“No way,” Trevor teased.
She paused, a suddenly nervous look passing over her face, but Trevor didn’t have a chance to ask what it was, before thefront door opened, and a second later, Lane was walking into the living room.
“Oh hey, look who it is,” Trevor said, turning the phone so Delia could see that her son had just arrived.
“I’m on the phone with Delia,” Trevor explained. “Dad’s threatening to remodel the guest bathroom next.”
Lane froze, just for a split second, but long enough that Trevor couldn’t miss it. Like he’d just witnessed a glitch in Lane’s system programming.
And it didn’t make any fucking sense. Because the next second, his whole face broke into a huge smile—arealsmile which Trevor recognized because he’d spent enough time with Lane by this point to truly know the difference.
“Hey, Mom,” Lane said. He didn’t sit down next to Trevor but instead perched on the end of the couch. “You’re letting Tom take on another bathroom, huh?”
Delia grinned. “I don’twantto.”
“Tell him topleasehire someone.”
“Funny, that’s exactly what Trevor said.” Delia chuckled under her breath.
Lane looked over at Trevor, their eyes meeting. Trevor felt the jolt of it, all the way down to his toes. “Yeah?” Lane asked casually.
“Well, I’ll try but I don’t know how successful I’ll be. He likes a project, and it’s good for him to stay busy.” Delia paused. “I’m so glad you showed up, honey, because I wanted to float something by both of you.”
“What is it?” Trevor asked.
“Your dad and I were thinking we might come for a few playoff games,” Delia said. “You’ll have home field advantage, and we’d both love to be there for you two.”
Trevor supposed that he should’ve anticipated something like this, but January in Toronto was a hell of a lot different than January in Phoenix.
“Wow yeah, I’m just surprised Dad’s willing to leave Arizona.”
“He loves you two very much,” Delia said, grinning. “But what do you say?”
Trevor knew she was looking right at Lane, who’d gone silent.
He was afraid to look over there; afraid of what he might see. From the beginning, Lane had been noticeably reluctant to play happy family. He’d avoided it, if he could. And now, that might be even more awkward, because he and Lane were mostdefinitelynot treating each other like family would.
“I think . . .” Lane trailed off, and Trevor held his fucking breath.
He didn’t want to see the disappointment in Delia’s eyes if he shot her down. And apparently Lane didn’t want to either, because at the last second he added, “I think it sounds like a great idea, honestly, if Tom’s willing to brave the cold weather.”
“What about me?”
“Mom, you’ve always been made of hardier stuff than that,” Lane teased.
Trevor swore he saw her let out a quick breath of relief. Like she’d been worried too. The last thing he wanted was to get involved in whatever potentially thorny family issue Lane and Delia had going on, but it was going to be hard not to ask.
“Not subjective at all, huh?” she asked, eyes twinkling right back. “We’ll look at flights and a place to stay. I’m sure there’s lots of short-term rentals around the downtown area.”
“Mom—”
“No, no, your place is full, and you don’t want us there, cramping your style. The space will be good.”
Trevor wasn’t going to disagree with her assessment. Lane’s condo was maybe only eight hundred square feet. It onlyhad two bedrooms. Plus, if Delia and his dad moved in, it would definitely, unequivocally put to rest any chance of experimentation.
And Trevor really, really didn’t want that.
Wishful thinking, he didn’t think Lane wanted that either, because he just nodded. “Agreed,” he said. “If you want to send me the addresses of the places you find, Trev and I can go check them out for you.”
