His Dirty Hands (The Montgomery Boys Book 2)

by Jessica Mills

  I didn’t want to be a nomad or live my life constantly waiting for that next moment when I had to pack up and leave. Sooner or later, I had to pick a place to settle down and now I was feeling like I had found it. I never imagined it would be a place as simple and small as Green Valley, but the town had its charms.

  And a decidedly good-looking cowboy.

  Kissing Clayton made me feel alive and secure at the same time. It was exciting and comforting. Those were kisses I didn’t want to be confined to just one night. It was a somewhat intimidating thought, but I realized I’d found where I wanted to start fresh. Now all I had to do was tell the two closest people to me in the world.

  I hadn’t been awake long when I heard Gabby making her early morning sounds. They were something close to crying but not quite. It was more like a moan or a whimper, like she was resisting the idea of having to wake up. She wasn’t exactly a morning person, but I figured that was fine for now. She was still so little it didn’t matter if she got up with the sun or waited a bit longer. As it was, Darcy still had her head tucked under her pillow and the blankets pulled up so close the only thing I could see of her was a strip of the bottom half of her face.

  I hadn’t gotten the chance to talk to her when I got back, but I had a feeling Gabby had one of her excitable nights. Usually, she was good about quieting down at night and being ready for sleep by the time she needed to go to bed. But occasionally, it was like something wound up inside and snapped loose. She ran around and couldn’t get calm. Those nights stretched out long and late. Though I was out with Clayton later than she was awake, there was a big difference between chasing around a toddler and enjoying a night under the stars in the arms of a cowboy.

  I walked around to the cot and scooped Gabby up. “Good morning, baby. How did you sleep?”

  She nodded and rubbed her eyes with one little fist. “I dreamed about a unicorn.”

  “That sounds like a wonderful dream,” I said. “Did you have fun with your Aunt Darcy last night?”

  “Yes. We ate dinner downstairs. They had macaroni and cheese.”

  “Wow. Your very favorite food.”

  That was enough to get through the last fog of sleep, and soon, my little girl was chattering away, telling me all about the night before. Apparently, she put Darcy through the wringer of reading and play time and was just so excited she wasn’t able to fall asleep. I did my best not to laugh as I wondered what my best friend’s assessment of the evening would be.

  She adored Gabby and never complained about helping take care of her. In fact, the few times I was willing to leave Gabby at home and she was in Darcy’s care, the two of them thought it was the greatest thing ever. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t exhausting keeping up with her.

  I convinced Gabby we should get dressed and play quietly so we could let Darcy keep sleeping. We spent the morning together and were just considering going downstairs for breakfast when Darcy groaned and lifted her head up out from under the pillow. She looked around with a bit of confusion, staring at the two empty beds beside her before looking over and seeing us. I waved at her.

  “Good morning,” I said. “We’re getting ready to go downstairs and have some breakfast. Do you want us to wait for you?”

  She nodded and dragged herself across the room into the bathroom. It took several minutes of the sound of running water before she came back out, freshly showered and seeming less bleary eyed. After we were all dressed, we went downstairs and got a table at the restaurant. I strategically brought one of Gabby’s new books with her and slid it in front of her so I could talk to Darcy.

  “How was your date?” she asked, then held up her hand like she was trying to stop me before I even started talking. “It definitely was a date.”

  “I’m not arguing with you,” I said.

  She looked at me almost suspiciously. “You’re not?”

  I shook my head. “No. It was definitely a date. And it was amazing. Clayton is sweet and romantic and…” I trailed off.

  “And what?” she asked.

  I hesitated, nervous about how she would react to what I had to say next. “We left California saying we were looking for a fresh start. Gabby is getting older and I can’t just expect her to wander around all her life. She needs stability and something to rely on. I think I found that here.”

  “After all that resistance and arguing?” Darcy asked.

  “I know I put up a fuss, but this is what I want. I think we should start looking for a place to rent so we can stay here.”

  “Wow,” she said, leaning back and looking me up and down. “That must have been some date for you to decide you want to stay here now.”

  “It’s not just about Clayton. Green Valley is wonderful. I am comfortable here and happy. It just feels right. I completely understand if you don’t feel the same way and don’t want to stay here. As much as it would kill me to not have you around, I wouldn’t want you to be miserable and I would understand if you wanted to move on without me.”

  Darcy shook her head. “No. I think you’re right. I want to stay, too. At least for now.”

  I let out a relieved breath. “Thank goodness. Because seriously, it would kill me. Like right in the middle of Main Street.”

  Darcy laughed and we clinked our coffee mugs together, toasting the fresh start we finally found.

  Chapter 15

  Clayton

  In a place as tiny as Green Valley, it wasn’t always easy to find a new place to move into. People tended to live their lives around here. There wasn’t a whole lot of moving around, and when there was, there was usually somebody to step right into place.

