Rachel, Out of Office

by Christina Hovland

  Not to be left out, Sadie brought her nephew on Sunday mornings so his parents could have a bit of a break and sleep in, which every mom in the group knew meant Sunday was their morning for a booty call.

  Some people went to church, some people…

  “Hey ladies.” Kaiya hurried toward their meeting on the blanket. “I brought samples.” Kaiya gave each of them a small gift bag with samples.

  “I freaking love your samples.” Molly dove right in to her bag.

  Well, if it was sample Sunday, Rachel hoped she’d hit the jackpot with the lavender-scented facial cleanser. She loved that stuff, and the squat purple bottles were so stinkin’ cute.

  April gestured to their circle. “Rachel brought margaritas.”

  “Oh, I’m so in.” Kaiya looked to where her daughter dangled from the monkey bars, then settled on the blanket next to April. “We need to get together for momtinis soon. Cory’s heading to her dad’s for a few weeks this summer. I’m going to need serious distraction from the quiet that’s about to hit when she leaves.”

  Like Molly’s ex, Kaiya’s was not in the picture. Unlike Molly, Rachel had never even seen Kaiya show interest in anyone as a relationship possibility. She seemed more interested in all-natural skincare products.

  “It’ll have to be after Rachel gets back from her big summer trip,” Sadie said.

  “Shhh,” Rachel said, savoring the unwrapping of her sample. She rarely got gifts that came with wrapping and bows, so she took her time with it. Then she hit pay dirt.

  “Lavender.” Rachel held up the bottle like she was on a game show with Pat Sajak.

  “Woot.” April gave Rachel a high five.

  “Is that Gavin?” Molly asked, shielding her eyes from the sun.

  Rachel turned and the excitement from lavender samples disintegrated as a weight seemed to be placed squarely on her shoulders. Yes, that was Gavin. Gavin with their two boys, the two dogs, and a couple duffel bags of stuff.

  He was heading straight toward her.

  Her limbs seemed to get heavier with each step he took in her direction. Still, Rachel stood. But she didn’t move forward.

  “Do you want to take him some moisturizer samples?” Kaiya asked.

  Rachel shook her head. “Don’t waste them on him. He doesn’t know how to moisturize.”

  “That freaking guy,” Molly said, under her breath. “I don’t like him.”

  “I’m reserving judgment.” Sadie had secured her lawyer mask of neutrality in place. She nodded, doing that attorney thing where she focused her entire attention on a situation. She’d make an excellent mom someday, if she decided to have kids. Her children would be just the right amount of terrified when she used that expression on them.

  Rachel started toward her kids. They paused only briefly, each letting out an individual, “Hi, Mom,” before letting out a whoop and bolting toward Ollie and the other kids playing on the playground.

  A drippy, oozy feeling settled inside Rachel at the expression on Gavin’s face. The boys weren’t due back until the afternoon, but that wasn’t the part that made her feel icky. He looked like he had something to tell her, and that something was not going to be enjoyable.

  “Gavin?” Rachel asked as he wrangled with the two leashes holding the pups.

  “I know. I’m early.” The guy looked beat. Like he’d not had Travis bring him evening margaritas.

  He held out the leashes for the dogs and Rachel took them.

  “I…” He shoved his hands through his hair. He had dark hair like Travis, but Gavin’s was a bit longer around the ears. The kind of haircut that took extra maintenance to make it seem like it didn’t.

  “Are you okay?” she asked, because he didn’t really look okay.

  “Last night was…” He studied the grass.

  “Two-kids-and-two-puppies hard?” she responded.

  He glanced up then. “I fucked up with the whole puppy thing.”

  No kidding.

  “It is what it is, Gav.” She held the leashes so the dogs couldn’t run off, and they settled at her feet.

  A long pause descended over them. He had something he wanted to say, she could feel it. For some reason, he wasn’t spilling it. And, since she had no idea what he wanted to share, she didn’t speak either.

