Mending Broken Flowers

"You, um, you ready to talk about what happened that night?" Lily asked, not looking up.

"I guess," he grunted.

"I want you to know, none of that was your fault," Lily said softly.

"Shouldn't have run out; maybe I could have had a few years with my daughters," Gabriel said bitterly.

"And I will never forgive myself for that," Lily said quietly.

"Girls!" she called out. "I don't hear that soap hitting them bodies!"

"We're doing it quiet," Gabrielle called back.

"If I have to come in there," Lily warned.

She smiled as the noise level in the bathroom rose again.

"No, Gabriel, none of that was your fault at all," Lily resumed. "I, Gabriel, I never could believe it; you? You could have had any girl you wanted. I mean, shit! I'm sure you remember Daisy? She was absolutely crazy about you! And of course Peggy, God! She never shut up about you and Jeanette was always, and then I find out you and Heather? And why on God's green earth would you won't anything to do with me?"

"Lily, I always thought you were beautiful, even when you hated me," Gabriel said.

"So, I couldn't get you, it's late, no word from you, even your mom doesn't know where you are, and you drive up with that slut Peggy, the one who never shuts up about you, and she's hugging you and rubbing her big old boobs all over you and... That's it, I'm coming in there!" Lily said and got to her feet.

They heard two squeals and Gabriel smiled as Lily stormed into the bathroom.

"The soap isn't even wet!" Lily yelled.

"We were trying to save it," Gabrielle claimed.

"Yeah, soap costs money," Daisy agreed.

"Hey girls?" Gabriel called out. "That big trailer on my truck? It's filled with soap so go ahead and use up all of that; we got plenty more."

Lily came out of the bathroom smiling and kissed Gabriel before again sitting, facing him. She rubbed her face where his beard scratched her.

"I really didn't do nothing when I left here; I went and seen that stupid Jack Black movie, then went to Clark's and then back here, but you were gone. That's it," Lily concluded her story.

"But why, Lily? Why'd you even do any of that?" Gabriel asked, trying to understand.

"Gabriel, I'm sorry, I was so afraid of losing you and it hurt so damned much, seeing Peggy all over you like that; I just wanted you to feel some of that too, then maybe you'd never hurt me again and. Well, I didn't say it made any sense, did I?" Lily sputtered.

Lily, I have never, from the first time we kissed, ever cheated on you," Gabriel said softly.

"I know that now," Lily said, leaning close to him. "Looking back on what kind of man you are, I know that; your heart just wouldn't ever let you."

They sat, lightly touching each other, fingertip to fingertip.

"So, what do we do now?" Lily finally asked.

"What do you mean?" Gabriel asked.

"I mean, I know what I want; I want you back home, here, with me, with me and the girls, I want us to have another kid or two, want us to go to church together, to go to the park together, want to fall asleep holding you and I want to wake up next to you until the day I die," Lily said, clutching Gabriel's hand tightly now.

Gabriel looked at her, looked into her deep brown eyes for a long moment.

"Lily, I come back, no more of them silly little games, okay? No more of getting all jealous and going off the deep end and getting all crazy and..." Gabriel said slowly.

"No," Lily agreed. "Marriage is about trust. I have to trust you just as much as you trust me."

"No trying to hurt each other," Gabriel continued.

""I've had enough hurt to last me a lifetime," Lily agreed. "Each and every minute you were gone killed me; what made it worse knew that I was the one that did it, the one drove you away."

----

Gabriel woke up, twisted around the small figure of Lily.

"God damn, this couch is miserable!" he whispered in her ear.

"Shh, I'm dreaming my lover finally came home and I don't ever want to wake up," Lily whispered back.

"Going to have to; I need to pee," Gabriel said.

"Need to shave that beard off too, damn that thing itches!" Lily complained.

Gabriel almost said "You're the first woman to complain about it," but thought better of it.

He tried to groan quietly; the girls were sleeping in the bed, but couldn't manage it. His back hurt, his arm hurt, his legs were stiff from sharing the small couch with Lily.

"Daddy?" Daisy asked, looking out from under a pillow.

"Yeah?" Gabriel asked.

"Just making sure; sometimes I dream and it's so real, but then it's not," Daisy said, closing her eyes again.

"Why does she sleep with a pillow on her head?" Gabriel asked Lily when he came back to the couch.

"Don't know; she always has," Lily mumbled and rolled over to face him.

