SOMETHING HAD bugged Hank about Gabe from the moment Jeff introduced him. First of all, Jeff wasn’t the kind to take in strays—that was more Ronnie’s bag. At first Hank thought Jeff was just shy about picking up Gabe from, well, wherever he’d picked him up from.
See that was another thing. For such a pretty man, Gabe had to come from Heaven. Either that or be the victim of some serious downlevel experimentation. Gabe had confirmed he’d come from uplevel.
But if he had come from Heaven, why hadn’t he recognized Hank? Then again, it had been over a year since Hank had made his unceremonious exit, so, sure there had to be bigger scandals to take his place. Something childish inside him felt offended he’d been forgotten so easily.
He did look different. Down here he didn’t have access to the kind of treatments that kept him fresh-faced and young. Ian had to actually teach him how to shave. And of course, living down on Earth meant he aged faster than before.
Why didn’t Gabe seem to know about the pillars when he’d asked Ian about getting a message back up top? If he hadn’t come from there, then how the heck had Gabe fallen to Earth anyhow?
“Are you paying attention?” Kayla asked, sounding way too put out for a kid.
He’d come back to the junkyard for lessons—you couldn’t live down here and be useless at putting shit together. Right now Hank operated below Kayla’s level, so she took turns with her dad showing him the basics.
Hank liked to think his own kids would turn out as well as Jeff’s daughter.
“Get out of your head, love,” Ian said in a low voice from his place at the door to Kayla’s workshop. Even now he couldn’t break the habit of guarding entrances.
“Not in front of Kayla, dear. You promised Jeff.” Hank adjusted his safety goggles and leaned in toward the worktable. “Show me that last bit again.”
They worked in silence for a moment, with Hank handing her the appropriate tools. The stench of burned metal filled the room. Hank wrinkled his nose. He still hadn’t gotten used to the way things smelled down here.
The door swung open, and Hank was sure he was the only one to notice how Ian stiffened and reached for a weapon. Gabe stood there, framed by the faint light streaming in behind him.
He looked different—some of the stiffness gone from his shoulders, and his eyes were clear and focused, instead of confused. The clothes he wore overpowered him, making it look like Gabe drowned in fabric.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were here.” Gabe frowned. “I didn’t hear the alarm.”
“I knew they were coming, so I let them in,” Kayla said.
Gabe opened his mouth and then closed it.
“Kayla is giving me lessons,” Hank explained. “Want to help?” He had the sudden sense that if he spoke too loud, then he would spook Gabe.
“All right. Sure.” Gabe smiled.
Great. Now maybe Hank could figure Gabe out.
IT WASN’T that Gabe was surprised to see Hank and Ian in the junkyard. It was that they were in Kayla’s workshop, unsupervised. Jeff must trust them to let them be alone with his daughter. To expose her to this level of sexual deviancy….
No. He had to stop thinking like an angel. Heaven’s laws about morality didn’t apply down here. And if he planned on rejecting everything he’d been, Gabe had better start now, with two of Jeff’s closest friends.
Since the return of his memories, Gabe felt a bit like he didn’t fit inside his own skin. He’d walked the junkyard, hoping that physical movement might help. Instead he felt like a ghost, haunting the ruins of civilization. That’s when he decided to visit Kayla. Perhaps her bright enthusiasm could break him out of this cloud of memory that hovered over him.
She and Hank both sat on benches, their heads bent toward their individual tasks. Ian stared at Hank with an expression on his face that bordered between fondness and exasperation. Gabe noticed he looked like that a lot. Trixie had curled up under the table, looking somehow small despite the fact that Gabe damn well knew she was a huge dog.
“What are you working on?” Gabe asked, forcing himself to be in the present.
“I’m showing Hank how to solder circuit boards.” Kayla had a slim soldering gun in one hand. The tool smoked slightly, and Gabe marveled at her skill for her age.
“This tech is so fu—” Hank cut himself off. “Freaking old.”
“Yes,” Kayla agreed, “which means there’s no one around to fix it if something goes bad.”
Ian stepped closer. “She’s not wrong.”
“Then why don’t you grab some goggles and help?”
“It’s too much fun to watch you.”
Gabe smiled and rubbed at the ache in his chest. “I suppose I should learn all that too. I mean, if I’m going to live down here permanently.”
“Dad will teach you, if you want,” Kayla said. She narrowed her eyes as she attacked the board in front of her, the smell of the heated metal filling the air.
Hank watched her and then attempted to work on his own project. Even Gabe could tell that he lacked the same level of skill. At least he had eagerness to make up for it. Hank’s board started to smoke slightly.
“Oh, Hank. Not like that.” Kayla set down her own tool and got up from the table. She walked over to where he sat and pointed where he’d gone wrong.
Trixie got to her feet, probably thinking Kayla meant to leave, although Gabe couldn’t be sure. He could only stare at what happened next, as if time had started to slow.
Trixie knocked into the table as she stood, her bulk jostling the legs. The soldering gun that Kayla left on the edge of the table started to roll. It fell, on target to hit the dog directly on her head.
Ian moved, dashing in the way with impossible speed. He reached out and grabbed the tool with his bare hand. “Ow.”
“Ian!” Hank got to his feet.
“Trixie!” Kayla slid to her knees and checked on the dog, who licked her face.
“It’s fine.” Ian set the soldering gun down in a much securer location. Hank grabbed Ian’s palm and winced at the redness on his skin.
“It’s not fine,” Hank said. “Where’s the first aid kit?”
Kayla got to her feet and pointed to a drawer behind him. Tears streamed down her face. “I’m sorry! I should have been more careful.”
“Kayla, I’m fine,” Ian said. He smiled at her and didn’t even wince when Hank cleaned the burn with a wipe from the kit. “It was an accident.”
Gabe reached out to touch Kayla’s shoulder. To his surprise, she turned around and hugged him. He stroked her hair and let her sniffle into his shirt. “It’s okay, she’s fine. See?”
“And you,” Hank said as he sprayed something onto Ian’s palm, “have to learn you don’t always have to put yourself into danger to save others.”
Ian smiled at him. “You know that’s not true.”
Gabe stared at them, that heaviness back in his chest. Once, he had a relationship like that, someone he could tease and love and count on when things grew difficult. He’d lost Rocco, but maybe he hadn’t quite lost the chance for something like this again. Gabe had his life back. Anything was possible. Maybe even… with Jeff?