Who: Gavin and Roxy When: Thurs, Sept 7th, mid-afternoon Where: Gavin’s house Status: Complete
Even though she and Caden weren’t married and might never get there, Roxy still thought of his family as her family. Her own siblings weren’t local, and she knew how much the Lucas clan meant to one another. They were all they had, and really, they were all she had too. So his brothers were her brothers, and if there was one thing Roxy’s mother had drilled into her head, it was to take care of the men in her family. It wasn’t a lesson she always liked, but it was one she often kept to. Caden was fed and had clean clothes and a neat house as much as Roxy could manage it with working full time herself. It hadn’t always been that way, but those things meant more peace under their roof, so Roxy did what she had to do.
Gavin, on the other hand, no longer had a wife. She felt for him, it was an awful thing to lose one’s family. Roxy had been indoctrinated to believe that all men needed a woman to look after them, and she felt a little responsible to pick up that slack. Aaron could never keep a girlfriend, and Gavin seemed too proud to take a lot of help from his baby sister. Roxy, on the other hand, didn’t give him a lot of choice. She got the impression that Caden didn’t like it much, but he hadn’t told her to stop going by Gavin’s, so she was going to keep showing up.
She knew from the schedule at work that Gavin was off today, and his car was in the driveway as she pulled her little car in as well. Roxy gathered up the bag of food containers she had brought and walked up to the front door. She was off herself, so she had plenty of time to check in on him, maybe straighten up his kitchen a little. Roxy knocked and stepped back, hoping he was in a decent mood today. She was armed with flan and tamales to help if he wasn’t.
Gavin knew she was coming before she even knocked. Or well, that someone was coming. He was lounging on the couch watching one of his favorite shows when Rude sat up and growled softly. Max was slower on the uptake as ever but Rude knew when someone was coming and if Gavin hadn't been right there next to him he would have barked to get his attention. Gavin liked it, like his own little alarm system that warned him if someone was coming and scared off people when he wasn't home. He patted Rude on the head and muttered some calming words before getting up, pausing his show and heading for the door, right about the point when Roxy knocked on it.
He peeked outside and had that usual amount of mixed emotions when he saw who it was because Roxy was great and she took good care of him and his brothers but she was also Caden's girl. Caden didn't need to do a whole lot of talking for Gavin to know he wasn't a fan of Roxy dropping by like this. He opened the door anyway, glancing down at the abundance of food she was bringing and giving her a little nod. "Hey Roxy," he muttered and stepped back. If she wanted to come in, she was coming in, he'd learned a long time ago not to stand in her way. "How goes it?"
Roxy walked inside as he made room, smiling at him. “Hey Gav. It goes,” she answered. “Hello my darlings!” This part came out much more chipper as the dogs rushed over to greet her. She held the bag of food higher aloft and reached down with her free hand to give them each pettings and scratches. They were fearsome looking animals, in a way that suited Gavin Lucas perfectly, but Roxy knew they were really big babies, and they knew her so she didn’t get barked at. “I brought you some tamales,” she said, looking back at Gavin. “And half a lasagna. And some flan.” She started for the kitchen, gently nudging the dogs out of the way with her knees and bustling in like she owned the place. There was even more food than she’d listed, but she could just sneak it into the fridge for him to find later. “How are you doing?” she asked over her shoulder.
Gavin didn't really need looking after. He was the one who usually looked after other people and most people would not get away with 'babying him'. Roxy did though, it was nice in an uncomfortable and awkward way but at the very least she wasn't expecting anything from him. She was Caden's girl and all. He closed the door and followed her into the kitchen, crossing his arms across his chest as he watched her move about. She did make his diet a little more varied, he would give her that. His kids sometimes preferred her cooking over his but that was more to do with getting sick of the same old same old. He'd have to have them over soon considering how much food there was. "I'm aight, Roxy," he muttered and whistled quietly at Max as an admonition for begging which the dog was most definitely doing now, giving Roxy a pleading look.
Roxy set the bag down on the counter and opened the fridge to start unloading it. She knew on some level that Gavin didn’t necessarily need her to do this, and might not even want it, even though he was always appreciative. As appreciative as a man like that got, anyway. That mattered less to her than doing it to satisfy herself. She fed Aaron too, pretty often. That boy was near helpless in the kitchen though. Roxy at least knew that Gavin could cook; she just thought he shouldn’t have to all the time. She squatted as she rearranged things in his fridge, ignoring Max hovering around her hoping for something tasty to fall. Roxy pulled out a few containers to empty and wash and take back home, then loaded in the new stuff. “If you put the tamales in the oven at three-fifty for about twenty minutes when you’re ready for them, that’ll be perfect,” she said as she stood up again and looked around at him. Roxy shut the fridge door with her hip and moved on to the sink.
She was definitely the type of girl who stuck around with the Lucas clan. Willful, big temper, even bigger heart. Gavin thought she'd make a great wife if Caden ever got his wits about him but at the same time there was nothing sane about marrying into his family. "Thanks, Roxy," he muttered and patted Rude as he walked over to sit at his side. "You want anything? Got some beers in there. Amelia brought cake today, don't know where she got it but it looks tasty." He understood the need to feed the people around him, he'd been doing that for as long as he could remember being able to pour cereal. It wasn't like his parents had done a great job being there for his siblings.