She reached down between them and gripped his penis tightly.

"Think we can..." she murmured, stroking it.

"As loud as you are? No way," he smiled and kissed her.

"Damn!" she hissed, rubbing her face. "I hate that beard!"

"Damn, haven't even been here twenty four hours and you're already complaining?" he teamed.

She gasped, horrified and opened her eyes wide.

"Oh, Baby, no!" she exclaimed. "Oh, no, no! You like the beard? Keep it, oh Baby, oh God, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!"

"Shh, shh," he soothed, kissing her again.

----

Jesse Johnson's assistant, a blonde with pneumatic breasts seemed to be puzzled by the simple act of scheduling Gabriel for an appointment. Thankfully, Jesse himself walked through the reception area and stopped; tall men in grubby jeans and tee shirts were not normal clients of his.

"Gabriel, Gabriel Florez; my mom's Annie Florez," Gabriel said, shaking Jesse's hand.

"Oh, oh yeah!" Jesse smiled. "Theresa, could you get me a cup of coffee; Gabe, you want anything?"

Gabriel asked for coffee, black and was rewarded by a goodly expanse of leg when Theresa got out of her chair.

Jesse's eyes never left Theresa's form until she closed the door behind her. She'd put his cup of coffee down, then flounced over to the coffee pot, turned, asked Gabriel what it was that he wanted, then poured his coffee and put it down on the desk for him. Each movement flashed ample sight of her impressive cleavage, or long legs.

"I see Reynolds found you," Jesse finally said.

"You the one hired him?" Gabriel asked, taking a sip and almost coking on the sludge Theresa called coffee.

"Yeah, Annie, your mom was frantic that we find you; good thing we did," Jesse said, looking over some papers.

He took a sip of the coffee and wrinkled up his face.

"Damn, I see she still doesn't know how to make coffee. Hang on; I'll make us a real pot of coffee; sorry about that," Jesse said.

"You said it's a good thing Reynolds found me," Gabriel reminded Jesse when they had fresh cups of coffee in front of them.

"She's dying," Jesse said flatly. "No matter what kind of shit y'all been through, y'all still need to be able to make peace with each other. I've seen too many people hold onto a grudge until it's just too late, you know? I mean, what good is that? It doesn't help anyone, you know?"

Gabriel sighed as he sipped the coffee.

"Better?" Jesse smiled. "I didn't hire her for her coffee skills."

"I think I have a good idea why you did hire her," Gabriel smiled.

A few hours later, Gabriel left Jesse's office.

Everything was in his name; he even had executorships over Gabrielle and Daisy's trust funds, which Annie had set up the moment they were born, Gabrielle at 11:51 pm, November 14 and Daisy at 12:03 am on November 15.

Gabriel punched the number 2 on his cell phone.

"Hello," Carmen answered in a flat voice.

"Hey, how's it going?" Gabriel asked.

"Did you see her?" Carmen asked, almost angrily.

"Yeah I did; we um, we got a lot of stuff cleared up," Gabriel said.

"Fine, I'll be moved out by tomorrow," Carmen snapped.

"Wait, what? Why? Why you moving out?" Gabriel asked, baffled.

"You really think, you really think I can go on living here? When every thing I see is you? Ain't nothing in here don't remind me of you, you stupid ass mother fucker!" Carmen spat out bitterly.

"But, Carmen," Gabriel said, confused.

"Have a nice life, fucking ass hole," Carmen said and slammed the phone down.

Gabriel spotted the familiar striped pole and parked in front of Waggamon's Barber shop.

When they were kids, they called it 'Whack's Barbers;' the place was a run down, one room shack. Run by the Waggamon brothers, Ray and Jack couldn't cut hair worth a damn and the customer always wound up looking like they'd lost a fight with a weed whacker. Tommy was the only one that could do a decent job, until Parkinson's took that ability.

He entered and was pleasantly surprised to see, while it was the same run down one room shack, and still had the three old chairs, the Waggamon brothers were nowhere in sight. Three very attractive young ladies stood behind each chair, two with customers and the third one cleaning the floor.

Shave and a haircut," he said to the third girl.

"Hot towel?" she asked."

Absolutely," Gabriel said.

"Let's get started on this mop while the towel's heating up, the cute blonde said and grabbed her scissors.

