Abby gave her a knowing smile. “See? Do you get it now? Why I love it so much?”
“Yeah, I get it.”
“I bet there’s at least one hospital in the area looking for a nurse.” Abby’s gaze remained on the calm water, taking comfort in the soothing sounds that surrounded them.
“I said I get it, not that I’m ready to give up my life for it.” Piper sent a sidelong glance toward Abby, a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. “Yet.”
They sat in silence, both of them cross-legged, reminding Abby of the crisscross-applesauce game she used to play with Cooper. Sweet memories tugged at her heartstrings. Abby snapped some photographs of Gus and some of Piper, until Gus decided he was ready to get going. Abby had gotten some stellar shots with her camera, but wished she would have had a chance to get one of the elk. She’d have to come out sometime without Gus and see what she could find. The wildlife camera Simon installed for her came up with nothing before it was broken shortly after it was set up. She hadn’t gotten around to getting it fixed or replaced yet. Gabriel volunteered to take it in for repairs and to purchase a new one if it wasn’t repairable, but Abby declined the offer. Despite being attracted to him, the last thing she needed was to feel like she owed him something. She’d never feel indebted to a man ever again.
The morning Abby was to drive Piper to the airport it was cold and rainy.
“See Pip? The sky is crying because you’re leaving.”
“And Dad will be celebrating because there will only be one of us to nag him again instead of two.”
“He loves it.” Abby grinned. “Next time you come out he might be dressed like Grizzly Adams and have a pet bear.”
“If that happens I’m taking him back to live by me.”
“He’d never leave here. He loves it.”
“Yeah, he does.” Piper was suddenly serious. “It kills me to admit it, but you were right about him coming here with you. I can see a big difference in him and it hasn’t been that long.”
“So that means there’s hope for you if you come here to live.”
“Nice try. But I’m a city girl. There’s no changing that.”
“Country mouse, city mouse?” Abby teased.
“Before you switched playing fields, we were both city mice.”
“Stop making stupid small talk and let me go. I can’t breathe,” Abby said, trying to break free from her sister’s vise-like grip as they stood by the curb at passenger drop-off.
“I love you, brat.”
“Love you, too.”
She watched until Piper disappeared on the other side of the doors.
19
When Abby got back to the resort, Gabriel was talking with Sam in front of his camper. She walked over to them, Gus falling into step beside her.
“Did Piper get off okay?” Gabriel asked, giving her an award-winning, heart-stopping smile.
“Yup.” She struggled to focus on anything other than how attractive he looked with the sun shining down on him, his blue eyes sparkling with vitality. His beard stubble gave him a raw appeal. “I got used to having her around. It feels kind of lonesome without her.”
“You’re not alone. You have Cooper, your dad, Sam, Victoria. Me.” He spread his arms and grinned like a little boy, and she laughed. “Got time to have a glass of iced tea with me? I have some sun tea brewing.”
“I’d love it.” Her stomach fluttered. “Let me check in with Coop, Dad, and Victoria first. Meet you there in about ten?”
“Perfect.”
Twenty minutes later, she strolled over to his camper where he had two lawn chairs set up, a glass of sun tea in the cup holder of each chair.
“That was a long ten minutes,” he said.
“I was talking with my dad.”
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah. He was just telling me that Cooper’s at Johnny’s house.”
“Sounds like you’re not happy about that.”
“I don’t know his parents.”
“Do you trust Cooper?”
“Yes.”
“Johnny?”
“Not so much.” He looked at her, cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow in question. “I don’t really have a reason not to. It’s just a gut feeling.”
“I’m all for trusting your gut. Why don’t you call him?”
Abby pulled her phone from her back pocket and stopped short of touching the button that would call Cooper. She stayed still for a moment and then lay her phone down on the stump that doubled as a table. She picked up a blue BIC multi-purpose lighter and turned it over in her hands, absently igniting the flame.
“I’m sure he’s fine,” she said.
“Tell you what. Since knowing someone is important to you before going to their house to play, let’s play a game.”
“A game?” Abby laughed. “What if I don’t like games?”
“Yes, ma’am, a game. And you will like this game. I don’t want to risk you not coming over again to my humble establishment. And I certainly couldn’t invite you over again if I don’t know you.” He looked at her, his brows furrowed. “Besides, how can anyone not like games? That’s like a kid saying he doesn’t like candy.”
Her heart skipped a beat as she saw his eyes glimmer with mischief.
“What kind of game did you have in mind?”
“Well, the question game, of course.” He acted as though he was shocked she didn’t know which game he had in mind. “Me first.”
“Why do you get to go first?”
“Because I have to know you, too, you know.” He winked at her. “Besides, it’s my game.”
“Seriously?” She laughed and took a drink of her tea.
“Oh, this is no laughing matter.” He tried to look serious. “I can be very competitive.”
“Try me,” she challenged.
“What’s my favorite color?”
“How would I know what your favorite color is?”
“It’s all part of the game.” He winked at her again. She felt a weird urge to gently poke his dimples.
“Blue. What’s mine?”
“Beeep,” he made an obnoxious sound. “Black. Yours is pink.”
