Gavin Lucas (viciouscircle) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2017-12-20 08:23:00 |
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Entry tags: | #group scene, #september 2017, aaron, aaron x charlie, aaron x gavin, charlie, charlie x gavin, gavin |
Who: Aaron, Charlie & Gavin
What: Porch fixings
Where: Charlie’s house
When: Friday afternoon, 9/22
Status: Complete
On Friday afternoon the rain had finally stopped even if it was still gray and dreary out. There was a busy weekend ahead of Gavin and no telling if the weather would be any better before winter finally hit so he decided he'd go take a look at Charlie's porch. Of course take a look meant fix it so he brought along his tools and texted Aaron as he walked to the car. Getting that porch job done, you want to help? He'd left the dogs behind as he really didn't know if Charlie even liked dogs and they wouldn't be too happy sitting in the car. Better to leave them with the laundry door open and a free reign of the yard.
He smoked a cigarette before he got going in case Aaron replied, not wanting to get halfway to Charlie's only to have to turn around to pick his brother up from Seaview or wherever he might be staying. It would be good to bring him, he was stronger than Gavin now what with Gavin's injury, and Gavin didn't really know the extent of the work that needed doing. He'd manage without him and maybe it would be better to go alone but if Charlie was there... Well, maybe a buffer would be good too. His idiot brother just better know to leave this lady alone.
Aaron had spent the night before at Mila’s and enjoyed every moment of it. He was off the next day, so he’d spent as much time with her as he could in the morning, then taken his truck back to his own house. He was puttering around said house, straightening it up a bit -- not that it would have been easy for anyone but him to tell -- when Gavin’s text came through. Aaron looked at it and then out the window, then smiled. It had finally stopped raining for a bit, he thought it would be good to him to get outside and do some work. Plus it would mean Gavin could spend some time with the pretty brunette lady again. Sure. @ home, com get me? Or meet u there?
On my way Gavin texted back and got in the car to get going. He tossed the cigarette out the window on the way and minutes later he was at Aaron's place. He had no real plans for this, mostly he just wanted to assess the damage, find out what kind of supplies Charlie needed to buy if any. Hell, maybe they could fix it today. "Shouldn't take long," he told Aaron when he joined him in the car. "Thanks for helping out."
It was easy enough to put on jeans and his boots and a jacket. Aaron grabbed his tool bag to take with him too, just in case. Gavin probably had everything they would need, but you never knew. Once he’d put that in the back, he climbed into the passenger seat and gave Gavin a smile in greeting. “No problem, said I would,” he answered, settling in. “Just glad to have somethin’ to do.” If he made it sound like it was partly a favor to him, Aaron suspected that always made his brother feel better about needing his help. Gavin could still do a lot of stuff, but his arm make some things difficult, and Aaron didn’t mind being the workhorse. Plus it would make it easier for Gavin to chat up ... “It’s ‘Charlie,’ right?” he asked, glancing over at his brother. Aaron had a hard time remembering women’s names.
"Charlie Harris, yeah," Gavin replied. "Keep your dick in your pants, alright?" He didn't sound mean about it, it was just a matter of fact that Aaron fucked a lot of women, too many women really, and Gavin did not want him to fuck Charlie. He wasn't claiming her for himself, not really, but ... maybe a little. Caden had gotten to him in that yes, maybe he deserved something good and it was ultimately up to Charlie and what she wanted. If she was as smart as he remembered, she'd steer clear of him entirely but he could fix her damn porch first.
Gavin might not have meant it that way, but Aaron was still a little offended. He glanced over with a sullen expression, disgruntled that his biggest brother would think he would try to steal a girl he liked out from under him. Aaron did fuck a lot of women -- or used to, anyway -- but he’d always stayed away from the ones his brothers showed interest in. Of course, that had always been Caden throughout the years, since Gavin got tied down to Olivia so early, but still. “I’m not gonna fuck your church date,” he muttered sourly. “My dick’s claimed right now anyway.” He looked out the car window. He didn’t have to tell Gavin by who, but it was true.
Gavin didn't have time to protest that term 'church date' before Aaron had given away something entirely different. His dick was 'claimed'? Gavin gave him a curious glance because that didn't sound much like Aaron. "Oh yeah?" he muttered and furrowed his brows. "That sounds... serious." Aaron might not tell him more about it but wondering was a good distraction from the weird day he'd been having. "Anyone I know?"
Was it serious? Aaron wasn’t too sure yet. It was fun, and he had the benefit of already knowing Mila, so his feelings for her were probably progressing faster than they would have been with someone else. He’d spent quite a few nights over there already, so that was something. He didn’t feel like he was going to propose to her tomorrow or anything though. Not yet, anyway. “Maybe,” he said, and while he didn’t like to lie to Gavin, it wasn’t like he was the most forthcoming person either. It felt fair to keep something for himself. “Keeping it on the down low for now. But Charlie’s safe.” The last part came out a little grumbly.
