He moved quietly across the kitchen and grinned when he saw that his hat had slid clean across the table and landed on the floor, taking a pile of Tess’s mail with it. Reaching down, he retrieved his hat and scooped up the mail to return to the table.
As he lay the stack of papers down, his eye caught his name, and he paused, curious as to why Tess should have an official looking document with his name on it. His brows knit together and he cocked his head to listen for sounds of anyone approaching before his gaze moved back to the papers he held in his hands.
Scanning the words quickly, Gabe ‘s vision blurred as if his brain could not comprehend what he was reading. He blinked, reread the paper, then glanced down at the agreement, and saw Tess’s signature scrawled in neat penmanship across the bottom, just under the name of a Jack Trenton. A queasy knot formed in Gabe’s stomach. Had Tess had something to do with his eviction? Did she already know who he was? Why hadn’t she said anything to him? What was she playing him for?
Gabe tossed the papers to the table, stuck his hat on his head, and left the kitchen. A million questions swirled in his mind as he strode towards the barn. His jaw clenched as he slammed his tools into the back of the pickup. Rubbing his temples, he tried to decide whether to simply confront her with this newfound information or to wait and see just how far she was willing to go with this dangerous game she was playing with his heart. He opted for the latter and climbed into his pickup. Pausing, he stared out the window, resting his hands on the wheel. The yard beside the barn was littered with bits of wood and lumber waiting to be used to perform the repairs on the structure. Something close to betrayal shadowed his mind. If only repairs to his heart could be as easy.
* * *
Tess brushed down her shirt, darting a quick glance at her reflection while Mr. Powell bent over and played with the puppies. Her memory flooded with the sensation Gabe’s mouth against hers.
She closed her eyes, her body rushing with a thousand tingling sensations, then she felt someone staring at her. Opening her eyes, she met Mr. Powell’s curious gaze.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t get much sleep last night.” She gave him a weak smile and his eyes lit up like a fourth of July evening.
“I happened to see Gabe Russell’s truck over near the barn. He doesn’t happen to still be around, does he?” There was little question as to what the old man was getting at. Tess wondered how well Powell knew Gabe. Should she risk asking him about Gabe? At the moment, he looked like he was enjoying the fact that Gabe’s truck was there and she’d had little sleep. The inference suddenly made Tess’s eyes grow wide.
“Mr. Powell.”
“You call me, Roy. All my friends do.” He squatted down and scratched the dogs behind the ears.
“It’s not like that between me and Gabe, Mr. Powell…er, Roy.” Well, not yet anyway. She held his steady gaze and detected the slight twitch in his gray brow.
“Pardon, Tess. But I wanted to talk to Gabe about taking my cattle to market next week.” He tipped his head to the side. “Unless, there’s something here you need a friend to talk to about.”
She hesitated, wondering how close Roy and Gabe were. Could she trust him with the news that Betsy had told her and hope he would understand? More than that, could she trust him not to tell Gabe until she had time to find out if his feelings were real, or not. “Yeah, I could maybe use some wisdom.”
“Okay,” he said.
“You want that cup of coffee, Roy?” She rubbed her fingers across her forehead, hoping to erase some of the confusion stored there.
Roy Powell grinned.
Chapter Thirteen
Tess eyed the old man as he read the papers again, the wrinkles near his eyes deepening with his frown.
“And you say you knew nothing about this?” Roy tapped the paper with a stubby finger, its tip cut off. Probably in a farm accident, she surmised.
She shook her head. “Betsy was the one who found it. She called me the other day after she’d made copies. Jack doesn’t know that we know.”
Roy sighed and laid the papers on the table, squaring her off with stern look.
“It’s always been my experience to tell the truth, Tess. Otherwise, things like this can get pretty messed up.” He glanced to the table and then back to her, “What kind of relationship you have with Gabe?”
Tess shifted in her chair, unsure if that was any of his business. Then again, Roy seemed to know Gabe pretty well. Hell, everyone in this tiny town seemed to know everyone pretty well.
Roy sensed her hesitancy and gave her a thin-lipped smile. “Look. I’m not being nosy. Gabe’s like a son to me and Mrs. Powell, and I don’t want to see him hurt.” He paused, studying her.
“I don’t want to hurt Gabe. That’s the last thing on my mind.” The very last. She stood, clutching the kitchen counter and stared out into the darkening twilight. Her mind could still see the passionate gaze in Gabe’s eyes. Her body still hummed from the sensation of his hands.
“I like Gabe.” She turned, resting her hands behind her. “We’ve become good friends.”
The old man lowered his gaze, pretending to shuffle the papers before him, but Tess saw the tiny smile on his face. “I’ll tell him everything soon, Roy. I promise. I need to…” she hesitated, “find out a little more about him.”
Roy nodded, then peered at her through eyes full of wisdom. “Best not wait too long.” He stood up and placed his green John Deere cap square on his head. “Hopefully we’ll be leaving for Joplin in a couple of days.”
She nodded, taking heed of what he implied. It should give her enough time to take a short trip to Davenport and talk to Jack.
