further away they got from the house, the more Genna questioned this decision. She'd climbed in the car with him after he showed up out of the blue, never even hesitating. Ugh, maybe I am complacent.
"You're not kidnapping me, right?" she asked. "Because Matty might be mad about that."
"Not a chance," Gavin said. "Even if I wanted to, I'm pretty sure you'd annoy me so much I'd just take you right back."
"Or kill me," she said, clarifying when he shot her a look. "Not that I'm suggesting it. I'm just saying… you're not gonna kill me, right?"
"I'm going to buy you pizza for breakfast," he said, "and then I'm going to drive you home, so that you can continue living and bring your whatever-it-is baby into this world. What is it, anyway? Boy? Girl?"
"One of those."
"Shouldn't you know by now? What are you, eight months?"
"Almost seven, and yeah, but I didn't want to know what it was yet. It's a surprise."
"What the hell? Wasn't getting knocked up surprise enough?"
She laughed. "Well, that was more shocking of the terrifying variety, but this is an exciting kind of surprise. Matty knows, though, so if you actually care and aren't just asking because you don't know what else to say to me, I'm sure he'd be happy to tell you."
"I do care."
"Do you?"
"Yeah, it would be nice to know if I'm having a niece or a nephew."
She eyed him. "You know this baby is more like your second cousin, right? I mean, I know you Amaro-Barsanti-Brazzi guys got your family trees all tangled up, but nowhere in that crazy ass mess does that make you my kid's uncle."
"Ah, I like to think I'm an honorary uncle."
"There's nothing honorary about you."
He laughed.
A few minutes before eight, they found a pizzeria in the heart of Las Vegas with a fluorescent 'open' sign flashing in the window. Gavin parked in a small adjacent lot and the two of them went inside.
"What do you want on your pizza?" he asked. "Some weird pineapple artichoke broccoli combo? Is that what you pregnant chicks get down with?"
She grimaced. "Call me a chick one more time, and I'm revoking even the second cousin title. And gross. No. I want pepperoni."
"Pepperoni," he repeated as he stepped up to the counter to order.
"And pickles," she called out, finding a small table to sit down at.
He glowered, ordering a large pepperoni with pickles, before joining her. After the pizza came out, Genna tore into it, while Gavin plucked the pickles off a piece to take a bite.
"This is what I miss about New York," she said. "Good pizza."
"That's what you miss?"
"Yep."
"Nothing else?"
"Well, I mean, I miss other stuff, and what I really miss is nothing I can ever have back," she said. "I used to think living there was isolating, since my dad micromanaged my life, but I at least had my brother. I took that for granted, because now I know what isolation really is. It's weird without him, without having him to talk to."
Gavin stared at her, ignoring his pizza.
"I mean, don't get me wrong," she said. "I have Matty, and I love him. I desperately love him. And I'm happy building a life with him, having a family with him, but this baby will never know my life. It'll never have an uncle that's not honorary."
Gavin didn't respond. Genna didn't expect him to. For all she knew, he wasn't even listening. She finished scarfing down her pizza, boxing up the rest.
It was half-past nine when they made it back to the house to find Matty pacing, a nervous wreck. He burst out onto the porch wearing only a pair of boxers, hair sticking up all over the place, desperately needing a shave.
"Whoa, buddy." Gavin let out a low whistle. "You're about a banjo away from Deliverance here."
Genna laughed, glancing at Gavin. "I think I've told him that before."
"That makes two votes for Matty-B taking a damn razor to that mess he's calling his face these days."
"I woke up to an empty house," Matty said, ignoring them. "I woke up to my pregnant wife missing, the car still in the yard, and her phone still in the house. I woke up not knowing where the hell she could've gone. I damn near called the police until I remembered that was out of the question."
"We went for food," Genna said, carrying the pizza box as she stepped up onto the porch. "Figured we'd be back before you woke up."