Simmons Brothers Series: Boxed Set

by Danielle Gray

  Tomorrow will be better, she told herself.

  Maybe.

  Chapter Eight

  Jamie couldn’t stop thinking about Gabrielle.

  He couldn’t stop thinking about the way she had suddenly left the diner without finishing her food, as if something bad had happened. It had to have something to do with the call she had received. He thought that because he had seen her clutching the cell phone tightly in her palm as if she wanted to break it in two.

  It had been a day and she still hadn’t contacted him. Normally he would be happy about it. In his mind, she was surely just a pesky reporter who was out to publish malicious truths about him like the last one had done. Shaking his head though, he knew she was different. And the fact that she was so open about it made him feel that she wouldn’t do anything like that, even though the lingering pain of before remained in his heart.

  He hadn’t wanted to talk about Sally, she was a reminder of a painful past but still, he had because something about Gabrielle’s gaze had put him at ease. Maybe that was how she got her subjects to talk, by putting them at ease.

  Either way, he tried to put her out of his mind, but found her drifting back. He hadn’t even gone to the council office after that and he had ignored the calls about it. He didn’t want to go back, but he knew he would have to. That was his promise.

  “You seem preoccupied,” Drew said.

  Jamie nodded absently, looking down at the papers he had taken to work with. He hadn’t been able to concentrate on either of them and as Drew sat down opposite him, he sighed and pushed them away.

  “What’s bothering you?”

  “I don’t like the council work,” Jamie said truthfully.

  “Then don’t do it,”

  “It’s not that easy.”

  “Why not? No one’s forcing you to do it.”

  Jamie didn’t say anything at that and only scrawled a signature onto one of the papers.

  “I am telling you that you worry too much,” Drew said. “What happened with that reporter?”

  “Nothing, I showed her around town, we talked and then she didn’t contact me.”

  “I saw her today,” Drew said. “Walking in the town, she was asking directions from someone.”

  “Directions?” Jamie said.

  “Yeah, I couldn’t hear but it looked like she wanted directions to a house.”

  A house? And that’s when it clicked for Jamie. He got up and said,

  “I have to go someplace. Tell Lana that I’ll miss lunch.”

  He rushed out and hoped that he wouldn’t be too late to stop her from doing what he suspected she was doing.

  ***

  “This has to be the place,” Gaby said to herself.

  She stared at the small house and tried to imagine a smaller version of Jamie playing around the place with another small girl. It did look welcoming with its tiled roof and the small plants arranged in the window sills. A perfect place for a happy upbringing.

  The thought made her feel sad about her own childhood but she brushed that aside as she walked up the stairs and rang the bell. She only had to wait a moment before the door opened and she was face to face with an older man with salt and pepper hair and a stern face.

  “Can I help you?” the man asked.

  “Councilman Henderson?” she asked. “Can I talk to you?”

  “You can, if you tell me who you are and what you are doing here,” Councilman Henderson retorted. “I don’t usually like strangers coming to my home without dealing with the office first.”

  “I assure you, it has nothing to do with your title. My name is Gabrielle Montague. I am here to talk to you about Jamie Simmons.”

  “Simmons eh? Well then come on in.”

  She walked into the house and took a look around the house, it was quaint and well kept. She spotted a family image on a small table, a younger looking Henderson, his wife and a small girl who had to be Sally Henderson. She sat down and Councilman Henderson did the same.

  “I can’t offer you anything at the moment, my housekeeper hasn’t arrived yet,” he said.

  “It’s not a problem. I won’t stay long, just a few questions and I’ll be off.” She said.

  “Questions about Jamie Simmons? What is your interest in him?”

  “Just a story,” she said. “I did the interview on Councilman Hamilton and now I am thinking of another piece on his aide.”

  “Jamie Simmons isn’t his aide. Jamie Simmons is a glorified man we keep around so that we can use him for our purposes.” Was it her or did she hear regret in his voice?

  “I wanted to know about his relationship with your daughter Sally.”

  “Oh the two were thick as thieves when they were young. She defied me so that he could fulfill his dreams and then she never came back,” Councilman Henderson said with a mixture of anger and sadness.

  “So Jamie Simmons is the reason that your daughter never came back?”

  “That’s how I see it,” he replied. “Sally never wanted to leave but when she heard that Jamie’s father wouldn’t let him leave, the two ran away. I thought that they had something going on but a few years later, he came back alone and Sally good as disappeared.”

  “She never keeps in contact?”

  “There are some cards, a few phone calls. She has her own life now, it doesn’t include me often.”

  “I see.”

  “I’ll tell you this-“

  But what he was going to tell her, she never got to know over the thud on the front door. Councilman Henderson looked confused and then got up to open the door. Gaby felt her body freeze when she heard his voice ringing over the house,

  “Is Gabrielle here?”

  “She is,” she heard Councilman Henderson say. “I didn’t think you would come by that quickly Simmons.”

  “It’s urgent.”

  He burst through the living room and his eyes were fearful to see as they took in Gaby seated on the couch.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked.

