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Gavin swore, something she didn’t remember ever hearing him do, and raked a hand down his face.
Is he upset because the truth is out or because Harry was lying?
She wanted to believe the latter. Unfortunately, at the moment she couldn’t. At the same time, she was finding it difficult to believe Gavin would pursue a relationship with her simply because his dad wanted him to.
Without saying another word, Gavin turned onto her street. The original plan had been for them to spend the night at her home in Greenwich, since it was closer to his dad’s, rather than return to Gavin’s condo in the city. Then in the morning they’d drive Erin back to Providence before heading up to Maine.
After this afternoon, she didn’t want Gavin staying with her tonight or maybe ever again.
“I can explain.” Gavin followed the driveway down to the garage, and the sensor lights went on.
Leah unclipped her seat belt and twisted in her seat. She needed to see his face, see his reaction to her questions. A person could fake their emotions, but she wanted to see his anyway.
“Leah—” he began, but she cut him off. She’d hear him out, but first she had question
s.
“Before you say anything else, I need to make sure I understand something.” The conversation she overheard had been pretty clear, but on the off chance she’d misunderstood, she wanted clarification.
After unclipping his seat belt, Gavin turned as well. “Ask me anything you want.”
“Harry was with me because your father wanted us together?”
She’d met a lot of power-driven individuals, people who stopped at nothing to get ahead in society or in business. She knew couples who had married because it was advantageous for both parties. Rather than as a romantic endeavor, they viewed marriage as a business contract. However, asking your son to be in a relationship because it was an opportunity of a lifetime put Gavin’s dad in a class all his own.
Before he could answer, the snoring in the back seat stopped. “Are we at Leah’s?” Erin sounded groggy, and Leah expected that once her head hit a pillow she’d fall right back to sleep.
“Just got here, Bug,” Gavin replied, glancing into the back seat.
“Good. I’m tired. I want to go to bed.”
Finally, Leah knew what it took to tire his daughter out.
Words weren’t necessary. Gavin’s expression when he looked back at her asked the question for him. Do you want us to spend the night?
No. But it was late, and she didn’t know how to explain a sudden change in plans to a nine-year-old girl who’d just left the emergency room with a broken ankle.
“Then we better get you inside,” she said. The house had plenty of bedrooms. She’d survive the night with him under her roof.
Although Erin had a pair of crutches, Gavin carried her from the car and into the house. He followed Leah up the staircase to the second floor and down a hallway. Opening the door to the only full guest suite in the home, she switched on the light. Unlike the guest bedroom across the hall that only had a private bathroom, the suite had a full bathroom complete with a Jacuzzi tub and a separate sitting area.
“Erin can use this room. If you want to be close, you can sleep on the sofa in here or you can use the room across the hall.”
And I’ll be in my room on the opposite side of the house. Alone.
She’d carried their overnight bags inside, since he had his hands full carrying Erin. Leah dropped them on the floor near the door. “Goodnight, Erin. Gavin, I’ll be in the kitchen.” She didn’t stick around for a response from either of them.
She filled the teakettle with water and set it on the stove before selecting a canister of loose leaf tea from the cupboard. She didn’t feel like tea, but brewing a pot the proper way, which according to her cousin was the only way to make it, gave her something more productive to do than chew her fingernails while she waited for Gavin. And he would come. Gavin didn’t leave conversations unfinished, no matter the topic.
By the time he finally joined her, the tea leaves were steeping in the china teapot Sara had given her as a gift one year ago.
“Sorry. She wanted me to stay with her until she fell asleep.” He didn’t try to touch her. Instead he pulled out a chair at the table opposite her and sat. “What you heard isn’t true,” he began before she could ask any other questions.
“Then Harry didn’t get involved with me because your father wanted him to? Because it sure sounded like it to me.”
“No, not in the beginning. But he stayed with you because Dad wanted him to,” Gavin admitted. “I didn’t know that until the day you found him with Amy.”
He sounded sincere. She’d give him that much.
