Dakota did not get to take this away from her kids. They had something they loved,and Rachel would fight for their right to hang on to it. Even if the thing they loved was actually two things that enjoyed peeing on the carpet.
“I didn’t know Dakota paid your mortgage.” Rachel happened to know that she didn’t. Even since their engagement,Dakota kept her separate apartment on Speer Boulevard downtown.
“Rach.”
“Gavin.”
Yep, that was a touch of snark coming out in Rachel’s tone, which wasn’t the usual,since she normally liked Dakota. Sometimes she had to say it over and over again to convince herself, but there were all kinds of people and all types of friends. She and Dakota weren’t the kind of friends who would hang out at the neighborhood park on Sundays drinking margaritas together, but they’d say hello and swap stories if they saw each other at the grocery store.
Unless it was the produce department. Rachel probably didn’t want to watch how Dakota picked out vegetables, so she’d definitely have to hightail it to the dairy aisle.
Dakota didn’t eat dairy.
“Rach, I’m in need of a little help here.” Gavin adjusted his stance, and she waited not-so-patiently to see which direction he’d be taking this.
Her guess was that he’d either go with a giant heaping of the Gavin magnetism, also known occasionally as the Frank charm because all the brothers employed this technique, or he’d go with the sad, puppy dog eyes. Which, she would be remiss not to note, would be total bullshit, given he was trying to convince her they needed to re-home the puppies thathe’dsaddled their family with.
“Okay, look, here’s how it’s going to go,because I’m not bending on this,” Rachel announced because Gavin was seriously eating into her Sunday morning girl time. “I didn’t want the dogs to begin with, but they’re here. The kids love them, they’ve already had enough instability in their lives, and so we’re not taking them away.I’mnot taking them away. And I still stand by my previous assertion that where the boys go, the dogs go. If Dakota has a problem with that, she’s going to have to sort that out with you.”
“Hey, guys.” Molly bounced up beside Rachel. Deftly, she snatched the leashes and, somehow, simultaneously slipped Rachel’s travel mug into her hand. “I’ll grab these two so you guys can chat without gettingpeedon.” Molly continued under her breath, “Like Gavin’s carpet.”
Normally, Rachel would’ve told her to be nice. But today wasn’t a normal day.
“Thanks,” Rachel said, disentangling her feet from where the dogs had gone this way and that, thus creating a medley of leash tangle around her legs.
Molly hauled the mini-mutts away.
Gavin said nothing.
Rachel toyed with the lid of her margarita mug, flipping open the top, then snapping it closed. Open. Closed. Open. Closed. Click. Click. Click.
Gavin still said nothing. He stood there looking perplexed and staring at the dogs.
“Okay, good chat,” Rachel finally said, because whatever was going on between Gavin and Dakota was seriously interfering with her morning. “See you later this week?”
“What?” he asked, pulled from whatever trance he’d fallen into while watching their boys round up the entire playground for some kind of game on the grass.
“At the baseball field,” Rachel said. “I’ll see you later this week. You said you’re coming.”
It seemed pertinent to remind him of this promise he’d made.
“Right. Yes.” He nodded. Looked at the boys, then at Rachel, finally turned and walked back toward his car.
Rachel didn’t know a lot of things. But given that her reality never went as planned and she’d very much like to have a break from chaos, she felt confident in asserting that something was up with Gavin. Something that,if she had to place a bet, would wreck her plans.
The question now was, which ones were coming up on the chopping block?
Chapter Nine
“The wisest mom I knew, my grandmother, always said if it was up to the men to have the babies the world would end.”— Stephanie, Alberta, Canada
Rachel
Rachel marched back to her friends. Not that she was very far from them, but sometimes a girl just felt better after a good march. Control and the confident stride gave a subtle reassurance.
As Rachel approached the blanket, April, Sadie, and Molly all stared at her with large, round eyes.
Rachel plopped onto the fabric and crossed her legs, crisscross-applesauce.