  Whether it was new couples getting married or children growing up and leaving the nest, it didn’t leave a whole lot of options. That was specially true for newcomers into town. And even more when those newcomers had specifications like needing at least two bedrooms.

  That was the challenge facing Gia, Darcy, and Gabby over the last two weeks, but I was more than happy to face it with them. It meant Gia wasn’t leaving and I would gladly take on any challenge I needed to in order to make that easier for her.

  Fortunately, a few days back, Shannon mentioned to me that there was an opening in the building next door to hers. She heard from one of her customers at the auto shop that the people living there had finally saved up enough to get the house they had been eyeing for years and were planning on leaving as soon as possible.

  It was fantastic news for Darcy and Gia because it meant they didn’t have to keep looking for somewhere to live. It was also a welcome to the owner of the building who was too sweet to allow the former tenants to leave in the middle of the month and was relieved to find someone to step right into their place before the beginning of the next month. On the slightly less optimistic side, all that good news came with the reality that the apartment was in an even older building than Shannon’s apartment. It hadn’t been left to rot or anything, but it certainly wasn’t in the most pristine or contemporary condition.

  Gia hesitated slightly just inside the door when we walked inside to look at it for the first time. Pearl Nelson, the octogenarian who owned the building which contained three apartments over the drugstore, hadn’t bothered to come along with us as we looked at it. Those knees of hers were getting up there in age—granted, not as much as she was. Titanium and plastic made that possible. Still, taking the trek up narrow, steep steps crafted for a different time wasn’t easy. When we arrived to take a look at the place, she announced that climb was for the young and handed over the keys.

  “Well, that’s certainly something that wouldn’t happen in Sacramento,” Darcy commented as we walked out of the drugstore and headed for the back door of the building that led up to the apartment.

  “Or any other city we’ve been in for that matter,” Gia said. “If somebody tried something like that, the prospective renter would be all the way moved in and claiming squatters’ rights within the hour.”

  “Welcome to Green Vall
ey,” I said. “Or should I say, welcome home.”

  Gia glowed.

  Some of that happiness on her face swept away when we got to the door of the apartment and it took more than a little bit of jiggling and convincing just to get it to open. She was willing to go along with me reassuring her that sometimes the humidity made these old doors stick. But she looked less receptive when we got inside and she saw how outdated the space really was. A lack of overhead lighting made every room dim, and just having one old window unit trying its very best to chug cold air through the space meant it was stuffy.

  “Oh,” Darcy said when she came in behind us.

  Gabby didn’t have anything to say, but she burst into the living room and ran immediately toward the back of the apartment. A few seconds later, we heard a squeal of excitement.

  “I like this one,” she called.

  Darcy and Gia exchanged glances. Then she looked back at me.

  “I guess we got the endorsement,” she said.

  “It will be fine,” I told her.

  “I know,” she said. “It just needs a little fixing up is all.”

  I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her in close, leaning down to nuzzle my nose against hers. “And you don’t need to worry about that for a second. I will go through this place and find out everything that needs to happen, and I promise I will take care of it for you. It will be absolutely perfect by the time I’m done with it.”

  Gia wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me. “It’s already perfect because it’s in Green Valley where you are.”

  “Let’s not get crazy,” Darcy said. “I would like to be able to see indoors after two in the afternoon. And considering no one has been in the bathroom, the fact that I heard the toilet flush four times since we’ve been here is a bit disconcerting. We might give that a little bit of attention.”

  Gia laughed and looked at me again. “Perfect, other than those things.”

  “I reserve the right to add to the list,” Darcy said over her shoulder as she went further into the apartment.

  “Stay tuned,” Gia said and gave me another fast kiss before following her best friend down the hallway.

  We walked through the loft, which was comprised of two bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a combination living-room/dining area. I took note of various issues I noticed and started a list of supplies I needed to bring the place up to my standards. There was no way I was letting Gia stay in a place I didn’t think was good enough for her. Fortunately, Mrs. Nelson was willing to give us a considerable amount of wiggle room when it came to actually moving in. The lease didn’t start for another week, but I was able to talk her into letting me go in and do the repairs ahead of time.

  It might have helped my case that my brother, Garrett, used to have a delivery job for the drugstore for a short time when he was a young teenager. That was the one time he did something that didn’t end up landing him in hot water. He liked Pearl. She never held the rumors about him over his head, even when they were justified. She was sweet to him when he needed somebody to love on him and firm when he needed to be pulled back into line.

  So he had done what he was told and was a good employee for the short time he stayed around. That was right before the first time he wandered off from the ranch thinking he had found his own way, only to crawl back a couple of weeks later worse for wear and even more jumpy to cause trouble.

  I did the bulk of the major repairs in the first several days after Gia and Darcy signed the lease for the loft. That included fixing up a good portion of the plumbing and some electrical rewiring in a couple of the rooms. With a couple of my brothers helping me out when they had the chance, I was able to add lighting fixtures to brighten up the space and even put up a new coat of paint.

