Chapter 3
GAVIN
Gavin Frank knew better than to turn his attention away from his kids for any length of time. He and his ex-wife Rachel had created a system for ensuring they always had adult eyes on them. Of course, it had to be on his watch that they’d disappear into trouble.
Unfortunately, the twins had a propensity to wrangle themselves into chaos without meaning to. He couldn’t blame them, not when he was certain this was a genetic deficiency on his side.
He and his brothers had gotten into a whole slew of predicaments as pre-teens for the same reason. Not enough trouble to get them arrested or sent to the ER, but their
DNA was coded to cause enough torment to turn a dad’s hair prematurely gray.
Though, Gavin had rarely gotten caught. No one would call Gavin a rule follower; he broke the rules with the best of them. But, as a child, he was the one who led his brothers in just such a way that their hands got dirty while his remained squeaky clean.
Call it his big brother gift.
Now he was an adult. An adult with two boys, an ex-wife who married his brother, and a mother who would not stop trying to fix him up with anyone who met her criteria.
What those criteria were? She hadn’t let him in on that. Yeah, the universe laughed at him constantly, and the retribution for all the screw-ups in his life was strong and swift these days.
This time, though, it wasn’t just his boys turning his hair gray. They had a third partner in Molly’s son, Oliver. Good kid. Played by the rules.
Which was why it made no sense at all that he’d tucked his feet into roller blades for what appeared to be a dip in the lake.
Gavin growled internally in frustration and ran faster toward the kids.
Gavin’s boys were stocky, waiting for their teenage growth spurt that would probably hit around the time they turned fourteen—if Gavin’s history was any sign. Oliver, however, was not stocky. He’d hit his growth spurt around the time he turned six and stood tall and straight as a thin line.
Molly wasn’t a tall woman, so Oliver’s dad must’ve towered.
“Ollie, no,” Molly cried out from behind Gavin.
The fear in her tone had him pushing his feet against the ground with more force.
Faster. He had to be faster. Maybe he shouldn’t have taken off ahead of her, but there was no way she could make good time in that dress.
Though he’d appreciated the cut and style when she’d sauntered into the kitchen earlier that day—more so after she announced she wasn’t wearing underwear—the getup was not conducive to running toward a child on rollerblades attempting to break his neck.
“Don’t do it,” Gavin shouted, even though Oliver didn’t pay attention to anything but the skates and the air in front of him.
But Gavin was making headway. Nearly there.
“You’ll get pulled under,” Molly yelled.
Oliver didn’t respond. Whether he didn’t hear or chose not to hear was a debatable point. Gavin was betting on the latter.
“He’s gonna stop right before the water. It’ll be epic,” Kellan announced as Gavin bolted past him toward Oliver. Lucky for them, Oliver wasn’t great on the rollerblades, so he was sliding across the wooden planks of the dock at a turtle’s pace.
Gavin could catch him. He was close.
“Don’t distract him,” Kellan hollered. “This takes concentration.”
They’d be discussing this later. Along with a consequence.
“Ollie, stop right now.” Molly heaved from several yards behind Gavin.
“Don’t worry,” Oliver yelled, his focus straight ahead on the body of water. “I know what I’m doing.”
Ten bucks said he didn’t. Another ten said he’d spent too much time with Gavin’s children, because there seemed to be some genetic transfer going on here that was going to cause extra gray hairs on Gavin’s head.
Pretty soon they’d start tree surfing and then everything would really go to shit.
The thud of Gavin’s shoes reverberated against the wood of the dock. But Oliver picked up speed. He was too far toward the end.
Gavin wouldn’t get to him in time.
His pulse thrummed faster, and he pushed forward harder, pulling off the jacket of his tux because, it appeared, he’d be taking a dip in the lake.
Not that he didn’t enjoy swimming. He did. Just not fully clothed in his best tuxedo.
But there was no way Oliver would tread water or stay afloat with those weights strapped to his legs.
“Dad, you’re in the way,” Kellan called from the dock steps. “I’m gonna miss it.”
Gavin kept his focus on Oliver. He’d deal with his kids afterward.
Oliver nearly reached the edge when he did a slow turn of the skates, stopping precisely on the lip of the dock.
Gavin stopped running, slowing to a jog because well, damn, that was actually a pretty excellent trick.
Color him impressed.