Gavin had the fleeting idea that maybe it wasn't a woman at all, the way Aaron was being so vague, but there wasn't a chance in hell that Aaron was gay, just not a chance so the thought almost made him laugh. He smothered it and shook his head. He wasn't sure Charlie was safe, she lived in Point Pleasant after all, but it was reassuring to know Aaron wasn't going to go after her and break her heart or something. "I saved a guy's life this morning," he muttered to change the subject. "Not sure if I did him a favor or not."
Aaron had meant safe from him, at least. Nobody was ever really safe, especially not in this town. He looked over with open surprise at Gavin’s words, eyebrows shooting upward. “Do what now? What happened?” he asked, all poutiness gone with that revelation. Gavin wasn’t exactly the hero type on the outside, but Aaron knew he was a Good Person deep down.
"Found him on the beach when I took the dogs out for a run," Gavin muttered, not really wanting to make a fuss about it or name Fin for that matter. He would if Aaron asked, but it didn't really matter. "Idiot decided to go swimming in this lovely weather we're having," he added wryly, fairly certain Fin had gone into the water on purpose. He couldn't really blame him, it was just a small miracle he'd washed back onshore.
Aaron’s face wrinkled up at that idea. Swimming in the ocean was kind of freezing even in the summertime, and it was fall now. What kind of idiot would do that? Even he wasn’t that stupid. “What a dumbass,” he muttered. It didn’t occur to him that the guy might have been trying to kill himself, since Gavin didn’t explicitly say so. Suicide was such a foreign concept to Aaron, it wasn’t something that really crossed his mind unless he heard about some celebrity doing it or something. “Lucky you came by, I guess.”
Gavin glanced over at him again with a small smile, then nodded. It shouldn't have surprised him that Aaron didn't connect the dots, he could be a bit slow sometimes but there was something endearing about it, like he and Caden had managed to keep some of the bad away from him. He turned in on Sycamore street and headed for the ugly green fence, wondering if Charlie was home. It was obvious someone had started - and stopped - doing something about the porch though and he frowned softly at the mess of it as he parked the car. "C'mon," he murmured, fine with not talking about Fin Haynes anymore. They had work to do.
Charlie wasn't expecting company. She certainly wasn't expecting Gavin and Aaron Lucas to show up, toolbox in tow. Earlier in the week Charlie had decided to be proactive and she had driven to the hardware store to buy some new wood slats to replace the rotting ones on her porch. The employee had been very helpful and had helped Charlie purchase everything she needed to do some repair work. She had everything she needed piled up on the porch, out of the way. The problem was, she was not very handy. She wanted to be, but carpentry was a bit of a weak point for her. She and Drew had always hired people to fix things around the house and a company had come out to erect the fence that had lined their small yard.
She also didn't want to just assume Gavin Lucas had been serious about coming over to help out. Charlie hadn't seen him since they parted ways at church on Sunday, and while she had driven by the bar a couple of times that week, Charlie hadn't been able to strike up the nerve to actually park and go inside. Despite Roxy and Mila's encouragement, Charlie had found she didn't want to feel blown off again so soon, and so she had kept her distance.
The mess Gavin noticed on her front porch had happened the night before. Charlie had seen the news of Drew's engagement from a mutual friend on Facebook, and after a couple glasses of wine, she had found herself outside on her knees, furiously hammering at the rotten pieces of wood to try and pry them up from their foundation. She had managed to hammer through two boards before Charlie realized she had no idea what she was doing. Not only that, but it was dark, and raining and cold. She left the splintered pieces of wood on the porch, as well as her hammer, feeling rather silly and maybe a tiny bit defeated.
Then she had to work the next day and Charlie hadn't given the mess on her porch a lot of thought. Now, with school over, she was in her kitchen making a kettle of hot tea when she heard a car pull into the driveway. Curious, Charlie walked to the front of the house and peered out through the curtains just in time to see Gavin get out of the car. It appeared as though Aaron was with him. Were they there to fix her porch? Obviously. Why else would they be there?
Oh. Right. The porch. She hadn't cleaned up her mess, but it was too late now.
Her heartbeat had picked up and Charlie brushed her hair back behind her ears, wishing she'd had some notice that Gavin was coming by. She was still wearing the cardigan and dress from school and she was sure her hair was a mess from where she had run her fingers through it throughout the day. Charlie knew she didn't have time to run upstairs to freshen up, so she unlocked the front door and pushed open the screen door so she could step outside and greet them.
"Hey," Charlie said with a smile, trying to fight the urge to sink to her knees and start gathering up the wood boards that she had hacked to pieces the night before. "This is a nice surprise."