“I’m okay, thanks,” Roxy said and flashed him a smile. Caden kept enough beer and liquor in their house to kill several horses, she didn’t need to bring home more. The cake was a sweet offer, but she knew what he would say if she brought home cake too, and she didn’t want to deal with it, honestly. They’d been having a rough sort of week, it was best to lay low for a while. Roxy dumped the bits of leftover food into the garbage disposal and started to wash the containers. “I heard we’re getting a new priest at St. Dismas,” she said over the noise, glancing back at Gavin again. “I hope he’s not ... you know, full of bullshit.” It was the only Catholic church in the area, and if she had to sit there and listen to some overly conservative asshole drone on at them, Roxy was going to hate it.
It hadn't been long since father Grady passed and it had been a bit of a shock to the community, especially those like Gavin who took great solace in the church. "I heard," he muttered, though he had no comment on whether the new priest would be full of bullshit or not. He didn't much care about that stuff though Olivia had things to say about Grady that he hadn't much cared to hear. "I went to school with this guy, he's a couple years younger than me." That was going to be weird. Confiding in an old man had been okay and now their new priest was his age. He wasn't sure he could take him too seriously, kind of like those doctors who were practically kids. "You gonna come to service?"
“Of course,” Roxy answered. On some bad days, she wasn’t sure she believed in God anymore, but church had been such a constant in her life, she wouldn’t miss it Sunday Mass. Unless she was very sick, or if the bruising on her face was too obvious. “You know him, though?” She glanced back again, curious. Gavin hadn’t said they’d been good friends or anything, so Roxy didn’t ask what the priest was like, even though she wanted to. “That might be weird.” They were all grown up now, but she couldn’t imagine going into confession with someone she’d gone to high school with on the other side of the panel.
"Not really," Gavin muttered and pushed himself from the wall to grab the pack of smokes that was sitting on top of the fridge. He hadn't known James O'Shea save for knowing who he was. He also hadn't known his sister well but he remembered her and he remembered how she went missing. It had made life somewhat unbearable for the rest of the kids in town except the Lucas kids. Nobody really kept tabs on them anyway and it was a small mercy none of them had gone missing. "Surprised to see him back here." He lit up a cigarette and put the pack in his chest pocket. "I've seen a few people coming back though."
Roxy was a little younger, so she’d missed all that. That specific case, anyway -- kids went missing in Point Pleasant with disturbing regularity. It sometimes made her question her own desire to have a kid. A lot of things made her question that, though. It was probably a fruitless desire anyway, as Caden had never been keen on the idea. She would just have to love on Gavin’s kids, and any that Aaron might stupidly produce. “Yeah, that seems to be a pattern,” she answered Gavin as she finished washing up the plastic. She moved to dry it, glancing over and noting the cigarette. She’d quit for the most part, but God, sometimes it was still tempting. “I’m just waiting for my siblings to decide to come back,” Roxy continued, not sounding excited about that prospect. After a beat, she added, “Can I get a hit off of that?”
Gavin didn't try to police people into taking care of themselves. If he did he'd be in the wrong business as his bar was the sort where people came to drink their woes away and then some. He held out the cigarette for Roxy, a bit at a loss to say or do since she wasn't accepting anything from him. "It's smart to stay gone, once you go," he said. He didn't know much about Roxy's family but what little he knew they weren't very close. The tone in Roxy's voice only confirmed that. "Are they smart?"
She pursed her lips a bit and rolled her eyes as she reached for the cigarette. “They’re not smart,” Roxy said. She took a deep drag and then offered the smoke back to Gavin, careful to hold it so he wouldn’t have to touch her fingers. It was just habit, to avoid making physical contact with Caden’s brothers if he wasn’t present. Even then she kept it to light hugs and an occasional peck on the cheek at holidays. Her life was just easier that way. Theirs too, probably. “But so far none of them seem eager to come back. They’d probably rather keep distance between us anyway.” She shrugged and went back to drying off the tupperware. Roxy didn’t like to talk about her family, and most people didn’t ask, so that worked out. “This town has a weird gravity though.”
"Suppose so," Gavin said though he didn't really want to get into just what he thought of the town's allure. He'd often considered moving but he had a big family here that needed looking after and that was his excuse for staying. There was something else though, something he couldn't place a finger on. Not that it mattered right now, he was more interested in why she was fretting about family. "There something eating at you, Roxy?" he asked, studying her face for any hints since he was pretty sure she wouldn't come right out and say it if there was. "You know we're here if you catch trouble.”
Roxy’s hands paused as she looked over at Gavin, her own gaze studious. It was sweet of him to ask -- sweet in that Lucas way -- but she never felt like she could completely trust him. Or Aaron. Or Kat, even. She loved them, they were her current family, but there was the constant knowledge that anything she said could get back to Caden. It was something Roxy always had to weigh when she talked to them. She knew they would all come to her defense if she did “catch trouble” from the outside, but trouble from their brother was a different story. “I know,” she told Gavin with a faint smile. “It’s nothing, just some old shit cropping back up with my sister lately. You know how siblings are.” Roxy shrugged. She went back to drying off the containers, then stacked them and stuck them in the bag she’d brought.