Gabriel smiled but didn't say anything. He wanted to see when Heather would recognize him. The former cheerleader still looked the same, same plethora of freckles, same bubbly smile, and same tight body.

"How's that?" she asked, swiveling him so he could see himself in the mirror.

"That'll do," Gabriel agreed.

"Now, shave it all? Or just the beard?" Heather asked, funning her fingers over the beard.

"All of it," Gabriel smiled.

"Shame, looks good on you," Heather shrugged and grabbed the hot towel.

"Yeah, but my wife doesn't like it," Gabriel smiled then jerked slightly when the hot towel hit him.

Heather spent a good ten minutes with the straight razor, squinting and scrutinizing her work. Finally, she deemed it good enough and stepped back.

"All do...Gabriel?" Heather said, and then opened her mouth in shock.

"I was wondering when you'd notice," he laughed and accepted the hug.

"I changed my mind," she smiled. "You look better without the beard."

"Hey, hey, hey, enough of that, the girl behind the middle chair snapped.

"Shut up Maggie; this is my old boyfriend from high school," Heather snapped back.

"Oh? See me hugging all my old boyfriends?" Maggie asked angrily.

"Fucking dyke," Heather hissed to Gabriel. "Gets jealous I talk to anyone. God help me if it's another girl, huh?"

"You two are...?" Gabriel asked, pointing to Maggie then Heather.

"Not for long she doesn't straighten up," Heather hissed, loud enough for Maggie to hear.

"Now, when I was here, Ray and Jack only charged two fifty for a haircut," Gabriel smiled.

"Oh, it's still two fifty," Heather smiled.

"No way!" Gabriel said.

"Yeah, decimal point's moved a couple of spaces though," Heather laughed.

Gabriel paid the twenty nine dollars and waved good bye. Heather and the third girl waved back, but Maggie just glared at him.

----

Benny again came trotting in when he was paged and smiled sheepishly as Gabriel asked him if he was still smoking.

"You sure you never been to San Diego?" Benny asked.

"Pretty sure; you?" Gabriel smiled.

"Oh yes!" Benny sighed. "Oh, Grew up there, hitched a ride with this very nice trucker, oh, I bet you know him, E.J.? E.J. Jeffries?"

"Name doesn't ring a bell," Gabriel admitted and paused in front of his mother's door.

"Need me come in with you?" Benny asked.

"Please," Gabriel asked.

----

Annie would have loved the flowers, would have loved the viewing room, and would have loved the thongs of people that came to pay their respects.

"Yeah, a couple years back, I was getting married to Ass Hole," Ann-Marie Blanchard said to Gabriel. "Didn't have money for shit, then this pretty girl comes to my door and just gives me a bouquet for the wedding. You know how the bride's supposed to throw the bouquet? I told them, y'all bitches can just kiss my ass think I'm throwing this thing!"

"I still have the dollar bill your momma tipped me," Lily smiled at Ann-Marie.

"I remember my Herman's funeral," another woman told Gabriel. "There were a few arrangements, but the one that really stood out was the one from Annie's. I mean, I had to touch them a couple of times to make sure they were real."

"My first Thanksgiving?" another woman told Gabriel. "Wanted every thing to be just right? Burned the turkey, yams were raw, no one told me to defrost the ham so it was frozen solid, then my mother-in-law looks at the centerpiece I got from Annie's and says 'But the flowers are perfect.' To this day, that's what we say at every Thanksgiving, 'but the flowers are perfect,' and every Thanksgiving, guess where they come from?""

----

Both Lily and Gabriel stood, watching as Gabrielle and Daisy waited for the bus that would take them to St. Richard for their first day of Kindergarten.

"You remember our first day of kindergarten?" Lily asked.

"You mean, the day some psychotic little munchkin decided to make my life a living hell?" Gabriel asked, squeezing her hand tightly.

"Yeah, something like that," she giggled.

"What time you got to be in?" he asked as the bus squealed to a stop.

"Ten, Jeanette's closing now that the girls are in school," Lily said.

"Oh, so we got time for..." Gabriel said.

"Oh, yeah, we got time for..." Lily agreed.

*

The End.

**Author's Note: I write these stories for my enjoyment; I post them for your enjoyment. Critiques are welcomed, as long as they are critiques and not just pointless commentaries. "You suck" and other pointless comments of that ilk will be deleted. Any and all comments from 'Anonymous' will be deleted. If you do not have the courage to put your name, I don't have the time to read your words.