She looked so wholesome, Gavin wasn't sure what to do with that. He'd always thought that if he ever got into the dating scene again it would be with someone like Ollie and maybe that was why he avoided it. One crazy woman was more than enough in his life. Charlie didn't quite look like the type of woman Gavin could realistically be with, she just lacked that 'insane and doesn't have her shit together' vibe and it was a little unnerving.
"Hey Charlie," he murmured, frowning a little at the mess. He assumed that she had done it herself and it was commendable that she had tried though it it was mostly for the part where she'd actually stopped when she realized she couldn't do it. Ollie would probably just have broken everything in a fit of rage at that point - and he really needed to stop comparing the two women. It wasn't healthy.
"Well, this is a right mess," he said with a pained little smile before gesturing back at Aaron. "You remember my little brother, Aaron. "We'll get this sorted."
Aaron was a tiny bit amused at the obviously abandoned ‘I’m going to do it myself’ mess on Charlie’s porch, but he kept that to himself so as not to offend her. It wasn’t like she’d damaged anything they weren’t going to replace anyway. “Afternoon,” he greeted with a little wave when Gavin drew attention to him. Aaron smiled warmly at Charlie. She really did look pretty and like a comfortable sort of woman. Gavin didn’t need anyone super high-maintenance, so low-key and sweet was perfect.
If his brother would actually end up doing anything about it. Aaron knew that Gavin’s attraction was obvious to them, because they knew what a stoic, uninterested lump he could be -- he didn’t fix just any lady’s porch -- but he would probably have to be overt with Charlie. He followed Gavin up onto the porch and squatted down to examine the damage she’d done.
Charlie smiled warmly at Aaron and she was sure to move out of their way as they came up the stairs to the porch. She folded her arms against her chest, not because she felt offended or defensive of the mess, but because it was chilly out and she still felt a little silly about her behavior the night before. "This is the result of a little too much wine," she admitted with a sheepish smile. Too much wine and an ex-husband's engagement announcement, but Charlie could only imagine the awkward silence that would follow that particular piece of information. "I started wondering how hard fixing my porch could really be. I found out just how hard it really was after about twenty minutes and I just haven't had the time to clean it up." Charlie bit her lower lip briefly as she studied the holes she'd hammered in the wood before wincing slightly at Gavin. "I hope I haven't messed it up too much."
"Nothing we can't fix," Gavin promised her with a small smile, a bit amused at her words. "Good thing you stopped though, you want to make sure the joist is all solid, might have to fix up the foundation depending on how deep the rot goes. Looks like you got everything here we need though, that's good." Whoever had sold her the wood seemed to have known a little more about all this than she did, there were some primers and adhesives there among the tools but if anything was missing it wouldn't take long to do a run to the hardware store. He realized this was probably the most he had said to her at once in a while and cleared his throat in some embarrassment. It was easy to talk about what was essentially work, he could ramble on about that for a while if he needed to.
Charlie blinked a little as Gavin spoke, not only because she had no idea what the joist was, but because it really was the most he had said to her in a single go since Charlie walked into his bar the week before. She wished she could hear him do it more, but she only had one porch to fix. "Well," Charlie said, looking over at the tools and wood in the corner, "they were pretty helpful at the hardware store. I've got some extra tools in the garage if you need anything else. I'll put on a pot of coffee so you've both got something hot to drink." The rain had stopped, but it was still cool outside. “I'll make sure you've got something for lunch too." Charlie had no idea how long this would take, and the least she could do for them is make sure they're taken care of while they were there. Charlie moved to open the screen door. "You probably don't want me hovering while you're trying to work, but feel free to come inside if you need anything. There's a bathroom just down the hall on the left and the kitchen is to your right when you walk in. That's where I'll be."
It hadn’t been too long since Aaron had eaten, but he was always game to eat again, especially if it was free. And made by a woman, because they tended to make better food in general. Coffee sounded pretty good too. He was dressed to work outside, but having something warm in the belly never hurt. He thought maybe once they’d scoped out what needed to be done and Gavin felt like he’d given him suitable directions, Aaron could nudge him into going inside to talk to Charlie some more. Aaron straightened up as she started to go back inside, flashing her a smile that was carefully not too bright. “Thanks a lot, Ms. Harris,” he said. “We’ll get you all fixed up.”
Gavin almost said something about not wanting to cause any trouble but they would be hungry after the work and Aaron looked delighted so he just nodded instead. "Thanks, Charlie," he muttered. It was fitting for Aaron to be formal with her but for him it'd just be weird. "You go do whatever you had planned for the day," he added with a vague hand gesture. He was sure she had some papers to grade or things to read and he didn't want her to feel like she had to keep checking up on them, feeling antsy. Depending on the state of the porch this could take anything from a couple of hours to being a repeat visit.
