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“The company?”

“Either.”

Gavin took a deep breath. “I thought about what that money could mean and about getting to build the kinds of houses I used to build. And what it would be like to have a crew again.”

Dom waited silently.

“But wanting some of that back isn’t the same as wanting my old life back. And it isn’t the same as wanting Ethan.”

He nodded and picked up his fork. “Okay.”

“Dom.”

He looked up and found Gavin looking at him intently.

“I told him no,” Gavin said firmly, and Dom was nodding again before he finished. “No, Dom. Not that I needed more time or that we could talk about it later. No.”

Dom felt the tension start to bleed out of his shoulders.

“And that wasn’t because of you,” Gavin added.

He looked at Gavin and frowned. “Okay,” he said slowly, dragging out the word.

Gavin dropped his head. “That came out wrong.”

“A little bit, yeah.”

“Shit,” Gavin muttered, dragging a hand down his face. “What I mean is that I’m not choosing between you and him. I wasn’t going back to Ethan before you and I started this. I don’t want you thinking that it’s something hanging over us.”

“Oh.”

“I want to be here,” Gavin said quietly.

Dom looked at him for a moment, taking in the exhaustion around his eyes and the way his fingers curled against the countertop. “Here in San Diego?”

“Yes.” Gavin looked at him. “And here in your kitchen, if you’ll let me.”

Dom glanced at the plate he’d put in front of him. “I thought feeding you made it clear that I want you here.”

“I mean, I was hoping.”

Gavin’s shy smile made Dom want to reach for him, but he kept his hand beside his plate. “I believe you,” he said.

“Are you still upset?”

“No.” Dom rubbed his thumb along the edge of the counter. “I don’t even know why it bothered me so much. Just…next time tell me before you meet him.” He reached across the counter and rested his hand over Gavin’s.

Gavin turned his hand beneath Dom’s and threaded their fingers together. “There won’t be a next time.”

Dom squeezed his hand, then released it. “Eat. Before the food gets colder.”

What came next didn’t look like what most people would think dating looked like. There were no reservations at fancy restaurants with white tablecloths and no entire Saturdays spent in bed. Gavin’s workdays ended whenever a job was done, Dom’s calendar was divided into homestands and road trips, and Lucia took every attempt to plan something as a personal challenge.

Six days after Ethan’s visit, Dom met Gavin for lunch at a taco place near the condo he was renovating in La Jolla. The team plane had just landed from a short road trip, and Dom arrived still in his team sweats with Lucia asleep in her stroller. Gavin came from the job site with sawdust clinging to his forearms and caught in his hair.

“You missed a spot,” Dom said with a smile.

Gavin brushed at the wrong side of his head. “Helpful.”