Page 9 of This Memory (Moose Village #3)

Gavin

I hit the punching bag as hard as I could, over and over, until my arms and legs burned with fatigue. I was using the gym at the police station and was glad to be the only one there.

At least, I thought I was the only one there.

“If you hit that bag any harder, you’re going to bruise the hell out of your hand,” Declan said, as he walked over and held the bag for me. I hit it a few more times and finally took a step back.

“It’s the only way I can get my frustration out and clear my head.”

“What’s wrong?” he asked. Once I got my gloves off, he handed me a towel and I wiped the sweat off my face.

“Brystol Duggan is what’s wrong. I swear to God, she’s going to drive me insane.”

He frowned. “What happened?”

I sat on a bench and wiped my face and neck. “I tried to do a nice thing for her yesterday, and she ended up calling me a manwhore.”

“She called you a manwhore?” Declan asked, surprised .

“Well, not in so many words, but she suggested it in that way she does. Asked me how many women I’ve slept with, then suggested it was over a hundred. Then she assumed I was hitting on the bartender at the pub I went to while she ate lunch.”

When Declan didn’t say anything, I looked at him. “I knew her. She’s the bartender at a pub I used to go to. She’s also gay and isn’t the least bit interested in men.”

“Where were you guys?”

“Saranac Lake.”

“What in the world were you guys doing there?”

I rubbed at the back of my neck. “It’s not my place to say…but I was there to support her, trying to be a friend. We’d agreed to move on from the past. I guess that’s what I get for thinking things could ever be civil between us.”

“Well, after you filled me and James in about the whole thing that happened in school, I’d think you could both be adults about it and move on.”

“We tried that. Yesterday. And she had to go off and be…well…be all Brystol . I swear she gets off on hurling insults at me.”

“Or she uses them as a defense mechanism.”

I stood. “Doesn’t matter. I’m going to try to stay as far away from her as I possibly can.” I walked over to a locker and opened it. “Maybe I need to take a break from women altogether. All they seem to do is give me a fucking headache.”

He laughed. “You just haven’t found the right woman, Gavin.”

Shutting the locker door, I glanced at Declan. “Yeah, guess not. I’m going to head home. See you tomorrow.”

“See ya tomorrow. ”

As I walked out to my car, my phone buzzed with a text from Cindy.

Cindy: Are you sure you want to end things? I’m feeling lonely. Want to stop by?

It would be so easy to head straight to her house and lose myself in sex, but that was the last thing I wanted to do.

Me: Things are done between us, Cindy. Have been for a while now.

Cindy: When you get tired of using your hand, you know where I am if you change your mind.

I wasn’t about to change my mind.

After getting home, I took a shower, ate, then sat in front of my TV to try to find something to watch.

My phone rang, and I glanced over to see it was Denny.

I knew Brystol had told Denny and Evelyn yesterday evening about the blood test, since Denny had called me up right after, so happy about it all.

And I was truly happy for him and Evelyn.

I just wasn’t in the mood to discuss anything involving Brystol.

I sighed and reached for the phone. “Hey, how’s it going?”

“What are you doing this Friday?”

“I’m off, since I have to work Saturday during the fall festival on Main Street. Why?”

“Evelyn and I want to have a celebration dinner with some of our closest friends.”

I rubbed at the back of my neck. “You’re not going to announce the pregnancy this soon, are you?”

Denny laughed, but it sounded forced. “I know we shouldn’t with our history, but Evelyn said she wants to. She wants to feel happy about it. She’s tired of always being worried. And she’s thinking the reverse psychology will work, especially since Brystol is carrying the baby. ”

I cleared my throat, unsure of what to say. Even after all of the miscarriages, Denny and Evelyn could never wait until after the first trimester. At the time, I never thought much about how far along Evelyn was.

There was no way I would admit that ever since they’d dropped this on me a few weeks ago, I’d been reading up on things, and one of the most frequent pieces of advice was to wait until after the first trimester to tell people they were expecting…

just in case. With their history, I couldn’t wrap my head around it.

“Why should we wait?” Denny asked, a bit of harshness in his voice.

“Um, is Brystol on board with telling people? Is she ready to let the whole town know she’s agreed to be a surrogate for you guys? If you tell everyone, and something happens, won’t it be even harder for Brystol and Evelyn?”

The line was silent momentarily before he sighed. “In our excitement, we weren’t thinking about Brystol.”

“You haven’t spoken to Brystol about it?”

“Um, no. You were the first person I called. And Eve is here, listening to our conversation.”

