Simmons Brothers Series: Boxed Set

by Danielle Gray

  “Hello,” Destine said, looking at her in surprise. “Anything I can help you with?”

  “Yes, I was looking for Jamie Simmons,” she said.

  “Oh, he isn’t in today. Jamie doesn’t really work here so he comes and goes as he pleases,” Destine replied.

  “Is that so?” Gaby said disappointed. The first part of her plan had already somewhat been foiled.

  “Well, if you really need him, you should try the ranch, his ranch. It’s in the city outskirts, hard to miss,” Destine said.

  “I’ll do that,” Gaby said and turned away.

  This was better, she decided. This way she would see him in his home and get some good info on the background of the article. She started at a brisk pace, keeping it steady as she walked, but soon lost it as she realized that his ranch was further than what she had anticipated. But finally she saw what appeared to be a ranch in the distance and hurried to it, huffing. She was out of shape, she had to rectify that.

  This ranch, already in her eyes, suited her tastes. There was a serene feeling to it. She could hear the animals in the background, but that didn’t stop her from admiring the area as well as the pretty farmhouse standing in front of her. She was about to go on ahead when she heard the sound of galloping feet. She had one look of a large shadow before an involuntary shriek escaped her lips.

  “Whoa!” a deep voice said and she opened her eyes to see that it had been a horse that had startled her.

  The horse’s rider had dismounted and she stared at him, seeing a very strong similarity between him and Jamie Simmons. Then if occurred to her that this must be one of the brothers.

  “Are you alright?” the man asked.

  She nodded.

  “Sorry for startling you,” The man said. “I was taking her around for a ride, didn’t think someone would be here this time of day.”

  “It’s fine,” she said.

  “I haven’t seen you around,” he said. “Do you need to see someone?”

  “I’m here to see Jamie Simmons,” she said.

  “Jamie?” the man raised his eyebrow. “Why do you need him?”

  “That’s my business isn’t it?” she said.

  “It is. But I’m his brother, Pete, so it also makes it my business,” the man returned calmly.

  “Yes well, it has something to do with an article I’m working on,” she fibbed and awareness came into his eyes.

  He knew about her. What had Jamie talked about to him? That was something that was bothering her quite a bit. Instead, she followed Pete as he led the horse with him towards what she assumed to be where Jamie was.

  As they walked, she took in everything and couldn’t help but like this ranch much better than the Hamilton ranch. It was so peaceful yet had its pieces of action in it. She took out her camera, wanting to take an image, but realized the fruitlessness of such a gesture. She wasn’t meant for the camera, but Jamie on the other hand was perfect for it.

  She really was intrigued about the whole story. What did Jamie have in relation to Sally Henderson? Maybe she should talk to her father about it. But first she needed to understand who Jamie was and his motivations. Maybe if necessary, she would ask Joe to dig something up for her.

  Pete had led her to a small building and he said,

  “Jamie’s in there. Mind you, he isn’t in a good mood.”

  “Is her ever?” she mumbled. “Thanks for the warning,” she called, before she walked in.

  She could tell he wasn’t in a good mood from the way he was using the laptop, his fingers were basically smashing the letters and she couldn’t imagine what had made him so mad. She knocked slightly and when his eyes turned to her, she felt a shiver go down her spine. There was something so intense about his eyes that it made her feel as if he could see everything that she was trying to hide from him.

  “What do you need?” he asked impassively.

  “It’s nice to see you too, Mr. Simmons.”

  “I don’t like exchanging pleasantries,” Jamie replied. “It doesn’t go with how I am.”

  “So I’ve noticed,” she said.

  “And that’s coming from a reporter.”

  “Do you have something against me or my profession?” she asked bluntly.

  “Neither, I just think all reporters look for a story and I am not wrong am I?” Jamie said, staring at her again.

  He was perceptive and she knew she couldn’t hide it.

  “You’re right, we always look for a story.”

  “So you found a story in me then?” he asked.

  “Maybe,” she said, sitting down. “If you cooperate.”

  “You know,” Jamie said, leaning back in his chair. “At least you aren’t hiding anything. You want a story from me and you came to ask me about it? What’s your angle?”

  “The trusted aide of the councilman,” she said. “I want more details about you.”

  “I refuse,” he said without a pause. “I don’t want any news to come out about me.”

  “I need it for the article,” she said, trying another method.

  ***

  “You can use another thing for the article; you don’t need to use my information. I know enough about reporting to know that you’re stretching the truth.”

  That made her gears turn. How did he know? This was getting her excited and she smiled without meaning to.

  “What’s funny?” he asked.

  “Nothing, nothing at all. Fine, at least show me around town while I’m here,” she said, changing her angle. “I want to get a feel of the town, so that I can do justice to the article.”

  “You can ask anyone else to do that,” he said.

  “You’re a native, its best that you do it.” She said. “And besides showing me around works in your favor.”

  “How do you figure that?”

  “I can only learn what you want me to learn,” she said. “Isn’t that good for you?”

