Breaking free - Gracie Abrams

027 Reconnecting

Reconnecting
027

"can i have more coffee, please?" emily asked the maid.

breakfast was in full swing on the patio, the clink of silverware meeting plates mixing with soft conversation. emily sat slouched in her chair, her sunglasses doing a poor job of masking how little sleep she'd gotten. gabriela had tried slipping out with gracie unnoticed, but their subtle escape was quickly thwarted. retreating to her room to call glenn, gabriela left gracie at the table with emily, felix, Olivia, jeremy, and nate.

"me too," jeremy added, his head leaning on his hand.

nate, far too perky for the hour, leaned in. "what's up with those faces? you two look like you fought a war in your sleep."

"we didn't sleep at all," emily groaned, accepting her refilled coffee cup like it was a lifeline. "thank you," she muttered to the maid, taking a long sip.

jeremy perked up. "it wasn't just not sleeping. all night, we heard this boom, boom—" he paused dramatically, then mimicked a very suggestive sound.

everyone at the table broke into laughter, except for emily, who shot him a glare.

"babe, no. stop it."

"what?" he said, feigning innocence. "i'm just saying. it wasn't even a normal noise—it was like—" he moaned again, louder this time.

"jeremy," emily said, exasperated. "stop it."

"i heard it too," gracie chimed in. "it was kind of... hard to miss."

"who do you think it was?" olivia asked, leaning forward like she was about to crack the case of the century.

emily raised her hand. "oh, i know who it was."

"do you?" olivia's eyebrows shot up.

just as emily opened her mouth to share her theory, gabriela stepped onto the patio, her hair still slightly messy from the morning. everyone's heads snapped in her direction, their gazes practically piercing through her soul.

"good morning," she said casually, as she slid her sunglasses on.

gabriela took a seat beside felix, her plan of whisking gracie away for breakfast thoroughly destroyed. she drummed her fingers on the table, trying to think of something else to do with her later, but jeremy was already eyeing her with that grin he wore when he was about to stir trouble.

"damn, sister-in-law" jeremy broke the silence with a smirk.

"jeremy," emily muttered, smacking his arm.

"who did you sleep with?" he leaning back dramatically. "because, let me tell you, all night we couldn't sleep a wink."

"all night," emily emphasized.

gabriela felt her cheeks flush, heat crawling up her neck. her eyes darted to gracie, who clearly found the situation hilarious, her lips quirking up into a knowing smile. deciding to play along, gabriela shrugged.

"i wish, brother-in-law," she replied, and gracie rolled her eyes, still smiling.

"well, if it wasn't you," felix said, glancing around the table, "then who the hell was it?"

gabriela hesitated. "uh... where's mom?" she blurted out, the question rushing out of her mouth before she could stop it.

jeremy's eyes widened, and he let out a dramatic gasp, clutching emily's shoulder. everyone at the table froze, trying to piece it together.