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Insistent buzzing woke her up. Ginny groaned softly, turning her face into the pillow as the buzzing continued. After their shower, they’d cuddled while looking up houses on Airbnb for their weekend. Given that Tybee would be crowded, it had been almost impossible to find a good place to rent, but they managed to find a cottage that was perfect. They booked the space and discussed all the things they had to do before they fell asleep wrapped around each other. Ginny woke up that way, with Gavin’s chest against her back, his arm tight around her waist.
Smiling, Ginny carefully extracted herself out of bed only to find Copper and Cedar sleeping on what was usually Gavin’s side. Making sure to cover Gavin properly, Ginny grabbed her phone from where she left it on the dresser and snuck out of the room while Cedar watched from her comfortable position on the bed. Dressed in one of Gavin’s old t-shirts and a pair of shorts, Ginny walked down to the kitchen and turned on the coffee maker. Only once the gurgling sounds started did she look at her phone.
Multiple missed calls from her mother.
Texts in the siblings group.
Texts from Spencer.
Instagram notifications.
A long list of texts from her mother.
Frowning, Ginny swiped those open first and her heart plummeted when she realized who they were from: Cyrus.
Mom
You are a selfish child and I know I raised you better than this.
You would leave your mother alone when she spent her whole life for you?
I’ll keep up with this till you call me back.
For your mother’s sake, you really should.
Even though she told her mother she wouldn’t answer when Elsa called, Ginny had struggled to block the number. Of all her siblings, her mother would call her first. Always. And Ginny wanted to be there for her in case something went wrong. She was disappointed and angry with her mother for going back to Cyrus, but she was also worried about her. Clearly Cyrus knew that as well, because he was using that affection against her. Scrolling past more nonsensical and almost psychotic messages, she found a big block of text that made her pause.
Mom
I expected this from your siblings, Virginia, not from you. I thought we were different. I’m still your father, no matter what you keep telling yourself. I paid for your education, put food in your stomach and had a hand in raising you. All your mother asked was for you to support her decision and you told her she was making a mistake. Well, I think you’re the one who has made the mistake.
“What’s wrong?”
Ginny’s head snapped up to find Gavin rubbing his eyes as he leaned against the doorway. Wearing just a pair of boxers, he should have distracted her from the text, but Ginny was so caught up in the words and the way it made her feel.
“Cyrus has been texting,” she said softly, pushing the phone towards Gavin. “I blocked his number, so he started using Mom’s phone.”
Gavin grunted as he picked up the device, eyes half-open as he peered at the screen. Ginny rolled her shoulders back and poured them both cups of coffee. She glanced at him briefly and saw the wrinkles on his forehead, his lips moving as he read the texts.
“What the fuck.” It came out as a statement and she could see the frown turn into a full blown scowl. “Does he realize that he sounds unhinged?”
“Probably not. Or he knows and doesn’t care.”
“Have you read the rest?”
Ginny shook her head, because she knew there were tons more left to read, but decided that it wouldn’t benefit her in any way to do that. “I don’t want to, it doesn’t change the way I feel about him.”
Gavin set the phone down as he wrapped his arms around her, lips pressed to her forehead. Ginny leaned into him, sighing softly as she slid an arm around his waist.
“You holding up okay?” She started to nod, then shook her head and Gavin pulled back to look at her. “Fair enough. Wanna talk about it?”
She twisted her lips to the side and Gavin smiled, reaching for his coffee. They stayed like that for a long time, leaning against the counter while drinking their coffee and not saying anything. Cyrus was clearly trying to scare her and while it didn’t work, it did shake her up a little. Ginny was worried about her mother, because if Cyrus had her phone, where was she?
The fears she expected to bubble to the surface did not. Ginny peeked at Gavin from the corner of her eyes and reminded herself that she was not like Cyrus. The only thing she had in common with the man was that they shared blood. She might have hurt Gavin in the past and broken his heart, but she hadn’t done it intentionally. Pinching her eyes shut, Ginny thought of all the things Spencer and her therapist had said, how this thing with Gavin was real and good, and she was nothing like herfather.
“If you do that with your face too long, it’ll freeze in place,” Gavin teased and Ginny opened her eyes to look at him. His expression went from amusement to concern really quick. “Nia.”
His tone was hard, but also perturbed and it took her a few seconds to realize why. Shaking her head as his face softened, Ginny said, “There was a time…amomentnot too long ago when I thought that it would be best if I walked away. Two very smart people reminded me that what we have is really good.”
