The Bromance Book Club (Bromance Book Club, #1)(36)

“Liv.”

She turned around.

“Thank you for being here for Thea and the girls. I know you’ve been a big help.”

She snorted. “I didn’t do it for you, asshole.”

“I know. All the same . . .”

She rolled her eyes and headed toward the basement, but she stopped at the last minute and turned back around.

“Hey, Gavin?”

He looked up once more. She smiled in a dangerous way. “If you do anything to hurt my sister again, I will poison your protein powder. Happy Thanksgiving!”

Then she disappeared into the basement.

He busied himself for the next several minutes carrying all six pies out to the car and then wandered to the living room to call his parents just to get it over with. They still had a landline, and an unexpected voice answered the phone.

“You owe me for this,” his younger brother, Sebastian, hissed by way of saying hello.

“What’re you doing there?”

“Filling in for you. Mom was crying about how she wasn’t going to have any family with her this year for Thanksgiving, and the next thing I knew, I was packing my duffel bag. I’ve been up since five, since Mom has to get the turkey in early enough for us to eat by two.”

Gavin pinched the bridge of his nose. “You’ll survive. Let me talk to Dad.”

“He’s in the shower. Talk to Mom.”

He tried to protest because there had to be a rule of some kind about the amount of time one had to wait between a conversation about jerking off and a phone call with one’s mother. But Sebastian had pulled the phone away from his ear.

A moment later, his mother got on the line. “Hey, honey! Happy Thanksgiving!”

“Hey, Mom. How big is the turkey this year?”

It was a running family joke that his mom always bought a turkey three times the size of what they actually needed. His mother lived in fear of people starving to death in her presence.

“Almost eighteen pounds,” she said. “He’s a big ’un.”

Gavin could picture her instantly. She was probably wearing her ruffled apron, the one she only wore on holidays. And she’d have her hair twisted on top of her head so it didn’t get in the way while she cooked. Pretty soon, she’d pour herself a mug of hot spiced cider from the slow cooker and she’d turn on Christmas music, because in the Scott household, Thanksgiving Day was officially the start of the Christmas season.

“I sure wish you guys were here,” she said. “I miss you and the girls. And Thea. Gosh, I’ve tried to call her several times for the past couple of weeks but keep getting her voicemail. Oh— did she get my email?”

“I have no idea.”

“Oh, well, she probably just didn’t tell you. I asked what the girls want for Christmas this year.”

“You could just ask me.”

She made a psh noise with her lips.

“You think I don’t know what my daughters want for Christmas? Geez, thanks.”

“I think Thea probably already has a color-coded spreadsheet with links of where to buy everything and what’s already on sale.”

Despite his mood, Gavin smiled. Yes, that sounded exactly like Thea.

“Hey, maybe you guys can come here for Christmas!” his mom said. “You could spend Christmas Eve here, and the girls could open their stockings here. Oh, Gavin, it would be so fun.”

An ache bloomed in his chest at the picture she painted. It would be fun, but there was no way Thea, who had just appeared at the bottom of the stairs, would agree to it.

“Hey, Thea’s standing right here. Do you want to talk to her and see if she got the email?” Gavin held out the phone. “It’s my mom.”

Thea gave him a look that could extinguish a fire. But she sucked in a breath and put on her best voice. “Hey, Susan. Happy Thanksgiving.”

Gavin listened to Thea’s half of the conversation, and the ache spread. His parents adored Thea. They said she was the daughter they always wanted and joked that Sebastian was going to have to work extra hard to even come close to finding a wife as perfect as Gavin’s.

That was the main reason he hadn’t yet told them that he and Thea were having trouble. It would devastate them. But that wasn’t the only reason. His parents had the perfect marriage, and they’d be so disappointed to know that Gavin couldn’t live up to their model.

Thea said goodbye, ended the call, and handed Gavin his phone. “You need to tell them, Gavin.”

“Tell them what?” he countered, bitter at her constant reminder that this was a temporary thing for her. “You gave me until Christmas to win you back. Until then, there’s nothing to tell.”



* * *



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Del and Nessa lived outside Nashville in a mansion-filled subdivision that was home to several of Music City’s rich and famous. The twenty-mile drive took only a half hour in the sparse holiday traffic, and if it weren’t for the girls in the back seat, it would have been a silent trip.

“Mommy, can we swim?” Ava suddenly asked.

Del had an indoor pool, and it had become part of the tradition that after everyone’s dinner had settled, the guys took the kids swimming. Thea turned in her seat to look at the back seat. “I brought your bathing suits.”