Gabriela.
He released a harsh breath through his nostrils, turned, and walked away from the jewelry store. Making his full claim on Gabriela—and her accepting it with equal fullness—was inevitable. It would happen. He didn’t need to rush anything, and yet…
Broxen glanced over his shoulder, glimpsing the jewelry store’s bright lights and gleaming displays from the corner of his eye. His lips fell into a frown. He’d have to revisit this matter after giving it some thought—and he doubted that he would be able to do that while he was here.
Forcing his face forward, he continued onward.
His frustration and annoyance flared often as he worked his way around the mall, navigating between clusters of shoppers and vendors offering him free samples of who knew what. There was a word that seemed to fit the people here, one that had stuck with him for some reason ever since he’d first seen it in a book—masochist. He’d known a few people on Turata who’d fit the definition of it. He couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to be in this mall right now who didn’t enjoy a little suffering.
Every store had lines at the registers. Every cashier seemed slower than the last. But every time he thought he had enough, that he’d seen all there was to see, he’d spot something in another display window that would make him think of Ana or Gabriela, and he’d find himself heading into a new store.
There were also a few other jewelry stores, taunting him with their glinting displays as he passed them.
The number of bags in his hands grew as he went from store to store, and as it did, it became more of a challenge to avoid bumping anyone. The little kits walking with their parents were particularly difficult to look out for, and more than once Broxen had to swing his arms up high to avoid knocking over a tiny human.
With his hands full, he couldn’t check his phone, but he felt the minutes burning away. He felt every mile between himself and his females.
It is for them.
Broxen’s irritation was nearing its peak when he entered a store with signs that said it specialized in pop culture memorabilia; he wasn’t sure what that meant, but it had many items with cartoon characters upon them, and he had a feeling Ana would have loved to look around inside.
Unfortunately, the store space was crammed with display racks and shelving, and some of the walkways were so narrow that he could barely fit through without turning sideways and lifting his bags over his head. It was exactly the sort of place he would have strongly recommended Astius avoid back when Broxen was still a bodyguard—a security nightmare where the escape routes were effectively blocked no matter where you were because it was so crowded.
He found himself forced to stop in a narrow aisle where a small, frail looking female—an elder of advanced years, by the looks of her—was staring up at an item on a high shelf.
“Sorry to bother you, young man,” the woman said in a quavering voice that was barely audible over the store’s loud music as she looked up at Broxen through the thick lenses of her glasses, “but could you help an old gal out?”
She smiled at him with a genuine warmth he hadn’t encountered since entering the mall. There was a piece of paper in one of her hands with words written on it in neat, flowing cursive, some sort of list.
“What do you need?” Broxen asked.
The elder grinned and turned her head so her ear was toward him. “Eh? Hard to hear you from all the way down here.”
The corner of his mouth tilted up as he bent down so he was closer to the woman. “How can I help?”
She lifted the hand with the list in it and pointed at an item on the top shelf. Her arm trembled slightly. “Could you get one of those down for me? I’ve been trying to get help, but this place is so loud.”
Broxen set down the bags he was holding in one hand, straightened, and grabbed one of the boxed items off the high shelf. There was a strange, blocky toy inside, a green thing with a big cube head and black squares that made up its eyes and oddly sad mouth.
The elder’s face lit up as he handed it to her. “Oh, thank you. It’s for my great grandson. From some game he loves. I want Minecraft stuff for Christmas, Nana, he said, and of course he waited until a few days before.”
Minecraft. That was one of the games he’d bought earlier, and he was fairly certain he’d overheard the word a few times when Ana had been watching TV. While his hand was still free, he took down one of the boxes for himself.
“I don’t understand it,” the elder said with a chuckle, “but it makes the kids happy, so who am I to criticize? Lucas showed me a mansion he made in the game once, and I couldn’t believe that he’d come up with all that on his own! Maybe he’ll be an architect one day.”
Though he wasn’t sure what to say to all that, Broxen was moved by the woman’s adoration and enthusiasm. “Maybe.”
“Do you have a child interested in it, too?” the elder asked, dipping her chin toward the boxed toy in Broxen’s hand.
“I…think so.” He pressed his lips together for a moment. “My ma—uh, girlfriend’s daughter. Don’t know much about this stuff yet, but I’m trying.”
“Well, you’re a keeper, aren’t you?” she said, offering him a playful grin and swatting his arm lightly with her hand. “Always loved that about my Jerry. He didn’t always know, but he always showed interest in what me and the kids enjoyed. When our oldest was still a little girl, she got a pink bicycle that had dangly ribbons on the handles. Some of the neighborhood boys made fun of her, so Jerry painted his bicycle pink and hung even longer ribbons from the handles. He rode up and down the street with her for weeks, and she never cared what those boys had to say again.”
Broxen smiled, feeling that tightness and warmth in his chest—he couldn’t help but think of Ana and the sort of father-daughter relationship he hoped to build with her. “Sounds like a good man.”
“He was the best. Fifty-four years married.”
“That’s a long time.” Was it too much to hope for that long with Gabriela? “You must love each other very much.”
“Oh, my Jerry passed a few years ago.” The light in the elder’s eyes was sorrowful and joyous at the same time. “But I still love him. Everyone thought he was crazy because he proposed when we’d only known each other for a month, but I knew just from looking in his eyes that he was the one.”
“I…know what you mean.” That was how Broxen had felt since the first time he’d seen Gabriela. He’d lacked the confidence to approach her, had lacked the insight to understand what he’d felt, but it had been there all the same.
In that moment, Broxen wanted more than anything to go back to his females, to hold them in his arms, to see them laugh and smile. But he wasn’t done yet. He hadn’t finished what he’d set out to do.
“You happen to know somewhere that might have decorations? Christmas decorations?” he asked. “Haven’t seen anything in the mall.”
“You might check the Target just across Milwaukee Street. But I don’t think anywhere will have much left by now.” She grinned. “Should’ve done your shopping sooner, but you can probably find good deals now.”
“Hopefully.” Broxen tucked the boxed toy under his arm and crouched to collect the bags he’d set down. “Thank you.”