Page 56 of Stealing Home

Lucia kicked both feet and gave him a gummy smile. Dom turned back to the stove before either of them caught him watching the doorway like someone else might walk through it. Which was ridiculous. Gavin had been at their house to look at their fence. He wasn’t coming to dinner.

He scraped the wooden spoon along the bottom of the pot. “How bad is the fence?”

There it was. The opening he needed. Dom kept his attention on the sauce.

“Bad enough that Gavin said replacing it makes more sense than trying to repair it.” Evan sighed. “Apparently whoever installed it the first time didn’t set half the posts deep enough.”

“That sucks.” Dom didn’t know what the correct response was.

Evan shrugged. “It could be worse.” He moved around the island and reached for a piece of bread, and CJ slapped his hand away.

“Dinner’s almost ready.”

“I’ve been listening to Gavin talk about concrete and post spacing for the last hour. I need sustenance.” Evan arched a brow at his boyfriend.

Dom glanced over despite himself. “An hour?”

The question escaped before he could stop it. Evan’s hand paused halfway to the bread, and CJ suddenly became very interested in checking on Lucia. Dom narrowed his eyes at both of them.

“Don’t.”

“I didn’t say anything,” Evan said.

“Your face has subtitles,” Dom muttered.

“It does not.” Evan looked toward CJ. “Does my face have subtitles?”

“Yes.” CJ nodded apologetically.

“Traitor.” Evan’s voice was amused, and CJ blew him a kiss.

Dom pointed the spoon at them. “I need both of you to act normal. Can you do that?”

“We are acting normal,” Evan replied. “You’re the one being weird.”

Dom frowned. “Never mind.”

He turned back to the sauce. They didn’t need to talk about Gavin. It wasn’t his business anyway.

He lasted approximately six seconds.

“How is he?” The kitchen went quiet, and Dom closed his eyes. Fuck. He could practically feel Evan and CJ exchanging glances behind him. “Forget I asked.”

“No,” Evan said, all trace of amusement gone from his tone. He waited for Dom to turn. “He’s okay.”

Okay.

He shouldn’t have been disappointed by that information. What had he expected? That Gavin had spent the last two weeks wandering around San Diego devastated because Dominic Rizzo had kissed him once and then lost his mind? That would have been incredibly self-centered.

And a little bit reassuring.

“He seemed okay?” Because he really didn’t know when to quit.

Evan studied him. “He seemed like Gavin,” he said finally.

That wasn’t an answer. Dom knew it, and Evan knew he knew it. “Did he say anything?”

“About you?” Evan questioned with a smile.