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“My room is ugly. You promised we could change it. Can we do it tomorrow?”
“I planned to take you to Six Flags in the morning. How about I take you sometime next week?” The weather for the next few days looked great for outdoor excursions, and he didn’t get many opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. If he had to go shopping, an activity he didn’t care for, he’d rather do it on a day when it was better to stay inside anyway.
“Or I can take you,” Leah offered. She knew his views on shopping. “We can make it a girls’ day out. Visit the Met first, have some lunch, and then go shopping.”
During dinner Leah had discussed art with Erin, and he’d expected to her to ask Erin then if she’d like to visit a museum with her. She hadn’t.
“I love the Met. Can we go Sunday?” Erin asked.
“Your dad has something planned for Sunday. But I’ll take the day off and we can go Tuesday.”
I love you. The thought formed before the magnitude of it hit him like a high-speed train.
He didn’t enjoy spending time with Leah.
He didn’t desire her.
He loved her.
How could he not? Not only was she thoughtful and caring, but she was also making Erin a part of her life and saving him from a shopping trip.
He should’ve realized it days ago, because the emotion pulling at his heart now was the same one he’d experienced on Sunday night.
“Awesome. I can’t wait.”
Now that the opening sequence was over, Erin turned her attention to the television. With her eyes focused solely on the movie, he brushed a kiss across Leah’s cheek. Later, when they were alone, he’d demonstrate his gratitude. But for now words would have to suffice.
“Thank you,” he whispered before relaxing and simply enjoying the moment with the two people in the world most important to him.
Chapter Twelve
Weekends went by fast, especially in the summer, but the past one had literally gone by in a blur. It seemed as if one minute Leah was enjoying breakfast with Gavin and Erin Saturday morning before she left for her cousin’s house, and then the next she was waking up for work this morning.
Unfortunately, the workday hadn’t passed anywhere near as quickly as the weekend. Leah couldn’t put all the blame on the fact that it was a Monday and in general Mondays were her least favorite day of the week. Nope, the blame rested squarely on her shoulders. Needing to cram two days’ worth of work into one, she headed into the office long before she usually did and stayed there several hours later. Actually, her Monday resembled the workdays Gavin put in on a regular basis. Or more accurately, the days he’d put in before their weekend in Newport.
Since then he spent fewer hours at Culloden headquarters, although he still did extra work when he got home. Most often he did it in the early morning hours before the sun came up, when he thought she was sleeping. Not that Gavin was aware that she knew. But more than once she’d woken up to get a drink or to use the bathroom and discovered him gone. The first time it happened she left the bedroom, only to see the lights on in his office down the hall. She’d been tempted to go inside and ask him to come back to bed.
But she hadn’t.
Well before their first kiss, she’d known he put in more time at work in a week than some people did in a month. If getting things done while he thought she was sleeping was his way of making sure they had more time together, she wouldn’t interfere.
At least for now.
Eventually the missed sleep might catch up to him. If it did, she would say something, but until then she’d mind her own business on this one.
Unlocking the door, she walked inside expecting to hear the television or Erin’s voice as she talked Gavin’s ear off. It had certainly been the case on Saturday when she returned to his place after visiting Callie and her family. And on Sunday when Leah met up with them in the building lobby, Erin had talked nonstop from the moment the elevator doors closed until they sat down for dinner.
Silence greeted her tonight instead.
Kicking off her heels, she picked them up and crossed into the living room, where she switched on a table lamp. “Hello,” she called, on the off chance they were home.
An unanticipated reply came from down the hallway. “In my office.”
He’d taken the week off to spend with his daughter. Even next week he’d arranged it so he could devote most of his time to Erin. So what was he doing in his office tonight? Shouldn’t the two of them be enjoying a snack or playing a video game?
Strolling through the open door, she found Gavin seated at his desk dressed in a sleeveless T-shirt. She couldn’t make out the words, but a document was up on his home computer and his laptop was powered on as well. His briefcase sat open next to a picture of Erin with his younger sister Piper on the credenza behind him
“Hey, you,” she greeted. “Is Erin sleeping?” Being only seven o’clock it seemed unlikely she’d be asleep, but Gavin had taken Erin hiking today. Maybe hiking on a hot summer day was what it took to tire out his daughter. Nothing else seemed to.
