Chapter 5
TRAVIS
Travis happened to know firsthand that Gavin worked out-of-control hours and traveled on business every weekend he didn’t have his kids—sometimes even when he was supposed to have them. The one thing Gavin did not do was apologize.
Travis could remember maybe three times when he’d heard an apology from his oldest brother. All three of those times were hoisted on him by their mother’s insistence. And as soon as she left the room, Gavin took them back.
So it made no sense when in the middle of the ground-beef, mad-scientist, taco-palooza snack bar Rachel had put together—Gavin apologized.
But there he’d been apologizing to Rachel.
Mom, Dad, and everyone else heard what sounded to be his sincere apology for administering an unexpected dose of canines the night before.
Gavin didn’t even take it back when Mom went inside. Which meant…something was up with his brother.
Maybe Rachel’s agreement to go to the lake struck some kind of hole in the always-right facade of his older brother. For the record, it wasn’t eavesdropping on his brother and his ex if a guy was returning puppies.
Travis decided to noodle on that later. First he had a party to enjoy. And now he had some retribution to dish out—Frank style. He moseyed right up to the twins’ bedroom and found the kid he was searching for.
“You know what you should take to your dad’s?” Travis asked Kellan.
He could’ve gone with Brady, but Kellan was probably a better bet once Travis planted this particular little seed.
Brady had a lot more people pleasing in him. Kellan was more about doing what pleased him.
“What?” Kellan glanced up from the overnight bag he was filling with birthday presents and other related loot.
“Those recorders you showed me last week after your baseball game. I happen to know your dad loves music. He’ll think they’re fun.” Travis chucked his nephew on the shoulder.
Rachel emerged from the boys’ closet with a couple of pairs of pajamas. She blinked hard at Travis, as though trying to figure out where he’d come from.
“I know he particularly likes music right when he wakes up. So be sure you play them first thing in the morning. Bonus points if you manage to do it before he’s out of bed.
” This was not a fib. Gavin would think the recorders were fun—for five seconds—because, damn, the screeching noises those so-called instruments let off would make him pull his hair out just enough, but not so much that Travis felt like a jerk for suggesting it.
Besides, served him right for showing up late. And for cutting down the tree Travis had been climbing when they were teenagers. And for dumping over Travis’s canoe last summer at the lake. Twice. The first time could’ve been an accident. The second time definitely screamed malicious intent.
“Oh, and you should take that sand stuff.” Rachel handed over a bucket filled with multicolored sand packets meant for layering into plastic jars.
Travis had a hunch the boys wouldn’t be filling jars with the sand but would probably wind up in a sand war, stuffing it in each other’s clothes, on bedsheets, and in various other annoying crevices.
At least, that’s what Travis would’ve done with his brothers when they were that age. Bonus points if you could manage to get the sand wet first. Double bonus points if you got it stuck in the other guy’s shorts.
He had a hunch Rachel knew the sand thing had that kind of potential. Sending it to their dad’s house held a note of brilliance.
“Uncle Travis is right, Dad loves music. The puppies would probably love to sing karaoke with you, too,” Rachel suggested, catching Travis’s gaze with a wicked gleam in her eyes. “You should take that with you.”
Kellan nodded with all the enthusiasm of a kid given permission to shove sand down his brother’s shorts and wake everyone up to his rendition of the best of Justin Bieber.
Travis smirked.
Yeah, Rachel knew exactly what she was doing.
He gave her a subtle go-on-ahead nod. The knowledge that his little recorder idea might cause a little sand in Gavin’s shorts warmed him like he was sitting on a beach in summer.
“Great idea, Mom.” Kellan scrambled to put everything into a pile.
“I’ve got your number on this one,” Travis murmured to Rachel from the side of his mouth.
She lifted a shoulder and nibbled at her bottom lip. “You inspired me with the recorder idea.”
“I have a unique set of skills.” Travis leaned against the doorway so he wasn’t in her personal space. They were getting along great, and he didn’t want to fuck that up.
“I’ve heard about your unique set of skills.” Rachel crossed her arms. “Gavin told me all about them.”
Travis just bet. He studied her face, searching for details, but none emerged. His back teeth set on edge.
“Which particular skills are you referring to this time?” Rachel asked.
He filed away a mental note to quiz her sometime about exactly what Gavin had told her and when and why.
“Not only can I come up with unique ways to drive my brother nuts, I also have the ability to help the boys forget some of this shi—” He caught himself, since Kellan was possibly within hearing distance. “Stuff at Gavin’s place.”
