Chapter Twenty-Six
Gavin
Gavin met Nora at the luggage pickup. He practically launched himself at her as soon as he saw her. She seemed surprised by the tight hug, but who could blame her? He nearly knocked her over. “It’s good to see you.”
“It’s good to see you too, sweetie, but I can’t breathe.” She laughed and pulled back, took a long look at Gavin. “Everything all right?”
“Been a rough morning. I’m just glad to see a friendly face.”
Nora arched her brow and narrowed her eyes. “I hope Ben isn’t being an asshole again.”
Gavin laughed and shook his head. “Always, but we’re fine.”
“Okay, you can tell me all about it on the way home.”
He appreciated the offer, but Gavin wasn’t even sure where to begin. He felt like getting to the clinic and saving Ben from the birthing class was a bigger issue at the moment. If they made him watch one of those nightmare videos they’d showed Tina the previous week, he didn’t think Ben would ever get it up again.
As Gavin pulled onto the freeway, Nora asked, “How’s Tina doing?”
She hadn’t even met Tina. The sharp difference between Nora and his own parents cut right through him. “She’s doing okay,” he said. “Great, actually.”
Nora smiled at him when he glanced her. “Ben speaks highly of her,” she said thoughtfully. “He doesn’t say it, but I think he really likes her.”
“I hope so.” Gavin had wondered the same thing, more often lately. “I think he’s more freaked-out about the baby coming than she is. Every time she so much as sighs, he jumps like the kid’ll just pop out of her with no warning.”
With a laugh, Nora said, “He was the same way with his sister. You know how he is.”
Yeah, Gavin knew. There were only so many people Ben gave a shit about, but he could see Tina had made the list. Or was close to it anyway. “How was your flight?”
“Who gives a shit? I landed.” Gavin could feel Nora’s eyes on him, as if she were trying to see under his skin, see into his soul, maybe even read his mind. Then she asked, “What’s really going on with you?”
Gavin started to shrug in response. He really hadn’t wanted to talk about it. In the end, he said, “Just trying to figure out how my parents became such shitbags.”
Nora winced. His parents were a hard topic for her. Harder for Ben, but Nora had always found it difficult to discuss them without judgement or irritation. Plainly put, they pissed her off. “You may never figure that one out, kiddo.”
“Yeah.” Gavin let out a sigh. He knew she was right.
After a moment of quiet, nothing but the muffled sounds of traffic filtering into the car, Nora said, “The only thing you really need figure out at this point is how to let it go. You can’t change them, can’t rewrite history, so letting go of all that is your only chance for real peace.”
He knew that too, even if he’d never thought of it that way. “Too bad there isn’t a pill I can take for that.”
“There probably is, but you wouldn’t like the side effects.”