  “My job,” she said clearly. “I would like to know what you are doing here.”

  “Stopping you from being a nuisance.”

  Councilman Henderson appeared and looked at the two with interest.

  “She isn’t being a nuisance,” Councilman Henderson said. “I think she is good for you, getting your story out.”

  “There’s no need for that,” Jamie said fiercely.

  “I have always pushed you hard Simmons,” Councilman Henderson said, “But maybe it’s time that you forget about your past things and learn to forgive yourself. I may still blame you but Sally…”

  “We are done,” Jamie said. He reached for her hand, gripping it tightly and pulling her. A yelp left her and before she could do anything, she was being pulled out of the house. Jamie didn’t stop until they were a good distance away and then she tore her hand from his grip.

  “How dare you!” she said indignantly. “You had no right to do that!”

  “I did. Seeing as you were interviewing him about me, I had complete and total right to do that,” he said fiercely.

  “I did tell you I was going to go around interviewing about you,” she said.

  He paused, knowing that she was right but then said,

  “I didn’t think you would go to him. Councilman Henderson has no right to love me.”

  “He didn’t imply that nor did he imply that he hated you. Jamie,” she said, saying his name for the first time. “Stop trying to hinder me.”

  “Stop trying to pry into my past.”

  “You know I can’t do that.”

  “Why can’t you? Your story is done; you are a big shot reporter, why do you want a story on me?” He demanded.

  That made her stop. He couldn’t tell her why he was so intent on hiding his story and she couldn’t tell him why she wanted to do this story. They were at an impasse.

  “I can’t tell you that.”

  “I am warning you Gabrielle, stop your effor
ts. There’s nothing you can find here.”

  With that, he stalked away from her, leaving her feeling pathetic on the sidewalk as she mulled over the strength of his words.

  For whom was she doing this story?

  Chapter Nine

  She shouldn’t feel guilty.

  It didn’t make sense, why would she feel guilty for doing her job? But every time Gaby saw Jamie’s face in her mind; she felt a sense of guilt gnawing at her insides. He had seemed so angry with her that it made her doubt the legitimacy of going through with this investigation. What was the point of making someone sad?

  No, it wasn’t someone, it was Jamie. What was the point of making him sad? That begged her to ask the question, why did she care about Jamie Simmons? Granted, they had only one good conversation, but somehow she cared about upsetting him somehow. Wasn’t that why she was, at this moment, laid out on her couch, staring into space instead of working on the article like she should be?

  She had already overstayed her time, the week she was supposed to stay was already over and she was at Day 10. Joe had called about that but she had listlessly promised him that she would have the article sent to him in a day or two while asking him to dig up anything about Jamie Simmons or Sally Henderson. That had made her feel worse. She almost wanted to stop doing the investigation, but now it was more to satisfy her curiosity and less about her story. She was starting to think that there was no point in writing a story about him. She was just wasting her time.

  Ms. Hay had come by to see how she was doing and to ask her delicately about the rent seeing as she had passed the time the paper was going to pay for it so she had signed it over from her own pocket. Who cared, it wasn’t that much and she could stay as long as she could pay.

  She hadn’t seen him in four days. It was gnawing inside of her. She wanted to see him. She wanted to talk to him, apologize maybe.

  What the councilman had said had stuck to her. He hadn’t insulted Jamie Simmons, if anything he had said something about Jamie forgiving himself. What had Jamie done that required forgiveness? She wanted to know that as well, but she didn’t know how she could actually figure that out. Was there something Jamie was hiding? Something that he had done?

  All these hints, they tugged at her but not for a story and that was when she realized that she didn’t want to know his story to write, she wanted to know his story so that she could know the truth. She was personally invested in Jamie Simmons now. How stupid could she be?

  Gaby groaned and sat up, her stomach rumbling. She needed some food and then she would finish this stupid article and send it to Joe. There was no need for her to be invested anymore. Finish the article and leave the town, forget Jamie Simmons. And that thought made a pang go through her heart.

  She went into the kitchen, fixing herself something as she told herself that she was fine. When she returned, she saw that she had a message.

  Found something on the person you wanted me to, sent it to your mail. You owe me one.

  She put down her food, her heart thumping with anticipation at what Joe had found for her. She wanted to know, could this lead her to the answer? She ate a piece of her sandwich and opened the document that Joe had sent. It was an article and as she read through it, her mouth went slack, forgetting to chew what was in her mouth. She swallowed hastily, feeling indignation and horror going through her.

  Oh god, she thought. What have I done?

  I have to apologize right now, she thought. She looked outside, it was dark but who cared. She had to do this right now. No wonder, he felt so guilty, no wonder he wanted to hide this.

  I am stupid; she thought as she pulled on a jacket and ran out the front door.

  ***

  “You know,” Drew said sardonically. “I think the food in this house will be very happy if you don’t take out your anger on it.”

  Jamie looked at Drew blandly and then down at his mashed potatoes which were spread all over his plate. He could see that Lana and Pete were hiding smiles while Mark pretended not to see anything. He gathered them again and said to Drew,

  “Mind your own business.”

