by Brenda Novak
Griffin wiped the sweat off his brow. “Manuel said you were in the shed.”
“I was hoping to find something to drink.”
Griffin raised his brows. “There’s nothing in there except egg crates,” he said, but he must have been somewhat satisfied because he motioned for Manuel to put down the gun.
The older Hispanic obeyed, asking something in Spanish. Griffin answered, then smiled in a way that told Gabrielle she was right—he’d decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. “Sorry if we scared you,” he said. “I guess there’s been a bit of a mix-up. Can I give you a lift back to town?”
“That’d be great,” Tucker said.
“I take it you live in Wellton?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, we’ll have you home in a few minutes.” He shooed the Hispanic woman away, took the gun from Manuel and pointed the muzzle at the ground. “Let’s go back to the house so I can get the keys to my truck.”
As they walked over the parched earth, Gabrielle watched Tucker from the corner of her eye. His movements were deceptively relaxed. He spoke casually to Griffin, as though he was every bit the hiker he purported to be, but she couldn’t affect the same calm. In her view, they couldn’t move fast enough. She wanted Tucker to get away from the ranch as soon as possible—before someone stumbled upon his orange jumpsuit or figured out which hut he’d broken into.
Before they both got caught.
Forty yards had never seemed so long. When Gabrielle and Tucker were in the desert, the line between right and wrong had definitely blurred. She’d broken the first cardinal rule of being a good corrections officer: thou shalt not become too familiar with an inmate. But she hadn’t done anything punishable by law. Until now. Lying about who Tucker was, helping him escape, moved her firmly across the line, and there was no going back.
At least she knew whose side she was on, she told herself. The decision pulling her completely into his camp had finally been made. But just as they reached the house, she saw David’s Toyota Forerunner turn into the drive and was confused all over again. She had a child, a job, a life. And she’d just risked it all—for Tucker.
“I’LL WAIT HERE,” Gabrielle heard Tucker say as Griffin ducked into the house to get his keys.
David parked and killed the engine and, although she was looking at David and not Tucker, she could feel the acuteness of Tucker’s attention, knew he must recognize David from the picture he’d torn.
She hated having them together. Lying about Tucker betrayed David and everything he thought she was. Telling the truth betrayed Tucker and everything she really was.
“Gabby,” David said, his voice filled with relief, his eyes only on her as he came around the car. “Thank God you’re okay. I’ve been worried sick about you.”
Gabrielle longed to throw herself into his arms. She would have three days before. But things had changed. David looked like the same old David. Just over six feet, two hundred and twenty pounds, he was a little heavier than Tucker and not nearly as sinewy. He had no reason to be. He didn’t train with weights or fight with anyone. He lived a comfortable, moderately successful life and the only weapon he ever used was his smile. Gabrielle had always loved the way his eyes crinkled in the corners when his lips curved up, how the sun lightened his sandy-colored hair in summer and tanned his face.
But he felt like a stranger to her now. She could think only of putting her arms around Allie, whose fuzzy blond head barely crested the top of the back seat.
“Gabby?” he said when she didn’t immediately respond.
“Thanks for coming,” she said, and embraced him, but it wasn’t the happy reunion it would’ve been had Tucker not been standing there. She was too conscious of Tucker, too afraid David might recognize him from some news report.
As soon as she thought she could disengage herself without making David feel slighted, she went to the Forerunner and unfastened her baby from the car seat.
“Allie…” Gabrielle hugged her daughter close, inhaling the scent of baby shampoo and reveling in the softness peculiar to young skin. She considered the satisfying sensation that passed through her in that moment far better than her first drink of water when she’d emerged from the desert. Allie was safe. They were together. Somehow, everything would be all right. “Momma’s back now, baby,” she murmured, kissing her head. “Momma’s back.”
“Who’s this?” David asked.
Gabrielle glanced over her shoulder to see he’d finally noticed Tucker. This was the moment of truth. She didn’t know how publicized Tucker’s escape had been. If she told David she didn’t know him, he might respond with, “Wait a second…didn’t I see him on the news? Isn’t this the guy you went after?”
