“Are you going?” Nolan asked Gavin.
“Probably not. Hard to get away from work.” To Ella, he said, “I’m going to hit the bathroom. Be right back.”
After he walked away, Nolan lowered his voice and said, “He never goes to Sultans things anymore unless they’re here. Austin and Debra’s wedding was the one exception, but that was because he had to go as the best man.”
“Why do you suppose he doesn’t go?”
“I think it’s too hard for him without Caleb. He thinks of them as Caleb’s friends, but they’re his friends, too. Every bit as much his as they were Caleb’s.”
“I’ll talk to him and see if I can convince him to go.”
“That would be good. He always has fun when he’s with them, but he’s been weird about it since Caleb died. It would mean a lot to Dylan to have him there.”
Ella’s youngest brother, Max, came into the kitchen, looking tense and out of sorts.
“Hey.” Molly smiled up at her son as he kissed her cheek. “What’re you doing here? Thought you were spending the weekend in Burlington.”
“Yeah, so did I. Don’t ask.” He grabbed a roll from a basket Molly was filling and continued through the kitchen to the dining room.
“What’s up with him?” Ella asked her mom.
“Trouble in paradise with Chloe, apparently,” Molly said, her brows knitting with concern. “I’m surprised he’s here with the baby due any minute.”
“He told me last week she doesn’t want him around,” Nolan said quietly.
Molly pounced on her son-in-law. “When did he tell you that?”
“When he brought his car into the garage for an oil change.”
“Oh Lord,” Molly said with a sigh. “The poor guy. This has to be eating him up inside.”
Ella felt for her brother, who would soon become a father. He and his girlfriend, Chloe, hadn’t been together long when she got pregnant. Max had tried to stand by her during the last few months, but Chloe hadn’t made it easy.
Gavin returned to the kitchen and came over to her. “What’s up with Max? He seems kinda wound up.”
“Troubles with the baby mama, apparently.”
“Oh damn. That’s too bad.”
Lucas and Landon came into the kitchen, pushing and shoving each other the way they had since the day they were born. They always brought the comedy with them, and Ella adored them, even if she wanted to knock their heads together half the time.
“Knock it off, you two,” Molly said sternly.
“We haven’t even done anything yet,” Landon said.
“Preemptive strike,” Molly replied. “It’s only a matter of time before you do something.”
“We are so misunderstood,” Lucas said to his twin.
“Seriously.”
“You are absolutely understood,” Ella said, “which is why Mom feels the need for preemptive strikes.”
“And here we thought you were on our side, El,” Lucas said. “You’re one of the nice ones. Usually.”
Gavin laughed when her charming brothers planted kisses on their mother’s cheeks.
“Hi, Mom,” Lucas said with a shit-eating grin.
“Get out of here, the two of you, before I break out the rubber spatula,” Molly said, smiling despite herself.
The threat sent the twins scurrying toward the dining room.
Ella’s brother Wade came in, dropping a kiss on her forehead and then shaking hands with Gavin. “What brings you to dinner?” Wade asked.
“Ella did.”
“Oh. Is that right?”
“Uh-huh.” Ella gave Wade a little shove. “Now mind your own business and move along.”
“I’m an Abbott. Since when do we mind only our own business?”
“Wade . . . I expect better from you than the rest of the clowns.” He was the one brother who’d never pulled her hair or deliberately tried to rile her.
“All right. When you put it that way . . .”
Colton and Lucy arrived a few minutes later with Hunter and Megan in tow.
“Everyone’s here,” Molly said. “Let’s eat!”
CHAPTER 7
Time takes away the grief of men.
—Desiderius Erasmus