“Waiting for me on the sidewalk? You must be hungry.”
“I’m starving, actually. This is a little later than I usually eat.” And he was afraid if she’d gone upstairs, he wouldn’t be able to keep his hands off her. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but he needed food first.
They’d made it to the end of the block when his phone chimed. It was the chirpy bird sound he’d assigned to his sister, so he pulled out of traffic and looked at the screen.
The upstairs toilet won’t flush and if my kids and my husband have to share the downstairs bathroom I’m going to run away from home.
“Do you mind if we stop by my sister’s house so I can figure out why her toilet won’t flush? It should only take a few minutes, but if you don’t want to, I can put it off. They have a half-bath downstairs, so they won’t suffer too much.”
“I don’t mind.”
“Thanks.” He told his sister he was on his way and pulled back out onto the street.
“Didn’t you tell me she’s married?”
Gavin chuckled. “Yeah, she is. Henry’s a great guy, but he’s... Let’s just say he’s not all that handy around the house. He’ll do anything for anybody, but if it involves tools in any way, you’re better off doing it yourself. So I get the maintenance calls and, in exchange, I can mooch meals off them on a regular basis without feeling like a jerk.”
“Huh.” The way she said it made him glance over, but she was looking out her side window, so he couldn’t really see her face.
“Huh?”
“So when your family calls, you help them out.”
“Well, yeah. They’re my family.” He knew what she was getting at. “And when I call my family, they helpmeout.”
“My mom has always been my rock,” she said quietly. “Life kicked her pretty freakin’ hard—for a second time—and she just needs a little time.”
“A second time?”
“My dad died of cancer when I was three. I don’t remember much of that time, but I do know she thought losing him was her tragic backstory and she would live happily ever after with my stepdad.”
“I’m sorry, Cait. I didn’t know.”
“Oh, I know,” she said, and she sounded more like herself again. “It’s just that for people who don’t know my mom, it’s hard to understand that this really is temporary. She’s strong enough to get through this, but she had the wind knocked out of her.”
Part of him thought that, after six months, her mom should be coping a little better, but he’d never suffered that kind of loss, so he kept his mouth shut. Cait was right. Not only did he not know her mother, but he hadn’t been in Cait’s life long enough to get a true picture of their family dynamic.
But they were pulling up to his sister’s duplex, so he let it go. And at this point in their hopefully-a-relationship, it was still really none of his business. After pulling in behind Jill’s SUV, he parked the truck and killed the engine.
“I promise this will only take a few minutes.”
“Is that your way of asking me to stay in the truck?”
“Of course not.” He knew if he did, Jill wouldn’t hesitate to walk outside and introduce herself, anyway.
The entire family was in the living room when he gave a quick knock and then let himself in and he felt weirdly nervous as Cait moved to stand next to him.
“This is my sister, Jill. Her husband, Henry, and their rugrats, Bella and Matt. Everybody, this is Cait.”
Cait smiled at them. His sister looked a lot like him, with dark hair and eyes. Henry was tall and thin, with blond hair and glasses. Bella looked like Henry and Matt like his mom. “Nice to meet you all.”
“Nice to meet you, Cait,” Jill said. “I’ve heard so much about you.”
Cait looked at Gavin. “Oh.”
“Okay, not a lot,” she confessed. “Just that he has a girlfriend.”
Gavin’s ears got hot and he cleared his throat. “We’ve got plans, so I’m going to take a look at that toilet.”
