Once in the dining room, she pushed the French doors closed, shut the blinds,shoved her hands on her hips, and paced from one wall to the other.
“Rachel,” Gavin said in that placating way he had. The one she’d thought was cute the night he took her home and knocked her up. Before the exhaustion of twins. There wasn’t time for Gavin’s cute anymore. She had a birthday party to get back to, and she had two kids, and two dogs, and an ex-mother-in-law who— Fine, Evelyn was getting a pass,since she was totally helping. But the rest of them needed her.
“You gave them dogs,” she said finally, tossing her hands wide.
Gavin didn’t say anything.
“Do you want to explain to me why you sent our children animals?” She expanded on her previous statement.
Gavin didn’t sit. Instead, he pulled out one of the high-backed dining room chairs that looked really nice but stained really easily, crossed his arms over the back, and stared at the seat. “You always said you loved dogs. Golden retrievers, as I recall, are your favorite.”
Wait. Oh damn.
Dammit.
She took in a quick breath. Her heart pausing for three solid seconds.
He’d remembered that?
Even she’d forgotten that.
She let out a long breath of air.
He was not wrong, and, apparently, he had been paying some attention to her when she spoke.
“I do love dogs. And yes, on the golden retrievers.” She crossed her arms, but most of the anger fizzled away as she began to understand that he hadn’t gone off half-cocked. He’d apparently listened to her the one time she’d said something without thinking it through. “But this is the type of thing we talk about before you go balls deep and havetwoof them delivered.”
He raised his gaze to hers, his eyes pinning her. They were the same brown as Travis’s and Dave’s, but his were darker.
“I thought you’d like the surprise,” he said. “You’ve always loved surprises.”
Dammit. Correct again. Except…
“I love it when people bring me margaritas unannounced. I love it when your dad drops random chocolate deliveries. I love it when—”
“You said you love surprises, Rach. All the time.” He pressed his hands against his hips. “I thought you’d love this surprise. I mean, when we were together,all you talked about was getting dogs. Two of them. One for each of the boys.”
“I didn’t mean…” She thought back on that first year with the boys. She’d wanted so much back then. That was before she learned the motherly art of settling for what she could get. There was a conversation when the boys were really little, she started talking about dogs,and… “Shit.”
“I should’ve talked to you. That’s on me.” He didn’t apologize, but his tone said it for him.
“You should’ve talked to me about the summer sabbatical, too.” She held his brown eyes with her blue ones and felt…nothing.
He stood straight. “Did Mom talk to you? I asked her to wait until you and I could find time to communicate about it.”
Rachel pulled out a chair and sat. “No, your mother sent your brothers.”
“Fuck.” He sat in the chair he’d been leaning against, their knees nearly touching but not quite.
“When were you going to tell me that you aren’t taking the boys this summer?” she asked.
“As soon as we could have a conversation alone.”
She waved an arm around the room. “We’re alone.”
They were. Funny thing, she couldn’t really remember a time when they’d been alone since he’d proposed to Dakota.
That was odd. It was odd, right?