* * *
Gabe stuffed his shaving kit in his duffle bag. Roy was picking him up in a few minutes to head down to market. Roy had acted hesitant about asking him to come along. It made him curious as to what he and Tess talked about after he’d left. Not that it mattered much now anyway.
He grabbed his denim work jacket and flipped off the bathroom light. Pausing a moment, his mind wandered to Tess’s face as she looked up at him with his hat on her head. Nausea roiled in his stomach and he frowned, fighting off the sensation. For an instant, he’d thought about calling her, but the pain in his heart instantly changed his mind. What more was she going to explain, than what she’d already chosen not to explain?
* * *
“You seem a little preoccupied this morning.” Roy kept his gaze on the road. With the narrow twisting two-lane road snaking through the morning fog, a pickup with a trailer full of cattle was a lethal weapon. He glanced at Roy and wondered if he should tell him about the forms he’d seen on Tess’s table, instead he turned his gaze to the misty covered fields, now barren from harvest. As if to add heartache to injury, memories of traveling to the seed company with his dad of an early fall morning stung the back of Gabe’s eyes and he took a deep swallow of hot coffee to quell his emotions.
“She cares for you, Gabe.” His statement came out of nowhere and it took a moment for Gabe to understand who he was talking about. He had the strong feeling then that Roy knew much more than he let on.
“Yeah. I thought I cared for her too.” He lied staring at the road ahead with a jaundiced eye.
“Things aren’t always as they seem, you know.” Roy waved his stubby index finger at him, with a wry smile.
Gabe smiled at the remark and turned his gaze to the fields again. A wave of sarcastic nausea rose in his throat. “Yeah, you’re not kidding.”
“Boy? Have you talked to her?” Roy’s eyes darted to Gabe, then quickly back to the road.
“Nope. No plans to either. Think things are better left where they are.” He’d only just made that final determination on the subject, yet his heart was still sore from the proclamation. An uncomfortable silence dragged between them. The faint sound of a mournful country song crackled quietly on the radio.
“Seems a shame not to give her the chance to explain.”
Gabe’s patience sna
pped, “I think she’s had ample time to think things through. It’s sort of an issue you’d think she would have wanted to share freely the more involved we became with each other.” He swallowed the rest of his coffee and crumpled the Styrofoam in his hands.
“Suppose a fella has a right to see things the way he wants. But let me pose this. What if the gal in question didn’t know what happened? What if she had nothing to do with it?”
“Her name is right on the papers.” He tipped his hat back and stared directly at the old man’s profile. Somehow he’d got him to talk about the very subject he swore was a closed issue. Just like his dad would have done. Damn. Well then, he’d just take advantage of the situation. “And just what do you think I ought to do about it?”
Roy’s bushy brows rose as his lips turned down in thought. “Hum. Seems as though we are passing through Davenport on our way to Joplin. Interesting. Isn’t that where Tess said she worked?” He gave a slight shrug, “And so wouldn’t that also be where her boss worked?” The old man kept his eyes glued to the road, but Gabe knew in his own roundabout way the man challenged Gabe to find out the details firsthand before making contrived judgments.
Gabe chewed his lip, studying the half-opened box of doughnuts on the seat between them.
“Course, a guy can make his own mind up about how things are and never worry about it, if it doesn’t mean all that much to him in the first place.” Roy adjusted his John Deere cap and checked his review mirror.
Gabe watched him, suddenly hoping with all his heart that someday, he’d possess half the wisdom of this old farmer.
“How far to Davenport?” Gabe focused on the road ahead and saw the shards of sunlight begin to break through the dense autumn fog.
He could hear the smile in Roy’s voice.
“About forty-five minutes to an hour. Soon as we stop up here to relieve myself.” He turned to Gabe with a grin. “Not as young as I used to be.”
Gabe laughed quietly and shook his head.
* * *
It was hard to find cattle trailer parking in downtown Davenport’s business district. Gabe was uncertain this was the best plan, yet he had to find out the truth for himself. He wondered momentarily, if Jack Trenton was the same ‘Jack’ who had been at Tess’s house. He had a sneaking gut feeling he was, and if so, Gabe felt he stood little chance of impressing Tess with his down-to-earth standards. Never let it be said that he at least wouldn’t try. The thought of the look in her eyes as he loved her in the middle of the kitchen, gave him all the courage he needed.
“Just let me off here. Give me twenty minutes.” Gabe jerked open the door and jumped out in traffic, holding up his hand to the honks and angry curses coming from early morning commuters. He trotted across the street and stopped on the sidewalk, pausing long enough to let his gaze follow the mirrored concrete and glass structure. It somehow didn’t seem like Tess, not the Tess he thought he knew anyway. He adjusted his hat and pushed through the glass revolving door.
Gabe felt decidedly out of place in his jeans and boots, while three piece suits and wingtip dressed professionals swerved around him on his way through the marbled lobby.
A dignified older woman peered at him as he passed by the round information desk. “May I help you?”
He took his hat off and smiled, immediately seeing the appreciation flicker in her eyes. Once a mom, always a mom, he thought. “I’m looking for Jack Trenton’s office, ma’am.”
She smiled, tipping her head. “Eighth floor. There will be someone up there that can help you.”
