Page 76 of Harvest Moon (Riverbend 3)

He pressed his lips together as he texted backYesand tapped the Send button with more force than necessary. As he pocketed his phone it vibrated with a call. His mom. He rejected the call and texted her instead.Sorry. In the middle of something. Can I call you back later?

Of course. I’m worried about you.

“Avery again?” Laurel’s tone was laced with sarcasm.

“Mom. She heard about Aunt Patty’s situation.”

Laurel gave a mirthless smile. “The family grapevine is still alive and well, I see.”

“You have no idea.”

He replied to his mom.I’m fine. Talk later.

Before he pocketed his phone another text came in. This one from Cooper.Hey, can I drop by in a bit?

Gavin huffed.Sure,he replied. Then just because he was feeling a little facetious he added,Just come on in when you get here. I’m upstairs in the nursery.He wouldn’t give Cooper the option of avoiding Laurel. If his family was going to be on his case, why make it easy for them?

Okay, Cooper replied.

Thirty minutes later the crib was unassembled and in the bed of his truck. Laurel sat pretzel-style on the carpet, sorting hardware while Gavin stacked the new bed frame parts by piece.

“Hopefully Emma will sleep a little longer,” he said.

“My job here is almost done anyway.”

“Oh no you don’t. You still have to read me the directions.”

“Since when do you use directions?”

“Since the Great Entertainment Center Disaster of 2018.”

“I told you to read the instructions.”

He’d had to take the whole thing apart and start over. It was a little humbling for a big-city contractor. “Never let it be said I don’t learn from my mistakes.”

“All right. The nuts and bolts are all sorted.” She read off the first instruction.

On his knees Gavin moved the large frame into place. “Gonna need your help holding this.”

“Here.” She handed him the hardware and held the frame in place while he connected the pieces. “How’s your new build coming together?”

“Good. It’s being drywalled as we speak.”

“Don’t you need to go over and check on things?”

“It’s a capable crew. Wes is heading over there tonight. Maybe I’ll go over tomorrow.”

She gave him a surprised look. “Maybe?”

Yeah, he used to be a bit of a workaholic. But losing his son and wife had a way of bringing everything into perspective. “Campground needs mowing. That’s a full day’s work all by itself.”

“Yeah, but this company you’ve started—that’s your dream. That’s what you’ve been gunning for all these years.”

She wasn’t exaggerating. He’d worked his way up from the bottom, laser focused on his goal. Sure, he thought he’d be starting the business in Asheville, not Riverbend. But things change.

“I trust Wes to check their work. He knows what he’s doing.”

Gavin tried to scrape up some of that excitement he’d been feeling about his new build, his new business. But he couldn’t seem to find it at the moment. Besides, his part-time job at thecampground was all that kept him from having to move back home. And as small as that camper was, it beat living with his parents at the ripe, old age of thirty-four.

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