"Please call me Charlie," she told Aaron. It felt strange being called Ms. Harris by anyone other than her students. Charlie paused in the doorway and smiled. "It's nothing terribly exciting, just grading some papers. Feel free to come in and interrupt me whenever you want. After a couple of papers, I'll be craving the distraction." It was maybe a subtle invitation for Gavin to come inside and talk if he wanted to, but based on previous experiences, he would probably focus on the porch and leave it at that. "I'll be back with your coffee," Charlie promised before letting the screen door shut behind her as she headed for the kitchen.
Aaron had been aiming for Respectful and Not At All Interested In Sex, for Gavin’s benefit, but whatever, Charlie was easier to remember anyway. The invitation to come inside and talk to her wasn’t at all subtle to him, but it was a crapshoot as to whether or not Gavin would understand it as such. Or take her up on it if he did. He really had to work on that dismissive thing though. As soon as Charlie was out of sight, Aaron grinned at his brother. “Wonder if she made it worse for your sake,” he suggested quietly with a snicker. Aaron moved to the toolbox to open it up and start pulling things out.
Gavin found it far more likely that Charlie had tried to fix the porch herself so she could avoid having to get help but that was neither here nor there and he huffed softly at his brother's words. "If more things start breaking around her house, maybe," he muttered and there was a small part of him that almost hoped that would happen - that Charlie actually wanted him around. That sudden feeling was followed closely with a small wave of anxiety and he knew the only way to get rid of it was to start working. "Let's pry these loose and have a look at what's going on underneath," he muttered, grabbing his tools to get started.
After Charlie had taken two cups of coffee out to Aaron and Gavin, she had retreated back into her house to let them work in peace. She wasn't much of a hoverer, as she assumed they knew what they were doing, and even if they didn't, Charlie didn't know enough to recognize it. She sat at her desk near the front windows to work on her papers, occasionally glancing toward the sheer curtains to see the two men on the porch, pulling up wood. Every now and then she could hear their voices, but they were muffled so she had no idea what they were saying. As the afternoon started settling into early evening, Charlie abandoned her school work to make Gavin and Aaron some large Club sandwiches. She heated a pot of vegetable soup, since it was a cold, dreary day and maybe they would appreciate something hot to eat too. And... because it was an appropriate time of day, she grabbed a couple bottles of beer too.
When she was finished, Charlie set the beer, sandwiches and bowls of soup on her dining room table and wiped her hands on a dish towel as she appeared behind the screen door. "I've got food ready. Why don't you guys take a break and come inside?"
Gavin tugged his gloves off when Charlie came outside and gave her a small smile. They were making good headway with the porch. By the time Charlie came out they'd stripped off all the rotten wood and started working on prepping the foundation. It was a mess and Gavin suspected he might have to come back the next day to finish unless they wanted to stay there late, but for now they had planks laid out over the joists they weren't working on so Charlie could get in and out of her building without trouble. A break sounded good and he didn't need to look at his brother to know he agreed. "Sounds good, Charlie," he muttered and tried not to overthink the fact that he was going into her house.
Aaron was always down for being fed, so he definitely agreed they should take a break and eat something. The work wasn’t too hard, but he’d built up an appetite all the same. While they were working, he’d tried to suggest to Gavin a couple of times that he should go in and chat with Charlie for a few minutes at least, but it hadn’t been received with much more than noncommittal grunts. Now he was going to get stuck doing it anyway, which was just delightful. Aaron stood up from where he was and stripped his own gloves off, smiling. “Thanks a lot,” he said as he passed by Charlie on the way into her house. It was warm and cozy and nicely decorated by his standards, and Aaron couldn’t help but think how much Gavin did need a woman like this.
Charlie had done what she could to make the house feel more like a home, despite the fact that she didn’t have all that much. It had been a pain in the ass to bring everything from New York, so she had downsized her belongings. But she liked what she had done so far and Charlie figured that in time it would feel more like hers than it did currently.
She shut the door after they both entered to close off some of the chill from outside before leading them into the small dining room just to the right of the entrance. “I made sandwiches and soup. And some beer if you want it.” Charlie gestured toward the table, already plated with their lunch. “I’ve got iced tea and soda too, if you’d rather have something different.” She felt like she was starting to ramble and she realized Aaron and Gavin were the first people she’d eaten with in her house since moving in, excluding her mother, who didn’t really count. Maybe that’s why she get weirdly nervous. Like she needed to make a good impression to keep them coming back. Or maybe just Gavin. It was all still a bit confusing to her. “How’s it going outside?” Charlie asked as she took a seat. “There’s not too much rot, I hope. I appreciate this a lot, but I still feel a little guilty that you’re both here during your own free time.”