Gavin gave her a noncommittal hum. Yeah, he knew siblings, though he didn't know Roxy's siblings well or what their problems were. It was just normal to assume siblings came with their own bout of problems. He could sense her hesitation in telling him but he didn't pursue it. Instead he stuck his cigarette between his lips and kept it there as he knelt down to give one of the dogs a ruffled petting. It was always a little awkward to have Roxy over. Even if he had no interest in her that way there was always that 'risk' of misunderstandings and chaos. In his family those tended to get bloody. God knew he loved his little brothers but they could be dumb as logs, especially when it came to women. "Things okay at home?" he muttered even if he wasn't sure he wanted to know if they weren't. Things being good at home wasn't really a Lucas trait.
Before she could stop herself, Roxy let out a laugh. It sounded a bit sharp to herself and she pressed her lips together as she gathered her stuff back up. She wasn’t going to linger in Gavin’s space, not today. He didn’t seem to need a lot of help with anything, and she’d done her duty and delivered food. The kids weren’t there. There was no other real reason to stay. “What does it matter?” she asked, giving him the briefest glance. He wasn’t going to do anything about it, so why bother talking? Part of her wanted to go off, to yell and scream and throw things to vent her frustration, but it wouldn’t do any good. It would just get back to Caden and she would get smacked around for it. Maybe worse. She’d learned a long time ago that all the Lucas brothers were the same, and neither Gavin nor Aaron was going to intervene on her behalf. Roxy was on her own with Caden ... but being on her own was what she was used to, right? She slung the bag over her shoulder again and started out of the kitchen. “See you later, Gav, have a good day off,” she said.
The laugh irked him and like only a woman's laughter could and he glared up at her while she finished up with her things. This was how a lot of his fights with Olivia started. Only Olivia would laugh in his face and then start throwing shit around and scream. It was not a pleasant reminder, not of his temper and not of his shitty marriage. He got up as she headed out and walked after her, sternly telling the dogs to stay put before she opened the door.
"Roxy," he said then, grabbing the door as if to hold it open for her. "I appreciate the food, but you probably shouldn't come 'round here without Caden." It wasn't the first time he told her and it wasn't the first time she got mad at him but maybe one day she'd listen.
Roxy stopped short when Gavin stepped in her way. She wasn’t afraid of him exactly, but there was suddenly a painful tightness in her back between her shoulder blades. Her body was bracing for something it was used to receiving. She didn’t let any of it into her expression, cocking an eyebrow at him. “Why? You don’t like my cooking no more?” she asked, sounding fully aware that wasn’t the reason. Roxy pursed her full lips at him, annoyed that he felt like he could tell her what to do. Nevermind that this was his house and everything. “What’s he gonna do? Nothing to you. So.” She made a small gesture between herself and the door, asking silently if she could go now.
He hadn't really meant to block her way but that's how it ended up and he nodded at her and stepped back, opening the door completely. It wasn't a question of what Caden could do to him, Gavin didn't like bad blood - there was enough of that going around without stirring up more. "I like your cooking just fine but with Olivia gone..." He didn't think he needed to get wordy on that one, she knew exactly what he meant and he gave her a knowing look that said as much. She needed to keep the peace with Caden and hanging out with his big brother when nobody was around to bear witness was not the best way to go about it.
Roxy knew exactly what he was driving at, of course. She’d been accused of cheating enough times by Caden, it almost felt routine now. She knew that thinking she was fucking around with his brothers would infuriate him more than anyone else, but so far Caden hadn’t gone that far. Probably because he trusted his blood more than he trusted Roxy. Gavin, at least. Aaron thought more with his dick than his head, which was why she only fed him when he came over instead of taking it to him. She huffed a breath out and shook her head at what Gavin said -- not to disagree, just out of exasperation for all these impossible men -- and started to walk out the door. “Fine, have it your way,” she muttered as she passed him.
Gavin was mostly worried about how it looked, how Caden could get ideas in his head and how those ideas could be hard to shake once they really dug in. He wasn't surprised to see the irritation in her expression though and honestly, he was relieved when she turned to leave with only a snarky farewell. "I'll see you tomorrow," he said. "Don't be late." Not that she had a habit of being late, it just felt like a way to remind her what their relationship consisted of. She worked for him and she dated his brother, that was all.
It stung a little, in a stupid way that Roxy knew she absolutely shouldn’t care about. She’d never felt very important in her family -- not a boy when she was born, not the thin pretty sister the guys all lusted after. Not brilliant or special in any way. Only good for certain things. Now that family was gone, and the extended family that she’d picked up ... well, it was what it was. There was no point in bellyaching about it. With her shoulders straight, Roxy didn’t look back at Gavin’s dig, just lifted her hand to give him the bird as she walked down the porch steps. He was her boss, but she wasn’t on the clock right at that moment. She still had some time to kill, and now she just wanted to go have a latte and sit in her car and be alone.