  “How are we going to tell them?” he asked finally.

  She shifted the leashes so they rested more comfortably in her hands. “Tell who what?”

  “Tell the boys that the dogs have to go back to the breeder,” he said.

  Um, that was not happening. No takesie backsies when you give puppies to a couple of eight-year-old boys.

  “Gavin, that’s not how this works. You gave the boys a gift. It was a ridiculous gift. Now we have to make it work.”

  Gavin stared at the grass surrounding his feet as though he were holding the conversation with the individual blades instead of Rachel. “Dakota asked that the dogs not come back to the house.”

  Say, what? Rachel didn’t say anything because she couldn’t get her mouth to move, such was the shock running through her bloodstream.

  Her mind made several suggestions as to what she could say to him…

  She should’ve made that call before you both purchased the dogs.

  Yes, I totally agree, what’s the number for the breeder?

  That’s not her call to make.

  The boys love them and we’re not messing that up.

  “I’m sorry, I think I misunderstood you.” She settled on those words, since they seemed the least confrontational and, presently, she wasn’t trying to be a jerk.

  The pups were done holding still, and they started to pull on the leashes toward the mommy picnic ten feet away.

  Rachel held tight.

  To be honest, holding on tight when things were falling apart was what she did best.

  “They peed on the rug.” Gavin looked torn between good intentions and the bad outcomes of making not-so-good choices. “Ten times. They peed more inside than they did outside.”

  “Did you contain them to a small area?” Rachel asked. They had been doing better at her house once she sequestered them in the dining room.

  “Dakota said they can’t come back.”

  Dakota did not get to take this away from her kids. They had something they loved, and Rachel would fight for their right to hang on to it. Even if the thing they loved was actually two things that enjoyed peeing on the carpet.

  “I didn’t know Dakota paid your mortgage.” Rachel happened to know that she didn’t. Even since their engagement, Dakota kept her separate apartment on Speer Boulevard downtown.

  “Rach.”

  “Gavin.”

  Yep, that was a touch of snark coming out in Rachel’s tone, which wasn’t the usual, since she normally liked Dakota. Sometimes she had to say it over and over again to convince herself, but there were all kinds of people and all types of friends. She and Dakota weren’t the kind of friends who would hang out at the neighborhood park on Sundays drinking margaritas together, but they’d say hello and swap stories if they saw each other at the grocery store.

  Unless it was the produce department. Rachel probably didn’t want to watch how Dakota picked out vegetables, so she’d definitely have to hightail it to the dairy aisle.

  Dakota didn’t eat dairy.

  “Rach, I’m in need of a little help here.” Gavin adjusted his stance, and she waited not-so-patiently to see which direction he’d be taking this.

  Her guess was that he’d either go with a giant heaping of the Gavin magnetism, also known occasionally as the Frank charm because all the brothers employed this technique, or he’d go with the sad, puppy dog eyes. Which, she would be remiss not to note, would be total bullshit, given he was trying to convince her they needed to re-home the puppies that he’d saddled their fam
ily with.

  “Okay, look, here’s how it’s going to go, because I’m not bending on this,” Rachel announced because Gavin was seriously eating into her Sunday morning girl time. “I didn’t want the dogs to begin with, but they’re here. The kids love them, they’ve already had enough instability in their lives, and so we’re not taking them away. I’m not taking them away. And I still stand by my previous assertion that where the boys go, the dogs go. If Dakota has a problem with that, she’s going to have to sort that out with you.”

  “Hey, guys.” Molly bounced up beside Rachel. Deftly, she snatched the leashes and, somehow, simultaneously slipped Rachel’s travel mug into her hand. “I’ll grab these two so you guys can chat without getting peed on.” Molly continued under her breath, “Like Gavin’s carpet.”

  Normally, Rachel would’ve told her to be nice. But today wasn’t a normal day.

  “Thanks,” Rachel said, disentangling her feet from where the dogs had gone this way and that, thus creating a medley of leash tangle around her legs.