She wrinkled up her nose. “Beeep. I do not like pink. “
“Okay … well I can see we’re not getting off to a good start. How about we change the rules a bit.”
“In the middle of the game?”
“My game, my rules.”
Abby laughed again. It frightened her to realize how much she enjoyed his company, but no sooner had she felt the slight tremor of fear, it flourished into joy. She was having more fun than she had in a very long time. “So what are your rules, hotshot?”
“Hotshot, huh?”He nudged her foot with his own, her flip-flop falling in the dirt. “I get to ask you five questions, and then you can ask me.”
“Why do you get to go first?”
“Because it’s my game.” He gave her a dramatic eye roll. “How quickly you forget.”
“What if I don’t want to answer?” she asked, still laughing, her cheeks hurting.
“Duh!” he sang. “Not an option.”
“Okay, go.”
“Ha! It’s on!” He smiled and rubbed his chin, dramatically putting a huge effort into thinking about what he wanted to ask. “Favorite food.”
“Booorrring,” she rolled her eyes, laughing. “Pizza.”
“Favorite game?”
“Sorry and Life.”
“Sorry about what?”
“The game Sorry,” she said, laughing.
“Favorite childhood memory?”
“Hiking with my dad.”
“What animal are you most like and why?”
“I’m not like any animal.”
“That’s not the correct answer to the question, rule breaker.”
“You’re resorting to name calling?” she laughed. “What a poor sport. Panther.”
“Because?” he asked.
�
�I like the outdoors, solitude, and sleep.”
“They’re also known to be elusive and one of the only felines to roar rather than purr. Should I be worried?”
“I could answer that but it would be question number six,” she grinned. “You said five.”
“I guess I can find that out on my own. Hmmm…let’s go for six.” He stroked his chin slowly, deliberately. “Got it! If you could wish for anything in the whole world, what would it be?”
“I didn’t agree to six.”
“I didn’t ask for agreement. That would have been another question.”
She laughed, realizing again that this is the most she’d laughed in months. “That one is easy. Never ever to see Cooper hurt. And to be able to have just one more day with my mom.” She smiled tenderly. “Guess that was two. Does that go against your rules?”
His eyes crinkled at the corners gently. “Nope. You’re a good mom Miss Abigail Sinclair. And your mother would be proud.”
“Yeah? How do you know?” She looked toward the lake, purposefully avoiding his eyes.
“Because I do. How could she not be proud of you?”
“My turn,” she abruptly changed the focus off of herself and looked back at him. “Favorite game?”
“Huh! That’s not very original,” he teased. “Twister.”
“Twister?” she laughed loud.
“Yup. Maybe the three of us will have to play sometime.”
“You’d so lose,” she teased.
“We’ll have to find out, won’t we? Next?”
“Favorite childhood memory?”
“Fishing with my dad—alone, without my cousin who practically lived with us.”
“Animal you’re most like and why?”
“Why are you choosing all the same questions? For a writer, I would have thought you’d be more creative.”
“That answer does not fit the question. Besides, I didn’t ask you your favorite food, did I?”
“Why not? That would be an easy one.”
“Precisely. I’m not going to waste my questions on something so insignificant. That’d be wasting a freebie. So! Are you going to answer the question?”
He looked into her eyes, trying hard not to smile. “Um … let’s see… . A Dung Beetle.”
“Gross!” she squealed. “Seriously?”
His seriousness gave way to the threat of a smile. “Nah. Probably a deer.”
“Much better. And why?”
“They like the woods and they’re usually alone or with a small number of others.”
“Hmmm. Interesting.” She smiled thoughtfully.
“Next?”
“Ocean or lake?”
“Definitely lake.”
“Who do you admire most in the whole world and want to be most like?”
“Dead or alive?”
“Either.”
“Christ.”
“Impressive.” She looked at him through the lenses of a new pair of glasses.
This time, it was Gabriel who abruptly changed the subject. “Come on. I’ll help you get things done around here so you can get Cooper and lock yourselves safely and securely in your lair for the night.”
“He sent me a text message a little while ago saying Johnny’s dad is out of town but that his grandma would be bringing him home right after dinner. But I’ll take you up on the helping me get things done part of the deal.”
“I’m sure you will. As long as it doesn’t include cleaning bathrooms, I’m in.” He grinned.
“It’s not the women who get the bathrooms dirty.”
“Try telling that to someone who didn’t grow up in a house with all women. There were always so many jars of goop and bottles of heaven only knows what, that I didn’t have room for a measly toothbrush.”
She laughed at his description. “Sounds like you guys had a good time.”
“The girls did.”
“They probably pampered you senseless.”
“No, they abused me. My oldest sister used to dress me in her doll clothes when I was a baby. I’m still scarred from that experience.”
Abby was laughing so hard she was crying by now. “I would die to get my hands on pictures of that.”
“It wouldn’t surprise me if Sam had some. It was his mother who did it.”
It took her a moment to catch her breath, and she dried her eyes. “I’m going to go check on my dad so you’re off the hook in helping me with any work.”
He stood and held his hand out for hers. “Give you a hand up?”