“Hey, Evelyn,” I said, scrubbing a hand down my face. When had I become the adult in the room?

“Hi, Gavin. I’m so glad we called you first. We’ve just been on cloud nine since Brystol told us yesterday. By the way, thank you for going with her. She said it helped having you there.”

My brows shot up. “She did?”

“Yeah,” Denny added. “She was grateful you were there.”

She clearly hadn’t told them everything .

“No problem. Listen, it’s been one hell of a day, and I just got home. I’m going to jump in the shower and head to bed.”

“It’s only seven,” Evelyn said. “You’re going to bed this early?”

“I’ve got to work tomorrow, so, yeah.”

“Well, how about we have you and Brystol over for dinner Friday night? Just the four of us can celebrate?” Evelyn asked.

“I wish I could, but I have plans I can’t back out of.”

“Oh, no worries. We’ll celebrate another time.”

The disappointment in Evelyn’s voice nearly broke me. Nearly. “Sounds great. I’m so happy for you both. I really am.”

“Thanks, Gavin. We really do appreciate it,” Denny said. I could practically hear the smile in his voice.

“You bet. Talk to you guys soon.”

We exchanged goodbyes, and I ended the call. I dropped my phone to the sofa and stared blankly into space. This was going to be a long nine months.

Nothing was better than fall in Upstate New York—in Moose Village, to be exact.

The leaves were starting to change color, the temperatures were in the upper to lower sixties, and the evenings were cold.

My brother James hated the cold, and I wasn’t a super fan of it, but I did love it when the temperatures turned crisp outside, and you had to wear a light jacket or sweatshirt.

I was dressed in my uniform and observing the fun .

“Gavin, you’ve got to see the maze set up at the Hamilton farm.”

Turning around, I smiled and held a hand out to Kian.

“You guys been already?” I asked as I looked around for Kian’s girlfriend, Cadie.

She’d been known as Cadie Waterford when she first moved to Moose Village, but shortly after everyone found out she’d been on the run from the mob in Boston, we also discovered her real name was Katy Reynolds.

She was still going by Cadie…and was still under FBI protection while she waited to testify against her old boyfriend’s family at the trial.

“Yeah, it was fun. About gave Cadie’s protection officer a heart attack when he lost sight of her, though.”

I smiled. “Have you seen James or Declan?”

He shook his head. “We just got here.”

“Where’s Cadie?”

“The toy store, checking in on Brystol. I’m sure you know the news.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I know.”

“That’s a crazy-nice thing to do for a friend.”

“Can’t argue with you on that.”

Kian looked around at the booths lining Main Street. At The Green, a small carnival with rides and games was set up, and live music was also going until seven that night.

We started to walk down Main toward Memory Lane Toys. “I heard you and Brystol called a truce.”

I shook my head. “Yeah, well, it didn’t last long.”

We both looked up as a big group of tourists approached. It was clearly a bachelorette party because the woman at the front of the group was wearing a veil, along with a sash that read “I’m the bride. ”

“Why, hello, Officer,” one of the women said. “I’m pretty sure I just broke the law somehow and need to be searched.”

“Lori!” the bride yelled, hitting her friend on the arm. “Stop it right now.”

I smiled. “Now, ladies, don’t be causing a disturbance in our quiet little town.”

“With a hot cop like you, it’s gonna be hard not to,” said a blond standing on the other side of the bride.

Kian let out a chuckle when another woman in the group stepped forward, looking at me like she wanted to tear my clothes off. “Please tell me you’re single and get off duty soon. We’ll be partying it up at the bar on the roof of our hotel later.”

“The Muddled Moose,” another called out from somewhere in the group of at least fifteen women.

Deciding this had already gone on too long, I gave a nod to the bride and motioned for Kian to start walking as I said, “You ladies enjoy the fall festival—and don’t drink and drive.”

A few of the women booed, but they quickly moved on.

“Jesus, does that happen to you all the time?”

Laughing, I replied, “Not all the time, but more than I care to admit.”

“Sucks being so handsome.”

“Says the guy who was homecoming king and had every girl in town chasing after him.”

Kian rolled his eyes.

The door opened before we got to the toy store, and Cadie walked out with Aurora and Brystol. My heart felt like it slammed against my chest when I saw Brystol. She was smiling…but once she spotted me, the smile vanished .

So we were back to that shit again.

I clapped Kian on the back. “Enjoy the festival.” Tipping my head toward the three women, I said, “Ladies, have a good day.”

“You too, Gavin!” Cadie shouted, as I continued down Main Street.