Page 69 of Bottle Shock
Shannon waves me over. “You must be Scottie! Gavin said you’d be joining us.”
I smile, stepping forward. “I hope I’m not intruding.”
She laughs. “Of course not.”
We chat for a few minutes, Lily proudly explaining our “car concert,” complete with her best attempt at reenacting my dramatic hand movements.
“Come in, come in,” Shannon says, ushering us through the entryway. “We just made a fresh pot.”
“Smells amazing,” I say, because it does, and because small talk feels safer than silence.
She leads us into a bright kitchen with bay windows that overlook a perfectly kept garden. Gavin takes a seat at the table while Shannon pours three mugs and slides one toward me.
Lily’s already halfway across the room, rummaging through a sideboard cabinet. “Grandma! Where are the albums?”
“In the bottom drawer, sweetheart,” Shannon says, smiling.
Lily reemerges a moment later with an armful of photo albums that look like they’ve been loved within an inch of their lives. She drops them onto the table with a thud and starts flipping pages.
“This is my mom.” She points at a photo of a woman holding a surfboard in one arm and throwing her fist in the air triumphantly with the other.
Up until now, I’d never seen a picture of Allison.
I lean closer, tracing the line of her smile. She’s beautiful—the kind of natural beauty people spend a small fortune trying to imitate. Her hair is lighter than Lily’s—blonde where Lily’s is brown—but her bright blue eyes, the shape of her face, the tilt of her chin—they’re nearly identical.
Lily glances up at me, proud. “She was really brave. She went skydiving once!”
“She sounds incredible,” I say, meaning every word.
Lily nods, still flipping. Every page tells another story—Allison on a mountain trail, Allison in front of a waterfall, Allison in some foreign city with streetlights reflecting off her sunglasses. The kind of woman who said yes to everything. Adventurous. Fearless. Well traveled. Just like Gavin.
I sip my coffee and look over at him. He’s sitting beside Wayne, the two men in deep conversation, not paying attention to Lily’s photo album presentation.
I can’t help the twinge of something small and stupid in my chest. Insecurity, maybe. Allison is exactly the type of woman Gavin would end up with. It’s no wonder he was drawn to her, and maybe they would be raising Lily together. Happy. In love. A perfect fit. Life had otherplans, of course, but it’s not hard to imagine that reality, and my heart aches for the little girl in front of me who will never experience that.
Gavin stands, excusing himself to use the bathroom, and Lily quickly redirects her attention to Wayne, begging him to tell her a story.
That leaves me and Shannon at the table, alone.
She studies me with a grin, but there’s apprehension behind it.“You and Gavin seem close,” she says gently.
“Oh—no.” The word comes out too fast. I shake my head. “We’re not…I mean, we’re friends. I’m close with Elyse—his sister. But Gavin and I are just…Gavin and I.”
Shannon’s lips curve, like she knows I’m full of it—just not for the reasons she thinks. “Well, that doesn’t sound like such a bad thing to me.”
I blink, caught off guard. “What doesn’t?”
“If you two were,” she says. “You know. Together.”
“Oh.” I laugh, but it sounds wrong in my throat.“We’re really not.”
“I believe you.” Her eyes are kind, her smile warm. “Maybe one day he’ll meet the right girl. He’s a wonderful father, but he’s also a young man.”
She looks down at her coffee before adding, “As long as that person is good to Lily and doesn’t try to push us away, I’d be thrilled. Allison wouldn’t want the father of her child to be alone. And we wouldn’t, either. If the roles were reversed, I’d hope Allison would find love, someone to love her and Lily.”
Her voice softens on the last line, and for a second, I catch a glimpse of her grief.
I swallow hard. My throat burns, but I manage to nod.“She sounds like she was really special.”
