Weight of Silence(28)

“I think we’re supposed to stress our parents out when we’re in high school.” Jace’s tone suggested he wasn’t happy about the extra stress his college career was giving his folks. Gavin didn’t figure his grades were that awful, so it had to be something else.

“Well, that’s the great thing about good parents. They don’t stop loving us, no matter what.”

Jace nodded slowly without replying.

“There he is!” Rachel’s voice bellowed out across the deli, attracting both of their attention. She’d just walked in with another girl her age, who was as willowy and blonde as Rachel was short and brunette. Gavin couldn’t remember the girl’s name, but he had no doubt they were about to interact.

Rachel made a line for their table, while Jace seemed to do his best to not crawl underneath it. Jace’s impulse to hide from his twin sister amused Gavin to no end, and he fought to keep from snickering. Instead, Gavin offered the two new arrivals a sunny smile.

“Hey, Jace, it’s great to see you,” the blonde said, everything about the greeting bright and genuine. Jace slid out of the booth and, in a move that seemed more polite than friendly, gave her a hug.

“You too, Molly,” Jace said as he quickly untangled himself from the embrace. Molly kept a hand on his arm, squeezing it like she was testing for doneness. “Do you know Gavin Perez?”

“We’ve never been introduced, no.” She turned her blue-eyed attention onto Gavin and stretched out the hand that wasn’t holding onto Jace. “Molly Hutchinson.”

Gavin eyeballed the hand touching Jace, then rose high enough to politely shake the other hand. “Nice to meet you, Molly.”

“You work at the Dollar Mart, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Cool.” And like that, she dismissed him and shifted her entire focus back to Jace. Gavin couldn’t help a slight pang of possessiveness at her hold on him, which Jace wasn’t shaking off. “So Rachel told you about my party day after tomorrow?”

“Yes, she mentioned it,” Jace replied.

“You’re coming right?”

“Sure. Wouldn’t miss it.”

Rachel gave Jace a funny look from the other side of Molly—a look Gavin couldn’t figure out. Molly, on the other hand, seemed to realize she’d made some kind of social faux pas in front of Gavin, and she gave Gavin a tight smile. “You can come too,” she said. “Since you’re Jace’s friend.”

Gavin grinned. “I’ll have to check my datebook.” And ask Jace if he was actually welcome at a party full of his old town friends.

“Of course,” Molly said.

“You guys mind if we join you?” Rachel asked. “We were both craving the BLT pizza.”

“Actually, we were finishing up,” Jace said. “Gavin’s on his lunch break, so he doesn’t have a lot of time.”

Gavin glanced at Jace’s uneaten wrap, and he had half a mind to insist Jace hang with his sister until he’d consumed something. But Jace’s intent stare was an obvious signal that he wanted away from the two girls. “Yeah, my break’s almost over. Nice to see you, Rachel. Molly.”

He collected his trash as he slid out of the booth then dumped the sub wrapper while Jace said his goodbyes. Once they reached the safety of the sidewalk and were out of sight of the deli, Jace made a frustrated noise.

“I was going to mention the party,” he said.

“It’s a party,” Gavin said. He wished he’d finished his soda inside. The frigid air and iced beverage against his gloveless hand was not a pleasant combination.

“Yeah, but it’s a New Year’s Eve party.”

Ah, now Gavin got it. “Did you have other plans for New Year’s?”

Jace stopped walking and stared at him, which made Gavin turn around. The confusion on Jace’s face was actually pretty adorable. “Why, did you?” Jace asked.

“Well, I had considered hanging out with this hot guy I know, but he may have other plans.”

“Hot guy? Anyone I know?”

“Maybe,” Gavin said, drawing out the word with a teasing smile.

“Seriously, though.”

“Seriously, what? Do you want to go to Molly’s party?”

“Not really, but I told Rachel I’d make an appearance.”

“So make an appearance, and then come hang out with me. Casper knows some people near Harrisburg who are throwing a big, all-night bash, and he scored me an invite.” Gavin lowered his voice. “No one there will care if we show up together.” He put a little extra emphasis on the final word.

A muscle twitched beneath Jace’s eye. “I’m not trying to hide you, you know.”