The kids who looked forward to going to the lake house with their dad each summer? Who talked about it nonstop starting in freaking February?
“I’m trying here, Rach.” He looked up then and she saw it, saw the man who was genuinely trying and somehow managed to screw it all up anyway.
She wanted to hug him. But that was no longer her place. Not anymore.
“Then try harder,” she said instead of offering comfort.
She wasn’t his wife anymore. Her priorities were to her children and herself.
“The kids can’t go without one of us. Your mom will fill them with sugar, your dad will teach them to smoke cigars, and Travis will teach them how to tree surf. Even Dane will get in on that.” She ran her hands through her hair, gripping the strands at her skull.
“Can you go for me, Rach? Just this time?” Gavin asked. “You can work from anywhere. And you deserve the break.”
Break? This was not going to be a break.
She looked up, turning her eyes to slits she hoped would have the right effect on him. “Seriously?”
Gavin ran his hands over his hair. “If you can help me out this time, I’d be really grateful.”
Just what she needed—Gavin’s gratitude. It filled her up and made all the sarcasm come right out.
“Gavin, there’s no more of me left to give,” she said, because there wasn’t.
He said nothing in return because…dammit, she was going to go to the lake.
“I’m not saying yes,” she added quietly. “Yet.”
He grinned his Gavin grin. “But you will.”
“I’ll figure something out.” She always figured something out. Which, they both knew, meant, yes-but-I’m-not-willing-to-admit-it-yet.
The French doors squeaked, and Travis gently set one puppy and then the other on the hardwood.
How long had he been there?
“Don’t mind me, they were just…uh…they finished their little project outside.” He flashed Rachel and Gavin a grin and then, for what seemed like good measure, gave them two thumbs up. Gah, did he ever take anything seriously?
Thankfully, he left as quickly as he’d shown up, pulling the squeaky door closed behind him.
“Rach.” Gavin lifted Re-Pete when he tried to climb his leg. “I want to be here for the boys.”
“Then be here.”
He studied the puppy, not lifting his eyes to Rachel’s. “But I also want to respect what you need and what I need.”
Look at this, communication was the bomb. She told her clients the same thing all the time. Communication opened pathways you never knew existed.
“Then help me out sometimes,” she said. “Even when it’s not your weekend for them to come to your house.”
Gavin nodded and set Re-Pete back on the ground. The pup immediately whined for him. “Can the boys come hang with me tonight? I wanted to ask, but then I wanted to ask in person and then the whole puppy thing and you being pissed thing…”
Yes, they could totally go spend the night with their dad but, “Where the boys go, the puppies go.”
“Fair enough.” He nodded, a barely there smile at the corners of his mouth. “You don’t mind them spending their birthday night with me?”
Did she mind? No.
Did she care? Of course.