She put her hand in his, surprised at the electricity that raced through her when she did. He kept a warm, firm grasp on her hand as she stood, their faces inches apart. Her heart beat wildly as she looked up at him, trying to decipher what she saw in his as he looked down at her. Her breathing felt shallow and her knees felt weak. For a moment, she thought she might need to sit back down.
“You know, if your dad ever wants any help working on that studio of yours, I’d love to help him out. I’ve built a thing or two in my day.” His voice was low, husky.
“I’m sure he’d take you up on that.” She took a step back, her eyes never leaving his. She was painfully aware of what was happening, and just as painfully aware of what happened the last time she let herself fall for someone. Taking her eyes off his felt like ripping a bandage off a wound that had recently begun healing. He continued to hold onto her hand, gently pulling her back toward him. She slowly looked up, meeting his eyes again. With his free hand, he touched the side of her cheek, a current shooting through her at his touch.
“I—I—Gabriel, I can’t. I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“Can’t what?” His face was dangerously close to hers.
“I have too much baggage. It’s not fair to you if I—”
“Why don’t you let me decide what is fair for me.” He cupped his hand around the back of her head, wrapping his fingers gently in her hair. His lips were inches from her own and she closed her eyes, breathless.
“Abby?” Victoria’s voice jolted her out of the moment, just as Gabe’s lips touched her own. She looked up at him as he exhaled, his eyes closed, head tilted back. He ran his hand over the top of his head. She chuckled a throaty sound.
“Yes?” Abby called back to Victoria.
“Telephone. Said it’s important.”
“I’ll be right there.”
Gabriel reluctantly let go of her hand.
“We’ll pick up later where we left off?”
“Perhaps.” She smiled, finally able to breathe normally again, her knees no longer feeling like jelly. She felt an inexplicable burst of energy. She began walking away then turned, continuing to walk slowly backward as she faced him. “If you don’t mind my asking, why do you stay here when you only live an hour away?”
“I like to fish and hike, and it’s an excuse to spend time with Sammy. Besides,” he grinned, her knees turning weak again, “the rest of the company around here isn’t so bad either.”
She tilted her head as she absorbed the possible intention behind his words. Then she smiled and turned around, the bounce back in her step that had been missing for far too long.
Victoria handed her the phone as soon as she reached the door.
“Hello?” she said before she realized no was on the other end. She clicked the phone off, smiled, and looked at Victoria. “Couldn’t have been too important. If it was they’ll call back.”
It was seven o’clock when Johnny’s grandma pulled in the driveway. Abby stood on the front porch and waved at her as Cooper got out of the car, grabbing a video game controller he’d obviously brought with him. He hollered over his shoulder, “Thank you, Mrs. Parker! See you tomorrow, Johnny!”
“Thank you for remembering your manners, young man.” She ruffled his hair as he jerked away and shot a quick glance at the car that was now driving out of the driveway.
“Mom,” he complained, the short word drawn out into two syllables.
“Sorry to emb
arrass you.” She smiled through the sting. “I hate to break it to you, but other kids have a mom, too. Even Johnny.”
“He doesn’t ever see his mom.”
Abby’s attention piqued. “As in not very often or never?”
“Never.”
“Why not?”
“Mom,” he said, his voice ripe with irritation. “I didn’t ask him. If he wanted me to know he woulda told me.”
Uneasiness invaded Abby’s space. What kind of a mother leaves her child? “Does his grandmother live with them?”
“Think so.”
“Hm.” Abby dropped the conversation, but she couldn’t get rid of the nagging unease that settled upon her.
Cooper brought his things up to his room. Victoria and Sam had long ago gone home for the day, and her father was reading a book behind the counter in the store.
She wandered over to the large picture window and saw Gabriel standing at the water’s edge, hands tucked loosely in the front pocket of his jeans, one leg bent slightly at the knee. He appeared completely at ease and in his element. He wasn’t what Abby would call extravagant or sophisticated, and that’s exactly what she liked about him. His boy-next-door crossed with rugged-country-boy demeanor made her completely at ease around him. He was funny, casual, a great conversationalist, and absent of any egotism. He was a hard working, denim, leather, and stubble kind of guy that reminded her of someone from one of those old cigarette commercials—like the cowboy that used to advertise for Marlboro. But he didn’t smoke, thank goodness. That would have been a deal-breaker. Hunter had been a smoker from the beginning and kissing him after he’d been out was like kissing an ashtray.
She shivered at the thought. But it only lasted for a brief moment before she was thinking about Gabriel and their close encounter. A smile spread across her face and she bit her lower lip in anticipation of being alone with him again. Little did she know before this afternoon how fun games could be.
Cooper came up behind her and gave her a half hug.
“What was that for?” She turned to smile at him, her heart melting as she saw the boy who was quickly becoming a young man. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining.”
“Just ’cause. Sorry about earlier.”
“Was anything wrong?”
“Uh-uh.”
“Did you have a good time at Johnny’s?” she asked.
Finding Abby: A Romantic Suspense set in the Colorado Mountains (Whispering Pines Mysteries) Page 16
