“And you didn’t want to because of Mick.”
“Well, I asked Elizabeth to come. She begged off because of . . . well, because of everything that went down before. She didn’t want to ruin Mick’s party.”
Tara drummed her fingers on her arms. “Mick needs to learn to let go. What happened is in the past. Elizabeth fixed it and apologized. My God, he fired her. What more does he want from her? A kidney?”
Gavin laughed. “I think I might have asked him the same thing.”
“Go get her and bring her over here. If Mom wants her here, then she should be here.”
“I can try, but I’m not sure she’ll come.”
“At least try. You won’t get any objection from me, Gavin.”
“You’re a better person than most people I know, Tara.”
She kissed him on the cheek. “You just keep reminding your brother how wonderful I am, okay?”
He laughed. “I’ll do that.”
“I’ll go talk to Mick.”
“I’VE CHANGED MY MIND. I’M NOT GOING IN, GAVIN. THIS has disaster written all over it. Why don’t you just line me up in front of a firing squad instead?”
“Aren’t you being just a little overly dramatic?”
“No, I’m being realistic. They all hate me.”
Gavin rolled his eyes and got out of the car. They’d been sitting in the driveway for fifteen minutes. He was hungry. He came around to Elizabeth’s side and opened the door. “Get out now. If you don’t, I’ll throw you over my shoulder and carry you inside.”
She leveled him with a mutinous glare. “You wouldn’t.”
“Are you challenging me? Because you know I will.”
“Damn you, Gavin Riley.” She got out of the car and stood there. “I can’t believe I agreed to this.”
He took her hand and dragged her stiff body to the front door. “At least try to smile and pretend to be pleasant.”
The front door opened, and his mother greeted them. “I thought you two would never get here.” She folded Elizabeth in her arms. “Lizzie. It’s been way too long.”
Elizabeth’s stiff stance melted when Gavin’s mother hugged her. She put her arms around Gavin’s mother like a life preserver on a sinking ship. “I’ve missed you, Kathleen.”
Gavin never got over how cute the two redheads looked whenever they embraced. They could be mother and daughter, which is probably why his mom had always gravitated toward Liz. Of course Liz was so sweet whenever she was around his mother, something Gavin never could fathom. Her entire personality changed when she was with his family. She loved his father equally as well.
Of course now that he knew her history, he realized maybe she just liked having a warm family to come home to since she’d lacked one of her own.
His mother held on to Elizabeth’s hand as they walked toward the house. “Shame on you for staying away so long. We missed you at the holidays.”
“I didn’t think I’d be welcome. I screwed up so badly with Mick.”
“Bah. You made a mistake. Who among us hasn’t? You made up for it. All is forgiven.”
“I’m so sorry, Kathleen. My career gets the best of me sometimes . . .”
Gavin didn’t hear what else Elizabeth said because when they walked into the house the noise level in there was deafening. People were spread out everywhere. And his mother had run off somewhere with Liz, so Gavin went to find Mick or his dad.
They were both in the kitchen, his father with a beer in his hand and Mick with a bottled water. Nathan was there, too, and they were laughing and talking sports, of course.
“Happy birthday, old man,” Gavin said to Mick.
Mick greeted him with a guarded smile. “Hey, thanks.”
They shook hands. Gavin was still irritated after their last meeting.
Their father noticed the lack of familial hugging.
“Hey, Nathan, great to see you again.”
“Hi, Gavin.” Nathan offered up a wide grin.
He seemed to have grown a foot since Gavin had seen him last, and had filled out some muscle, too.
“You look great. Doing some workouts?”
“Yeah. Football keeps me busy. And working with Dad . . . Mick . . . Dad has really helped a lot.”
Gavin shifted his gaze to Mick, whose eyes filled with pride when Nathan called him Dad.
Son of a bitch. His big brother was a father to a teenager now. Things sure had changed a lot. “I’m sure it has. I’ll bet you’re happy your mom and Mick are getting married.”
