Page 60 of Love It or List It
“Okay,” Joe said.He was still frowning a little, as though he didn’t quite believe it, but he didn’t challenge Austin on it.“Well, dinner’s ready.”
He retreated to the kitchen, leaving Austin standing in the breezeway, reevaluating his life.
Days ago he’d told Joe that Paul had to be an idiot.He meant it then, for more than the reasons he’d admitted out loud.
In Austin’s entire life, very few people had truly cared for him.His father had loved him, but that love didn’t translate to care, not even of himself.Then he died and Austin had gone to live with his aunt.She looked after him, but she was unwell too, and after a while she couldn’t do it anymore either.Austin learned independence at a very young age.That was how he survived.
But Joe cared for him.He might not admit it out loud, and he might not care for him the way Austin hoped, but Austin could weather that.And unlike Paul, Austin was not an idiot.If a man like Joe was going to care for him, cook him meals, rescue him from spiders in spite of his own fear, and occasionally take him to bed and make him come so hard his brain leaked out his ears, Austin wasn’t going to throw that away.
But after the disaster with Paul, and after Austin’s own admission of his nonexistent dating history, he had a feeling it would take a lot of convincing before Joe was ready to commit to something serious.
That was okay, though.Austin was good at being patient.
Chapter Fourteen
JOE LEFTthe house early the next morning so he could get a jump on winterizing his clients’ gardens and for no other reason.He absolutely was not panicking about Austin meeting his mother or the knowing looks his mother sent his way all night long.
Not that she knew anything.Because there was nothing to know.
Every time Pepa made a move in Joe’s direction, Maria had given Joe a look like she knew he lied about her ownership.He hadn’t exactly meant to lie about it, but he hadn’t told his mother about the dog because she’d never been fond of them, not to mention that owning a dog together spoke ofintentions.She would read into it and assume Joe was trying to get things that he definitely wasn’t.Just because Pepa liked the breezeway didn’t mean that Joe was going to keep a whole house for her.
So Joe had pointedly ignored all of his mom’s looks and focused on having a nice evening feeding people.
Still, it was weird to see his mom get on so well with Austin.She’d never taken an interest in his friends when he was a child or teen, and she hated Paul.She’d always been better at meeting Joe’s material needs than his emotional ones.Watching her make such an effort was weird, but also nice.
But he couldn’t avoid Austin forever, because Meg had a swim meet that weekend, and her parents wanted to take everyone out for dinner after—everyoneincluding the other party DeeDee had left the house to, who Chris wanted to verbally interrogate.
The restaurant was nice enough to have good food—not so nice that any of the kids would fail the dress code—but from the get-go, Joe could tell things were going to go sideways.
First of all, Meg seated herself between her mother and Will, not leaving an empty space for Alex.Instead, Alex sat across the table from Meg, as if in defiance, and Gavin sat to their left.The only way Joe could sit near Alex was to take the seat between them and Chris, which he couldn’t do because Chris was already waving Austin into it and asking questions.So Joe was stuck at the opposing head of the table, one seat away from his tension-filled children.
They made it through the ordering and delivery of their meals with only mild sniping from Meg and Alex, so Joe hoped that whatever was brewing would continue to simmer for one more day.
Joe was distracted by his dinner and watching Will casting longing looks kitty-corner toward Austin, so he didn’t hear all of the conversation, but he definitely heard the end of it.
“That guy on Meg’s team wasn’t bad either—Hammerhead,” Gavin said.
“Hammerhead?”Meg asked with a frown.
“Yeah,” Gavin explained.“Guy with his eyeballs practically on opposite sides of his head?”
Meg’s frown deepened.“That’s not a very nice thing to say.”
Gavin looked abashed.
“What’s it to you?”Alex asked.“Why do you care what anyone says about it?It’s not like you like him.”
Meg’s fork clanked against her plate as a dark flush spread over her face.“Being a decent person isn’t dependent on experiencing romantic attraction.”She paused for effect.“Obviously.”
Joe’s breath whooshed out of him.Right for the nuclear option.He met Chris’s eyes, then Cheryl’s, trying to gauge if either of them had the slightest clue what their kids were fighting about.Looked like a no.
Super.
“Meg,” Cheryl said sharply.
Alex’s chair scraped against the floor as they stood up quickly.For half a second, Joe expected them to throw their drink in Meg’s face, but they just said, “Excuse me, I have to use the bathroom.If I can find one that’ll let me in.”
Joe watched them go, his mouth half open in shock.Finally he looked at Gavin.“Do you…?”
