16

...Gabriel...

—Father, don't you think we could split up? I can go one way and you can go the other. —Said Facundo, looking at Manuel and me.

—And why are you going alone? —I asked.

—Because the Father is still new and can be lost.

—Well, he's right, if you don't mind, let's go together, Gabi.

I looked at Manuel before looking back at Facundo, he gave me an almost imperceptible nod. It was another plan of his for me to stay with him alone. I had no choice but to agree, I didn't dislike the idea, but I wasn't at ease either. We had not been alone for more than ten or fifteen minutes, more time would be torture for me. Manuel indicated where we had to go before starting the collection. Facundo went to the right of the parish, while we went to the left. We walked to the other corner in complete silence, he carried the box as if he didn't want me to make any more effort than walking. I took it upon myself to knock on the door when we reached the first house. Ariel, dressed in what looked like pajamas, answered the door.

—Hello, Ariel, how are you? Do you know why we came?

He shook his head, clearly embarrassed by Manuel's presence. Not all the boys knew him, many had not yet started going to the missionary talks. I crouched down to his level.

—We came to collect clothes or toys. Is your mom here?

He just nodded and ran inside, I sat up, looking away from Manuel, he smiled at me. It wasn't long before Solange, Ariel's mom, appeared with a black consortium bag labeled with a printer sheet as "clothes". Father extended the box to receive the bag. We thanked him and went to the next house.

It took us about an hour to finish the block, the box was pretty full, but Manuel didn't want to go back to the parish to drop the stuff off. For him, the best thing to do was to gather as much as we could at once before we had to go back. He put the box on the floor and sat down against a wall separating the house we had just entered from the sidewalk.

—We should go back, Father.

—It's going to take longer like this.

—Then let me carry the box so you can rest your arms. —He shook his head—. You're a bit stubborn, Father.

Manuel let out a chuckle.

—Maybe, Gabi.

—Well, take a rest. I'll be right back.

—Where are you going?

—To the kiosk around the corner.

I didn't wait for him to answer me, I walked to the kiosk, went inside and bought a couple of bottles of water. I went back to Father, sat down next to him and gave him the bottle.

—Thank you, Gabi. You didn't have to buy it for me.

—I wanted to do it, Father. You deserve it for working so hard.

—We barely put things together.

I looked at him and smiled, opened the bottle and took a sip. I gawked at him for a few seconds as if there was nothing else in the world but him, but I forced myself to come back to reality. I couldn't live like I was in a teen romance movie. I opened my bottle and took a sip of water. We sat there for a few minutes in complete silence. I felt a little uncomfortable, I couldn't stop thinking about Facundo and his brilliant idea to make us come together. I didn't mind helping Manuel, what bothered me was my own head. All I could think about was how attractive he was, the sweetness in his voice when he greeted people in their homes, his kindness, especially with the kids. Facu was right, Father had me in my head.

...***...

We left the last house we had left to visit. We sat on the curb to rest before returning to the parish again. The box was full, but Manuel would not let me carry it, even though I was tired. I looked at the sky, it was already getting dark, we had taken quite a while, mostly because we had to rest every time we finished a part.

—Are you sure you don't want me to carry the stuff?

—Relax, Gabi. —He smiled at me.

—You're sweaty from carrying so much stuff. Let me help you, otherwise there's no point in my coming.

—You helped me, Gabi. You don't need to carry things.

—How stubborn, Father.

She giggled, I just smiled. I took a disposable handkerchief out of my pocket and, without thinking too much, I wiped it across his forehead and neck. When I realized what I was doing, I felt my face burn. I pulled my hand away and looked away, was he a moron or what? Manuel didn't seem upset with what I did, but it was still wrong. I couldn't get that close to him.

—Thank you.

He said in his sweet voice, I looked at him with embarrassment, he smiled at me again. I felt like an asshole, I wasn't even able to think before doing something. I held my breath for a few seconds. If Facu were here, I would tease myself for the rest of the week with this alone. After a few minutes, we decided to go back to the parish. Before he grabbed the box, I took out as many bags as I could to keep him from carrying so much. At first he complained, but, when I started walking, he had no choice but to follow me without saying anything else. When we arrived at the parish, we went inside and left everything piled up by the door. The girls looked at us from the table where they were still sorting the food to pack it. Isabel quickly approached Manuel as soon as we walked in asking him how he was doing. I noticed how uncomfortable Father got with her around, especially when he got too attached to her. I was relieved to see how he was behaving, it was obvious he didn't want her around. I couldn't help but smile turning my face to the girls who were still packing without paying attention to what Isabel was doing. I knew that Maria had never liked me particularly well and I doubted that she had improved the way she looked at me now, even if she was a novice. Suddenly, I saw Facundo arrive with his full box, I rushed over and helped him carry it over to where everything else was.

—Isabel is attached to the Father.

He whispered to me, pretending to be talking to me about what he had brought. I just nodded. I didn't want to say anything so close to Manuel, I wouldn't want him to realize that I liked him. Facu stood up and looked at the table where Maria and Laura were talking quietly almost in whispers. He motioned for me to join him and walked over to them.

—All right, Polish?

She looked at him with a little smile.

—It's been a long time since I've been called that. How did it go with the collection?

—Pretty good. I thought it was going to take a lot longer by myself, but it went quickly.

Maria's light blue eyes rested on me.

—To you, Gabi?

—Same. It was fun to go with Father, although he didn't want me to help him carry the stuff.

—Father is very considerate of everyone, I knew that was going to happen. —She chuckled—. At least we've finished getting things together.

—Yes, there is still sorting and packing. But you already have half the work done.

I said pointing to what they already had inside some boxes, Maria made a grimace before nodding, I knew it was because of the little help Isabel would have given them, she had come only and exclusively to stick to Manuel. We talked until Father was able to detach himself from her and ask us to take everything to the meeting room. It took us about an hour, but, by the time of mass, the entrance to the church was completely clear.

—Hey, —Facu whispered to me—, you should stay and organize things with Father.

—I don't know, I don't want to put up with Isabel. —I answered in the same tone.

—I'll take care of it, you try to stay alone with him.

He smiled and approached them, who were talking in a small circle near the door that led to the hallway. I, on the other side, could hardly hear what Facu was saying to Isabel because of the noise coming from outside. I didn't know how, but he convinced her to go home with him. They both waved to me as they passed me. The novices went straight to the altar. For his part, Manuel approached me with a tired smile on his face.

—I'm going to stay and help you, Father.

—You are very helpful, Gabi. —He smiled—. The girls are going to be at the mass and then they are going to help the others to cook. We're going to have to take care of everything ourselves.

Withthat said, we started taking things out and sorting them into moving boxes labeledwith what they were to have inside. For a while, I entertained my head with thatand the mass that could be heard, but once everything was silent, my mindstarted to bother me again. I looked at Manuel, he was sitting on the floor foldingand putting away the clothes in the appropriate boxes. He was humming a praisein such a soft voice that it sounded like a lullaby. I tried, futilely, todevote myself to putting away the toys, but my thoughts were swirling around inmy head making me ache.

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