“Brandon,” Gavin says, his voice as dull as his coffee order.
As I lick the cream cheese from my thumb, I scoot to the side to find my childhood friend standing in front of Gavin with a baby in his arms and a big, goofy smile on his face.
“Brandon,” I squeal, giving him a one-arm hug and somehow managing not to hit the baby in the head. “What are you doing here?”
“We just moved back.” He lifts the little girl, clad in a pink jacket and hat, adjusting her on his hip. “Jocelyn and I wanted to raise Evelyn where we grew up.” He nods and looks between us. “Haven’t seen you in forever,” he says to Gavin, reaching out a hand.
Gav bites the inside of his cheek and looks at little Evelyn before returning Brandon’s handshake. Neither of them says anything for a moment, and a tense silence hovers in the air, Brandon looking between us like he’s trying to solve a puzzle.
“It’s so good to see you,” I tell him brightly, trying to alleviate some of the awkwardness that seems to have us in a chokehold. “I guess it's been since your wedding? You look great.”
“You do too.” Brandon gives me an appreciative grin.
Gavin runs a hand through his hair and lets out a loud breath that borders on a growl.
My moody architect must be antsy to leave.
I loop my free hand through his arm and grin up at him playfully. “I need to get this old man to the grocery store before his naptime.” Gavin’s face pinches before I look back to Brandon. “Will you be at the Christmas party?”
“Yep.” He nods. “All three of us.”
“Perfect. Can’t wait to see Jocelyn,” I say, leaving Gavin’s arm to hug Brandon again before giving Evelyn an enthusiastic wave.
Once we’re back on the highway, driving toward Fern River, I allow myself one glance over at Gavin. His dark brows are tense as he stares down the road in front of us, the paper crinkling around my bagel the only sound in the car.
Fiddling with the wrapper, I try to peel it away while keeping a hand on the wheel, but it almost fumbles to the ground. With a disgruntled sigh, Gavin grabs it from me. He unwraps my breakfast, offers me the bagel, and folds the paper into a neat square without ever saying a word.
I wish I could see inside his brain for a moment to know what he’s thinking.
He’s always kept most of his thoughts in a vault, hidden behind his serious expressions and quiet personality. Always a man of few words.
But we used to be good enough friends that sometimes I felt like I knew what was going on in his mind.
I guess I was wrong about that, though. Because I didn’t know him well enough to predict he was going to disappear without telling me.
As I’m taking a big bite of bagel, Gavin’s low voice rumbles through the car. “How long were you two together?”
Confusion knits my brows as I chew and swallow. “Who?”
“You and Brandon.”
“Oh. We were never together.”
I mean, we were technically “together” for one quick evening, but I definitely don’t need to tell Gavin aboutthat.
He rubs a palm across his freshly shaven jaw. “I, uh … I guess I thought you were.”
A tense quiet blankets the car as I chew through another bite of bagel, then set the rest in my lap. “Nope. Just me, myself, and I for the last few years.”
We reach for our cups in the console between us at the same moment, and when his fingers bump mine, he pulls back like I’ve burned him. The lid to my cup pops off when I try to grab it, and his hand stumbles to catch it before he presses it back on.
“Oops—”
“Sorry—”
“Oh—”
“Got it—"