  Throughout the process, I snapped pictures of what I was doing so I could bring them down to Pearl and show her. She was so impressed by everything I did, she offered to knock down the rent on the place by a bit for the first several months to account for the improvements. That delighted Gia, and when she asked what she could do to repay me, all I could do was scoop her up in my arms and kiss her.

  “Just keep those coming,” I said.

  “You’ve got it,” she said.

  Two days before the official move-in, we went into the apartment to do some final touch-ups. While I added grout around the bathtub and installed the new air conditioner I’d convinced Pearl was a good investment in her property, Gia and Darcy went to work deep cleaning the entire apartment. Fortunately, the young couple who lived there before had kept up with the place, but both of them insisted they wanted to clean it up themselves. They wanted to feel like they had a good foundation before moving everything in. I knew some of that was also cleaning up after me and all my little projects, but they were gracious enough not to mention that.

  “When is the storage pod coming?” I asked, wiping my brow as I took a break from touching up the paint in the back bedroom.

  When Gia first announced she was staying, I questioned the fairly small smattering of possessions stuffed tightly into the car the women had driven into town. They explained that before they left Sacramento, they condensed the majority of their belongings into a moving pod. Because they didn’t know where they were going to end up, they had it delivered to a storage facility where it could be kept until they needed it. Two days after signing the lease, they called the company to arrange for delivery.

  “It should be here by 9 a.m.,” Darcy said.

  “Perfect,” I said. “I’ll be here to help you unload it.”

  “You don’t have to do that,” Gia said. “You’ve already done so much.”

  “Too much doesn’t exist when it comes to you.”

  “At least take a break so I can make you something to eat. You’ve been working yourself silly doing this and keeping up with the ranch. Relax for a little bit. It would make me feel much better.”

  I decided to take her up on the offer. She was right. I couldn’t just not do my work at the ranch so I could help her get moved into her new place. That meant fulfilling all my responsibilities there, then turning around and making my way to the apartment to help them. But it was more than worth it. Seeing the smile on Gia’s face and the way she seemed to relax and feel more at ease every day made me happier than I could say.

  I went into the living room while Gia went into the kitchen to cook some of the food she brought along to start stocking up. Gabby had an assortment of toys spread out around her and seemed engrossed in an elaborate game of make-believe. I dropped down onto the floor beside her and surveyed everything, trying to catch on to what was happening. It was not immediately obvious what she was playing or how I might be able to jump in, but that didn’t deter me.

  “Can I play?” I asked.

  She glanced over at me and smiled. She’d really opened up in the last couple of weeks and I felt like I was really getting to know her. But even now that she was more relaxed and comfortable around me, I hadn’t forgotten those looks of uncertainty when we first met. There must have been some sort of trauma there. Young children were often shy and timid, but it seemed more pronounced in Gabby. I still found it odd that Gia and Darcy were traveling around with a little girl the way they were when they didn’t have any set plans or idea what was going to come of them.

  But I still held back from any digging. I wasn’t going to ask any questions. This was a fresh start and I was going to respect that. If Gia wanted to tell me what was really happening, she would.

  And I would just wait for that.

  Chapter 16

  Gia

  Moving day seemed to take as much of a toll on Gabby as it did the adults. She wasn’t able to do much hauling, but no one could tell her that.

  In between bouts of playing, she insisted on being a part of the process to settle into the new apartment. I wondered if she could sense there was something different about this.

  Obviously, this wasn’t the only time we’d gotten a new place
to live and she witnessed the process of us taking everything we owned—or at least everything we managed to get our hands on—and bringing it into a different place.

  Having moved as many times as she had in her short life, sometimes it seemed like she was less familiar with the idea of cleaning up a room than she was packing it up.

  But this really was different. Every other time we moved, it was with the temporary in mind. Even when we went to Darcy’s apartment in Sacramento, I didn’t have that sense of being settled. I was with my best friend and was happy to be there, but I didn’t ever feel like that was it, that we were home. In the back of my mind, there was always the reality that we’d leave again sometime. The only question was when it would happen.

  This didn’t feel like that. I wasn’t carving out space to borrow or essentially taking a break in running before it was time to start running again. After more than three years and countless panicked scrambles to pack up everything I could and rush to the next place, I finally felt like I was home.

  I couldn’t help but think Gabby felt that way, too. She was immediately drawn to the apartment and took over the space like it had always been her own. As soon as we brought any of her boxes into the room she and I would share, she started unpacking.

  Toys and books found their way onto shelves and in her bed after the movers delivered the storage box. It had been a big metal box full of our possessions being dropped down in front of the apartment building, but it felt like a gift being delivered.

  In a way, I guessed it was. Having those possessions brought to the apartment building meant this was real. The gift was the future we were building for ourselves in our new chosen home. But all that excitement and work exhausted my little girl and she started to drift off to sleep right after finishing her dinner.