Turned out, for both of them, marriage was not bliss. More like a constant chore and tiptoeing around each other.
So they divorced and co-parented.
Then he’d screwed that up by misreading what she wanted out of a co-parent.
Now, he was working hard to make up for lost time.
And that meant ensuring nothing like this happened at her wedding to his brother. A brother who loved her deeply in a way Gavin never had. Gavin had sworn he could give her this day with no complications—because Rachel deserved a solid dose of happy.
He held his hand out to Oliver, who took it, and they headed back toward the house. “We’ll be there shortly.”
“I don’t think I like weddings,” Oliver said under his breath.
His gray suit appeared ruined, but maybe it could be salvaged by a good dry cleaner.
Gavin’s tux? He was certain it would be headed for the dumpster.
“I don’t particularly care for them myself,” Gavin said with a chuckle.
The last time he’d gotten wrapped up in wedding plans, it hadn’t worked out.
He’d spent most of his adult life searching out that elusive person who would complement him in the same way that he would complement her. Dakota—his former fiancée—was a good woman, and she deserved to be happy. Anger wasn’t a part of his memory with her. Things between them had been fine. Fine, however, wasn’t a relationship that lasted.
Hell, that’s what Molly had said on her show. The truth was the truth when it came to that gem.
He’d learned that the hard way.
However, lesson learned, and he would not make that mistake again.
He’d put himself on a relationship diet. No girls allowed.
Chapter Four
“Asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness.”
—Maria, Oregon, United States
Molly
Four points. Probably five. More like a hundred. Maybe more.
Molly struggled to catch her breath in the thin mountain air.
Ollie’s fall could’ve been so bad.
Seriously? Stuntman school?
Why couldn’t he choose something simple like baseball? Something that didn’t require extra health insurance for upcoming emergency room visits.
She refused to think any further on it. Because if she so much as closed her eyes right now, she’d see her son falling backward into the lake, and she wasn’t sure she was strong enough to face that right in this moment.
Never mind the addition of the Gavin equation.
Gavin. Gavin, who she was supposed to hate. Gavin, who didn’t think twice about jumping in after her kid like Ollie was his own son.
She bit at the inside of her lips as she stepped around pebbles in the path back to the reception.
How many points did a guy get for saving her son’s life? Perhaps the wordsavingmight be extreme—she could’ve been the one to dive in and grab him. But…she wasn’t the one.
