Page 22 of In Every Lifetime
Sarah
Gabriel wasn’t what I had expected. I wasn’t sure what I had expected, but it wasn’t him. Don’t get me wrong, he seemed like a great man, but he was the complete opposite of Fai. He was boisterous, always having a story to tell or an anecdote to share. It was hard for me not to analyze him from a psychologist's point of view.
He seemed to be overcompensating, doing his best to talk himself and his accomplishments up. I assumed it was to impress Fai, his newly found older brother. As an oldest child myself, I had memories of my younger siblings behaving similarly, but when we were children. It was odd to see a grown man behaving the same way.
I had spent more time with him than Fai had at this point, though not by much. Dinner had come together quickly, and by the time Gabriel and I carried the food out and set the table, Fai had finished his calls and joined us.
Neither Fai nor Gabriel knew how to start a conversation. They were both bursting at the seams with questions for each other, and hopefully answers too. I glanced at Fai to urge him tospeak up, but found his gaze glued to his plate in front of him. I recognized the look, the particular exhaustion that meant he was shutting down, overwhelmed by the weight of the moment. I stepped in.
“So, Gabriel,” I began as I dished up my plate, “what do you do for work?”
Gabriel smiled from his seat at the round table. He did that a lot, smile I mean, even when the moment didn't quite call for it. “I spend the summers on a fishing boat in Alaska. I make enough for the year and come back here for the winters.”
“Alaska and rural Montana? You really like living remotely, don’t you?” I mused jokingly.
Gabriel laughed lightly. “I really do. I haven’t ever been a big fan of cities.”
“Did you not grow up in Chicago?” Fai interjected, perplexed.
Gabriel looked at him, confused, and shook his head. “No, why do you ask?”
“Oh, sorry.” Fai was flustered. “It’s where I was born. I guess I always assumed our mom stuck around the city after she had me.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize that’s where you were born,” Gabriel explained. “I was born and raised in Montana. Not this town, but one a few hours away. She must have moved here after she gave birth to you.”
Fai nodded quietly, turning the information over.
I turned to Gabriel. “How did you find us?”
Gabriel’s demeanor lightened, excited to explain. “It was really quite the process. I actually found you first, Sarah. Unintentionally. After my mom died, I hired a private investigator to find this brother of mine I always heard about. It took over a year to find anything, but he did manage to find a connection between my mom and a man named Rohan Acharya.”
My eyes went wide, hearing Fai’s father’s first name for the first time. Fai was just as shocked, his knuckles turning white as he grasped onto the fork.
“Is that…” He cleared his throat and took a steadying breath. “Is that my dad?”
“Oh shit, you didn’t know?” Gabriel asked both of us. We both shook our heads and Gabriel sighed. “Wow, I would have been a lot more delicate sharing that bit of news with you. What do you know?”
Fai let out a humorless chuckle. “Nothing.”
Gabriel sat back. “Okay, well, what do you want to know?”
“How about what happened after you found Rohan?” I offered, reaching under the table and bracing my hand on Fai’s knee for comfort. His leg was bouncing until I made the contact, a nervous tick he had always had. “We can start with that piece tonight.”
“Who am I to disagree with a trained professional?” Gabriel said with a wink.
I did my best to hide my disgust, keeping my expression neutral. Men were never fully aware that winking, flirting, and suggestive behavior usually had the opposite effect than intended. It’s one of the reasons I had fallen for Fai. Where most would flirt with me, make suggestive comments, or play that stupid dating game, Fai had always been real with me when we first met. He never put on a facade to impress me, only giving me his truth.
“The connection between our mom and Rohan was minimal. They went to high school together, and in their sophomore year, Rohan’s parents paid our mom a good chunk of change. They essentially paid her to give you up for adoption,” Gabriel explained as he looked at Fai, his expression careful and empathetic.
“After you were born, his family moved. I’m not sure where, but the last name and the timeline gave me a jumping off point… well, my private investigator a jumping off point,” he corrected and turned to me. “He then found Fai’s records in the Illinois foster system records. It was pretty easy to track him down to Oregon at that point.”
“How did you find me first if they found Fai through his father?” I asked, confused.
“It’s a small world,” Gabriel explained, leaning back into his chair. “A couple of years before all of this started, I heard a guest lecture of yours at Montana State University about the inner workings of psychopathy.”
"Oh my god, you were there?" I said, genuinely surprised, thinking back to the lecture I had given as a favor to a colleague who taught at the university.
Gabriel nodded. “It was by complete happenstance. I was supposed to have a meeting in Bozeman, but it ended up being rescheduled and I had a day to fill.”