“He’s just some guy Mr. Griffin is going to take into town,” she said, gambling. When David didn’t respond the way she’d feared, she looked away, wishing it were true that she didn’t know Tucker. If she didn’t know him, she couldn’t care about him. If she didn’t care about him, she could go back to life as she’d known it and the relative ease of her old problems.
“So he works here?” David asked.
“I don’t think so. He just needs a ride.” Trying to conceal her nervousness, Gabrielle put Allie back in her car seat. Her daughter was far from happy at the prospect of being restricted again so soon, but they had to leave, to get away from the ranch before—
“Where you headin’?” David asked Tucker.
“Wellton,” Tucker said, as though he’d known where he was all along.
“I just passed Wellton. It’s only five miles away. Why don’t we take you and save Mr. Griffin the trip?”
“I think it’s already handled, David,” Gabrielle said, hoping he’d drop it.
The slamming of the screen door interrupted their conversation, and Mr. Griffin appeared, keys in hand.
“We’re driving straight through Wellton,” David said to him. “You want us to give this guy a lift?”
“If you’re sure you don’t mind,” Griffin said.
“No problem,” David assured him. “Right, Gabby?”
Gabrielle muttered something she hoped was intelligible and polite and slid into the passenger seat. David thanked Mr. Griffin for taking care of her, then got behind the wheel. When Tucker strode across the drive and climbed into the back with Allie, Gabrielle felt his presence behind her like static electricity in the air.
The impulse to turn to see his reaction to Allie shot through Gabrielle, but at that moment, Manuel came into view. He immediately caught her attention because he was walking so purposefully toward the house, calling Mr. Griffin’s name. Had he found Tucker’s jumpsuit? Something else that would give them away? Her stomach tensed at the thought. “Let’s go,” she said.
David glanced up from inserting the key in the ignition. “That’s what I’m doing, babe. Give me a second.”
“I mean now. Right away. Hurry.”
Manuel came closer. Griffin walked over to meet him, and they bent their heads together in conversation. The next thirty seconds seemed to pass in slow motion as Gabrielle’s headache escalated to migraine proportions.
Any minute, they’ll turn and wave us back, she thought. Or go after their guns.
But Griffin only nodded. Then the two men walked off in the direction of the plant—and Gabrielle felt her whole body go limp with relief.
“I’m David Hadley,” David was saying, oblivious to her terror as he looked into the rearview mirror at Tucker.
“Name’s Joe,” Tucker said.
Finally their tires crunched on gravel as David swung around and headed out of the ranch.
“I don’t get out this way very often,” David went on. “Things have sure changed. I guess there’s a nice golf course in Wellton now, huh?”
“Yeah, it’s beautiful,” Tucker responded, even though Gabrielle doubted he knew anything about any golf course.
“You lived here long?” David asked.
“No.”
Gabrielle’s nails curled into her palms as she stared out the window, willing the miles to pass quickly. Now she’d not only lied about Tucker’s identity, she’d allowed David to transport him.
David reached across and took her hand. “You’ll have to forgive me if I’m not much for conversation,” he told Tucker. “I’m a little preoccupied with getting Gabby back. She gave us quite a scare, disappearing for so long.”
“That’s what I heard,” Tucker said.
The nails of Gabrielle’s free hand bit deeper into her flesh.
“Are you sure you’re okay, babe?” David asked, turning to her now that he’d done the polite thing by introducing himself and making Tucker feel welcome. He was so predictable, so…nice. Why hadn’t nice been good enough for her? What was wrong with her?
“You seem upset. You’re not hurt, are you?” he asked.
Gabrielle shook her head.
“What happened out there? Did you ever catch up with the guy who escaped?”