  “I would if you stop spraying me with mashed potatoes,” he said, flicking some off his sleeve. “Seriously, if someone made you mad, don’t you think the logical thing is to go talk to them about it?”

  “No one made me mad.”

  “And the Easter Bunny visited me last night,” Drew said sarcastically. “It’s the reporter isn’t it? I feel like we should give her a name now.”

  “Her name is Gabrielle and she is none of my concern now.”

  “That makes me think she is your concern.”

  Jamie gripped his fork tightly and Mark interjected,

  “Maybe it’s better if we don’t have bloodshed right now.”

  Jamie fumed as the rest of dinner went by and after Lana cleared everything, Drew indicated for him to go outside. They walked outside, feeling the cool breeze and sat down on the porch.

  “So what’s bothering you?” Drew asked.

  “Nothing,” Jamie said.

  Drew fixed him with a stare and Jamie sighed.

  “Gabrielle has been trying to write a story about me, she’s been digging around.”

  “I see,” Drew said. “That bothers you?”

  “It does.”

  “Lots of people have pried about you, you are the town’s mystery pariah, why does she bother you so much?”

  That made Jamie think. Why did she bother him so much? In a way, she was the one person he didn’t want to know about his past, because he was afraid it would influence her in some way. Did that mean he saw her in a different way? That couldn’t be it.

  “Speaking of people,” Drew said. “I would say you have a visitor.”

  “What?” Jamie said looking up to see a figure running towards them.

  The figure got closer and he saw to his shock that it was Gabrielle, dressed in slacks and a t shirt with a jacket over her. She was gasping for breath, her hair completely out of place and as she bent over, Drew stood up.

  “I’ll be inside; making sure no one bothers you.”

  He left the two of them alone and Jamie could only stare at Gabrielle who was still trying to catch her breath.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked calmly.

  “I had to see you,” she said. “I…I found the article.”

  He froze, unable to say anything and she stepped closer to him.

  “I am so sorry, I didn’t realize that…”

  “You have nothing to apologize for. It happened a long time ago.”

  “But I didn’t think that Sally would…”

  “She did what she thought was right for her,” Jamie said. “I have nothing against her for it. It happened a long time ago.”

  “Didn’t you ever try to ask her why she stole your work? Or the reporter for falsely reporting that it was her work?”

  “I can only assume she had a hand in that. Sally wanted that life and she probably got jealous from the way I only focused on myself. Sally gave up her life here to come with me, but she never found anything there that caught her, until she fell in love with photography. But she didn’t get the exposure she was getting so she stole one of my works and claimed that it was hers. At first I was mad at her, but then I decided that I didn’t really care,” Jamie said slowly. “I always thought that I was in love with Sally, but she never saw it that way. She thought I was a dear friend and maybe I thought that letting her have this was my way of atonement for making her give up her life.”

  “But I don’t get what your promise is then. You came back, but why did you work in the council office?” Gaby asked.

  He indicated that she sit down beside him and took a deep breath.

  “Before I left, Sally made me promise that I would take care of her father. She did apologize for what she did, but I told her she could have it. Her request was that I take care of her father because she would rarely come back and I agreed. Her father didn’t kno
w about that or maybe he does. Henderson is a mysterious guy, he let me work for him in the council office and I haven’t stopped since.”

  “I think he was trying to tell you that when I went to him,” Gabrielle said. “That you don’t need to honor it anymore.”

  “Maybe he was,” Jamie said. “I am still going to do it. I like the work and the other three handle the ranch well enough.”

  For a few minutes they were quiet and then Jamie said,

  “You have your story now, are you going to publish it?”

  She shook her head. “I quit it. I don’t have any story to publish.”

  “Why not?” he asked surprised.

  “I am not that type of person and besides, I didn’t really have a motivation for it.”

  Gabrielle took a deep breath and said,

  “I needed a story for selfish reasons.”

  She made a split decision and decided that since he had told her about his story, she might as well tell him about hers.

  “The reason I needed the story was to get my credibility back. Before I came here, I was working the hot stories, going around the city, interviewing everyone, living the best life as you can imagine. I wanted my name to be known but I made one mistake. I went into a relationship with a co-worker without knowing that he was married. To be honest, he didn’t bother telling me and I was so caught up in being the best that I didn’t bother to search. But then…” her voice choked up as she remembered.

  “His wife came to me, in the office and begged me to let him go. It was a rude eye opening and then I confronted him. Joe had to demote both of us so that we didn’t kill each other.”

  “That’s why you were sent here,” Jamie connected.

  She nodded. “I was put on this last minute because he wanted the two of us away from each other.”

  “Did you love him?”

  She thought about it and shook her head.

  “I don’t think it was about love really, it was more about convenience and he fulfilled my ego, the orphan kid being successful and all that.”

  “He called that day at the diner, didn’t he?”

  “You are pretty smart, Jamie,” she complimented, smiling. “Yeah, he did. Wanted me back, god knows why. There, we are both on equal ground now.”