  He raised his eyebrow at that and smiled, something that took her by surprise. So the man could smile and look handsome while he did it.

  “You’re right, it does work in my favor. I’ll take you around then, tomorrow.”

  “Why not now?”

  “Well, unlike you,” he said. “I have some work to finish and it wouldn’t do for me to leave it. So be patient and I’ll be at your house tomorrow at noon. Sound about right?”

  “Sounds perfect,” Gaby said, standing up.

  “Miss Montague,” he said, as she was about to leave the room.

  “Yes?”

  “I do not take kindly to people snooping around my business. It’s something I have never been able to tolerate, so please keep that in mind,” his eyes were burning into her though his voice remained calm.

  “I have heard worse threats, Mr. Simmons,” she returned not in the least bit afraid. “I only go where the story takes me.”

  With that she left the room, happy to know that she had won this round though his words echoed in her mind for a while.

  What exactly was he hiding

  Chapter Seven

  It failed to appeal to her why exactly she was dressing up for her outing with Jamie Simmons.

  Gaby hadn’t stopped looking through her luggage to find something suitable since morning. It was nearing the time he had told her that he would arrive and she was still stuck looking at the outfits she had spread on the bed. Should she go professional or chic? She had no idea.

  Meanwhile, her laptop, perched on the bedside table, glowered at her for her lack of writing. Yes, she had tried to finish the article last night, but the mystery of Jamie Simmons had stuck in her head. Who was he? What connection did he have with Sally Henderson and how had that affected his photography skills? It all had the marks of a juicy story.

  “Imagine the headlines,” she whispered to herself. “Trusted aide leaves photography to serve councilman due to a dark past.”

  It was already sounding great in her head.

  Finally she picked a medium le
ngth skirt and blouse, minimum makeup and loosely brushed hair. It was casual, that was all she needed to look like for this.

  She was packing her purse when she heard the honk from outside. He was here. Regretfully she threw a stare at the clothes on the bed and promised herself that she would come back later to clean it up. She ran downstairs and to her surprise, saw him waiting for her in a normal car instead of that monstrosity of a truck.

  Why did he have to look so handsome? She was finding it to be increasingly distracting. His brother too had the same good looks but on Jamie there was something very mature and dangerous about it.

  Let’s not dwell on the subject’s good looks, she said to herself as she was about to get into the car. But Jamie got out of the car and indicated that they were to walk instead which made sense. She shrugged and followed him as he led the way.

  “Good morning,” she said pleasantly.

  “It’s afternoon now,” he said and she sighed.

  “You know, it isn’t a crime to be pleasant,” she said.

  “I know, I just don’t want to be pleasant to you,” he said, without any change in tone.

  “Are you always like this?”

  “Not always, only to reporters who have already declared that they want to snoop around my life.”

  “To be fair, you did threaten me.”

  “Minor issue.”

  “Maybe to you, we take that to be a big offense in the city,” she said.

  “I know. I’ve been there. I’ve met reporters,” he said. “Never liked a one of them.”

  “Why, did someone run a piece on you without your permission?”

  His silence was the confirmation she needed, but he must have realized that because he said,

  “Nothing of that sort,”

  But the damage was done and now Gaby was sure, Jamie Simmons had a piece run on him at some point. Well, it looked like she had a lead and when she got the time; she was going to get Joe to look through that for her.

  “Where do you want to go first?” she asked.

  “We’ll walk around and anything that catches your eye, you can ask me about it,” he replied.

  The premise sounded bland to her and she said that to him, but he only shrugged.

  “It’s a small town, there’s nothing to write much about it.”

  “That’s not true, I’m sure you have fond memories of this town. Why don’t you share your experience so I can show it better in my writing?”

  “It comes down to me then?” he said sharply.

  “Who else? You are the one leading me around.”

  It didn’t take him long to see the logic of that and he said,

  “Fine, I’ll tell you a bit about my childhood and then take you around the sights of this town.”

  Jamie began to talk about how he had lived in town. Unknown to him, she had her recorder recording him just in case she forgot everything. There was a fondness in his voice as he spoke, a sentimentality that made her smile. He even smiled a couple of times as he spoke about playing around with his brothers and then finally a name came up.

  “Sally and I used to play around this block,” he said, pointing it out.

  “Sally?” she asked.

  “Sally Henderson, we used to be close when we were children,” he said without any change of expression. “She left the town and didn’t come back. She is doing well, working somewhere. I talk to her often.”

  Curious, she thought. He is talking freely about her but that wasn’t what she would have expected him to do. There was something here that she was missing or maybe he was trying to throw her off, but she wasn’t going to be thrown off that easily. She continued to nod and listen to him talk. But as Gaby listened, she could see how natural he was at expressing his words and it started to touch her as she began to sympathize with the sentimentality in his voice. She had to stop herself however; it wouldn’t do if she got too emotionally invested in him. Instead, she only continued to listen to him as he talked.

