“Dakota left.” Gavin had shoved his sleeves up to his elbows and continued to drown his sorrows in sugar.
“She left the ring, too,” Dane added, also diving into his ice cream.
“We’ll look for it tomorrow.” Gavin spoke to the bowl, not looking up.
Dane lifted a shoulder. “She tossed it in the lawn over by the stairs.”
Rachel made a mental note not to allow the dogs over there when they took their middle of the night bathroom break. Also, throwing the ring in the lawn was a tad bit cliché. If Dakota was going to throw a drama, Rachel expected a little better. Go all in and get creative.
Not that she’d ever thrown a drama. But she’d thought about it lots of times.
Evelyn was whispering to Bob about what she’d discovered in Rachel’s bedroom. Rachel’s chest was feeling tighter and tighter by the moment.
“Uncle Trav, did my mom lose her toothbrush again?” Kellan asked.
Rachel’s tongue turned to ash, and suddenly toaster tart ice cream seemed like an excellent idea. Maybe she’d even have some cake. And ask Travis to make her a pitcher of margaritas for her and Evelyn’s cat to share.
“Her toothbrush?” Dane asked, raising his eyebrows in the general direction of Travis.
“Yeah.” Kellan continued through his stomachache to dive back into the remnants of his not-so-much dinner. “I don’t know why he had to take his shirt off to find her toothbrush.” He lifted his little eight-year-old shoulder in a hell of a shrug.
“He what?” Evelyn practically shrieked.
Okay, so it wasn’t really a full shriek. It was more of a sound of surprise with a dash of high anxiety.
“Oh dear lord,” Rachel said under her breath. She rubbed at her skull, not looking at anyone.
“Uh,” Dane said, clearly unsure how to continue. Which was apt, because she had no idea, either.
“Mama,” Travis said, stepping toward his mother, who was taking a play out of Gavin’s book and opening her mouth, closing it, then opening it again like she was trying to catch any variety of flying insects.
“In my house,” she said finally.
“It is not what you think.” Rachel, still not looking up, gripped the back of Kellan’s chair until her knuckles turned white.
“I think you two have been carrying on right under my nose this entire time.” Evelyn shoved her hands on her hips, staring Rachel down.
“Well, then, I guess it’s exactly what you think,” Travis said.
Now it was Rachel’s turn to shove her hands onto her hips. “Trav…”
“What’s carrying on?” Brady asked.
“It’s like what Uncle Dane did with that lady at the park that one time.” Kellan was thinking so hard he was going to break his brain. “Back behind the dugout.”
“This is not about me.” Dane held up both hands. “I’m just here because Dakota took the car, so I don’t have a way to leave.”
“Rachel?” Gavin asked, his eyebrows falling. “Since when do you call him Trav?”
Okay, so Gavin got a little leeway, since he’d been involved in his own drama. But Rachel’s life was currently imploding, just like his relationship with Dakota. So she also deserved a little leeway.
“Since we became a couple,” Rachel said to the back of Kellan’s chair.
The room went silent. A heavy, wet blanket with weight even Dakota’s dramatic departure couldn’t touch.
Even both boys were quiet, and that never happened.
“Boys,” Rachel said. “Why don’t you head outside and play?”