  Molly hauled the mini-mutts away.

  Gavin said nothing.

  Rachel toyed with the lid of her margarita mug, flipping open the top, then snapping it closed. Open. Closed. Open. Closed. Click. Click. Click.

  Gavin still said nothing. He stood there looking perplexed and staring at the dogs.

  “Okay, good chat,” Rachel finally said, because whatever was going on between Gavin and Dakota was seriously interfering with her morning. “See you later this week?”

  “What?” he asked, pulled from whatever trance he’d fallen into while watching their boys round up the entire playground for some kind of game on the grass.

  “At the baseball field,” Rachel said. “I’ll see you later this week. You said you’re coming.”

  It seemed pertinent to remind him of this promise he’d made.

  “Right. Yes.” He nodded. Looked at the boys, then at Rachel, finally turned and walked back toward his car.

  Rachel didn’t know a lot of things. But given that her reality never went as planned and she’d very much like to have a break from chaos, she felt confident in asserting that something was up with Gavin. Something that, if she had to place a bet, would wreck her plans.

  The question now was, which ones were coming up on the chopping block?

  Chapter Nine

  “The wisest mom I knew, my grandmother, always said if it was up to the men to have the babies the world would end.”— Stephanie, Alberta, Canada

  Rachel

  Rachel marched back to her friends. Not that she was very far from them, but sometimes a girl just felt better after a good march. Control and the confident stride gave a subtle reassurance.

  As Rachel approached the blanket, April, Sadie, and Molly all stared at her with large, round eyes.

  Rachel plopped onto the fabric and crossed her legs, crisscross-applesauce.

  “Rachel.” Sadie laid her hand on Rachel’s shoulder.

  Rachel picked at the pilling of the blanket, not able to meet Sadie’s gaze. Even a whole bottle of lavender cleanser wouldn’t make her feel better.

  Sadie sucked in a breath as the only crack in her typical lawyer-inspired neutrality. “Not that I heard anything, because I’m really good at not hearing anything. Most days. That point is definitely arguable, but I stand by it. But if I had heard something, I’d say maybe you and I should talk about the parenting agreements you have in place with Gavin. Because I’m wondering if he might be violating a few of them?”

  Ugh.

  Technically, he was. Not with the dog thing, but with the constant working thing and how often he wasn’t able to fulfill the timelines he’d agreed to.

  He worked a lot, though, and he did provide for the boys, so Rachel shook her head. No, she wasn’t going there.

  A shuddering breath escaped from her lungs. Get yourself together, Rachel.

  Gavin didn’t intend to violate the orders and, honestly, most of the time it was easier this way. Rachel was more in control when Gavin wasn’t around so much. That control allowed her to prevent everything in their lives from going totally sideways. They all just tilted a little with the chaos.

  “I don’t want to do that; everything’s fine.” Rachel replied, because it was always fine. She just, sometimes, wished that things could be easy for a minute. Even a few seconds.

  The baby Sadie was watching that morning got a little too close to the edge of the blanket, so Sadie reached for him and pulled him back into the center. He immediately went to work at edging toward the grass again.

  Sadie patted him on the back as he started past her, then pulled him to the middle of the blanket. “If everything stops being fine, you know where to find me.”

  April’s one-year-old was unloading a package of Goldfish crackers onto the blanket. “You did a great job of taking a deep breath over there.”

  Rachel sighed. She had a sinking feeling down to her toes that the dogs were not going to be going to Gavin’s anymore because Dakota decreed it.

  “You know your boys are going to rule the world someday, right?” Molly asked Rachel, pulling her glasses down to the tip of her nose as she glanced in the direction of the sounds of children.

  Rachel had no doubt that this world domination was what they plotted late at night in their room. She’d overheard enough of their breakfast conversations to know her boys had the potential to either lead the free world or find themselves in deep, deep trouble with their shenanigans.