  Finally he said,

  “Are you hungry?”

  Gaby nodded, looking at her watch. Somehow it was already two, where had the two hours gone? All they had done was walked and talked, but somehow she felt she had a better understanding of him now.

  “Let’s get something to eat and then we can continue the tour.”

  She agreed with him and then the two of them went into the diner. Loretta smiled to see the two of them and said,

  “Take a seat, I’ll bring you two something to eat.”

  “Looks like you already made an impression on her,” Jamie commented.

  “I was here before, I like her and the food,” Gaby said.

  “You know, I talked a lot about me, why don’t you tell me about yourself?” Jamie said innocently.

  “Why?” she said bristling.

  “Seems only fair right?”

  “I suppose, but you wouldn’t be interested to know about me,” Gaby said. “I’m only a reporter.”

  “Try me.”

  She leaned back against the booth, thinking. She wasn’t loathe to share her circumstances, but the way Jamie was staring at her made her feel weird, almost as if his opinion mattered to her and Gaby had lived life in a way where no one’s opinions mattered to her.

  “What do you want to know?” She asked.

  “Why don’t you tell me about your childhood?”

  “That’s a boring topic, “she said. “I don’t have a childhood, not one worth speaking of anyways.”

  This time he was puzzled and she clarified,

  “I’m an orphan. Most of my childhood was spent in an orphanage, with twenty other kids fighting to eat every day.”

  The look of horror on his face was something she had expected, but not the sadness that had come with it. No one ever had sadness, they always had pity and this was a new thing. Why would he feel sad for her? She was basically trying to run an article on him. It didn’t make any sense.

  “Anyway, I got out of that when I was sixteen, lived on the streets a while, found some good people who took me in and helped me finish off my education, before starting at the bottom of the reporting world.”

  “Why did you choose that?” He asked.

  “I don’t know, it might have had something to do with the fact that I was always told I was nothing. So I wanted people to know my name and that’s what I lived for,” she mused.

  “That’s an admirable goal.”

  “What about you?” she changed the topic. “You have an admirable talent as well, your photography.”

  “I quit that,” he said.

  “You seemed passionate about it. Loretta told me that you left town for it.”

  “Loretta knows too much, but I can’t fault her for it.” He didn’t seem like he was going to indulge her any longer, but she made one last attempt.

  “Think of it this way,” she said. “Let’s try to be pleasant to each other. I’m not a cheap reporter who will run a story without permission. If I do run a story about you, it’ll be after you give your permission and after you agree to what’s been written. So, don’t worry that everything you say will suddenly become front page news for tomorrow.”

  He paused as she said that before he nodded and said,

  “At one point, I did think that photography was going to be something I would do for the rest of my life. Sally helped me achieve that, she left the town with me and we both worked together to achieve our dreams. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to get mine but she got hers and never came back. That’s all there is to it.”

  “But you’re so talented,” she said, surprised.

  “Life works out in different ways. I don’t think about it anymore. I’m happy where I’m right now, with my family.”

  “But how come you work in the council office?”

  “I think you are going to have to wait for that answer another time,” he said, without malice and with a tiny hint of a smile. “I can’t reveal everything to you right now, can I?”

>   She laughed and nodded as Loretta came with the food. As they ate, it felt like a barrier had been taken down and she was quite enjoying chatting with him. He seemed nice, once she got past his grumpiness and it made her feel better spending time with him. Even though a part of her told her to be careful, she didn’t think she had anything to be worried about.

  She was going to continue, when her cell rang. She picked it up and paled when she saw who was calling.

  “Jamie, I-“she stopped and then said, “I have to go. I’ll see you later.”

  Despite his confused look, she stood up and walked out, the ringing cell phone clutched in her hands. She almost ran, until she was far away from the diner, before she answered the call.

  “What do you want Dave?” she said, her voice ice cold.

  “Long time no talk,” Dave’s voice came through. She hated the sound of that voice, it reminded her of the time when she thought that he was perfect for her. “How’s the town life treating you?”

  “That’s none of your business,” she said angrily.

  “You don’t have to be so defensive about it,” he said. “I was only trying to be pleasant.”

  “Then stop trying,” she said. “What do you want?”

  “I want you to tell me when you’ll be coming back.”

  “I don’t owe you that information.”

  “You should, after all we were good together.”

  “Yeah, good after or before you got married and conveniently forgot to tell me. How’s Sue? Still doing good with her cheating husband?”

  “Don’t take it so personally.”

  “I am done with you Dave, goodbye.” She hung up the cell and shook with anger and hate.

  She hated herself for having fallen for his word and hated him for having deceived her so easily. The whole thing had been ruined and she felt bad for Jamie, having to see her in that state. She was in no mood to go back and apologize to him now and so she headed home, thinking that when she got the chance she would apologize. For now, she was going to take some time alone so that she didn’t have to think about Dave again.

  Even the thought of Jamie’s story didn’t give her any comfort as she walked into the house and buried her head into the pillows.