"Don't worry about it, "Gavin said dismissively. "It's going good, the foundation was well prepped, doesn't need much work, not really." Maybe he was selling them short but he didn't like to make her feel bad. They had offered and she was feeding them in turn. Her house was dainty and clean. He really felt too filthy to be in there at all and it smelled good, like a safe place. It made him want to sneak some of the weird hex bags Ollie had given him in there, to raise the chances that Charlie really was safe there but that would be crazy, wouldn't it?. He sat down at the table after shrugging his jacket off and hanging it up. "Beer's good," he said and then added a belated, "Thanks." He was hungry and the food smelled tempting. It had been a long time since someone cooked for him without him having to worry about it pissing off his brother or footing the bill. It was nice.
Aaron had a policy to never turn down a free beer, so he was more than fine with what Charlie had set out. “Beer’s great, thanks.” The soup smelled amazing too. He took his own seat once he’d shed his coat, rubbing his hands off on his jeans like they were any cleaner than his fingers were. He’d more or less decided to stuff down some food, then fabricate a phone call he needed to make or something and step back outside so Gavin and Charlie could have some privacy, whether Gavin wanted it or not. He didn’t have anything to add about the porch, so Aaron just started eating. Aware he was at the table of a Nice Lady, he tried not to wolf it down as much as he normally would.
Charlie wondered if the porch really didn't need that much work, or he was just saying so so that Charlie wouldn't feel guilty about it. She supposed it didn't matter. If Gavin didn't want to fix her porch, she had a feeling he wouldn't have shown up at her house at all that day. She was perfectly content with eating while they enjoyed their own lunch. The company was nice, even if she didn't know them as well as she would have liked. "I'm really hoping this is the only major repair I've got to deal with," Charlie said. "I had a pretty good inspection before I bought the house. The furnace was just replaced and the plumbing is decent. I may have to put off my goal to replacing the fence outside until spring. I don't think I'm going to have time before winter really kicks in." Charlie was just filling the silence, even though she was well aware that they couldn't care less about the state of her house. "How are things going for you, though?" Charlie asked Gavin. "How are your kids?"
"Oh you know," Gavin said after tasting the soup and letting it warm his insides. It tasted good, not quite as spicy as Roxy's cooking but savory and mouth watering in a different way. He wasn't about to tell Charlie that his kid was sleeping in his car and that nine year old daughter seemed to think she was fat now and that he'd just punched his brother for pointing out what a fuckup he was so he went with the good old: "They're going." He gave her a little smile and shrugged. "The kids are okay, Jasper's not much of a kid anymore though," and Gavin had no control over him. He didn't think he ever really did though, his son had been a handful from an early age. "I could help you out with the fence too you know, I've missed working with my hands." There, that was a safer topic and maybe also a nice reason to come around again even if he probably shouldn't.
Charlie swirled her spoon in her soup for a moment as she listened to Gavin, the smile soft on her face. "Well, I'd say no matter how old they get, they're always your kids." She had noticed Jasper showing up in class nearly every day, so Charlie took that as a good sign. The last thing she wanted to do was request a conference with Gavin and his wife - ex-wife? -over their son's lack of progress in class. It was strange, sometimes, seeing her classmate's kids in town. Not all of them were as old as Jasper, seeing as how Gavin was so young with Olivia had their son, but she realized that she may eventually be teaching more and more of them as she got older. Charlie wasn't sure if she was comforted or depressed by that thought. It was something of a reminder of what she couldn't have.
She set her spoon against the side of the bowl and reached for her cup to take a sip of the tea she had poured herself earlier. "I don't want to burden you with that fence," Charlie said, her cheeks feeling a bit warm at the mental image of Gavin performing more physical labor at her house. "You're already doing me a huge favor with the porch and I'm sure trying to replace a fence would be a lot more work." It felt like she was coming up with household projects to complain about just because she had a feeling Gavin would offer to help her with them. It made her feel a little guilty, mostly because she wasn't really looking for free labor. She just wasn't sure asking him out to dinner would work as well.
Listening to them talk to each other was kind of amusing to Aaron. He knew in his head that Gavin was stunted when it came to women, having gotten married off way too young and staying faithful to Olivia for some insane reason, but it was difficult for him to really wrap his mind around why Gavin wasn’t better at this. He glanced between Charlie and his brother, clearly able to see that she wanted him to come back, for reasons that had nothing to do with any damn fence. Aaron wanted to interfere, assure her that the eldest Lucas would hook her up, no problem, but he restrained himself to just a smile down at his soup as he took another spoonful.
"Nah, nah," Gavin murmured slowly. "Fences aren't hard if you know what you're doing and got the right tools. You're gonna want a good fence if you're planning on doing anything with the yard next spring." He didn't look at her much as he spoke but her little smile was burnt into his mind by now. Jesus did he not need this kind of upheaval to his life, his brothers might think it was good for him but he honestly didn't know what to make of it. All he knew was that he wanted to come back, even if it meant fixing her whole damn house in some way.
