SEAL's Pregnant One-Night Stand (Bronte Security Services)

“Leavethedishesonthetable?” Gavin muttered, making it one word.

“You’d better, if you want to make the bus. And you understand that Ms. Popov will be staying with us?” Ian checked again, catching Gavin before he left the room. “And that it’s not news you should be broadcasting to your classmates?”

Gavin’s scoff said yes, he understood and no, he wouldn’t be telling anyone he had a teacher as a guest in his house, thank you very much. He hovered in the doorway. “I’m glad you’re okay, Ms. Popov,” he mumbled before vanishing without saying goodbye.

“Bye,” Ian called pointedly to his son’s back, then stood to clean up Gavin’s plate and utensils with stiff movements. He shot a glance at Sofia. “Sofia, sorry.” He gestured where his son had disappeared. “Things are still a little, well, strained.”

“It’s fine,” Sofia assured him. “Teenagers tend to be on their separate tracks from adults. Sometimes they’re on a collision course, and sometimes their path is parallel but far apart.” She thought about how Gavin wasn’t used to living with his father, who in turn wasn’t accustomed to living with his teenage son. They needed to connect more. “And you know, I might have an idea on how to make the tracks cross in a good way…”

* * *

“I’m not sure about this,” Ian said again.

It was early evening. The day had been low-key but productive, with Sofia going shopping for some clothes and toiletries and then resting for most of the afternoon. Sofia was now installed in the guest bedroom at the end of the upstairs corridor. It was small but as well-appointed and organized as the rest of the house. The den, where they stood at the moment, was the coziest room, though.

“Gavin tends to do his own thing in the evening,” Ian continued.

“Which is why family night is a good idea,” Sofia insisted. “And you called the pizza place Gavin likes?”

“Yep, and got his favorite.” Ian shuddered just as he had when the guy on the phone had recited the toppings his son liked.

“And there’s grape soda.” Sofia checked the bottles.

Ian pursed his lips. “I don’t know how I let you talk me into this.”

“Because you respect my area of expertise. Teenagers,” Sofia answered, sass lacing her tone.

“And because you’re cute,” Ian deadpanned. “But if this doesn’t work—”

“I’ll pay a forfeit,” Sofia promised.

Ian’s eyes gleamed a bright green. “Now that sounds interesting…”

Sofia narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “You’d better not be hoping it crashes and burns,” she warned him.

The slam of the front door announced Gavin’s arrival. He entered the den at his father’s summons, but he was dragging his feet and trailing his backpack along the floor behind him. His expression was truculent right up until he took in the full scene, at which point his mouth dropped open at the array of sodas and chips. He whipped around at the doorbell and his jaw dropped farther at his father’s. “Ah. That’ll be the pizzas.”

It was almost comical, Sofia thought, but didn’t say, taking a slice of her cheese and tomato pizza a few minutes later. On the other hand, maybe it was more sad than funny. Gavin seemed so genuinely baffled by the idea of his father doing all of this for him. “Before we start, I have a confession to make, Gavin,” she said. That got his attention. “It’s something that might shock you and that I don’t want spread around at Southwest, okay?”

At the other end of the couch, Ian tensed.

“It’s that I’ve never seen a Marvel movie,” Sofia confessed. “I don’t exactly know what the Marvel Cinematic Universe is, and I’ve wanted to for a while now. Could you fill me in? And explain a good place to start?”

“Oh, man!” Gavin let a slice of his hotdog and pineapple pizza slide from his hand in his shock. His explanations were animated and if Sofia didn’t feel she’d totally grasped the finer points of phases one through three, or why it was called The Infinity Saga, she agreed to his suggestion to start with a classic. They settled in to watch The Avengers as they ate.

Sofia was a little surprised by how well it was going. A scene in the movie sparked a discussion of travel when the credits rolled, and Gavin took out his phone.

“Have you been to Europe? My mom’s in Germany right now, and she sent me these really cool photos, if you wanna see…”

Sofia did, sharing at them with Ian and asking Gavin about the places shown. “Do you miss your mom?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he admitted.

“But she looks happy with…Wolfgang, is it? Do you know him well?”

“Not really. Just enough to know I don’t really like him.” Gavin raked thin fingers through his hair. “But I gotta try to get along with him, right?”

Out of the corners of her eyes, Sofia saw Ian’s amazement at Gavin chatting, sharing his opinions so openly. “Yeah,” she agreed. “It’s probably for the best.” The conversation flowed on from there, and time flew.