"With aprons!" Gavin calls out as soon as he sees me. "We made hamburgers."
"That's pretty cool, bud." He wraps both arms around my hips in a quick hug, before he carries on down the hall. "Where are you going?" I call out after him.
"I need boots. Wyatt is in the barn."
Of course. "What about you, miss? Going to hang out with the boys?"
She shakes her head, scrunching her nose. "I think I need a break from boys."
Jovi fills the doorway then, smirking as he catches her words.
"I get that," I say, sending a teasing wink his way. "Want some girl time? Just you and me?"
Her eyes light up at that. "Yes, please!"
"Perfect," I tell her, draping an arm over her shoulders. "I was hoping you'd say that. I have a recipe for candy popcorn I've been wanting to try, and I think I saw that movie you were asking about on Netflix."
"Cozy clothes?" she asks, eyeing the stairs leading up to the bedrooms.
"Seems like they ought to be mandatory." I tilt my head to the side as if thinking. "You know, I might have a face mask or two for us too. We probably deserve a little spa treatment."
She lets out a little squeal as she runs up the stairs, disappearing in a flash.
"You don't mind, do you?" I ask Jovi, when I hear Gavin running toward us again, the sound of plastic slapping together as heruns with his rainboots in hand confirming his search was successful. "Having Gavin hang out with you in the barn?"
He smiles. "Never."
"Thanks." Our eyes stay locked on each other a moment more. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." He shakes his head, stretching his smile wider. But it does nothing to ease the ache rising in his eyes the longer he looks at me.
"Ryan is confident she can make everything go away without going to court," I tell him, trying to ease his mind.
"Good." He slides both hands into his pockets. It's awkward. And distant. "I knew she would."
"There's something you're not saying." I step closer toward him, lowering my voice as Gavin comes into the foyer dropping down to sit on the floor and change out his shoes. "What's going on?"
"I'll tell you later. Everything will be fine." Jovi leans into me, kissing my cheek before he murmurs, "Trust me."
I do. And it's enough for me to turn my brain off from worrying. Enough to let him walk out with Gavin while I focus on my afternoon with Remmi. Whatever it is, we'll talk about it. We'll figure it out. Like we’ve done everything else. It'll be fine. Because we're in this together.
JOVI
I spend the rest of the afternoon trying to come up with the right way to tell Liz what I learned today. In the end, I decide thereis no right way to share something so wrong. But hiding it from her the way everyone else did, is worse.
Desiring to shelter Lena and Liz when they were children was understandable. But seeing the way the scars of that trauma settled, knowing the damage it still does, how much it continues to hurt her? No, I have to tell her. And I have to hope that she'll let me in close enough to hold her through it if she falls apart.
"Think you could come by the house tomorrow afternoon and hang with the kids a bit?" I ask Cas after we've dropped both boys at the house for dinner while he and I get to the evening feeding. It's all become so normal. The routines, Cas and Wyatt being a part of this family.
"Of course," he says, a sly grin taking shape through his scruff. "Gonna take her on a date?"
"Not exactly." Not remotely, actually. "But there's somewhere I gotta take her, and I can't include the kids."
His face shifts, noting my tone. "Sounds serious."
"It is."
He nods. "You can count on me. I'll watch the kids as long as you need."
