“Oh, and don’t worry,” Gavin said as he climbed into his truck.

“About what?” said Seth.

His brother closed the door and rolled down the window before starting the engine. “I won’t tell anyone you’re messing around with a freaking movie star, except Mom and Eli and Savanna and—”

Seth scowled as he smacked the door. “Keep it to yourself.”

Gavin laughed at his response. “Come on, bro. Your secret’s safe with me.”

“It’d better be,” he grumbled and tilted his head with an I mean business look, but that only made Gavin laugh harder, and Seth couldn’t help chuckling as his brother swung around to roll down the drive.

Seth felt his smile fade as he watched the gate close behind Gavin, though. Now he understood why his in-laws were always so desperate for money—and what he’d been feeding when he’d written them checks in the past.

“You’d better not be helping Kouretas after all I’ve done for you,” he muttered, thinking of Lois.

But after what he’d learned this morning, he had a strong feeling she wouldn’t hesitate.

Nineteen

Something was different about Gavin. He was always even-tempered—chill, as her students would say—but today he looked like the cat who’d swallowed the canary. Aiyana couldn’t help watching him curiously once she met him at his truck to help carry in the sandwiches and drinks.

“What’s up with you?” she asked as they arranged everything in the teacher’s lounge on two long tables covered with butcher paper. The teachers would be arriving in a few minutes. He’d gotten back later than she’d expected. But they were alone for now, so she was hoping to get whatever it was out of him before she had to turn her attention back to work.

“Nothing,” he said, but his lips curved into a grin he couldn’t seem to hold back.

“It’s definitely something,” she insisted. “What’s going on?” She sat up taller as an idea struck her—a possible answer to her own question. “Oh, my gosh! Are you and Savanna going to have another baby?”

“No.” He lifted a hand to stop that guess right away. “We’re done having kids, Mom. No more for us.”

“But Alia and Branson are getting older—Branson will be a teenager before we know it—and they’ve been such a big help with Crew. Alia told me she would love to have a little sister.” Savanna had had two children from a previous marriage when she moved to town, and since she and Gavin had been married, they’d added one more to the family.

“Three kids is a lot in this day and age,” he said.

“Three is nothing,” she argued. “I can’t imagine having anything less than eight.”