Page 24 of Love It or List It
He preened.“Gavin designed it.Birthday present from the kids.Have to give him credit for finally picking a slogan I can wear in public.”
Oh God.Austin had to ask.“What do the other ones say?”
“The one the kids like best is I Heart Hardwood.”
Austin choked.“Of course it was.”
Joe grinned.
“Your children are menaces.”
“Only most of the time.The rest of the time, they have redeeming qualities.”
At that moment, Gavin and Alex returned with the pizza and once again made a loud entrance.
“I found you a girlfriend.”Gavin grinned at them over the boxes.He had the appeal of a cherubic kindergartener—innocent enthusiasm that made you want to give in to his schemes and avoid disappointing him.How he managed to pull that off while meddling in Joe’s love life, Austin wasn’t sure.
“A girlfriend,” Joe repeated.
Next to Gavin, carrying a bag with their ordered drinks, Alex nodded.“Yeah, we ran into Ms.Kent, our math teacher, at the pizza shop.”
“And she’s totally single,” Gavin added, “because she never talks about dating anyone, but she talks about her brother and niblings all the time.”
Austin bit his lip to keep from laughing as Joe literally facepalmed.
“Your teacher,” he muttered.“I do not want to date your teacher.”
“Why not?”Gavin asked.
“Yeah, why not?Ms.Kent is really pretty, and you know she’s into family and kids, what with the talking about her own all the time.”Alex crossed their arms, clearly annoyed at having their reasonable suggestion brushed aside.
“Ms.Kent isn’tpretty.She’s totally snatched—I mean, for an old math teacher.”
Joe pinched his nose.“I know I’m going to regret this, but how old is she?”
“Um.I mean, I think she mentioned something about being a young millennial once….”
“I don’t know if I should be insulted that you called me old or relieved that you’ve shown some sense in your matchmaking efforts.”
“Definitely the first one,” Austin said.“You’re not the only one they called old.”
“We didn’t call youancientor anything,” Gavin said.“And why don’t you want to date our teacher?”
“Gavin, more to the point, whywouldI want to?”
“Um, did you miss the part about hot?”
“So you want to look at the person giving you math tests knowing I kissed them?”
Gavin opened his mouth, shut it, and wilted.“Fine.”He put the pizza boxes down, and Alex passed around their drinks.
They each grabbed a slice, and for a moment, everyone was too hungry to talk.But of course, it couldn’t last.
“I just don’t get it,” Gavin said.“You’re terminally single.If I looked like you, I’d be drowning in pussy.”
“Ick,” Alex yelped.
“Or ass, I guess,” Gavin amended, with a nod toward Joe.
