She slung her laptop bag over her shoulder and grabbed her handbag. “Sure. For what?”
Gabe turned on the house alarm and followed her out onto the porch, locking the door behind him before responding. “Abby and Kyle wanted to throw a dinner party at their place. Back to work celebration for me or something, I guess.”
She offered him a smile. “I’m glad to see you and Kyle trying to get along better.”
Gabe shrugged. “I love the little shit—I hated having that tension between us. But once he lost the massive chip on his shoulder over everything that happened when Mom was sick, we were able to bury the hatchet.”
“Well, then, dinner would be great,” Elle mused as she headed to his department Tahoe. “So…maybe we should invite Charlotte. Unless you think Kyle and Abby would mind.”
He gave her a sidelong glance, noticing she was trying just a little too hard to appear nonchalant. “She’s always welcome, of course. But why do I get the impression you have ulterior motives beyond just wanting to include your aunt? What are you up to?”
She shrugged. “Nothing. I just thought it would be nice. I assume your dad will be there?”
“I guess so.” He eyed her for a moment before starting up the Tahoe and pulling out of the driveway. “Where are you going with this?”
She cleared her throat and tried to look casual, fiddling with the hem of her suit jacket as she said, “Nowhere. Not really.” But when he let silence hang between them she cracked like an egg. “Well, okay—I just thought maybe it would be nice for them to finally go public, for crying out loud. I mean, it’s got to be tough sneaking around—”
“Sneaking around?” Gabe sent a startled glance her way. He’d had no idea what she was thinking, but he sure as shit hadn’t anticipated an implication his dad was banging Charlotte on the sly. “What the hell are you talking about?”
The look she gave him was equally incredulous. “You didn’t realize…? Oh boy.”
“What?” he demanded. “You think there’s something going on between the Old Man and Charlotte?”
She gave him a disbelieving look. “Seriously? You haven’t noticed? He calls her Charlie, Gabe. No one else ever calls my aunt that.”
He shrugged, suddenly feeling uncomfortable with the conversation. “So what? They’ve known each other their entire lives.”
“It’s not like they were just passing acquaintances,” Elle pointed out. “They were high school sweethearts and have remained close friends all these years—more than friends for a while, I’m guessing. Have you really never even entertained the possibility that they’d rekindle their romance?”
He shifted in his seat, wondering why the hell the thought of his dad having a secret girlfriend was pissing him off. Especially when it was a woman who’d been like an aunt to the Dawson boys their whole lives and had often been a surrogate mother to them when their own mother had gotten sick. Was it because Mac hadn’t bothered telling any of his sons he was seeing someone after all these years? Or was it because it somehow felt like it was a betrayal to Gabe’s mother?
Or maybe he was just predisposed to be irritable because he was returning to duty, only to be parked behind a desk, thanks to his elder brother’s newly discovered cautious behavior. Regardless, he left Elle’s question unanswered and sulked the rest of the way to her office, only rallying from his piss-poor mood when she leaned across the seat to give him a good-bye kiss and whisper an “I love you” against his lips.
But his mood continued to darken as he drove to the department and pulled into a parking spot. He sat behind the wheel for several moments, psyching himself up, trying to tell himself being a desk jockey was just temporary, that Tom would come around after a week or two and he’d be back out on the road. And if that didn’t work, he’d go over Tom’s head and take his thoughts on the matter straight to the Old Man.
Their father had made it clear from the moment he’d promoted Tom to the executive deputy position that he was their boss. No questions. No bullshit. If anyone had a problem, they’d have to take it up with Tom. But screw that noise. Gabe had never backed down from anything. He sure as hell wasn’t going to now, when his career was on the line.
Setting his jaw and squaring his shoulders, ready to take on whatever bullshit he was going to encounter once he walked in the door, Gabe got out of the Tahoe and strode inside. He was so determined to appear unconcerned with his temporary desk duty that he didn’t at first notice the cautious, anxious stares from his colleagues. But after catching the eye of more than one deputy who quickly looked away or offered only a slight jerk of the chin in response to his nod of greeting, his purposeful strides slowed until he came to a halt in the middle of the room.
Gabe hadn’t expected a surprise welcome-back party—he wasn’t quite the egomaniacal dick people seemed to think he was—but a fucking hello would’ve been nice.