Instinctively she shifted more toward the window but forced herself to speak. She had to offer David some explanation. “Last night I, uh, came upon him and he…he tied me up because he was tired of me following him, and—”
“He what?” Concern changed the smile lines around David’s mouth into more of a frown, and Gabrielle felt the Forerunner slow. “You didn’t say anything about meeting up with him when I talked to you on the phone. I got the impression you’d gone into the desert after him and gotten lost before you ever found him.”
“That’s pretty much what happened,” she said.
“Except you did find him.”
“Briefly.”
“And he tied you up.”
“Yeah.”
“He didn’t—” his eyes flicked toward the rearview mirror and Tucker, then back to her as he lowered his voice “—hurt you, did he?”
Guilt shimmied down Gabrielle’s spine. Judging by the inflection of David’s voice, he was asking if Tucker had raped her. But if she and Tucker had made love, it would’ve been far from rape, and she hated even thinking that because she knew it would hurt David. “No,” she said.
“You’re sure? Maybe we should take you to the hospital, have you checked out—”
“He didn’t rape me,” she said a little too forcefully. “There isn’t any evidence to gather, there are no wounds to treat. I just want to go home.”
David scowled at her. “You’re not really acting like yourself, Gabby.”
“I’m sorry. I have a headache.”
“Okay. We’ll talk about it later.” David’s chest rose and fell as he sighed, then he let go of her and put both hands on the wheel.
They drove the next ten minutes in silence, except for Allie’s coos and gurgles. Gabrielle would have turned and spoken to her daughter, but she didn’t want to face Tucker. She wanted him gone—from her heart, from her mind, from her life—before he could change her any more.
“You can let me out here,” Tucker said as soon as they reached the outskirts of Wellton. “I know you’re in a hurry to get home.”
“It’s okay. We’ll drop you by your house,” David insisted, still trying to be polite.
“No, I’m going to grab a bite to eat here in town. Thanks for the ride.”
“No problem.”
David pulled to the side of the road, and Tucker got out. Gabrielle told herself not to look back at him, to start forgetting right now. But she looked anyway—and saw him standing at the curb watching her as David drove away. He didn’t wave or acknowledge her in any way. He just stared after her, and she did the same until they were too far apart to see each other anymore.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
GABRIELLE SLEPT the rest of the ride home. She slept the rest of the day. She slept well into the night. Then she got up and went into Allie’s room to watch her baby sleep. Somehow, seeing her daughter curled up so peacefully in the safety of her crib comforted her, kept her from worrying about Tucker and wondering where he was, how he was getting by on only thirty-five dollars. Surely he had friends and family who would help him, she told herself. Surely he’d reach the boy who meant so much to him. She wondered what Landon was like—
“What are you doing awake?” a voice whispered.
Gabrielle glanced up to see David standing in the doorway wearing nothing but a pair of pajama bottoms, his hair rumpled from sleep.
“I just woke up and needed to see Allie,” she murmured. “How’d you know I wasn’t sleeping?”
“I peeked in to check on you and found your bed empty. Is anything wrong?”
“No.” Gabrielle nodded toward Allie. “It’s just good to be back, to be safe and to know she’s safe, too. Thanks for looking after her.”
He smiled. “Hey, she’s my baby, too, remember?”
How could Gabrielle forget? That was part of the reason she felt so guilty for not being able to love David the way she should. The way she wanted to.
“Are you feeling good enough to come talk to me for a little bit?” he asked.
Gabrielle swallowed hard. She didn’t want to talk about what she’d experienced. She wanted to file those thoughts and emotions in some section of her brain labeled Inexplicable Attraction. But she knew she still had a lot of explaining to do. To David. To the authorities.
“Sure.” She kissed her fingertips and pressed them to Allie’s round cheek, then slipped into the hall behind David.
When they entered the living room, she folded her legs beneath her on the couch and he took the chair closest to her.
“I called the prison as soon as we got home, like you said, and told them you’re safe.”
She nodded. She hadn’t been able to make herself place that call, but she knew she’d lose her job if she didn’t contact them. “Thanks. Were they upset that I didn’t call myself?”