“I am. I couldn’t ask for a better father. He’s what I always wanted in a dad.”
“And you’re the son I always dreamed about having.”
Gavin’s dad cleared his throat, looking a little teary-eyed, too. “Okay, fellas, before we all break down and start sobbing and end up in a group hug, let’s get back to talking about baseball.”
“I’ll leave you all to talk about me while I’m not here,” Gavin said. “I need to go find Elizabeth. Mom ran off with her.”
“So you actually brought her here.”
Gavin stopped. “Yeah, I did.”
“I can’t believe you, man. You’re still seeing her?”
Gavin’s gaze skirted to Nathan, who cast a frown in their direction. “Let’s not do this now.”
“Why? This affects Nathan, too.”
“Mick. You need to be polite to your brother,” their father said.
“Oh, I need to be courteous to Gavin. What about how he treats me? Where’s the respect?”
Right. Because it had always been about Mick. What was best for Mick. Be careful what you say to Mick. Don’t upset Mick. Mick has a problem, so we need to be extra nice to Mick. Look up to Mick. Be like Mick. Stand in Mick’s shadow.
Shit.
His whole life had been about Mick.
But not anymore.
He turned and walked out of the kitchen.
“Hey, we’re not done.”
“Michael!”
Gavin’s father must have gotten Mick’s attention, because Mick didn’t follow his brother down the hall.
Fine with Gavin, because in his current mood there was no telling what would happen between the two of them. And birthday or not, he’d had just enough of his brother telling him how to live his life. He hadn’t asked for advice on who to choose to date, and he sure as hell wasn’t taking unsolicited advice from Mick.
Now he just had to go find Elizabeth before any more trouble stirred up.
Like her running into Tara.
ELIZABETH LOVED KATHLEEN. SHE WAS THE CLOSEST thing to a mother she had, and Kathleen had always made her feel welcome in the Riley home.
That of course changed when Elizabeth screwed up and Mick fired her.
Losing Kathleen and Jimmy Riley had been harder on her than losing Mick as a client.
She’d missed spending the holidays with the Rileys. Over the past few years it had become habit for her to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas at the Riley home.
Last year had been brutal. She’d spent the holidays alone.
She’d never felt more alone, had never realized how much she’d come to think of Mick and Gavin’s family as her family until she didn’t have them anymore.
Stupid. And what had she gone and done? Started sleeping with Gavin, which would only end up permanently severing her relationship with the Riley family when things ended with Gavin.
Kathleen had pulled her upstairs, away from the crowds, and took her into the master bedroom, sat her in one of the two old chairs nestled into the corner of the crowded room.
“Now that it’s just the two of us, why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”
“You mean what went on with Mick?”
Kathleen waved her hand. “No. I think what happened there is clear. You made a critical business error, and you paid a very dear price for it. You lost Michael’s business. I trust you’re smart enough to have learned something from that.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Kathleen had the ability to say very little and mean a lot when she said it. Elizabeth felt about two inches tall at the moment. “I’m very sorry I hurt Mick, Tara, and Nathan.”
Kathleen took her hand. “I know you are. But you had to suffer the consequences for what you did, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I did. Mick wasn’t only my client. He was my friend. And I lost his friendship, too.”
“Well, I hope not forever. My son is a stubborn mule, but he’ll come around soon.”
“I hope so. I need to make amends with him. And with Tara.”
Kathleen nodded. “That you do. But I mean what’s going on with you and Gavin?”
She swallowed. “Oh. That.”
Kathleen leveled very wise eyes on her. “Yes. That. I never realized you and Gavin had a thing for each other.”
Oh, Lord. “Well, it just sort of happened. We’re casually dating, really. It’s nothing serious, Kathleen.”
“Really.”
“Yes.”
“So you don’t care about him.”
She laid her head in her hands, then turned it to the side. “You’d make a great prosecutor, you know that? You really know how to put a girl on the spot.”
