48. Gavin #2
“I know,” he says, keeping his focus on the path ahead of us and his kids. “I’m very wise, and you’re lucky to have me as a brother, and Rosie will do just fine because she has you as a father.”
Ah, fuck. That’s it. I press my lips together to hold in a sob, but there’s no stopping the tears that crest over and run down my face. I grab my brother’s shoulder, pulling him from the stroller, and wrap him in a hug.
“You’re an asshole, you know that?” I ask through an emotional laugh.
Beckett squeezes me back. “So I’ve been told a time or two.”
I clap him on the back, straighten, and suck in a deep breath, pulling myself together.
“Hate to interrupt the moment, Uncle Gav, but you can Venmo the jar when you get home,” Winnie says over her shoulder.
Beckett and I both laugh as I swipe at my eyes. “You got it, Win.”
“So how are things with Millie?”
I smile. “Amazing.”
My brother stumbles but rights himself quickly, eyes wide. “Weren’t you freaking out last night about some date she was on?”
“Yeah.” I rub a hand down my face. “I think it was what we needed to both realize we were getting in our own way. We’re gonna give this a shot.”
“Wow.” He nods slowly and works his jaw like he’s mulling something over. “I’m happy for you. Seriously. It’s good to see you smile and all that, but what about the elephant in the room?”
Slipping my hands into my pockets, I watch Finn run the bases with Deogi at his heels. “Gonna tell him next week.”
“Shit—” Beckett hisses the word under his breath, but he cuts himself off quickly and darts a glance at Winnie. Fortunately, Adeline has taken off toward her brother, and Winnie is chasing her. “Why next week?”
“Millie is meeting with Lake today. I want her to focus on that, and I want to give her a little time to think about what she wants to do with her music before we disrupt all of that.”
I honestly have no idea how Ford will react, but I want to give Millie time.
Just not too much time. I’m tired of living in the shadows, and I’m tired of other men thinking Millie is up for grabs.
She’s mine, and I’m hers. But most importantly, we’re Vivi’s family.
Vivi deserves all our attention, which we can’t give when we’re constantly trying to hide.
Beckett nods. “And then what’s the plan?”
“Then we live happily ever after like you and Liv and the kids.”
Beckett eyes me with one brow raised. “So that’s it? You’re together? What about Vivi?”
My jaw ticks. “What about her?”
“A few months ago, she didn’t want to have kids with you. Now she’s okay raising another woman’s child?” He stops in the middle of the path and locks me in his full CEO stare. “A woman who, by the way, you still haven’t even looked for?”
Despite my best efforts, anger begins to bubble up, and my anxiety spikes.
I don’t want to think about either of Vivi’s birth parents.
If no one knows she isn’t mine, then I can keep her.
Fuck, I don’t know that I can even tell Millie.
What if she freaks out? What if…what if someone takes her from me?
I squeeze my fists, willing that idea to disappear. “Drop it, okay?”
“Gavin,” he urges. “You need to get that resolved. I get that your girlfriend is young, but you need to stop acting like you are too.”
“Duck you,” I say, teeth grinding.
“Duck you too. I’m bringing this up because I ducking care. About you. About my niece. And about Millie.”
My anger flares hot. He does, and his concerns are coming from a good place, but this conversation has me wanting to turn and run the other way.
“How many times do I have to tell you that it doesn’t matter?
The woman—whoever she is—was dead to me the moment she left my daughter alone at my door.
I don’t care who she is. She didn’t want Vivi, and we don’t want her. ”
Beckett dips his chin, his mouth turned down in a frown, his voice dark. “It’s not that simple, and you know it.”
“Drop it. This isn’t one of your matchmaking schemes. I’m not a project for you to pour all your time and energy into. I don’t need to be fixed.”
My brother’s been known to meddle in not only our lives but the lives of his wife’s friends.
Sure, it worked for them, but this situation is wholly different.
And I’ve got this handled. As in, we’re not handling it.
The woman doesn’t exist as far as I’m concerned.
And I don’t intend on digging up that grave.
Finn sprints toward us and comes to a stop at my feet. He plants his hands on his knees and pitches forward, breathing heavily. “Uncle Gav, can I sleep over tonight?”
Before I can tell him no—because I have plans to do very depraved things to my new girlfriend; not that he needs to know that—my brother says, “Sure can, kiddo. Win, want to sleep at Uncle Gav’s tonight?”
Winnie is headed our way, carrying a squirmy Adeline.
“I want to sleep at Uncle Gav’s,” Addie says.
I sigh and look at my brother, hoping he’ll help me out of this.
He shrugs, but he’s wearing a shit-eating grin. “You said you didn’t want my help. Have fun tonight, Uncle Gav.”