“Not under the circumstances,” he said. “I told them you were sick. A Sergeant Hansen called me back a few minutes later. He and the warden are coming to visit at nine o’clock in the morning.”
Gabrielle sighed in resignation. It was starting, and she’d never been a good liar. What if they saw through her? What if David already knew something was up? Yesterday, when Tucker had been in the Forerunner, her tension had been palpable. Had David felt it?
“Tomorrow’s only Thursday,” she said. “Maybe we can put Hansen off a little longer. I’m not quite myself yet.”
David frowned. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No. Why would I be kidding?”
“They want to catch this guy, Gabby. He’s dangerous. They only want a few minutes of your time to ask where you saw him last, where you think he might’ve gone, stuff like that. It shouldn’t take too long or be too demanding.”
“Okay.” She knew he’d find it strange if she pushed the issue. It was tough to remember that everyone else thought Tucker a menace to society.
“You gonna be okay?” he asked, reaching over to squeeze her knee.
“Yeah.”
Silence fell, except for the engine of a car outside her front window. Gabrielle watched the headlights slice through the darkness, knowing it was probably another officer coming home from the graveyard shift. Her trailer park was located across the street from the prison, and most of its occupants worked at Florence, Eyman or the federal facility just down the road.
David cleared his throat, catching her attention. “Was this experience enough to convince you?” he asked.
“Convince me of what?”
“That you have no business here.”
“Here? At the prison, you mean?”
“In Florence.”
She didn’t say anything, but that didn’t stop David from continuing.
“I want to take you home with me, Gabby. It’s time we got back together. I’ve tried to be patient. I’ve given you space, but—”
Gabrielle shoved a hand through her hair. “David, I can’t go into this now.”
“I know you’ve been through a lot. And I’m no
t trying to add to your pain. I just want things to be right between us. We love each other, Gabby.” He raised a hand before she could respond. “I know you want to qualify that, and say this is one kind of love and that’s another. But we have Allie to think about. And our futures. You can always contact your mother from Phoenix, where I can look out for you. You don’t have to do it from here.”
Gabrielle remembered the promises she’d made herself in the desert, after Tucker had tied her up. She’d decided to remarry David and make him happy. So why did the very thought of sleeping with him again cause her whole being to rebel?
“David, please. Not now,” she said.
He sighed. “Then when, Gabby? When are you going to be ready?”
“I don’t know. I’ve told you to date, to meet other women—”
He shot out of his chair. “I don’t want to date, damn it! You’re the mother of my child. You’re the one I love, Gabby!”
Gabrielle closed her eyes. “David, I’m sorry—”
He pinched the bridge of his nose, obviously struggling with his impatience. “I don’t want you to be sorry. I just want you to think about coming back home, okay? Let’s put all this behind us. We could go on a second honeymoon—”
“I can’t bear the thought of leaving Allie for more than a few hours so soon after what’s happened.”
“Then we’ll take her. It’ll be the three of us. That’s how it was meant to be, okay?”
She nodded but felt tears prick the backs of her eyes. “You deserve better than what I can give you, David.”
“I don’t want better. I just want you.” He stood and kissed her forehead. For a moment Gabrielle feared he’d try to kiss her on the mouth. She knew she couldn’t tolerate it, not after kissing Tucker. But he didn’t. He lifted her chin and gave her a weary smile.
“Everything will be okay,” he promised. “I’ll do my best to make you happy, you know that.”
FOR THE FIRST TIME since they’d reestablished their relationship after the divorce, Gabrielle didn’t want David around. He watched her too closely, made her feel hemmed in when she couldn’t afford his scrutiny. She had enough on her mind without having to pretend that nothing had changed, but he insisted on staying until she was back on her feet. Given what he’d said about her returning to Phoenix, she suspected he didn’t plan on leaving Florence—at least for any length of time—without her. He was waiting for the fallout from Tucker’s escape to settle down and work itself out. Then he thought he’d be able to talk her out of all the feelings and beliefs that had made her divorce him in the first place.
