Page 81 of Gareth

“You don’t keep ice cream in your house,” Janessa said.

“It’s one way to make sure Gareth never shows up uninvited. He’s more likely to go where they have ice cream.”

“I feel very attacked,” Gareth protested. “Just because I like a little ice cream.”

“A little ice cream,” Jay scoffed. “You never eat just alittleice cream.”

Aria managed to keep from laughing, appreciating how Gareth’s siblings were, in their own crazy way, circling the wagons around her and Gareth.

Nora didn’t appear to appreciate the joking, though she did use it to her advantage. “I have ice cream. You’re more than welcome to come by and have a bowl.”

“Nora, I’m going to say what Gareth appears too nice to be able to,” Jay said, leaning forward to rest his arms on the table, bracketing his food. “He’s not interested in dating you. He’s tried to let you down nicely, but you’re not getting the message.”

“And how would you know that?” Nora demanded.

“I’m his brother. We talk.”

Tension built in the room, and Aria didn’t dare to even breathe since she didn’t want to draw Nora’s attention to her.

“You just don’t realize how perfect we could be together,” Nora said as she got to her feet. She grabbed her container of food, then left the room.

“Don’t say I never did anything for you,” Jay said as he pointed his fork at Gareth.

With a smile at Aria, Gareth said, “I will never say that. You’ve definitely saved my bacon.”

“Unfortunately, now she’s going to hate me, too.”

“Welcome to the club,” Janessa said. “It’s about time you joined.”

Aria felt a little bad for Nora, but from things Janessa had said, the woman had brought this on herself by being unwilling to back off with the flirting around Gareth. Still didn’t mean that she and Gareth could be open about their relationship, though, which was too bad. But she was okay with that as long as Nora didn’t keep trying to hit on Gareth.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Gareth was glad that the workday was over, and he could finally just focus on his evening with Aria. He’d hoped that Nora would just keep things professional throughout the day, but apparently that had been expecting too much.

He realized belatedly that he’d done her no favors by trying to be subtle in his rejection of her advances. The way Jay had done it might have been a bit harsh, but Gareth had no doubt that Nora had gotten the message. The other thing he’d realized was that if he and Aria could keep things professional at work, then so could Nora, regardless of her interest in him.

They needed to get the personal stuff out of the clinic, since it was causing issues. Maybe he needed to just have a very frank conversation with Nora, letting her know that there would never be anything between them and that they needed to maintain a professional relationship at work.

But that was a problem for another day.

Gareth pushed open his door and got out of the car. The sun was setting, so the sky had taken on the colors of twilight, and there was a bit of a chill in the air. No snow was in the forecast, and he hoped there would be no more snow for the season.

He jogged up the sidewalk toward the house, eager to pick Aria up and get their date underway. Surprisingly, the door hadn’t already been opened by the time he reached it, so he rang the doorbell, then waited for someone to answer it. When the door finally swung open, Janessa stood there.

“Sorry, we’re not buying,” she quipped, then made as if she was going to shut the door.

Gareth braced his hand on the door. “Do you really want to sleep with one eye open if you keep Aria from our Valentine’s Day date?”

Janessa sighed as she stepped back, opening the door wider for him. “No. I suppose that wouldn’t be a good call.”

Gareth glanced around as he stepped into the foyer. “Where’s Layla? I thought she’d be answering the door.”

“She had a bit of a melt-down, so Charli took her to their rooms.”

“Oh boy. What caused it?”

“Bad Valentine’s Day at school.”

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