Chapter 57

When he looks up, Marian stands in the doorway, drying her hands on a dish towel. She gives Evie a quick smile—the same grin Evie has, sunny and bright—and when she shifts her gaze to Gavin, her eyes widen slightly, as if she’s mentally saying, Here goes nothing.Then she turns to Brody, and her smile slips a little as she takes in the bleached hair and the blue bangs.

For a long moment, no one says anything. Brody isn’t even sure if he’s breathing or not. Relax,he tells himself. It isn’t like he’s meeting Gavin’s parents or anything. But he doesn’t realize how badly he wants Marian to like him until her gaze lingers too long over his hair, the piercings in his ears, and the dark clothing he wears.

Just when it’s about to get awkward, Evie breaks the ice. “This is the Brody I was telling you about, Mommy.” She wriggles in Gavin’s arms until he puts her down, then comes around her father to take Brody’s hand. “He draws reallygood. And you should see all his tattoos! All over! He did them all himself!”

“I drew them,” Brody explains. So much for hoping to stay covered up. “I don’t actually do the tattooing myself.”

Marian glances from him to Gavin and back again. “Tattoos?” she asks, perking up. “I have one.”

Evie’s mouth drops open. “No way! Let me see! Let me see!”

“Maybe later, honey.” Marian rubs the top of Evie’s head, mussing her hair. “Let’s look at Brody’s first, if he doesn’t mind?”

In reply he takes off the button-down shirt. The tattoos on his arms are colorful sleeves extending from his biceps to his wrists. Marian gasps. “Oh God, they’re beautiful!” She reaches out but stops just short of touching his wrist. “Can I?”

Brody looks at Gavin, who shrugs. “Sure.”

Marian’s fingertips are cool on his heated skin. “You drew all these?” When he nods, she adds, “I’ve been thinking of getting another one myself. Do you have anyone locally you could recommend?”

Gavin breaks into a big grin. Behind her back, he mouths the words, “She likes you.” 44

Dinner is as delicious as Gavin promised, and even Evie tries a little salad, though she mostly picks out the pears and leaves the cabbage behind. Marian asks Brody questions he’s sure she already knows the answers to—how he met Gavin, how his art show went, what he’s working on at the moment. Her gaze continually drifts to his arms, and at one point, she asks how extensive his tattoos are. With a nod from Gavin, Brody stands and pulls up his shirt to show her.

“Don’t forget the unicorn!” Evie cries. Brody turns so Marian can see the images on his back, and her daughter explains, “It’s a Chinese unicorn, so that’s why it looks like a dragon. Brody says I have to wait until I get older to get a real tattoo myself.”

Brody cringes, but Marian just snorts into her wine glass. “A hell of a lot older, missy.”

“But Mommy, you have one,” Evie whines.

“And I was three times your age when I got it,” Marian says.

Evie scrunches up her face as she tries to do the math. She’s only seven, though, and hasn’t learned her multiplication tables yet. The best she can come up with is…“So when I’m ten?” she asks, her face lighting up.

“Three times that,” Gavin says. He flashes both hands three times to show her, then spells it out. “When you’re thirty.”

Marian smirks. “Oh, Gav, I was only—“

“Thirty,” Gavin says again as Brody smooths his shirt down and sits to finish eating.

Evie pouts on her side of the table. “But you like Brody’s tattoos!”

“Yes, I do.” Gavin reaches out to take Brody’s hand. “But the only tattoos I like on you are temporary ones, get it? The kind that wash off.”

“But Mommyhas one!” Evie wails.

Marian steps in. “Keep this up, young lady, and you won’t get any ice cream later.”

Evie clamps her mouth shut, but the pout lingers throughout the rest of the meal.

When they’re finished eating, Marian gives Evie the promised bowl of ice cream and sends her off into the living room to eat. “God, you don’t know howmuch I’ve missed talking with other adults,” Marian sighs as she sips at her coffee.

“You see them at work every day,” Gavin points out. He and Brody have coffees, too, and the clatter of stirring spoons adds a quiet counterpoint to their conversation.

Marian rolls her eyes and tells Brody, “I work in customer service. The only adults I talk to act like damn little children. I did meet someone, though.”

There’s an excited undercurrent to her voice that makes Brody smile. Gavin picks up on it, too. “Someone like who?”

“His name is Jack, and he’s in finance.” If she hopes to sound nonchalant, she fails miserably. Her eyes brighten and she’s obviously smitten with this fellow. “He has a daughter, too, who’s a year younger than Evie. We met outside the daycare, actually. He’s divorced but has full custody, and he finds it hard to date because he doesn’t have a regular babysitter.”

“You can always drop Evie off with me, if you need to,” Gavin tells her.

Brody shrugs. “Or you can double date.” When Marian frowns, he explains, “You and Jack on an ‘adult’ date, and the girls on a ‘play’ date. Sounds like it’d be the perfect way to make sure you all are good together.”

“What an awesome idea!” Marian crows. “Now I know why Evie likes you so much. I do, too. Gav, you keep him, you hear?”

Gavin’s hand finds Brody’s again, but this time he raises it to his lips to kiss Brody’s thumb. He catches Brody’s eye and smiles. “I don’t plan on letting him go.”