Going Down Easy (Boys of the Big Easy #1)(21)

Caroline and Gabe both looked at Logan with matching surprised expressions.

“You don’t think he needs to be encouraged to be more . . . outgoing?” Caroline asked.

“I think we need to let Coop be Coop,” Logan said.

Gabe again had the niggling thought about parenting alone versus with a team. Sure, there were things that would be easier on his own. But what if he was wrong? Did Addison ever wonder about that? When she was making all the decisions, did she ever doubt herself? But now, looking from his mother, whom he loved and respected immensely, to his brother, who was actually saying what Gabe was thinking, he didn’t know how helpful this really was. Who did he listen to?

This was why he was grateful for the support group. They were all in the same boat. He’d bring it up Thursday for sure.

And again, he thought about Addison. She didn’t have a support system like he did. She didn’t think she needed or wanted one. But how could she not? He really didn’t get that.

Caroline sat back in her chair. “I don’t know what to do with him,” she said.

Gabe focused on his mother and felt his chest tighten. “What do you mean you don’t know what to do with him?” he asked. Dammit, he didn’t like that. Caroline was supposed to know exactly what to do. Gabe was counting on her to know.

She shook her head. “I just mean that he’s nothing like either of you. You were rambunctious and probably heard ‘Slow down,’ ‘Quiet, boys,’ and ‘Be careful’ from me more than any other words when you were growing up.”

Logan nodded. “That and ‘If you end up dead, don’t blame me.’”

Caroline swatted his arm, but she was smiling. “Cooper’s just so different from you boys.”

“So he’s different,” Logan said. “It’s because he’s smarter than we were. He knows being bitten by an alligator would suck and breaking a bone would suck and getting stitches would suck before they happen. Because he’s thought about it all ahead of time. His brain works at a million miles an hour. Most kids don’t think about consequences. So they go and do stupid shit and learn the hard way not to skateboard down steep hills,” he said, pointing to a scar on his forehead that had come from hitting the side mirror of a pickup while skateboarding down a steep hill. “And not to jump out of trees without a soft spot to land,” he said, rubbing his shin where he’d broken a bone jumping out of a tree onto hard dirt.

“Or that goading your brother and underestimating his pitching arm can have bad consequences,” Gabe added, pointing at Logan’s nose. That Gabe himself had broken when Logan had called him a pussy and Gabe had thrown an orange at him.

“I’ll bet Cooper already knows that being hit in the face with an orange would fucking hurt,” Logan said, rubbing his nose.

Caroline rolled her eyes, but she was grinning. “So you’re chalking Cooper’s being careful up to his being smart, not because Gabe babies him?”

“I don’t baby him,” Gabe said, scowling at his family members.

Caroline laughed, and Logan said, “Oh, you totally baby him.”

“You just said we should let Coop be Coop,” Gabe pointed out.

“Yeah, we should,” Logan said. “But that’s not why you baby him. If you were just letting him do his thing because it was his thing, that’s fine. But you do it because you don’t want to deal with him being scared or upset or hurt or sick.”

“What?” Gabe demanded, setting the plates back down on the table.

Logan seemed totally unfazed. “You’re the fun guy. The cuddly guy. The guy who wants to play and make him laugh and who loves to listen to him go on and on about whatever he’s into now. You hate when there’s anything negative going on.”

“Well, yeah,” Gabe said, putting his hands on his hips. “It’s bad for me to want my kid to be happy and healthy?”

“Of course not,” Logan said with a frown. “But you’re phobic of anything but sunshine and rainbows. Mom deals with most of the hard stuff.”

Gabe stared at his brother. Then looked at his mom. She didn’t rush to deny it, but she did say, “Logan,” as if warning him to stop.

“Okay, so I need to take my kid on a swamp-boat tour to help him face his fears about alligators—which, by the way, is probably a really healthy fear—to prove that I can handle the negative stuff, too?” Gabe asked.

“Being scared of the real world is not a healthy fear,” Logan said.

“He’s not—” But Gabe broke off. He didn’t know that Cooper was exactly afraid of the real world, but he wasn’t that interested in it, either. Which was fine. That was just Cooper. Probably. Wasn’t it? “Whatever. I’ll talk to him about the fucking alligators.”

He grabbed the plates again and stomped into the kitchen.

And, unbidden: What would Addison do? flashed through his mind.

Fuck. That was the last thing he needed . . . to be thinking about the woman who wanted nothing to do with Cooper. And nothing to do with Gabe because of Cooper.

Shit. He had to quit thinking about her. He shouldn’t care what she would do. She’d broken things off. She’d made her feelings very clear. He didn’t have to like it, but it was her prerogative to not want to date a guy with a kid. And for all he knew, she was the world’s worst mother anyway. But that didn’t sit right the second he thought it. Because of the way she ate beignets.