She glanced at the boys. They were drifting off, closing their eyes even though they were clearly fighting to watch Netflix, to avoid sleep. Just like their dad.
Gavin snuggled under the blanket she’d put over him earlier in the night. “I promise I’ll do better with them,” he added.
“Good.” She said it to him, but mostly to herself.
And, with that, she went to find Travis.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Never assume it’s chocolate, always sniff test.” — Angela, Queensland, Australia
Rachel
This was not how Rachel thought the trip would end. Granted, she wasn’t sure what she’d expected, but this felt…this felt…defeated.
“Evelyn.” Rachel jogged toward her ex-mother-in-law at the lounge where they waited in the small airport just outside Twin Lakes. There were no commercial flights here; this place was just for the corporate jets to come and go.
They were at the airport because Evelyn had canceled the rest of the trip.
Just like that.
No big announcement, just, “We’re going home.”
Everyone, even Bob, agreed this was the best idea.
“Yes?” Evelyn said, crossing her ankles where she sat.
“I…I just want to thank you for letting the boys and me come up this summer. They really had a good time. Despite…the ending.”
Rachel still half expected Evelyn to pull a creative drama the likes of which would’ve made even Dakota jealous. So far, that hadn’t happened. Evelyn had not even mentioned her cat.
“Why don’t you sit?” Evelyn patted the chair next to her.
It did, early on, occur to Rachel that Evelyn didn’t want to continue to have her and Travis staying in the same house—even if Evelyn didn’t come right out and say it. And, as everyone recovered over the following days, Rachel had wondered how Evelyn would conspire to keep them apart.
She’d expected something creative. So the cancellation of the rest of the summer did make sense. It was also very non-Evelyn.
A little too on-the-nose.
Rachel trailed her gaze to where Travis stood by the coffee and tea cart. Even though he swore his stomach was feeling 100 percent, he was still gulping peppermint tea like he owned stock in it.
Which, he might. Rachel really didn’t know much about his investments.
He pinched his lips in a thin line when she sat next to his mother.
And that made Rachel’s stomach hurt.
The guy was more than a touch grumpy that he wasn’t flying them home. Evelyn had called in a pilot—since it’d been only a few days and Travis, while recovered, was not in any condition to fly.
Rachel was pondering the realization that she would’ve preferred he fly them home. Not some unnamed pilot she didn’t know.
“I’m worried that you’re angry,” Rachel said finally.
“Did you ever hear the story of my meemaw?” Evelyn asked. “The one who made the first toaster tart?”
Rachel shook her head.
“She loved to bake because it brought her family together. The kitchen was the heart of the family when I was growing up.”
