Page 22 of Revived

“We really did have plans to cookout, Kendra. What do you want from me? This isn’t really your business.”

“She’s my friend, so yes, it is.”

“Can I speak to you in private for a minute?”

“Fine!” Kendra hissed at me. I reached out and grabbed ahold of her arm and took her into the guest bedroom that was downstairs. I used it sometimes, just to be closer to my son in case he needed anything. He never did, but it made me feel better. There were also the nights when it was too hard to be right across the hall from Mel. That wasn’t something I wanted to really think about though.

I had just shut the door behind me when I heard Alex call out, “Did you need help with something, sweetheart?”

“No, I’m just grabbing a water to take up with me,” I heard Mel’s response and I wondered if she saw me bring Kendra in here. I dismissed the thought because it’s not like she’d think something was going on with us. Mel had met Josh on numerous occasions.

“What did you bring me in here for, Gabe?” Kendra asked, her hand on her hip as her blond head tilted to the side a bit, taking me in. I hissed out a breath of frustration as she continued watching me for a moment. “You like her,” she finally surmised.

“It doesn’t matter, because she’s hands off. Mel’s here for Chevy.”

“That won’t always be the case. Jesus, Gabe, are you going to keep sabotaging everything good that comes your way, or will you learn from earlier lessons that you deserve to be happy too?”

“Do I? Didn’t I get everything I ever wanted when my band hit it big?”

Kendra rolled her eyes. “That success doesn’t negate any further happiness!” She leaned in and pushed a finger into my chest. “You have to ease up on her a bit though. I see that you feel protective of her, but the woman needs to be able to get out of this house occasionally too. It will be good for her. You know she’ll be safe at my house.”

It was my turn to roll my eyes at Kendra. “Until that other son of yours tries to get in her pants,” I teased. Kendra laughed.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do with that boy. Heaven help the women when he’s able to start living his musician dream with his brother.”

“What if they cut an album this year, will you let them all go on tour?”

“I won’t stand in the way of their dreams, but they all need to graduate from high school. That’s my one requirement.”

“Sounds like a good one. They can do that while on the road.” I smiled at her. “How weird is it that all of your boys turned into musicians?”

Kendra shrugged. “Not weird at all. They had an amazing big brother who was born to walk in your shoes, and they all look up to him.” Once again, Kendra poked my chest and then laughed when I still didn’t get why. “You should probably change. I don’t know what you guys were up to in that basement, but probably doesn’t look great when you come up from a sausage fest with white stains on your shirt?”

I glanced down then and noticed that she was right. I blamed Alex for that, the bastard had thrown his food at me, and apparently, I missed some of the ranch sauce that had dripped off of it. “Fucking Alex,” I called out as I snatched up one of my other shirts that was lying there on the bed. As I ripped the shirt over my head, Kendra left the room and I hurried to go out after her while pulling the other one on. Oddly enough, everyone was still standing around out there and Chevy was having a conversation with Mel. The moment she saw me, her cheeks flamed again, but she turned immediately and took off for the stairs leading to the second floor where her bedroom was.

Chevy shook his head at me as he narrowed his eyes glancing back and forth between his mom and me. Kendra caught on to what Chevy thought and immediately shook her head and threw her hands up. “I just pointed out that the moron came up from the basement with a room full of men and a white stain on his shirt.” She walked off as my band mates dissolved into laughter. Chevy still trained disappointed eyes my way. I didn’t know what to say in my own defense. I wasn’t going after his mom. I’d already gotten the message that she was happy with her new man and besides, my interests definitely were drawn to his nurse who had gone upstairs, while I silently wished I could go with her.

8 – Mixed Messages

After having a wonderful day, getting to see Chevy’s progress he made in the pool, and taking a dip myself, it was shocking to both be invited to Kendra’s home for dinner, and then to be immediately disinvited by Gabe. I didn’t understand why he wouldn’t want me to go there until I saw him coming back out of the downstairs bedroom after Kendra. I probably would have thought nothing of it except that he was in the middle of putting on a different shirt than he’d been wearing when he made a big deal about me not going to dinner at her house because we were supposedly cooking out at his house tonight.

I wondered briefly what Josh would think of his woman being in a room with her ex-boyfriend and son’s father. It wasn’t my business to tell him though, and I couldn’t afford the fallout if I did anyway. I had never felt icky about my living and working situation until that moment.

“Hey, Mel!” A man called out. I turned just before I reached my bedroom door, hand still out, ready to turn the handle. I turned around to see Alex there. The band’s bassist had been very obviously flirting with me since Chevy had been admitted into the hospital in New York. I was used to it by then but had politely made attempts to ignore or dissuade it from the beginning. “Are you okay?”

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?”

“I just thought that might have all been a little awkward for you downstairs.” He was trying for genuine concern but fell short.

“What is it that you want?” I asked him, losing my patience with everyone for the first time that day.

“Sorry,” he got out while throwing his hands up in the air. “I really did just want to check on you. Listen, Kendra made a great point,” he started, and I couldn’t hide the wince when her name was mentioned. “You’ve been stuck in the house and basically in hiding for months now. What if we skip cooking out with everyone else and I can take you to a restaurant somewhere? I’ll call around and make sure we can get in and out with as much privacy as possible.” Alex was a handsome man, his blond hair was still somewhat long, considering he was in his late 30s or early 40s. It hung shaggy, below his ears, but above his shoulders. It curled a bit at the ends and was colored to appear sun-bleached the way that Chevy’s hair looked naturally.

“I don’t think that would be wise,” I told him.

“Why not?” He glanced down at his feet, shifting a bit, and fidgeting with his fingers. It was the first time I’d ever really noticed that Alex was a bit nervous about asking me out.

“Alex, the last thing I need here is another complication. I’m already mostly jobless and worried about what happens when Chevy is fully recovered. Then there’s my current living situation, which is also temporary. And…”

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