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Gavin returned the grin and added a shrug. “Good exercise.”
“So, Gen,” Troy said. “Are you excited about the Fall Festival starting next week? The Labor Day picnic? You’ve been running us ragged, handing out jobs. I’m almost afraid to open my email nowadays. I mean, unless that’s only me?”
Gavin fought laughter at the chorus of protests and groans assuring Troy that he wasn’t the only one that Genevieve had been driving to work like a dog.
Gen grinned. “See, though? That’s the magic of it. So much work has gotten done, and now there’s hardly anything to worry about. It’s all in hand, and the day of the festival is sure to run like clockwork.”
“That’s why you’re the event planner and I’m the artist,” Ella said. “If it’d been up to me, right about now would be when I’d suddenly say to myself, ‘Oh, crap, the festival’s coming up!’”
“Exactly,” Gen confirmed. “I’m awesome at what I do.”
“And humble,” Abby teased.
Gen shrugged. “Not a job requirement.”
Gavin plopped back down on the couch. Yeah. Hanging out here in his apartment with his family and friends, waiting on a pizza to arrive, while they all kidded around and gave each other a hard time. That, to him, was the very definition of a home.
“So, Gavin. Now that you’ve got your own couch to plant your lazy butt on, instead of mine, have you given any thought to what you’re going to do for work?”
“Yeah, I have.”
Gen turned to him, eyebrows shooting up to the sky. “Really? You have? You didn’t say anything.” She looked around the room as if suddenly remembering they weren’t alone. “To…anyone, I mean. Or, well, I would assume so. That would be my guess.”
She snapped her mouth shut, cheeks growing redder by the second, and Gavin decided to put an end to her misery. “You’re right. I haven’t. I’ve been mulling it over, but I’ve finally settled on a plan that feels right.”
Donovan plopped down next to him on the couch. “What is it?”
“When Troy took me along on the House the Homeless build, I really got a lot out of it. Working with my hands, being outdoors, interacting with the kids—”
“Say no more,” Troy cut him off. “I see where you’re going with this.”
“You do?”
“Oh, sure. This is an elaborate build up to you asking me for a job in front of everyone. Well, no worries, brother. There’s always room for family. Just know there won’t be any special treatment. It’s a hard job. Minimum wage and swinging a hammer. And the boss can be a real hardass.”
Gavin laughed. “Thanks, Troy. I’ll keep that in mind if I’m ever desperate. And I do mean really, really desperate.”
Troy joined in on the laughter. “Believe me, brother. If you ever came to work for me, I wouldn’t want you any other way.”
“All right, you two!” Ella scolded. “Stop messing around! I want to hear what Gavin’s plan is.”
Gavin took a deep breath. “I’m going to start a non-profit. Working with at-risk kids. I’m not sure of the specifics yet, but it’ll involve the outdoors, and achieving goals, and teaching them skills that they can take forward into life.”
“That’s amazing!”
“I’ve been doing some research, and it seems like the most challenging aspect of starting non-profits is the paperwork. Navigating grant proposals, government forms, things like that. Well, having just come out of the service, I’m singularly qualified to navigate forms that are about five times as long as they need to be. I’m confident I’ll be able to wade through it.”
Donovan clapped a hand on his shoulder. “You look it. And happy, which is nice to see.”
“Yeah,” Gen chimed in. “It is.”
He moved his gaze to her. She was smiling at him, and her eyes were soft as they met his.
God, she was beautiful.
And they were in a room full of people, so he couldn’t do anything about it. It was torture.
But he was getting his future squared away, and this was going to be part of it. It had to be. Enough hiding. He would talk to her. Tonight, even, maybe. Because keeping this secret was getting real old.