Oliver held his arms up in victory.
Gavin stalled mid-step. The victory salute knocked Oliver off balance, and he tumbled backward into the lake. Damn and a whole slew of cuss words slipped under Gavin’s breath as he bolted the rest of the dock and dove in after him.
Cold lake water embraced him, saturated his tuxedo, and stole his breath. He swam to the spot where Oliver sank, only a couple feet away. Close enough that Gavin caught a mask of underwater shock on his face.
Gavin had a hunch his face looked similar. He looped an arm around Oliver’s thin waist to tug him up.
Sure enough, the roller blades were heavier than all hell, but those years he’d spent as a brace-faced teenage lifeguard hadn’t been for nothing. He yanked Oliver toward the surface. Breaking through to oxygen, Gavin heaved air into his lungs and boosted Oliver up to the waiting arms of his mother.
Molly looked equal parts relieved and ready to explode—a toxic combination with the opposite sex, in Gavin’s limited experience. That mix of emotion had never boded well for him, personally.
With Oliver safely back topside, Gavin swam a side-stroke to the ladder nailed to the dock. He climbed up, cursing internally but keeping his mouth shut, since he didn’t need the boys repeating any of the words simmering in his brain.
Gavin emerged at the edge of the dock to four sets of wide, shocked eyes.
Molly was mid-removal of the rollerblades. She opened her mouth to say something, but snapped it closed. He swore she growled toward her son.
Gavin pulled himself to stand on the dock, dripping his own lake at his feet. “Kellan.”
“Dad,” Kellan said, the tremble in his voice clear.
I love my kids. I love my kids. I love my kids.
“Brady,” Gavin said. His other son hadn’t been actively involved in the incident’s filming, but he hadn’t done the right thing and gotten an adult, either. And they’d all three absconded from the reception when they’d been told the rules.
I love my kids.
“Dad,” Brady said with a gulp.
“Why?” Gavin asked, keeping his tone calm but unable to totally remove the ice from the word.
“We saw it on YouTube.” Kellan lifted a shoulder. “Thought it looked fun.”
“What were you watching on YouTube?” Gavin asked. They had very specific channels they were allowed to view, and none of those channels would have included rollerblading off the dock.
“I wanted to try the stunt, Mr. Gavin,” Oliver piped up, his voice wobbly. “I asked Kellan to film it so we could show our friends.”
Molly’s expression darkened.
“Don’t be mad at them. It’s my fault,” Oliver continued. “You and I are going to talk about this, and a punishment, and how you’re going to make it right with Gavin for…”
Molly glanced at the now-still water. “That could’ve been bad. Really, really bad.”
Given the weight of those rollerblades, she wasn’t wrong. “Kellan. Brady. Straight back to the reception,” Gavin said, his tone even. “Your mom deserves her special day. We are going to give it to her without any more distractions. Understood?”
They both nodded.
Today was not the day for this. Not when Rachel deserved a break from all the madness of kid wrangling so she could focus on her wedding.
He’d promised himself he’d do his part to ensure the day was everything Rachel needed it to be.
Though he’d never loved her the way she deserved, he respected everything she’d done for their little family. Respected her enough to want to do his part to make her special day special.
“I told them it was a bad idea,” Brady said, the words coming fast. “I told them something bad would happen.”
Gavin wanted to ban them from any fun for forever and ever. He wouldn’t, of course, but that’s what he wanted to do. Instead, he sorted through his brain to think of something Rachel would do here. She’d know what to say. Parenting came so naturally to her.
He was more of a work in progress on the whole dad front.
“What did you learn?” he asked, settling on something he’d heard her ask the boys a thousand times before.
“Wear a life jacket next time,” Kellan replied, the words solid. He gave a curt nod with the declaration.
Gavin shook his head. No. That was not what he’d been thinking.
His wet shoes squeaked with each step he took forward toward his son. He knelt down like he’d seen Rachel do so many times. Eyes at Kellan’s level. “How about there is no next time, bud?”
“Oliver wants to be a stuntman.” Kellan squared his shoulders and clocked Gavin square in the eye with his gaze. “You’re always telling us we should follow our dreams,”
Brady jumped into the fray. “He’s following his.”
There were moments as a parent when the things you said jumped up and bit you in the ass. This was one of those times.
