“Tell you what, have dinner with me tonight, and you can explain whatever it is you want me to know.”
“The boys…” she said.
“They can come with us,” Ronan said.
“Or they can come with me and my wife and kids. They’d probably love to have some other kids to play with,” Havoc said.
“I… They…” Giada was stumbling over her own words.
“You got to go, brother,” Havoc said, shooing him. “Go!”
“I’m out. I’ll pick you up about six,” Ronan said to Giada.
Giada watched him speechlessly.
“Yes, or no, Giada?” Ronan said, as he walked halfway through the door and held it open as he waited for her answer.
She let go of the breath she was holding and nodded. “Yes. I’ll be ready.”
“I’ll see you then,” Ronan said, and hurried out.
Giada walked over to the door and watched through the glass as Ronan got in a very large white pickup truck that looked more luxurious than her house, and drove away. When she could no longer see him, she turned back toward her work area and found Havoc standing there watching her.
“You going to be here all day today?” Havoc asked.
“Yes.”
“I’m gonna call my wife and get her to come over and bring the kids. You can meet her and the kids and see if your kids like playing with them. That way you’ll be comfortable leaving them when you go out with Ronan tonight. If you’re not, that’s fine, too, and you can take them with you. But I really think it should be just the two of you. You have a lot to talk about.”
“I don’t want to be a burden to anybody,” she said, smiling at him.
“You sound just like Ronan,” Havoc said as he pressed his phone to his ear.
“Hey, baby! What cha doing?”
“Is it too much to come by the shelter before you head home? Ronan and his girl got a date tonight and I offered for us to watch the kids for her, but she don’t know us.”
Havoc looked up at Giada. “You know Maverik and Valerie, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“And you know Bam and Everly?” he asked.
“I do. They’re so nice,” Giada answered.
“They’re my wife’s parents. Maverik and Valerie are mine, like I already said.”
His attention went back to the phone he held against his ear. “Yeah, she knows them. But not us.”
He nodded a couple of times. “Unhuh. Yeah. Alright. Sounds good. We’ll see you then. Tell Harley I said to knock them dead. I love you, baby. See you shortly.”
Havoc ended the call and slipped it into his back pocket. “She’s dropping off our oldest daughter at school right now. They’ll swing by after they drop her off.”
“Thank you for trying to arrange everything for tonight,” Giada said.
“No problem. And listen, if you’re still not comfortable leaving your boys with us for a few hours, don’t be shy about telling us no thank you. It’s alright with us either way.
“Thanks for understanding.”
