Chapter 4
Wednesday evening, Gavin stared at his family seated around the table. With everyone working different schedules and attending mandatory weddings, hump day had become the only free night this month for a get-together.
As usual, his father had cooked the meal. Van Donnigan could make anything tasty, even eggplant, which Gavin usually couldn’t stand. Tonight, his dad had prepared an eggplant lasagna that had melted in Gavin’s mouth. Despite looking like a carbon copy of his father, Gavin hadn’t inherited any culinary skills. Those he got from his mother. Like Linda, he had a hard time boiling water. So whenever anyone promised a free meal, Gavin made sure not to miss the occasion.
He’d already cleaned his plate and planned on having seconds. Except Theo, sitting next to him, had the same idea, gauging Gavin while inching his fork closer to the lasagna pan.
Their mother sighed. “Honestly, Gavin. If you’re not arguing with Landon, you’re fighting my baby for the last bite.”
Gavin grinned. “Your baby. Aw, poor little Theo.”
“Shut up.” Theo flushed.
Across the table, Landon and Ava tried not to smile. Hope had no such qualms. Sitting on Gavin’s other side at the end of the table, she burst out laughing, as did their father as he rose from his seat.
“Easy, you two. There’s another pan in the oven. I’ll get it.” He took the nearly empty pan from the table and returned with the full one. Once again seated at the head of the table next to Linda, he shook his head. “Free food brings out the worst in my children.”
“I don’t know about free,” Landon grumbled. “Ava said I have to do dishes.”
“I saidwe’lldo dishes,” Ava corrected him, her green eyes gleaming. “You cook, Van; we clean up. It’s only polite.”
Hope groaned. “Can I just tell you how annoying it is to have another suck-up in the family?”
Theo snickered while shoveling food into his growing body. The boy was twenty and skinny as a reed.
“You said it,” Gavin agreed. “Landon was bad enough. Major Clean, over there, can be anal like nobody’s business. You sure you know what you’re doing agreeing to marry him, Ava?”
Landon glowered. “Seriously? This from the human pig at the table?”
Van coughed to cover a laugh.
Gavin shrugged. “Hey, at least I don’t sleep with the toilet brush and the glass cleaner by my side. Did you make him lose the duster yet, Ava? He’s got a sickness.” Taunting Landon made the world right every time.
“Ass,” Landon muttered, to which their mother glared. He opened his mouth, saw Linda’s raised brow, and shut it.
“Very good.” Linda nodded. “Now, I’d like to make an announcement.”
He heard Hope groan under her breath, but when their mother gave her a sharp look, she pasted an innocent smile on her face. “What’s up, Mom?”
“Your father and I are moving.”
Gavin stared at her, glanced at the rest of his stunned family, and asked, “What?”
“Why?” Theo frowned.
“Well, I had another argument with your father. I realized I’m too hard on my children.” She sniffed, and her eyes watered. “And that I’m causing the family some real distress with my attitude.”
Linda Donnigan?Crying?Gavin’s mother didn’t cry unless she lost a million-dollar listing, and then it was more an allergic reaction to losing than a true feeling of grief. Now, he could see his father rolling around in emotion. Yet the old man remained dry-eyed and tight-lipped.
“Mom?” Landon asked. “What’s up?”
“That’s a great question.” She leveled an angry glare at Van.
Ava glanced back and forth between Linda and Van but said nothing.
Recalling how his aunt and uncle had undergone some marital difficulties not too long ago—which he knew because his mother had let it slip that Beth had needed her help—Gavin wondered if Linda’s apple hadn’t fallen too far from the tree of disharmony.
“Seriously, Mom. Are you and Dad having problems?”
