Cecelia Ahern - The Gift

“Oh, thanks.” Lou felt even worse now, totally conflicted as to how he felt about this man.

“So, you’re going to dinner tonight?” Gabe undid the brake on the cart and started to move away, one of the wheels squeaking as he pushed it.

“No, just a coffee. Not dinner.” Lou was unsure if Gabe wanted to be invited. “It’s no big deal really. I’ll be in and out in an hour at the most.”

“Oh, come on, Lou,” Gabe said with a smile, and he sounded alarmingly like Ruth. Oh, come on, Lou, you know this one. But he didn’t finish the sentence in quite the same way. “You know these things always turn into dinner,” Gabe continued. “Then drinks and then whatever.” He winked. “You must really want poor Cliff’s job.”

Lou bit the inside of his lip and nodded. With every fiber of his being he wanted that job.

“But is any of it worth it for the amount of trouble you’ll be in at home, Aloysius?” he said in a singsong voice that chilled Lou to the bone.

Gabe made his way toward the elevator, the squeaking of the wheel loud in the empty hallway.

“Hey!” Lou called after him, but he didn’t turn around. “Hey!” he repeated. “How did you know that? Nobody knows that!”

Even though he was alone in the office, Lou quickly looked around to make sure no one else had heard.

“Relax! I won’t tell anyone,” Gabe called back to him in a voice that made Lou feel far from reassured. Lou watched as Gabe pressed the call button for the elevator and lingered by the doors.

The bathroom door opened and Alfred exited, rubbing at his nose and sniffing. “What’s all the shouting about? Hey, where did you get the coffee?”

“Gabe,” Lou replied, distracted.

“Who? Oh, the homeless guy,” Alfred said uninterested. “Really, Lou, what the hell were you thinking? He could wipe you out.”

“What do you mean?”

“Come on, were you born yesterday? You’ve taken a man who has nothing and put him in a place where there is everything. Ever heard of a thing called temptation? Actually, forget I asked. It’s you I’m talking to,” he said. “You give in to that every time. Perhaps you and the homeless man aren’t so different,” he added. He chuckled and his chest wheezed, the result of his forty-a-day smoking habit.

“We’re nothing alike,” Lou spat, looking back down at the elevators to Gabe.

But Gabe was gone.

The elevator pinged and the doors opened, like welcoming arms ready to embrace the next guest. But there was nobody there. It waited, but nobody entered, and so it crossed its arms in a huff, and descended again.

AT FIVE P.M., EXACTLY THE same time that Lou should have been leaving work in order to get home for Lucy’s school play, he instead paced the floor of his office. Something Gabe had said had made him rethink his decision to miss the play; he couldn’t think what exactly, and all he could feel was a ball of guilt nestled somewhere near his heart and his gut. It was an unfamiliar feeling. His office door was wide open, prepared for his eventual catapult launch down the corridor into Mr. Patterson’s office, where he would announce he was unable to meet Bruce Archer for coffee. Not unlike Mr. Patterson, he too had family commitments. Tonight his daughter was going to be a leaf. But the thought of doing so made him weaken at the knees. Each time he reached the doorway he stopped short, and instead turned around and continued his pacing around his desk.

Gabe. Bloody Gabe. How on Earth had he allowed that man to get inside his head? He didn’t care what Gabe thought about him. Gabe didn’t know how Lou was with his family. Gabe didn’t know how his family felt about him. He didn’t know all the good things he did for them. The expensive holidays, the lavish gifts at Christmas.

Lou would do his job tonight without guilt. Just like he did every day.

He calmed himself and sat at his desk. Just as he prepared to call Alison to instruct her to pass on the message of his important meeting to his wife, he heard Alison call out cheerily, “Hi, Gabe.”

Lou froze, and then for reasons unknown, found himself rushing behind the door, where he stood with his back to the wall and listened to their conversation through the open door.

“Hi, Alison.”

“You look smart today, Gabe.”

“Thanks. Mr. Patterson has asked me to do a few jobs for him around here, so I thought it would be a good idea to look a bit more respectable.”

Lou peeked through the gap in the hinges of the door and spied Gabe, his new haircut combed neatly like Lou’s. A new dark suit was draped over his shoulder and covered in plastic.

“You’re working for Mr. Patterson? Wow, congratulations. So is the new suit part of the job?” Alison asked.

“Oh, this? This is just for me to have. You never know when a suit will come in handy.” He smiled. “Anyway, I’m here to give you these for Lou. I think they’re plans.”

“But Lou just asked Mr. Patterson for these five minutes ago. How did you get them from the architect so quickly?” Alison checked the plans, confusion written across her face.

“Oh, I don’t know, I just, you know…” Lou could see Gabe’s shoulders shrugging.

“No, I don’t know,” Alison laughed. “But I wish I did. Keep working like this, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Mr. Patterson gives you Lou’s job.”

They laughed and Lou bristled, making a note to make Alison’s life hell right after this conversation.

“Is Lou in right now?”

“Yes, he is. Why?”

“Is he going to meet with Bruce Archer today?”

“Yes. At least I think so. Why?”

“Oh, no reason. Just wondering.”

“Why, what’s going on?” She lowered her voice. “What’s the big deal about this evening? Lou’s been acting funny about it. It’s almost like he has a conscience about not going to his daughter’s play.” She giggled.

That was it. Lou couldn’t take it anymore. He slammed his office door, no doubt startling them both. Then he sat down at his desk and picked up the phone.

“Yes?” Alison answered.

“Get me Harry from the mailroom on the phone, and after that call Ronan Pearson and check with him to see if Gabe collected the plans from him personally. Do this without Gabe’s knowing. And then we’ll have a talk about that conscience of mine,” he snapped.

“Oh.” She paused, embarrassed, then composed herself. “Yes, of course, just one moment, please,” she said in her best telephone voice. “I’ll connect you.”

Lou adjusted his tie, cleared his throat, and spun around in his oversized leather chair to face the window. The day was cold but crisp, and there wasn’t a breeze as holiday shoppers rushed to and fro, their arms laden with bags amid the flashing colors of numerous neon signs.

“Yello,” Harry barked.

“Harry, it’s Lou.”

“What?” Harry shouted, machines and voices so loud behind him, Lou had no choice but to speak up. He looked around to make sure he was still alone before speaking. “It’s Lou, Harry.”

“Lou who?”

“Suffern.”

“Oh, Lou, hi, how can I help you? Your mail end up on twelve again?”

“No, no, I got it, thanks.”

“Good. That new boy you sent my way is a genius, isn’t he?”

“He is?”

“Gabe? Absolutely. Everyone’s calling me with nothing but good reviews. It’s like he fell from the stars, I’m telling you. And he couldn’t have come at a better time, that’s no word of a lie. We were struggling, you know that. In all of my years in this job, this Christmas season is the wildest. Everything’s getting faster and faster. Well, it must be, because it’s not me that’s getting slower, that’s for sure. You picked a good one, Lou. I owe you. So how can I help you today?”