“Not exactly. I met her brother when he played basketball with us recently, but I’ll be meeting her mom tomorrow night when I pick them up.”
“Sounds like you guys are a more steady thing than I thought.”
“She’s... I don’t know.” He was still having a hard time admitting to himself how important Cait was to him already, so he certainly wasn’t ready to talk about it with somebody else. “I really like her. We have fun and enjoy each other’s company and stuff and she’s got...alot. Her family’s pretty needy sometimes. It’s hard to explain.”
“It’s not hard to explain at all,” Rick argued. “She’s a woman with adult responsibilities and you don’t want to help carry anybody’s baggage.”
Gavin frowned because the LT’s tone made it clear he was criticizing, not empathizing. “That’s bullshit.”
“You like her, but her family needing her might be too much for you to put up with?”
He gave himself a few seconds to get his temper under control before responding. While they might just be having a casual conversation, if push literally came to shove, Rick was his superior. “I don’t want to start helping her carry her baggage and then decide it’s too heavy for me and drop it on her.”
Rick looked at him for a long moment before nodding. “You really do care about her, then?”
“I do. I know it hasn’t been a long time, but I have a hard time picturing my days without at least talking to her on the phone anymore. And I don’t want to picture it.”
“Sounds serious. I haven’t seen her at Kincaid’s with you, though.”
Gavin was aware of that, since he’d been thinking about that very thing lately. He liked Cait being part of his life, but right now she only got some of it. The guys he worked with were family to him, and the more time he spent with Cait, the less time he spent with them. Not that he expected her to hang around the bar all the time, but it was time to merge his life together.
And it was time for the other guys to know Cait was important to him and for them to get to know her beyond EMT Tasker.
He’d never brought a woman he was dating to Kincaid’s to hang with the guys before and while she wouldn’t be aware of that, the guys would and they’d know.
“I’ll ask her if she wants to hang out there Saturday night,” he said, knowing if he said it out loud, he’d have to do it.
“Maybe I’ll stop by,” Rick said. “And it wouldn’t be cool to hit Kincaid’s without letting the other guys know I’m looking to shoot pool.”
Gavin groaned. “I don’t think everybody needs to be there the first time.”
Rick just smiled and walked away, leaving Gavin shaking his head. Taking Cait to Kincaid’s knowing everybody would be there shouldn’t be a big deal, but it was. It was a big step for him, and he had no idea how she’d take any ribbing they decided to hand out.
But first they had to make it through dinner tomorrow night, with her mother and brother. He believed himself capable of handling things if it went to shit, but he’d done a lot of worrying since Cait told him they were all in. Worrying about her mom breaking down. Worrying about Cait not enjoying herself. Worrying about saying or doing the wrong thing and setting it all off.
Usually he didn’t sweat meeting anybody. He was personable and polite and people responded to his smile. Carter had taken to him pretty well. But if their mother didn’t like him, he wasn’t sure what Cait would do, and that had him losing sleep.
It needed to be perfect.
* * *
Hey, who died?was not the response Cait wanted to hear from her Valentine’s Day date, she thought as she looked in the full-length mirror in her mother’s room. But, despite her best efforts, she looked as if she was getting ready for a funeral.
“What is it the kids say nowadays?” her mom asked as she stepped into the room and their eyes met in the reflection of the mirror. “Oh, honey, no?”
“This is stupid. We don’t even know where we’re going, and Gavin likes me just fine in jeans and a sweater.” She turned away from the mirror. “Why am I so nervous? It doesn’t make any sense.”
“You’re introducing your boyfriend to me, so it makes perfect sense to be nervous. But just imagine how nervousheis.”
As twisted as it was, it did make her feel better to know he was probably just as nervous as she was. If not more, since he’d be having dinner with a woman he didn’t know and a kid he’d only met a couple of times. At least Cait would know everybody at the table.
“You should wear my red dress.”
“No.” Cait shook her head. The black sweater and long black pencil skirt with the tall black boots that enabled her to hide black tights so she wouldn’t freeze her ass off were at least more her style, if slightly funereal.
“Just try it on. For me.”
Cait rolled her eyes, but peeled off the sweater and unzipped the skirt. “I’m wearing the tights.”