Unable to help herself, Charlie laughed and pushed her hair back behind her ear. "Well, I don't know what I'm doing and I'm not entirely sure I have the right tools. At some point I need to probably remedy both of those things. But you did tell me that you would teach me how to use your nail gun, so I'll at least hold you to that." She glanced at Aaron, feeling bad that they were sort of excluding him from the conversation, although he looked pretty happy, eating his food that was quickly disappearing from his plate and bowl. She knew plenty of grown men who still ate like growing boys. "I do have plans for the yard," she told Gavin. "But they'll probably have to wait until spring. I know the kind of fence I want, at least." Charlie paused briefly. "If you're willing, I would definitely pay you for the work. I'm not sure some sandwiches and soup is really adequate enough."
“It is really good though,” Aaron piped up, flashing Charlie a grin. Neither of them had complimented the food yet, and that was a thing women liked to hear, so it made sense. He polished off what was left of his sandwich, and he’d reached close to the bottom of his soup bowl, so Aaron slipped his phone out of his pocket to look at it. He didn’t have any notifications, but he frowned like he’d missed something, and swiped his phone open. “Shit,” he murmured, then glanced up again. “Be right back, I gotta call somebody back.” Aaron stood up and headed off back toward the front door, taking his beer with him. It might have been a contrived excuse, but he still felt good about giving them some privacy.
"Yeah this is real good," Gavin muttered in agreement and arched an eyebrow as Aaron made himself scarce. The soup tasted homemade. Maybe it was from a can but it didn't really taste like it. He didn't ask though, it was probably rude and he didn't really care if it was some instant thing. Instead he kept to the safer subject he actually knew something about. "What are you planning with the yard?" he asked, wondering if she was thinking flowers of vegetables. That sounded like her, though maybe she was like Gavin and planned on getting a dog.
Charlie wasn't embarrassed that the soup wasn't homemade. As long as they liked it. And the Lucas boys didn't seem like the type to judge her for not making their soup from scratch. She wondered how many homecooked meals they ate on their own anyway. Charlie watched Aaron get up from the table with raised brows, but said nothing as he excused himself and slipped outside. His plate was empty, so that was something. She turned her attention back to Gavin. This was the longest conversation they'd had outside of that first night she had wandered into his bar. Although that had been more of Charlie rambling on and Gavin tolerating it. "Well, the front yard just needs a lot of landscaping," she explained. "But I'd like to put a small porch in the back, and a garden. I was thinking that maybe, eventually, if I get a dog, I'd like for him, or her, to have somewhere safe to go outside if it's raining or too cold for a longer walk." Charlie shrugged softly and picked off a piece of her bread to eat. "I have these ideas in my mind of what I want to do, but there are steps to getting there. I feel like I'm on the clock with winter approaching, so I just need to try and prioritize it all, you know?"
Gavin perked up a little at the mention of a dog, raising his brows in interest and nodding along. "You like dogs?" he asked softly even if she obviously did if she was intending on getting one. Getting Max had been a big step for Gavin in leaving Ollie because she didn't like dogs and never wanted pets. She'd taken it pretty personally too.
But Charlie liked dogs and that just made Gavin like her more. "Maybe I'll bring mine over when I work on the fence," he muttered with a faint smile before going back to his soup.
"I like dogs," Charlie confirmed with a nod. "I like most animals, but dogs are probably my favorite. My parents had a Jack Terrier, Bosco, who lived for like, sixteen years when I was a kid. He was probably the only thing that was consistently happy to see me every day of my life." Charlie chuckled and popped another piece of bread into her mouth before reaching for her beer. "My ex-husband was... is allergic to pet dander, so a dog was never an option. I don't know why I keep referring to him in the past tense." She shook her head and took a drink before gesturing toward Gavin. "I'd love to meet your dog, though. Definitely bring him by. What's his name?" She was assuming it was a 'he' but figured Gavin would correct her if she was wrong.
"There's two of them actually," Gavin replied. "Max and Rude. I didn't pick the names." He wasn't sure why that mattered as he probably would have named them something uninspired even if he had. Max especially was just a good name for a dog. "Yeah my wife didn't like dogs but I always wanted one... You have a special type of dog in mind for when you get one?" He tried to picture her with a dog and he didn't think she'd get a small yappy one. Maybe a labrador or a collie, he could see that.
Charlie's brows rose in surprise at the names before she laughed. "Max and Rude. Those are great names, actually. Although I need to know if Rude has earned his name, or if he's a big sweetheart." She set the beer bottle down and began to pick idly at the label. Charlie knew it was such a small thing, but she was well aware of how Gavin couldn't refer to Olivia as ex-wife. Because they were still married. He still had a wedding ring on his finger. Charlie refocused on the conversation and smiled. "Oh, I haven't given the breed a lot of thought. But I want a big dog. I thought that I would take a day and drive out to the animal shelter and find the right one."
