“True.”
“And her doing so means she should be lambasted by your brother just because he carries a grudge?”
“That’s his issue to deal with.”
“And you let him continue to do so, with a woman you’ve been seeing and should at least care enough about to defend. I raised you better than that, Gavin.”
He inhaled, let it out, closed the grill, and jammed his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know. This is all so complicated. It wasn’t supposed to be complicated.”
He sat in the chair next to hers. She smiled at him and took his hand. “Relationships are always complicated, Gavin.”
“It’s not what I set out to have with Lizzie. It was just supposed to be something fun.”
“Have you been having fun with her?”
“Yes.”
“So what happened?”
“No clue. I guess somewhere along the way something happened.”
“Something like . . . love?”
He’d never wanted that to enter the picture. Not with Elizabeth. But maybe it had, and he just hadn’t realized it. He sure as hell didn’t want to talk about it with his mother. “I don’t know, Mom. Honestly, I don’t know. I feel something for her. I don’t know what it is.”
“Maybe it’s time you stop running away from it and figure it out.”
“I don’t know if I want to. Elizabeth isn’t easy.”
She laughed. “Neither, my sweet boy, are you.”
THE SECOND GAME WAS WELL UNDER WAY BY THE TIME Gavin joined his dad in the living room.
They sat in silence and watched for a while. Mick and Tara had gone home, and Jenna was at the bar.
The Rivers were behind one run in the seventh inning. The middle of the order was up to bat.
“Your replacement is two for three so far in this game. Stole a base in the third, and drove in a run in the fifth.”
“That’s good. Let’s hope we can win.”
More silence while one player hit a grounder to third for the first out, and the second batter popped out to right field.
Stallings was up next. Gavin leaned forward to study the kid. Decent batting stance; wasn’t afraid of the pitcher’s curveball or his fastball. Wasn’t fooled easily as he took two balls and one strike. When a pitch came sailing over the plate, he launched it over the left field fence for a home run.
Shit. The kid was good.
“Too bad there wasn’t anyone on base,” his dad said.
“Yeah. Too bad.”
Gavin leaned back.
“Saw Elizabeth hightailing it out of here earlier. You piss her off?”
“No. Mick did.”
“About?”
“Don’t worry about it, Dad. You just need to rest.”
His dad leaned forward. “Stop treating me like an invalid. I never had high blood pressure so it’s not like I’m going to explode over here.”
Gavin glanced over to his mother, who was sitting in her chair sewing something by hand. She didn’t look concerned or give him a warning look. In fact, she didn’t look up at all.
“Well?”
“Elizabeth suggested I get back to the game. Mick accused her of trying to manipulate me for her own personal gain.”
His dad snorted. “Your brother isn’t thinking clearly where Elizabeth is concerned, and it’s damn time he got over it already. And didn’t I tell you the same thing? That kid is looking like a hotshot at first base. I’ll bet he makes a damn site less than you do, too.”
Gavin sank into the chair and didn’t say anything. The Rivers were out as the next batter swung on a good pitch.
“So what did you say while Mick was reading the riot act to Elizabeth?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re dating her, and you didn’t defend her?”
Gavin felt like he was eight years old again. Getting a lecture from his dad had never felt good then, and it didn’t now. “No.”
“Because you think she’s manipulating you, that she only cares about your career and not you?”
“I don’t know what to think.”
“And here I thought I raised smart boys. Right now I’m thinking you’re both dumber than dirt.”
Right now that’s about how Gavin felt.
TWENTY-ONE
IF ELIZABETH WOULD HAVE HAD HER WITS ABOUT HER, she could have gone toe-to-toe with Mick. She never let athletes knock her on her ass. If they got in her face, she got right back in theirs. So why had she let Mick do that to her? She should have stood up to him and told him exactly how he was wrong in his thinking. And then told him to stick his opinions about her up his ass once and for all, because she was tired of hearing them.
Dammit.
It was because of Gavin. Okay, and also because she didn’t want to cause World War III at his parents’ house. Not with his dad recovering. She’d never do anything to upset him.
She pulled into the parking lot at Riley’s bar, not sure what the hell she was doing here. Hadn’t she had enough Rileys for a while? Did she need to get her ass kicked by yet another one?