prove she could be something more than what she assumed people expected her to be, being stuck in a wheelchair.
Gabriel was cocking his head at her now, looking at her in interest, his brown eyes piercing her the way they always had. She laughed. ‘What?’
‘Nothing,’ he said quickly, just as a flashback of them cuddled on the couch hit her from out of nowhere. She felt herself flushing. The feeling of comfort and safety she had always associated with Gabriel growing up was morphing into images of things that had never happened. She’d done that with her last serious boyfriend, Alberto, not Gabriel—never. She’d have to rein those thoughts in, if they were going to bump into each other more now, she thought.
‘There was Alberto,’ she admitted now. ‘In Bariloche. But he wanted me to move out to the hills with him and have his babies...’
‘Even further out into the hills?’ He looked amused now, and she grimaced.
‘I couldn’t do it. He was nice but...no. What would someone like me do in the middle of nowhere?’ More than that, she found herself thinking now, Alberto had not been ‘the one’. They’d barely had a thing in common besides their location.
‘You’d find something; you always do,’ he chided playfully, and she shrugged. Maybe he thought so, but being a parent was tough enough; she couldn’t even imagine how someone in a wheelchair would deal with all that without more of a support system around. Gabriel was so lucky having that here. Besides, she was busy. All she’d ever wanted was her own clinic. Nothing was going to mess that up now.
Before long, the medical tent was bulging again. At one point they even had a queue outside. All the while, as they worked together and around each other to tend to all manner of minor injuries, and finally to release their rehydrated sour grapes back out into the cacophony of music and merriment, Ana couldn’t help thinking she had been a bad friend the last five years. She’d gone off and busied herself in all those other places while Gabriel had been going through so much with Javi and Ines.
Working here with Gabriel was great, but the music—the heartbeat of the Carnival—pulsed through the night and only seemed to intensify her guilt. He’d always been there for her and then she’d just disappeared and hooked up with Alberto—probably to take her mind off the whole thing with Gabriel and Ines, now that she really thought about it.
She’d even avoided Gabriel’s family on her return visits—out of jealousy, she thought, annoyed with herself. That was the truth of it, really. She hadn’t been able to stand seeing him set up home with someone else, let alone with someone he barely knew. Why on earth would she have wanted to watch the whole neighbourhood and all his friends and family coo over them? Yes, she and Gabriel had only ever been friends, but part of her had often thought maybe...maybe...something might happen between them, eventually.
‘It’s getting late; I’m starving,’ Gabriel announced when they found themselves alone yet again. Ana was starting to get a bit of a headache from the loud music, but she realised her stomach was growling like a caged monster too. ‘I can go get us some snacks, if you don’t mind holding the fort.’
‘Please,’ she said, tidying the last of the gauzes and iodine back into their box. ‘Vegan empanada for me,’ she added, and he threw her a look.
‘Vegan?’ He play-gasped. ‘Ana, you’re breaking my heart!’
She smirked and tutted. He was so dramatic. ‘I just don’t want to risk eating any meat that’s been sitting round all day.’
‘That’s smart, actually. I’ll be straight back.’
Gabriel wasn’t even gone three minutes when a shadow appeared in the doorway and two people called her name in unison. She spun round in surprise and felt her eyebrows disappear into her hair as two human bumble bees stepped into the tent, their glittery wings brushing the canvas sides as they shuffled someone else through with them—a little boy dressed as a ladybird.
