Page 72 of A Simple Mistake
Gareth shook his head.
“Then you sit there and decompress, while I rustle up dinner.I’m famished.”He headed to the fridge, then turned around and came back.“Oh, and your lemon and tonic ice cubes?Definitely keeping those.”
That earned him a surprised smile, and Gareth pushing out of his seat to wrap Jack in a hug.“Let me cook.”
“Nope.If you need to move, go take a shower.Seeing you and Daniel spent the morning in here, I bet we’re not short of food.”
Gareth left the kitchen without further argument, and Jack turned his mind to dinner, knowing the real conversation would happen once they faced each other across the table.
By the time Gareth returned, showered and in clothes that smelled of nothing but laundry, Jack had steaks under the grill and the table set with salad, bread, pâté, and the last few of Daniel’s empanadas.He’d also opened one of their best bottles of wine, and Gareth recalled with a shock that today was Jack’s birthday, and he had wanted to make the day special.How hadthatslipped his mind?
“Let’s get one thing straight right away: I don’t want to fight.I don’t even want to argue,” Jack said as soon as he caught sight of Gareth.
“I don’t want to fight either.”
“Excellent.Can you check the steaks?”
Gareth did, found them perfect, and moments later they each had a plate in front of them.Jack poured wine, and they clinked glasses.It could have been any other Friday, except for the ruined backdoor, Gareth’s bruised knuckles, and two boys who weren’t where they should have been—at the table with them.“What a mess,” he sighed and stuck a fork into his steak.
“Definitely not what I expected when I boarded the plane to come home.But you did good, you and Aidan.”
Gareth gaped.“What?”
“Don’t ‘what’ me.You want it in writing?Nico and Daniel are safe because you hauled arse.And Pavel and his mate are in the clink because you don’t run from a threat.You think I’d overlook that and gripe instead about having to re-glaze the backdoor yet again?”
“I thought—”
“You’d let the boys down and disappointed me.That you couldn’t keep your family safe because you failed to pay attention.Of course you thought that.”Jack took a sip of wine and the smile on his face was fond, if a touch exasperated.“You know, you can’t accusemeof wanting to solve all the world’s problems by myself and then go and do the exact same thing.”
A part of Gareth’s tension dissolved as Jack’s words sunk in.He hadn’t considered his and Aidan’s contributions to Pavel’s arrest, true, but—“It still bugs me I didn’t see this coming.”
“You’re not clairvoyant.”
“That’s what Rio said.”
“He has sense, andyoulacked data.Did you know Daniel felt watched when he was at work?He was so rattled, Rachel sent him home in a taxi and had her husband drive the two the next day.”
Had Jack leaned over the table and punched him, Gareth wouldn’t have been more surprised.“What?When was that?”
“Day before your birthday.He didn’t see anyone, just had the sensation someone was watching him.And mind… that’s Nico’s account of it, not Daniel’s.”
“Why didn’t he tell me?Or tell anyone?Why didn’t Rachel?”Gareth tried to wrap his head around the revelation.“That isn’t making me feel better.”
Jack rolled his eyes.“Oh, stop it.That’s not on you—and I had that out with Nico this morning, so Daniel will get to hear of it.We can’t do more than remind them over and over that we’ll believe them no matter what—never mind what they hear elsewhere.”
“That again?”
“I blame the school, personally.They’re all for a quiet life and not rocking the boat.But as I told Nico—he and Daniel aren’t like their schoolmates.Their radar is far more acute.Which doesn’t make them paranoid or overexcited.It’s just part of who they are now.”
“Okay.”Gareth returned to his steak and a for a while they ate in silence.“Taking responsibility… I’ve kind of internalised that by now.Not unlike you.”He smiled to show how he meant that.“That’s only part of what’s bothering me, though.”
“Yeah?”
“Yes.I don’t… want to screw up what we’ve built by not paying attention or letting things go out of control as soon as you turn your back.”
“Did you talk to your mum?It sounds like something she’d say.”
Gareth gaped.