Kathleen laughed and patted her hand. “Come on. You know I’m joking with you. It just took me by surprise is all. You’re like a daughter to me. I was shocked to find out you and Gavin were together.”
“It kind of hit me by surprise, too.”
“Not me. I saw it the first night I met you. I knew you were in love with Gavin.”
Elizabeth whirled around and saw Tara leaning in the doorway, Gavin’s sister, Jenna, next to her.
“What?”
“Come in, you two. Did you know that Elizabeth and Gavin were dating?”
Tara took a seat on the edge of the bed. “I didn’t until Gavin told me. But like I said, it doesn’t surprise me. I saw the sparks that night in the bar when I first came to town and met all of you.”
“Sparks? What sparks?”
Tara turned her gaze on Elizabeth. Elizabeth expected animosity, hatred even. But what she saw was just . . . interest. “I saw the way you looked at him. I could see right away that you were in love with him.”
She remembered Tara mentioning it before, but she’d brushed her off, thought she’d minimized it. She thought she’d hid it so well. “In love—oh. No, really. I’m not.”
Jenna snorted. “You’re in love with Gavin?” She twirled some of the many earrings in her ear and flopped belly-first on the bed. “Now this is getting interesting.”
“I’m not in love with Gavin.”
Tara laughed. “Yes, you are. And I’ll bet you have been for some time.”
“Is this true, Elizabeth?” Kathleen asked. “Are you in love with Gavin?”
She looked from Kathleen to Jenna to Tara, and for the first time in her life she had no idea what to do. The room closed in on her, and she found it hard to breathe. This was why she didn’t have female friends. With guys she could bullshit her way out of anything.
Women were tougher. They bore down on her with their steely gazes, and there was no way out. Dizziness made her breathing quicken, and she sucked in air faster and faster, which only made it hotter in there.
“I don’t feel very good,” she said, raising a shaky hand to her sweaty brow.
“Oh, shit, Mom, she looks kind of white,” Jenna said. “I don’t know, but it looks like she’s going to pass out.”
“Someone get her head down. I’ll get a cold cloth.” Tara’s voice sounded like it was far away, as if she was talking from a tunnel. The room had started to turn, and Elizabeth’s fingers felt numb. She tried to suck in air faster because she couldn’t breathe.
“Jenna, close the door. Elizabeth, bend over and put your head between your knees.”
“I can’t breathe.” She wrapped her arms around her stomach, feeling sick.
“Elizabeth. Pay attention.”
She tried to lift her head, but all she could think about was breathing. All she could think about was gasping for air. And she might just fall out of the chair.
Cool hands pressed onto the back of her neck and shoved her forward. She felt something icy cold and wet on her neck.
“Breathe slow and easy honey. Not so fast. That’s what’s making you dizzy.”
Kathleen’s calm voice penetrated. Elizabeth did as requested, and it helped. The pins and needles feeling in her hands and feet started to subside, and eventually the numbness in her face started to go away.
“That’s it. Focus on each breath. Not so fast. Keep it slow.”
She did, keeping her eyes shut so the room would stop spinning.
“Now lift your head. Think you can do that without feeling dizzy?”
“I have no idea.”
“Try. Just try. If you still feel dizzy, we’ll lay you down on the bed.”
She opened her eyes and looked down at her feet, then slowly lifted her head. Still a little dizzy, but not the roller-coaster ride she was on a few minutes ago.
Tara swiped her hair away from Elizabeth’s face. “Better now?”
Elizabeth nodded. “Yes.”
“Here,” Kathleen said, holding a glass of water in front of her. “Take a couple of sips.”
She took the glass, but Kathleen held it for her while she sipped the water. She tilted her head back and tried for a smile. “Thank you.”
Elizabeth directed her gaze to Tara, then to Jenna, who kneeled in front of her. “Thank you both, too. I’m so embarrassed.”