"That's a good plan," Gavin muttered and the fact she was going to adopt just made her all the more beautiful to him - if that was even possible. He felt a bit sappy and weird about it too so he cleared his throat and took a sip of his beer before replying again. "Rude was supposed to be a fighter and I guess he kinda is but no, he's a good boy. Protective but not dangerous, not anymore." Was it weird that he wanted to go with her to pick out a dog? He knew some of the staff there a little and it'd be nice to check in with them and help her find the perfect dog. It was also incredibly ridiculous so he didn't suggest it.
Rude was a rescue and Charlie's smile softened considerably. It was sometimes hard to reconcile the Gavin Lucas she knew in school to the man sitting with her now. Not that Charlie knew Gavin well back then, and she'd always thought he got a bad rep because of his last name, but... she just always sort of assumed the Lucas boys were the rough and tumble type. Always getting into trouble - which they were, at least back then. And now Gavin had two kids and a business of his own and dogs and she noticed the way his eyes sort of lit up when he talked about them. She was starting to think maybe his wife was as crazy as Roxy and Mila had implied. "Well, I would love to meet both of them, whether you come over for the fence or not." Charlie brought her beer up to her lips and grinned. "Is it weird to want a doggy play date when I don't have a dog yet?"
Gavin had to smile at that, part surprised and part amused and yes, a part touched. "Nah, not stupid," he muttered. "Those dogs love playing." It should probably have made him feel bad how much easier it was to talk about his dogs than it was his children but the dogs didn't come with a ton of guilt like his kids did. He hadn't made them and screwed them up, he'd saved them from some other screw-up. They were also his alone and for Gavin Lucas that was saying something. "They're big babies, they love to play. Uh, they're bulls though, I know a lot of people don't like them but they're good dogs."
"There's nothing wrong with bull dogs," Charlie said. "Good dogs are taken care of by good people." She knew a lot of breeds got bad reputations for being aggressive and violent, but Charlie had always believed that was more the fault of the owners than the dog. And Gavin had already said that Rude had been a fighter dog, so he must have been a rescue. If he was a good dog now, that was probably Gavin's doing. "How long have you had them for?"
If it wasn't an immensely sleazy thing to do Gavin might have asked her if she had any flaws at all to speak of because this level of perfect was getting eerie. "Let's see," he murmured at her question instead as he tried to think back on time that had been fairly monotonous and all he had to measure it by was how much his kids had grown. "Probably going on four years now. Never had a problem with them except Max is a coward so he's no good on his own."
Charlie might have laughed if Gavin had asked her about her flaws. She had a long list of them and she was well aware that there were enough to potentially scare him, or any man, away. Drew hadn't been terribly shy about listing them all to her face after she'd discovered his affair. Deflection of blame, Charlie supposed. But there was probably some truth to them. "Well, then it's a good thing he's got a buddy," Charlie said. "I can't wait to meet them. I hope it's okay if I use you as my dog expert once I start looking." She paused briefly. "I really feel like I'm continually taking advantage of you. The porch and my fence and my potential dog. Do you need any favors? Any papers that need editing? Grammar checks?" Charlie arched a brow playfully and set aside a piece of the label she'd peeled off the bottle.
Gavin could think of a favor or ten to ask her as Jasper's teacher but it would come off as immoral at best so he piped down on that. "Just think of it as... down payment for the trouble my kid's no doubt gonna cause you," he said with a mild smile, making it clear that yes he was joking but no, in fact, he really wasn't. Jasper hadn't been in trouble for a few weeks now - that he knew of - but he had a feeling that had more to do with Ollie and his teachers taking care of it behind his back. "I'd tell him to take it easy on you but it'd probably just make it worse."
Her brows rose in surprise before she folded her arms comfortably on the table. "Jasper? He's been no problem at all for me, Gavin. He's quiet, maybe a little disinterested, but he's also a teenager, so that's to be expected. From what I've heard from some of the other teachers, it's progress that he's shown up as much as he has this week." Her smile was soft as she reached over to touch his hand. "You don't have to tell him to take it easy on me. I've been teaching for a long time, all kinds of ages. I can handle it."
That was the kindest thing Gavin had heard about Jasper from a teacher in years, possibly a decade, and he had to wonder how long it would take before she changed her tune. The touch was unexpected too and he didn't know how to feel about it. Her hand was soft but that was to be expected, it looked very dainty against his own and he had a weird urge to take hold of it. Of course he didn't, trying to sort through the feelings he was having instead as he glanced up and gave her a little smile again. "Glad to hear he's showing up," he said though he wasn't about to get into his fear that Jasper would end up quitting school before his graduation. It was a small miracle that he'd taken his senior year again after flunking it first time so maybe it was a matter of pride for him. Gavin knew better than to question it, one wrong word and his son might rage-quit.
