“I hate to be Mr. Obvious, but what happens now?” Chase asked.
“I don’t know. No offense, but this has f**ked with my head in so many ways.” Gavin expelled a quick puff of air. “Don’t get me wrong, your parents seem like nice people.”
“But?” Ben prompted.
“But that’s just it. I see the genetic similarities to them and to you guys, but I don’t know what I’m supposed to feel when I see it.”
How did any of them respond to that?
Ben, the peacemaker, changed the subject. When they’d exhausted conversation about weather differences and job descriptions, Chase wished they’d brought the bottle of whiskey outside with them.
“Look, Gavin, you wanna come over to my place and have a beer with us?” Ben asked.
Gavin seemed to struggle with his answer, but shook his head. “Thanks for the invite, but I really need to get back to my room and finish some work I brought along.”
“Understood. We’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Most likely.”
Gavin wandered to his car and drove off.
“I don’t know about you guys, but I need a f**kin’ drink,” Ben said.
Chase returned inside to tell their parents they were leaving. But they weren’t in the dining room and their bedroom door was shut, so he left them alone.
As soon as they’d bellied up to the bar at Ben’s house, Chase said, “A brother.”
Quinn kept sliding his coaster on the bar top. “No shit. Never saw that one comin’. Not in a million goddamn years. It’s like, Christ. I don’t even know Mom. I can’t imagine her just handing her baby over to a stranger and goin’ on with her life.”
Chase knew Quinn was imagining life without his kids after he and Libby tried for so long to have a child. “Can you even fathom how Gavin feels? Finding out your birth mother gave you up, but went on to have three other kids with the same guy?”
“Maybe we shoulda checked to see if he had a clubfoot,” Ben joked.
“What the hell does that have to do with anything?” Chase demanded.
“History books claim if firstborn sons had any kind of physical defect, the baby would be abandoned. Back then, even a clubfoot would get you a one-way ticket to the woods. The family hoped the next baby would be perfect.”
“You’re f**kin’ morbid,” Chase said. “Christ. That’s not even funny. Where do you come up with this shit?”
“Try reading something other than Hustler some time,” Ben shot back.
“Boys,” Quinn warned. “Here’s where I’m at. I have a hard time believing Aunt Kimi and Aunt Carolyn didn’t blab to Uncle Cal and Uncle Carson about this.”
“I disagree. Without sounding like a freakin’ girl, women keep other women’s secrets. Especially when it comes to family stuff,” Ben said.
“So do you think they’ll break the news to the rest of the family about the forty-one-year-old secret McKay baby?” Quinn asked.
“If it’s up to Mom and Dad? Yes. Gavin? No.”
Chase sighed. “Think Gavin will…hell. Sounds stupid.”
“Will what? Want to be part of our family?” Ben supplied.
“Yeah.”
“No.”
Quinn and Chase looked at each other, then Ben. “Why not?”
“Was I the only one who noticed he doesn’t seem happy? And that didn’t have a damn thing to do with him coming here? He’s a bunged-up corporate guy.”
“I got that impression too,” Quinn admitted.
“He’s never had siblings. Can’t miss what you don’t have. He’s satisfied his curiosity, done his duty to his late mother, and he’ll move on.”
“So you sayin’ he’s done with us? After one meeting?”
Ben passed out another round. “One of us, or all of us, will try and develop this meeting into something. Communication is two-way. Be interesting to see if Gavin reciprocates, or if he’ll blow us off.”
“That’s a f**kin’ sad scene you’ve created, Ben.” Scene. Made him think of Ava, always setting the scene.
Ben shrugged. “Calling it like I see it.”
Quinn asked, “You think Mom has her heart set on us all bein’ a big, happy family?”
“She made her peace long ago. I think she’d like for us to get to know him and vice versa. But she won’t push it.”
“Dad might. If only for her.” Ben lifted his bottle. “To the bright side of today. Neither Mom or Dad havin’ cancer.”
Bottles chinked together.
Chase raised his bottle. “This is f**kin’ sappy as shit, but I just gotta say it. To us. Gavin don’t know what he’s missing, havin’ you guys as brothers. His loss if he walks away because you guys are the best.”
Neither Quinn nor Ben gave him shit for being sentimental, probably because Chase never was.
The conversation shifted, but it eventually flowed back to the shock of the day. Chase clammed up when Quinn or Ben asked questions about his future with the PBR or with Ava.
Quinn went home. Chase was surprised he’d stayed as long as he had. Maybe his brothers missed hanging out with him.
But the sleepless night, long drive, and the stress caught up with him. He couldn’t keep his eyes open. He mumbled to Ben about finding his cell phone, stumbled to the guest bedroom and crashed.
Chapter Thirty-Two
“I can’t believe you’re watching this,” Hannah said. “Why torture yourself?”
Ava gave Hannah an arch look. “Besides I know how damn good the man looks in chaps?”
“Smartass. But really, what’s the point after Chase’s meltdown last night?”
Her heart seized, thinking about how Chase had lost it on live TV. She’d wanted to jump through the screen and drag him off to comfort him. Assure him that not every wreck would have the same outcome as Ryan’s. Assure him she’d be there for him no matter what.
“I know you can hear me, Ava, so stop ignoring—”
“Ssh… They’re giving the injury report on Dirk.”
The camera cut to an interview with the head of the sports medicine team. When he finished detailing the bull rider’s injuries, the announcer asked his opinion on Chase McKay’s comments about mandatory safety helmets. The doctor looked directly into the camera and said, “Helmets save lives. Period.”
The camera returned to the main announcers. Their on-air banter circled to rider standings on tour and current matchups with bulls for the final round. When the list of the fifteen riders scrolled on screen, Chase’s name wasn’t listed.