Gavin lifted his eyebrows, shook his head, and rubbed his temples. He should clarify this piece of fatherly advice. “Follow your dreams unless they’re dangerous. Then wait until you are an appropriate age or you have parental permission.”
“Brady gets to go up in airplanes, that’s dangerous,” Kellan said.
Sometimes he really wished his kids weren’t so smart. Or they’d listen to more of what he said and not pick and choose.
“Brady follows a structured lesson with an instructor,” he said. “And he has parental permission.”
“I want to do a structured stuntman lesson,” Oliver said proudly.
Molly pursed her lips, but she wasn’t glaring at Gavin like she usually did, so that was a plus. “They don’t have those, baby.”
“They do,” Brady said, again the words coming faster than fast. “A whole school for stuntmen. They even have a summer camp. I looked it up.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake.
Oliver’s eyes lit up like he’d just discovered chocolate ice cream for the first time. “I wanna go.”
Gavin looked to his dripping clothes. He needed to get changed. Oliver needed to get dry clothes as well. They’d
be cutting the cake soon, and when that happened, their absence would have a definite exclamation point.
“You.” Gavin pointed to Brady. “And you.” He pointed to Kellan. “Back to the reception and don’t leave until I am there to escort you to the house. Clear?”
The boys must’ve gotten the notice that he wasn’t messing around about this because they nodded. This time they headed in the direction of the reception.
He turned back to Molly and her son. Skates removed, Oliver was dripping lake water right along with Gavin.
“We can go dry off.” Gavin jerked his chin toward the kiddo. Bonus, he’d take his time returning to the reception and hopefully shake off the latest woman his mother stood ready to introduce him to. He had no interest in meeting a woman at his ex-wife’s wedding. Call him old-fashioned like that.
“You’ll probably want to head back for cake,” he said to Molly.
“Gavin…” she said, a kinder—gentler—note to her voice. The kind of note he’d never had pointed in his direction. Not from her.
“Do it for Rachel,” he said quietly. “She doesn’t need to worry about what just happened here, not yet. Not until tomorrow. Let’s make sure she has today.”
Molly’s gaze softened at that. Her eyes were a pretty silver and blue most of the time, but when they softened, they sparkled and wrapped him with rich warmth. He’d never had them soften towards him. He liked it entirely too much.
“I’ll go back.” She gave a brief nod. “For Rachel.
You’ll…uh…”
“We’ll get dried off, changed, and be right there.”
Molly stood, and other than a few residual Oliver damp spots on her dress, she looked no different from when they’d left the reception.
“For Rachel.” Her chest heaved with a breath.
Gavin’s relationship with his ex-wife was oddly uncomplicated. They were never meant to be a couple, and she didn’t love him either. They’d hooked up once when she was a co-ed. One night was enough to get pregnant with their boys and tether themselves together for a lifetime.
He’d married her because it seemed like the right thing to do. Seemed like what was expected.
Turned out, for both of them, marriage was not bliss. More like a constant chore and tiptoeing around each other.
So they divorced and co-parented.
Then he’d screwed that up by misreading what she wanted out of a co-parent.
Now, he was working hard to make up for lost time.
And that meant ensuring nothing like this happened at her wedding to his brother. A brother who loved her deeply in a way Gavin never had. Gavin had sworn he could give her this day with no complications—because Rachel deserved a solid dose of happy.
He held his hand out to Oliver, who took it, and they headed back toward the house. “We’ll be there shortly.”
“I don’t think I like weddings,” Oliver said under his breath.
His gray suit appeared ruined, but maybe it could be salvaged by a good dry cleaner.
Gavin’s tux? He was certain it would be headed for the dumpster.
“I don’t particularly care for them myself,” Gavin said with a chuckle.
The last time he’d gotten wrapped up in wedding plans, it hadn’t worked out.
He’d spent most of his adult life searching out that elusive person who would complement him in the same way that he would complement her.
Dakota—his former fiancée—was a good woman, and she deserved to be happy.
Anger wasn’t a part of his memory with her.
Things between them had been fine. Fine, however, wasn’t a relationship that lasted.
Hell, that’s what Molly had said on her show. The truth was the truth when it came to that gem.
He’d learned that the hard way.
However, lesson learned, and he would not make that mistake again.
He’d put himself on a relationship diet. No girls allowed.