Page 58 of Reaching Gavin

“He doesn’t like to brag,” she explained to me. “Could be worse, I suppose. Richard and I did our best to show him that having money wasn’t everything. I think it’s stuck.”

I thought about how humble Gavin was, how hard he was working to invest in his community and city, how respectfully he treated everyone we encountered. “I think you did a pretty damn good job.”

“Thank you,” she said sincerely. “He bought the restaurant last year when there was a storm.”

I nodded. Gavin had shared that much with me.

“Thomas was hurt when part of the building collapsed and crushed his leg,” she continued.

I thought back to the slight limp I noticed when I had first met the man. He was still getting around, but if it was still bothering him after a year, the damage must have been significant.

“The restaurant almost went under while he was recovering. Gavin just bought the place. He insisted on making Thomas half owner, but he wouldn’t hear of it. He wants to pay Gavin back. Stubborn men.”

“Is there any other kind?” I said with a laugh, while my mind began to wander. So, Gavin didn’t tell me everything. He seemed intent on keeping small secrets. Not dangerous or hurtful ones, but rather things that most men might boast about. I didn’t have to ask myself why he would do that. Gavin didn’t want people to see him that way. He wanted to be his own man. Not a man with money. But I appreciated these glimpses from other people, because they showed me that he was even more amazing behind the scenes when no one was watching. I’d known that already. I’m glad other people got to see it as well.

We ran into the guys a little while later. They were still holding coffee cups from wherever place they had finally found some caffeine.

“Can I have some?” I asked Gavin. He offered me his without objection.

“It’s the best coffee on the island,” Richard told me.

“I guess you would know,” I teased him. It wasn’t half bad. A little strong for my taste, but I guessed that the Sound family drank their coffee stronger than the rest of us. “Are you ever going to open a Sound Coffee up here?”

It would make sense to expand. This town had a huge tourism trade. A lot of people would be looking for the familiar brand.

But Richard shook his head firmly. “This coffee shop has been here for twenty-five years. It was here when we bought our vacation home, and it will be here after I die. It’s too small of an island support too many competing businesses. There are plenty of Sound Coffees in other places in Washington.”

I could see that after spending the day here. Most of the shops were full of unique items. The shopkeepers seemed to dance around one another, trying to offer a wide array of merchandise without stepping on one another’s toes. It made spending time down here all the more enjoyable.

“There’s the added bonus that I don’t get reminded of work,” he whispered to me.

Gavin and his mother had begun to walk ahead of us, chatting about something, the subject of which I couldn’t catch from this distance.

“Gavin says you’re in PR,” Richard said to me.

“I’m studying PR,” I clarified. “I graduate this year.”

“Well, if my son doesn’t hire you, we have a pretty robust PR department at Sound Coffee.”

I had no doubt about that fact. Still, I didn’t want to take advantage of his kindness. “That’s so nice of you. I really don’t know”—

“You sound like my son,” Richard cut me off. “You two seem like two peas in a pod, so I don’t expect this advice will make a dent. Gavin is stubborn like his old man. But do yourself a favor and be a little smarter than him. He thinks that no one will respect him if he uses his family connections. The truth is, though, that family is the only thing we have in this life. We have to lift each other up. You can call it nepotism, but at the end of the day your family is loyal before everyone else. That’s one of the reasons I hope that someday he’ll run my business.”

“My family are Texas ranchers,” I explained to him. “Not exactly a PR-heavy position. But definitely a family business. I know what it’s like to want to make your own mark. But I also believe family is important.”

I did. It was how I was raised. It was why my parents had driven their old car up for me to get to an unpaid internship this summer. It was why I always went home for Thanksgiving.

“You’ve got two families now,” he said in a firm voice.

“Oh, well…” I didn’t know what to say to that.

“My son is falling in love with you. That makes you family in my book.” Richard looked up at his son walking a few hundred yards ahead of us. “Gavin doesn’t give his heart easily. I know he would only choose an extraordinary woman.”

“He’s had an extraordinary example,” I said softly.

“What are you two whispering about?” Gavin yelled over to us.

“Nothing,” his dad called back. “I’m telling her embarrassing stories from your childhood. Remember the time you were convinced that there were tiny people in the radio?”