Page 71 of Xavier

“Two? Well, okay. They’re notmykids. They’re my younger twin brothers, but we have a pretty big age gap so I consider them mine since I’ve been raising them by myself for close to a decade.”

Both Kate and her husband looked shocked to hear that, along with a little bit impressed. I suppose maybe to a secular couple, hearing something like that was quite admirable. Taking on the task of raising kids that you didn’t birth yourself got me all kinds of praise, even if I never asked or wanted it.

Coming from a religious couple, that kind of shit was downright celebrated.

Or at least from what I’ve heard. I was not exactly a connoisseur of religious upbringings.

“How old are they?” Kate asked.

“Nineteen. One of them enlisted and the other is working on a horse ranch.” I grin. “I’m quite proud.”

To my surprise, Kate’s expression softened.

She didn’t say anything to that, just simply nodded before turning to Dexter to offer him one of the sandwiches on the tray and a small bottle of juice she’d grabbed for him. Her husband walked around her to settle into one of the chairs over by the window, unwrapping his own sandwich in his lap.

Ugh, this was so awkward. I kind of wished Dexter had warned me his parents would be here before I’d shown up. Then again, maybe he knew better than to let me get into my head about it and decided that blindsiding me was the better way to go about it.

Ormaybe I was reading way too far into this entire situation. Kind of like I usually did with everything else.

“I’ll eat in a bit, mom,” Dexter said, setting his sandwich down on the windowsill. “Gage wanted to go grab dad some flowers from the gift shop, so I’m going to go show him where it is.”

Kate looked like she was ready to argue but then glanced over at me and deflated almost as quickly. “All right... Just be back here in half an hour. Gage, I want your phone number.”

“Oh. Yeah, sure.” I pulled out my phone to exchange numbers with her, aware that Dexter was hovering close by.

Once we were all set, I flashed her another smile and then headed back out into the hallway with her son tagging next to me. Halfway to the elevator, I looked back to see Kate leaning out the doorway, watching us both like a hawk.

I kind of felt bad that she was so paranoid. Though, I guess knowing what I knew now with what happened to Dexter, I couldn’t exactly blame her.

So, instead of feeling the kind of annoyance I usually would whenever Xavier brought Kate up, I waved to her and lifted up my phone, gesturing to it with a thumbs up.

Her shoulders seemed to sag at that, a small nod following before she ducked back into the room.

Dexter pressed the button for the elevator, watching me closely. “She means well... I think.”

I glanced over at him. “Tough crowd?”

He rolled his eyes. “You have no idea. This is her being good.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I’m ten times worse with the twins.”

“Forgive me if I don’t actually believe you,” he said right as the elevator doors popped open.

Grinning, I waited for him to get in first before following after and letting my body sag against the metal wall. Damn, thoseairline seats were no joke these days. When the hell did they get sosmall?

“Thanks for calling me, by the way.” I said.

“No need to thank me. I do kind of want you to stick around, so I figured letting you into the family drama was a good start.”

“Aw, does that mean Dexter approves of me?”

He shot me a look. “Well, if I want to go to LSU, I should probably make friends with the locals.”

I laughed. “It’s a good school. I’m not going to knock it. Besides, I definitely wouldn’t hate if you and your dad moved closer to me. The traffic out here sucks.”

Dexter snorted. “Yeah, try living here.”

When the doors opened up again, I had to shuffle to the side to make room for the onslaught of people pushing their way into the small, cramped space. Both of us managed to slip out into the lobby, barely missing us being trapped behind the closing doors and being skated up to whatever floor was next on the chopping block.

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