  “They’ll figure out how to be co-presidents or something. My munchkin will be their vice-president,” Molly announced brightly.

  Rachel allowed her gaze to trail to the field next to the playground where the twins had begun to coordinate a soccer game with several of the other kids from the playground area. They’d incorporated the dogs but kept them on their leashes. At least they were being responsible dog owners. Unlike their dad.

  This version of the game didn’t seem to follow any of the traditional rules, but the other kids all looked to be fine with the scenario, if she were to judge by the enthusiasm with which they shouted new regulations to one another and Kellan and Brady approved or vetoed those ideas.

  Her boys were tough; she gave them that. They always bounced back whenever disappointment hit. Heck, they didn’t even seem to register it most times. They just roared into the world with rose-colored glasses.

  Dad can’t make the game? No worries, they got to see their uncles.

  Mom burned dinner? It’s fine, they preferred cold cereal, anyway.

  Her parents didn’t have a substantial relationship with them? Eh, who needed two sets of grandparents?

  She blew out a breath and gnawed at her lip, hoping they’d hang on to this kind of resilience. Hoping she could be enough for them.

  The children ran back and forth between two small orange cones—she had no idea where they’d found the cones and did a quick scan of the street to ensure there weren’t any missing from a construction project.

  There weren’t.

  “Where’d they get the cones?” Rachel asked.

  “There’s a stack by the bathrooms.” Sadie gave a pointed look to the aforementioned stack. “They asked first.”

  “I said it was okay,” April added.

  The children began kicking and spiking, yes, spiking the balls.

  Yes, balls. This version of the game came with four balls. A soccer ball, of course. A volleyball because, why not, and two tennis balls.

  God help her if her children did decide to become politicians.

  “I’ll be their campaign manager when they run for co-presidents.” Sadie said, offhandedly. “That way they don’t wind up in prison.”

  “Can we go back to talking about the margaritas?” April scooped up a handful of Goldfish crackers and placed most of them back in the single-serve p
ackage so her daughter could dump them again. “The Travis margaritas.”

  She kept a few and tossed them into her mouth.

  Rachel shrugged. “He read my welcome sign. It’s not a big deal.”

  Though it was the nicest thing anyone had done for her in a while.

  “Except he makes you blush,” Molly replied. “All the brothers are handsome—even Gavin, though I hate him and wish tonsil scabs on his throat.”

  “Why do you hate him so much?” April asked. “I mean, aside from the whole buying the dogs and then refusing to let them come to his house, he doesn’t seem that bad on the big scale of jerkwad.”

  “Honestly?” Molly looked at the women. “He doesn’t treat Rachel with the respect she deserves. She does the work. He reaps the rewards. She keeps doing the work and he’s still over there reaping. That pisses me right off.”

  “And Travis and Dave don’t piss you off?” Sadie picked up the baby and did the sniff test on his bottom like a pro. Yeah, she fit right in with their group.

  “Travis and Dave step up for Rachel and the twins whenever she asks. Even when she doesn’t ask.” Molly stared pointedly at Rachel. “She should ask more often. Especially when it comes to all things Travis.”

  Baby still in her arms, Sadie turned to Rachel. “I don’t think she’s going to let up about him.”

  No, Rachel didn’t expect she would.

  “Maybe you’re right,” Rachel said, falling back onto the blanket to study the sky, thinking of the game she and her mother used to play when they’d search for shapes in the clouds.

  “Of course I’m right,” Molly said, perky as ever.

  Sadie snickered before blowing a raspberry against baby Luke’s tummy.

  “Maybe I need to meet someone. Have someone to look forward to seeing.” There. That cloud right there looked like a lopsided version of Chris Pine with an extremely long…right…yeah…she was a mother and should not be evaluating the cloud version of Chris Pine’s… ahem…

  “I recommend it,” Sadie said, giving the baby’s neck kisses that made him laugh like an unhinged hyena. “Roman’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”