AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It’d beentwo whole days since Ginny’s presentation at the shelter and his mother was still mad at him. Bronte too, if he was being honest. Gavin knew that walking out of that meeting after dismissing Ginny like that was rude and unnecessary, but being in his office with her in such close proximity was hard. He wished it was easy to explain to his mother or Bronte—and himself, really—why being around Ginny was so complicated. Gavin knew that it was silly to be harping on something so small, but with Ginny Thomas, nothing had ever been small. It was why his feelings for her had always been so big and intense.
When he came back from checking on the last few families still hanging around the shelter, Bronte and his mom glared at him with their arms crossed over their chests. He’d invited his mother because he liked having her opinion on these matters. Plus, if she liked any of the ideas, maybe she and his dad would be willing to help in some way or the other.
“I raised you better than that, Gavin.” His mother’s beautiful face was twisted in a scowl and he winced at the disappointment in her words. “That woman is helping you make money and keep this place going and you treated her so badly.”
“I…I know.”
Bronte wasn’t one to be left out so she huffed loudly. “She made apresentationwith multiple ideas and you said ‘thanks for coming by’ and walked away.”
“I know.”
“Wait until your father hears about this, young man.”
Gavin’s eyes widened at that threat. “Mom.” Elijah Rhodes was the softest man in the world and he was always the good cop when the boys did anything stupid. But when needed, he could express disappointment and sadness with a simple shake of his head.
“Look—” he held his hands up before either of them could speak “—I know what I did was fucked up, sorry for the language, but it’s been really hard being around her and I react off the cuff. I will call and apologize. I will fix this.”
His mother’s expression softened just a little, the scowl smoothening out as she stared at him curiously. “I hope that one day you tell me what went wrong with Ginny, because I know that she meant the whole world to you.”
She always will, Mom. And that’s the problem.
Gavin nodded, twisting his lips to the side. “Her ideas were amazing. And you’re right, Bronte, we should have asked her for help earlier. Wearegoing to work with her and get these animals into good homes.”
The two most important women in his life stared at him a little longer before they got to their feet and walked out. Cedar, who had been tucked between them on the couch, lifted her head with a whine and rushed out after his mother. Hewasbeing childish, rude and disrespectful, and Gavin knew that making excuses for it was dumb. He needed to own the way he behaved with Ginny, because he was starting to hurt her too.
On Saturday morning, Gavin settled into his chair and opened up his email to find the presentation in his inbox. Loading it up, he swiped through the slides and nodded as he read her ideas and looked over her sketches. Milo had talked a lot about how Frankie was damn good at her job and starting her own business was the smartest thing she could do. But he never realized just how talented and brilliant event planners had to be to pull something like this together.
Even the ideas that were a little farfetched seemed totally possible if they took their time and planned it out better. He was blown away by her notes and decided that her idea to auction time with the animals was probably the best way to raise money. And get some attention for all the animals at the shelter.
Gavin stood in front of his window, twirling his phone in his hands as he watched Bronte with the horses. His friend had taken to Ginny almost instantly and that alone was proof that his first love was good people. He needed to stop being such an asshole and fix this. Inhaling deeply and then letting the breath out loudly, Gavin typed out the number she’d included into her email on his phone.
It rang three times before her sultry voice came over on the other end. “This is Ginny.”
“Hey,” he said softly, eyes slipping shut as he cleared his throat. “I want to apologize for my behavior the other day and thank you for putting in so much effort to help us out.”
“I’m sorry, who is this?”
He couldn’t help the smirk that tugged at his lips when he heard the tone of her voice. “This is the guy who’s been an absolute asshole to you for the last few weeks and I want to apologize for it.”
“Are you apologizing for being an asshole in the meeting or being an asshole in general?” she asked, amusement still evident in her tone.
“Asshole in the meeting, can’t help but be an asshole every other day of my life.”
A soft laugh burst out of her and Gavin’s smile stretched into a full one. “I accept your apology, Mr. Asshole. Did you go through my presentation?”
“I did and seriously, Ginny, those ideas were incredible. I wish we could do them all.”
“Maybe you can, but we’ll start small and work our way up.”
He smiled at the use ofwe, but didn’t comment on it. “How about you swing by the shelter when you’re free and I can show you around.”
“Sure.” She cleared her throat and Gavin held his breath as she asked, “Why were you an asshole in the meeting?”
Sighing heavily, Gavin rubbed his forehead with his free hand. “I think anybody would be an asshole when faced with the woman who has his boxers in a twist.”
“Better get untwisting, that sounds uncomfortable.”
“I’ll uh, get right on that.”
