Before his ex-girlfriend’s move to Rhode Island two years ago, he’d spent time with Erin every chance he got. Unfortunately, now he only got to see his nine-year-old daughter every other weekend during the school year, assuming he wasn’t traveling for business. In the summer he got to spend a little more time with her, but even then it was limited due to work obligations and the fact they lived four hours apart—a fact he hated but couldn’t do much about, since Culloden’s headquarters were located in New York City and Amber’s promotion had taken her to Providence. Given the current situation, Gavin refused to let anything, including work, stop him from enjoying time with his daughter whenever he got the opportunity. Especially during their most recent visit, because he wouldn’t see Erin again until close to the end of July. This morning she’d flown down to Florida with Amber and Amber’s boyfriend to visit her family as well as the theme parks for a few weeks.
Until tonight, the only plus side he’d seen about the situation was that when Erin returned north, she’d be spending almost two full weeks with him in New York. His conversation with Leah tonight had him wondering if there might be a second silver lining to Erin being on vacation with her mom for most of the month.
He’d sensed Leah viewed him as more than a casual buddy she could rely on for a round of golf and dinner. Her insistence tonight that he join her rather than work over the holiday weekend reinforced his gut belief. And usually his gut didn’t let him down.
Since he wouldn’t be traveling back and forth to Providence this month, he could dedicate his attention to Leah and hopefully move their relationship in the direction he wanted. With a little luck, it’d be in a good place before Erin came and stayed with him, because as of now Leah didn’t know he had a daughter.
Gavin changed the alarm on his phone and then tossed his shoes in the closet. Not for the first time over the past few months, his conscience chastised him for not telling Leah about Erin. She’d talked about her family countless times during their conversations, but he’d kept Erin’s existence to himself for two reasons. One, his relationship with his daughter was the most important thing in his life, and he didn’t share the information with many people, especially women. He’d experienced firsthand a woman using the existence of a child to achieve her goals. He was eight when Dad met Joy. In the beginning she had acted as though she’d be the perfect stepmother, especially to Vivian. However, once Joy had the ring on her finger, she cut him, Vivian, and Harry out of her life and tried to write them out of their father’s life too. At the time, Vivian had taken it the hardest because she’d grown to care a great deal about the woman. And Vivian’s relat
ionship with their dad had never been the same again, even though he’d divorced Joy after a year. Under no circumstances did Gavin ever want to put Erin in a similar situation. And two, from the start he’d gone out of his way to not discuss his family at all because of Leah’s previous involvement with his half brother. Although he knew she would never take Harry back, and the guy had certainly tried, he didn’t want to remind her they were related and in turn think he treated women the same way Harry did. Another bonus to not talking about his family was that Gavin could avoid mentioning his dad, a man whose cheating reputation was well known and not someone he wanted her to think he emulated.
Yeah, he’d gone out with plenty of women in college, but unlike his half brother, he’d never screwed around behind a girlfriend’s back. He left that kind of behavior to Harry and their dad before his most recent marriage. At least, he believed Dad was faithful to Kerry, his fourth wife. When it came to Donald Kincaid and women, one could never be 100 percent certain. And honestly, he didn’t want to know what his dad did or didn’t do unless it involved the company.
So while Harry went out with half the female population in New York between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-five, Gavin’s romantic life slowly deteriorated as his role in the family company grew. His relationship with Amber Wright had been the last committed one he had. It had ended more than eight years ago, not long after their daughter was born.
The more he got to know Leah, the more he wanted to see if he could change the relationship abyss his life had fallen into. And after biding his time for three months, he intended to plunge forward this weekend. Fingers crossed it wasn’t too soon.
He switched off the lights and climbed into bed, once again grateful for the silence—something he’d missed during the months Harry lived with him. The guy thought nothing of blasting the television at one o’clock in the morning or having a guest arrive regardless of the time. They’d had more than one heated argument about both during his stay.
Rather than close his eyes, he stared into the darkness as the memory of Leah’s face at dinner surfaced. No question about it, she’d been annoyed when the waitress delivered their appetizer and when she brought over their entrées. As far as he could tell, her annoyance hadn’t popped up at any other time, suggesting there was a correlation between it and the waitress. Had the clear invitations she’d been sending his way been the cause of Leah’s annoyance? Perhaps jealousy on Leah’s part?
Hell, he’d experienced the green-eyed monster more than once when they’d been together and a guy hit on her. At least in Leah’s case, she had nothing to be jealous about. She had his undivided attention.
Gavin pushed the memory aside and started on a mental list of everything he needed to accomplish between tomorrow and Saturday morning. He was almost done when the sound of an old-fashioned phone ringing interrupted him. Only a handful of people called him this late, including his twin sister, Vivian.
A quick look at the cell phone’s screen confirmed the call was from her.
“First tell me you’re somewhere besides the office,” Vivian said after he answered the phone.
“Don’t worry, Viv, I’m home.” On occasion his twin sister was worse than their mom when it came to nagging him about how much time he spent at the office.
“Doing something besides work, I hope.”
Reaching over, he switched on the bedside lamp and moved into a sitting position. “Trying to get some sleep, Mother.” Whenever she started on him, he called her mother in an attempt to annoy her. It never failed.
“Yeah, I guess it is a little late out there,” she admitted, suggesting she’d again failed to take into account the three-hour time difference between New York and California before she called him. “Sorry if I woke you.”
“You didn’t. So what’s up?”
“Tomorrow I’m headed to Nantucket for the holiday weekend. Come and stay with me. We haven’t spent time together in months.”
Unlike him and Harry, Vivian had rejected a position at Culloden after college, opting to make her own way in the world. For the past few years, she’d been living and working in California. Despite their regular phone conversations, they hadn’t spent any time together since St. Patrick’s Day. He’d been in San Francisco in March for business and he’d stayed with her instead of at a hotel. If he didn’t already have plans, he’d take her up on the offer and say to hell with work.
“Sorry, I can’t. I’ve got plans for the Fourth.”
“With who?” she asked, sounding suspicious. “Isn’t Erin in Florida with her mom?”
Vivian made it sound like he didn’t spend time with anyone except his daughter. While he didn’t go out much, he was hardly a recluse.
“Is Harry throwing a party?” she inquired. Considering how often Harry liked to throw parties, it was a logical question.
“Yes, Erin is in Florida with Amber, and as far as I know Harry isn’t throwing a party. But if he is, he didn’t invite me.” Even if he had, Gavin wouldn’t attend. Harry’s idea of a fun party and his were worlds apart.
“Spending the day in your office doesn’t constitute plans, baby brother.” All of ten minutes separated them, but Vivian still loved to tease him that technically he was younger than her. “Meet me on Nantucket. It’ll be fun. Willow and her husband will be there. Brandy is coming too. And Parker and his fiancée are going to try to make it.”
Willow and her younger sister Brandy had been friends with Vivian since college. He’d spent more than one weekend with them at his sister’s house on Nantucket. Before Willow met and married Levi Jennings, Vivian had hoped something would develop between them. Although he liked Willow, he’d never been attracted to her. Since Willow’s wedding last fall, Vivian had set her hopes on him and Brandy hitting it off. He didn’t understand why Vivian was so dead-set on setting him up with her friends, but much like with Willow, he liked Brandy, but she wasn’t his type.
“My day doesn’t include work or the office,” Gavin assured her. “Leah invited me to a party at her parents’ house, so I’m heading to Newport. But thanks for the invite.”