Charlie nodded and pulled her hand away from his to reach for her beer. She didn’t want to overstep boundaries by lingering. Being a new teacher in the school, Charlie was aware that some students took a while to ‘warm’ to her. Some would rather feel her out first to see how much they could get away with, or if she was the type they could walk all over. Jasper had a reputation and she might eventually find him problematic, but so far, he’d given her no trouble. “Do you worry about him in school? His grades? His behavior?” Charlie wouldn’t push Gavin to talk about Jasper if he didn’t want to, but if he did, she was there for it. She didn’t want to tell him what to do, or how to deal with his own son, but Charlie knew that some parents just needed to get frustrations about their kids off their chests, and teachers were a good outlet.
This was a far less easy subject than his dogs and Gavin felt that familiar weight return to his chest. He drank more and shrugged one shoulder. "Doesn't everyone?" There. Noncommittal and brief, he could handle that. He worried about Jasper far more than just for his education but he'd always felt helpless to do anything about it but watch from afar and try to mitigate the damage. He was pretty sure Charlie would keep her distance when she found out what a screw-up he really was and talking about Jasper was a rude reminder of that. "Thanks for the food, Charlie," he murmured mildly. "I should get back, finish this up before dark."
Charlie had nearly forgotten about the porch. Aaron had disappeared with his phone and had yet to come back inside, and she had been enjoying her conversation with Gavin. Which seemed to be over now. She felt a sliver of disappointment but smiled softly anyway and nodded. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry. But thanks for keeping me company,” Charlie told him. She made a mental note that personal topics seemed to be off limits. She couldn’t really blame Gavin for that. He didn’t know her terribly well and his personal life was none of her business. She stood to start picking up Aaron’s empty plate and bowl. “Let me know if you two need anything else, okay?”
He could feel the enthusiasm drain from the conversation like it was a tangible thing and knowing that was on him was a downer. He got up and handed her his plate as well, a small attempt to help that was pretty pointless since it was right there within her reach. "You do the same," he muttered. "If you need... help with anything else." Which was also dumb, considering they were already helping her with the porch. Things had gone smoothly for a little while, it was obviously too much to ask that it keep doing that.
Charlie took Gavin's plate and set it underneath Aaron's in her hand. She nodded and gave him a warmer smile. "I'll let you know if I do. I think I've asked for enough of your help to last a few weeks, at least," she said with a laugh. "I'll be fine, Gavin. Thanks." She carried the dishes into her kitchen to rinse them off, thinking she would just finish her own lunch once he and Aaron were back at it on the porch. Hopefully it wouldn't take them all night. She would feel terrible if they spent the entire evening at her house when she was sure they had better things to be doing.
It seemed like she had a way with turning things around to the better, quite the opposite of his tendency to make things worse. Her little laugh was sweet and he hoped against hope that he wasn't completely alienating her with his winning personality. Even if that was probably better for both of them in the long run, especially Charlie. She deserved better than a dysfunctional Lucas. He reminded himself that that was her decision to make, not his, but that 'oh shit' feeling was back anyway, battling his urge to stay in there and chat with her a little longer. "You let us know if you want peace and quiet," he murmured. "I can come back later."
Charlie paused in the doorway into her kitchen and looked back at Gavin. She knew Gavin was quiet, stoic even, most of the time. But she had seen glimmers of something else too, and that was enough for her to want to talk to him again. Maybe eventually they could get to know each other better, if he was willing. She knew what it was like to feel emotionally guarded. At least now she did. A bad marriage - or childhood - and self doubt could do that to a person. "I get enough peace and quiet living here alone," Charlie told him. "And I do hope you come back later, whether you finish the porch or not. I like your company."
That was the last thing Gavin expected to hear from Charlie's mouth and he did a bit of a double take before nodding, at loss for what to say. Charlie Harris liked his company. It probably meant she was as crazy as Ollie but either way it warmed him and terrified him all at once. "Yeah well you just... Come on out if you're bored in here," he muttered awkwardly. "See how it's going."
"Don't worry, I'll come out to supervise in a bit," she teased before disappearing into the kitchen to clean the dishes. Charlie wouldn't get in their way, but she would pop over to the door to check on them soon to see if they needed anything. Another hot drink or a beer. She really didn't want them having to work into the evening if they didn't have to. She could live with her porch being torn up for awhile until they could come back to finish it.
Gavin didn't mind if she came out and watched them work, at least it was something he was good at and he had promised to show her how to use the nail gun - not that it was complicated and not that it was a euphemism for anything else but it was beginning to sound lame even in his head so he wasn't about to remind her. He already knew he'd be coming back around, whether it was for the porch or the fence or something else he could use as an excuse. Because apparently just visiting was still a little too fragile. He nodded at her again and cleared his throat before shuffling on out of there, fully expecting some ribbing from Aaron.