He nodded. “Thank you ma’am.” And headed past her toward the four sets of elevators.
Small groups of men and women, most Gabe figured were at least five years younger than him, milled about, holding their briefcases and frowning into their cell phones as they chattered about what deal had fallen through.
His gaze darted from elevator to elevator and he sighed, wondering how people actually got up everyday and did this kind of thing. The ding of the elevator opening caught his attention and he followed the cluster of suits and morning papers inside.
Being pressed to the wall, his hat tipped forward and he decided to hold it, nervously turning it in his hands. Floor by floor the elevator emptied until he was alone, save one woman.
She looked faintly familiar, but he could have been mistaken.
“Gabe?” The woman stared at him as though she’d seen a ghost. Her face went pale, her mouth gapped open. Now he remembered, it was from the bar, she was with Tess.
“Hi ma’am.” He nodded and averted his eyes from her blatant staring, suddenly feeling uncomfortable in the elevator. “Betsy, right?”
“What are you doing here?” She stammered as her gaze darted toward the lights that blinked their rapid ascension.
“I came to talk to Jack Trenton. You happen to know him?” The bell rang and the doors swooshed open. Seemed the woman’s feet were glued to the floor.
“Jack?” Her voice was barely above a whisper. Gabe studied the woman, sensing she knew something more than he was supposed to.
“Some reason I shouldn’t see him?” He raised a brow and grabbed the doors as they started to close again. He ushered Betsy out and gingerly took her elbow. “Why don’t you take me to see Jack?”
Guiding her through another set of glass doors, they entered a reception area of mahogany and polished brass. Chairs lined the wall on either side, their upholstery hardly worn. Gabe was struck again by how alien this all appeared in relation to the woman he remembered sitting on the fence watching her new pups running in the field.
“That’s Jack’s office, over there. I need to get to work, Gabe. Hope everything works out for you. Really, I do.” She stepped away from his grasp with a tight smile and hurried off down and adjacent corridor.
Gabe watched her for a moment then turned, reading the names on the brass and wood plates beside each office door. He paused at the one indicating Jack Trenton and looked up and down the corridor. The desk in the office cubicle across the hall from the door was empty, so Gabe simply knocked and waited.
“I said I was not to be disturbed.” A man’s voice thundered a warning from behind the door.
That was all it took for Gabe’s temper to snap. With little else, but settling a score with Trenton, he wrenched the knob and slammed open the door and by God; he was not going to wait around half the day.
Chapter Fourteen
Tess’s gaze spun around as Jack’s face lost its color. His wide-eyed look focused on the door behind her.
Gabe stood motionless in the open door, his hand still firmly gripped around the doorknob. She knew by the expression on his face that he was surprised to see her, but more noticeable, was the flash of pain she saw in his eyes, staring at her as she backed out of Jack’s arms. It was an innocent hug, at least on her part. Jack apologized for not being completely honest with her, and had asked for forgiveness.
But Gabe knew nothing of that.
There was a deadly silence as she prepared to explain everything. His jaw muscle twitched and he closed his eyes as if trying to quell what was going on inside.
Tess reached out, opening her hand to him, wanting him to sit down and have the three of them talk everything out. She had no idea how much he knew, or what he’d talked to Roy about. At that moment, all she hoped was that her instincts about how Gabe felt for her were on target.
“I can see I’ve interrupted something here.” His voice sounded raw, teetering between anger and frustration.
Tess’s heart pounded in her ears, but she could not mistake the look of hurt on his face.
“Gabe, we need to sit down and talk. I’ve been discussing everything with Jack—”
“With Jack?” he spat back at her. “Jack again? Is this the same Jack you told me was just a friend? The same one I found you just rolling out of bed with that morning, Tess? You remember? When were you going to discuss this with me?” He slammed his hat onto his head. “Or maybe you find it amus
ing to play men off one another? Is that your game? Goddamn, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
His accusing gaze darted from Tess to Jack. The look on his face made her stomach churn. What could she say to calm him down, to make him listen?
He turned on his heel as suddenly as he’d appeared and walked out, slamming the door behind him.
She stood in stunned silence for the length of a heartbeat before she bolted for the door. “Gabe!”
A hand reached out and grabbed her wrist. “Wait, Tess. You’d be better off waiting until he cooled down.” For some reason, Jack’s manner smacked of Richards domination over her.
She whirled facing Jack. “If you weren’t wearing glasses, I’d deck you right here.” Her heart pounded against her chest. “You’re the one who created this atrocious mess in the first place, not me. I’m not the type to walk over someone to get my way, Jack and I used to think you weren’t that type either. I don’t care how noble your intentions were, you better find a way to make this right, or you will answer to me.”
She tapped her finger to his chest, then turned and ran from the office, her feet carrying her down the corridor toward the front reception area. One of the heels busted on her shoes and she quickly slipped off both shoes, tossing them to the side. With a purposeful stride she headed quickly toward the elevators. She glanced at the shocked receptionist staring at the elevators, clutching a phone in her hand.
“The elevator?” Tess barked as she swerved the upended trashcan that lay in the hall outside the reception area.
Unfinished Dreams Page 13