“If you make it so those recorders stay at Gavin’s house, I’ll totally owe you.”
“How big are we talkin’?” Travis asked.
The wicked gleam was back, and he liked it. A lot. “Pretty big. I mean, that would be quite the feat.”
“Big enough you’ll come along to Twin Lakes?” He couldn’t help it. Rachel should come and, as a bonus, if she agreed here, he could take full credit for getting her to tag along.
Everyone would end up a winner, except Gavin would be dealing with recorders, puppies, sand, and karaoke.
Rachel rolled her eyes. “You’re so much like your mother, it’s scary.”
“You mean I adore your children and don’t want them to miss the best summer ever?” he asked, hoping she understood that he was being totally serious with this insistence. “Then, yes, I’m exactly like my mother.”
Without the penchant for wearing hot pink and sleeping with his hair in curlers.
“To be clear, there will be no tree surfing.” She crossed her arms.
He huffed. “You take things way too seriously.”
“And maybe you don’t take anything seriously enough.” With that parting shot, she shooed her boys down the stairs.
He did so take things seriously. All the time. Just not the things she did. Frowning, Travis grabbed their duffel bags and followed.
“Call me tomorrow when you wake up.” Standing in the doorway, under her Shut the Front Door sign, Rachel pressed a kiss to Brady’s forehead.
Travis crossed his arms and grinned as she practically had to tackle Kellan to get him to slow down long enough for a hug.
He would’ve helped out but, since he didn’t take anything seriously, he held back. Rachel didn’t need his help, anyway. She managed the Frank hooligans like a pro.
Not that Kellan wasn’t affectionate. Travis just happened to know that he usually saved that for when he didn’t feel well, wanted something, or when Brady was the object of their mother’s affection.
There was no time for cuddling, thank you, there was a whole rainbow of things to do in the world.
The whole crew—Rachel and all the in-town Franks—spilled out onto the porch.
“Thanks for helping Rach out today.” Gavin pulled their mother into a hug. “I’m sorry, again, that I couldn’t be here when I should’ve been.”
Two apologies in one day? Over the same thing? Travis looked to the sky to see if there were pigs flying.
Seriously, what in the Sam Hill was going on with his brother?
There was something up, Travis could smell it like three-day-old salami left in Rachel’s SUV over a long weekend.
He thought he understood Gavin’s modus operandi in life. Then the guy went and started apologizing and Travis wasn’t sure what to do with the curveball. So, he figured he’d do what he knew best, exploit the situation. If Gavin was in a giving mood—
“Hey, Gav.” Travis smacked his brother on the back and spoke when he was certain the boys couldn’t hear. “Kids have a game this week. You gonna make it?”
Gavin paused, thought for a brief second, and finally said, “Planning on it.” Then he added quickly, “I’ll be there.”
Travis wasn’t squinting at his brother; he was squinting at the situation.
Huh.
The first part of that phrase meant that Gavin could have an out if something came up. Travis understood how he worked, and Gavin always said some shit like that because plans could, and often did, change.
This was standard for Gavin.
The second part, I’ll be there, that didn’t leave any wiggle room as far as Travis could figure.
Which meant? Huh.
“Let’s go, boys.” Rachel continued shooing the boys toward Gavin’s Escalade. Each of them had a puppy on a leash.
Gavin loaded the dogs first, then the boys hopped into the backseat.
“Wait,” Kellan shrieked, just as Gavin nearly shut the door.
“Three dollars says he forgot something he hadn’t planned to take until right this second.” Rachel stood on the step just below.
“I forgot Mr. Pretzel.” Kellan scampered out of the vehicle toward the house.
“I need Chewy.” Brady followed his brother, leaving Gavin standing at the waiting vehicle with only Dakota and the two puppies loaded.
Scratch that. One puppy.
There was an escapee chasing after the boys, his leash trailing behind.
No. Another puppy followed, and then there were none. Gavin rubbed at his temples and Travis would bet his trust fund that wouldn’t be the last time that happened before morning came around.
Travis rolled his tongue over his bottom lip and wished he had a beer and one of those travel chair things to sit back and see where this was going to go.
Finally, the boys returned with their stuffed animals and real animals and climbed back in the car. This time, it seemed to stick, because Gavin managed to get the door closed.
“Hey, Rachel?” he called from the driver’s side window of his SUV. “Thanks.”