After unzipping the black boots and pulling them off, she looked at Carter, who’d taken up a position on the couch with his earbuds in, and got a sad smile. She gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile in response and, after taking a deep breath, walked slowly up the stairs.
Chapter Fourteen
“Gavin Patrick Boudreau, how many times have I told you not to take a bite of a chocolate and put it back in the box?”
He yanked his hand back before his mom could rap the back of his knuckles with the slotted spoon she had in her hand. Moms always seemed to have kitchen weapons when they needed them. “I don’t like the coconut ones.”
“Look at the diagram and only take the ones you like.”
“I looked at the diagram.” He showed her the drawing on the underside of the box lid and then tried to match it to the contents of the box. Even turning the lid a hundred and eighty degrees didn’t make it look like the chocolates.
After a few moments of analysis, he picked up another chocolate and nibbled at the corner. “This one’s coconut, too.”
He was about to set it back in its slot, but his mom cleared her throat and he set it on the counter instead.
His dad wandered in and opened the fridge to grab the pitcher of lemonade he drank year-round. “Stop eating your mother’s Valentine’s Day chocolates.”
“Did you buy these half-off at a gas station or what? The diagram is messed up.”
His dad walked to the box and picked one at random. After biting off a corner, he held it up. “This one’s an orange.”
“My favorite.” Gavin reached for it, but his dad popped it into his mouth. “I’m going to remember that the next time your snowblower won’t start and your back suddenly hurts too much to shovel.”
“Hey, I have a bad back.”
“And so will I if I keep shoveling your snow because you’re too cheap to buy a new snowblower.”
“Enough,” his mom said, putting an end to the lighthearted banter. “I want to hear how your dinner went.”
“South,” he muttered without thinking and his mom’s brow furrowed. “No, it was a nice dinner. And Diane is a super lady, which isn’t a surprise considering how awesome her daughter is.”
“So what happened?” his dad asked.
He filled them in on how the night had ended. He’d talked to them a little about Cait’s family dynamic over the last couple of weeks, mostly because they were good listeners and also didn’t hesitate to let him know if he had his head up his ass.
“I knew going in there was a chance it would be too hard for Diane, so I’m glad that we were able to have a good night together,” he said. “But it’s frustrating because Cait... It’s not like her not coming back to my place was a big deal, even though it would have been nice. There will be other nights.”
“You want a sign that Cait’s going to be able to move on with her own life soon,” his mom said quietly.
He nodded, because that was exactly right. “But I feel like an a—like a jerk, because that’s selfish of me. If you needed me, I wouldn’t leave you for anything or anybody.”
She reached out and squeezed his hand. “You don’t have a selfish bone in your body. And of course you expect her to be there for her family, just like you would be.”
“The problem,” his dad said, “is that you and Cait have different ideas on whether or not her mom actually needs her as much as Cait thinks she does.”
Gavin watched as his dad picked a chocolate out of the box and split the bottom just enough to see the inside before setting it back in its spot. Then he did another and another, until he found one with orange filling. He handed it to Gavin.
He popped the candy in his mouth, using the chewing time to process what his parents had said. Then he swallowed and asked the question he’d been asking himself since he walked away from Cait’s door last night. “What do I do about it?”
“Are you willing to break off your relationship with Cait?” his mom asked.
“No.” He said it without thinking, but he wasn’t sure his answer would be any different if he had. And no matter how frustrated he’d been since dropping her off, it had never really crossed his mind.
The quickness of his response made his mom smile, but it was his dad who answered. “Then you’re going to have to be patient, son. If you put Cait in a situation where she thinks she has to choose between you and her mother, you will lose.”
“Even if you don’t think it’s a choice,” his mom added. “Even if you think her mom’s fine, if Cait doesn’t, she’ll push back against you. And I know right now you’re thinking you won’t let her, but no matter how much you love somebody, you can only be pushed away so many times before you don’t come back.”
He let theL-word slide, since he thought she was using it in a general sense and not with regard to him and Cait specifically. Still, it rattled around in his brain for a few seconds, refusing to be ignored.
