JJ pretended to be skimming her text messages, but there was nothing new aside from some great buys on bedroom furniture at Wayfair.
“And I told you I’d call you later.” He sighed. “I doubt it, Molly. I’ve been workin’ all day and I just want to go home and sleep.”
JJ couldn’t make out what was being said, but she could hear Molly’s voice. Not for the first time, she wondered what the woman looked like. What type was Baz drawn to normally?
“No, I’m out right now.” His head lifted, eyes meeting hers. “Yes. I’m with … a friend.”
She met his stare, held it, hating herself for wondering what he was thinking. Did it make her a bad person to be grateful he didn’t seem to be infatuated with this woman? Hell, he didn’t seem to like her much at all.
The petty side of her wanted to grab the phone from Baz’s hand and tell Molly to leave him alone. That side didn’t care that the woman was pregnant with Baz’s baby, she just wanted to banish her from Baz’s life.
But the rational side said this was how things were going to be. The most she would ever have with Baz was friendship, and she had to be happy with that. Sometimes JJ wished she could be a bigger person, that she could consider having a relationship with a man with a child. Perhaps she could if the man already had children when they met. But Baz … no, she knew her heart would never be capable of sharing him with Molly and her baby.
“I’ll call you later,” he said firmly, then disconnected.
“If you need to go see her, I can call an Uber.”
Baz’s teal-blue eyes darkened. “I’ve told you, it’s not like that with her.”
Yes, he’d explained a couple of times that the only reason he was talking to Molly at all was for the baby.
And yes, it did probably make her a bad person that every time she thought of Baz having a baby with another woman, her insides churned. It was a nervous anxiety, one she wasn’t fond of.
“Any updates on the baby?” she asked, hoping to lighten his mood even though the question left a bad taste in her mouth.
“Seven weeks along,” he said, his tone bland.
“When does she get to find out the sex?”
“I have no idea. She’s not very forthcomin’ with the details.”
No, she didn’t seem to be. From what she’d heard, Molly wouldn’t provide a positive pregnancy test, and she had declined his requests to go to the doctor with her. Which honestly JJ found a bit odd considering how obsessed Molly was with Baz. You would think she’d want him to be a part of it. If for no other reason than it might bring them closer.
Before she could ask another question, Baz spoke up. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d prefer we don’t talk about her.”
Yeah. JJ preferred that, too.
More than she was ever willing to admit.
Chapter Seventeen
Gage had just convinced Kate to take a bath when Travis came home with Maddox.
No sooner was he in the door than Gage realized something was wrong. Or rather, something was really wrong since everything between them was wrong these days.
“When they go to bed, we’re gonna talk,” Travis said under his breath, his tone leaving no room for argument.
He didn’t even get a chance to reply when Travis pivoted and stormed out of the room.
Gage sighed. Looked like just another Saturday night.
Two hours later, after they’d sat with the kids until they’d all but fallen asleep, Gage was about to come out of his skin. For weeks now, he’d been the one to instigate any and all conversation with Travis, and now that Travis had shown even a modicum of effort, he wanted to know what was on the man’s mind.
After putting Avery to bed and checking on Kade, Gage went back downstairs. He’d expected to find Travis in the living room, where he’d left him, but he wasn’t there. He started toward the guest room where Travis had moved his things shortly after Kylie died, but he came up short when he heard his voice coming from Travis’s office.
Gage stepped into the room to find Travis pacing the floor, his phone to his ear.
“I understand, but when you know for sure, I expect to be your first call. Not my father, not Gage. Me. Do you understand what I’m sayin’?”
That was all it took for Gage to realize who Travis was talking to. Rather than wait so they could have a knock-down-drag-out, Gage turned and walked right back out of the room. He went for the stairs, took them two at a time, and headed for his bedroom. He shut the door behind him, knowing Travis wouldn’t come in.
Taking a deep breath, he paced the room a couple of times to calm down, then decided a shower was in order. After all, this was his routine. Every morning, he woke up, then with Travis’s help, he got the kids up and moving. If it was the weekend, he tried to come up with something to entertain them with, and during the week, he would get them ready for daycare. After what had become a daily battle regarding who didn’t want to go, he would finally get them dropped off, then he would go to the resort to put in his eight hours. Most of those were spent working with one of Travis’s brothers because he sensed Travis didn’t want to be in the same room as him.
Which had made this past week, when they’d been stuck in the house, a complete hell. For both of them.
And then, when the day was over, Gage would reverse course, pick up the kids, bring them home. Dinner was generally whatever he could scrounge together in a few minutes with five kids underfoot. With each passing day, as their new normal set in, they were finding a routine that worked for them. Generally Travis would come home in time to help with baths, then they would get the kids to bed before going their separate ways.
And every night, without fail, Gage would go to Travis because he couldn’t stand to go a single day without that connection. He knew it was painful for them both, being without Kylie, but he wasn’t willing to let go of what they’d worked so hard for. Gage wasn’t ready to lose everything, although at times, he felt like he already had.
After stripping off his clothes, Gage got in the shower. As was the case every time he took a minute to breathe, the tears would come. Fortunately, he reserved that emotional unloading for when he was alone, so as not to let the kids see the pain that still consumed him. It was hard enough to get through the minutes of the day. It would be even harder if the kids had to shoulder the weight of everyone else’s emotions.
Once he’d let the hot water beat out some of the tension in his shoulders, Gage focused on his frustration rather than his grief, avoiding the tears as he hurried through the shower, got out. He pulled on sweatpants and a T-shirt—always clothed in case the kids needed him—then fell into bed, not bothering to pull back the covers.
It wasn’t until he was lying there, in the dark room, when he heard movement on the other side of the bedroom door.
He waited, expecting to see Kade or Avery peek inside as they had done a few times in recent weeks, seeking comfort.
But no one opened the door.
Was it…?
“Travis?”
The throat that cleared from the hallway was definitely that of a full-grown man.
Gage hated that his chest inflated, hope filling him. He knew the only reason Travis would come to their room would be to hash out whatever was on his mind. And clearly he felt it was important, otherwise he would wait until morning.