Stubborn Truth (The Stubborn Series Book 3)

by Arnold, Jeanne

  “You woulda run too. I didn’t even know Joel was home. Ma, you could have warned me.”

  “Well, none of us knew,” Meggie said. “I’m just glad there’s not a scratch or dent on you.”

  Josh shoveled eggs into his mouth and garbled, “I’m staying with Max Taylor until Joel leaves.”

  “Did they think you were a Halden?” I asked.

  Josh pointed a knife at the window and gulped. “You mean do they know about Joel and her and me?” He shrugged and continued. “Everybody knows we got HalRem trucks parked on the property. The coop is full of his employees. Everybody knows she’s marrying him.”

  My eyes widened. “Should we be afraid?”

  “Of the tree hugger progenies? Hell no,” said Gabe. “They don’t even know what they’re protesting. Ask ’em if they wanna be energy independent or how they plan to feed their families without a job. We employee more than half of Williston. Unemployment is under one percent. The land footprint is negligible in comparison.” Gabe stabbed his bacon and waved it in the air.

  “Well, I’ll be darned. It’s so refreshing to hear you defend the empire, kiddo,” said Meggie. “Wise beyond your twenty years.” She patted his shoulder and then walked into the other room.

  Gabe shrugged his shoulders and scowled. Then he squeezed my leg under the table. “I’m gonna buy a shovel and start digging. Only way to get away from this lunacy is to live underground.”

  “I’m signing up for a class this afternoon,” I told him. “I’ll ask around campus if they have any vacant caves for rent.”

  * * *

  “Can you take me into town?” Deliah followed me to Gabe’s truck after lunch. She was following me everywhere.

  Gabe lifted a pile of books and set them behind the seat. I butted myself up to his hip, hoping he had the mind to take me to his trailer to be alone before my campus appointment. I wanted to see the million-mile stretch of land covered in snow outside of town.

  “Meggie bought me winter clothes. They’re atrocious. I can’t be seen wearing turtleneck sweaters when I start school. You saw how she got us all the same pajamas.”

  “There’s only one reason you’d ever need to wear a turtleneck.”

  “A love bite?” Deliah asked. “Eww. That’s disgusting. I’m never getting one of those.”

  Gabe grunted beside me even though he was guilty of giving them. “You won’t be going near boys so you don’t ever have to worry,” he said. “Do you even have money to shop?”

  “No. But you do.”

  “I’ll be back. Try your best to lose the girl,” Gabe said in the campus lot after he kissed me goodbye with his caramel-laced lips. “Stay out of trouble.”

  I slid out of the seat after Deliah and turned around lightheaded. I had little energy after loafing around in my pajamas for days. “Try your best to find us a place to live.”

  “Tonight. You. Me. Makin’ history,” he drawled.

  Two girls wearing backpacks waved at the truck as Gabe drove away. He returned the friendly wave, and my mood temporarily turned sour.

  I sat in the lounge of the bursar’s office yawning, waiting for my name to be called, rehashing what almost happened between Gabe and me in Meggie’s living room. At the same time, I was trying to figure out what to do about my awkward run-in with his uncle. The more time I let pass, the sillier it would sound if I said anything.

  “This place gives me the creeps,” Deliah said as she slumped in her seat and wrapped a scarf around her face. “Reminds me of the headmistress’s office at my old school. She forced me to watch her feed dead rats to her snake. She had it in for me.”

  I dragged my attention away from the forms on my lap and studied her hazel eyes peeking out from the scarf. “You’re not serious.”

  “I should’ve gone with Uncle Jud to see an oil well even if it is thirty-one degrees below zero outside. Do you think Meggie gets them mixed up? I mean Joel looks exactly like Jud. Like Gabe looks like Lane and Lane looks like Caleb and—you know. She could get fooled if she isn’t paying attention.”

  Was she mocking me about what happened with Caleb at the cabin over Thanksgiving? I tried so hard to put his uninvited kiss out of my head. I considered what she would do if I told her how Uncle Jud was in our bedroom doing god knows what in her drawer.

  “I think she knows who she’s in love with,” I told her.

  “I guess you’re right since we all have to hear through the floor how much she knows. I sure hope you and Gabe find a place to live because I swear my eyes are gonna get burned from all the X-rated stuff I get exposed to.”

  She had no idea how much I wanted for that to be true.

  “Avery Ross,” the office assistant called. I looked up and startled at the round face framed in a pink bandana behind the woman. Molly Taylor was leaving the Dean’s office.

  “Oh my goodness, Molly. Lane said you were big. He wasn’t kidding.” We stepped toward each other. “What are you doing here?”

  “This is as big as I get, Avery. I forgot what my feet look like.”

  “I’d hug you, but I had chickenpox.”

  “I know. I’ve been waiting for you to get better.”

  I realized how much I missed her. “How can you be so small and the baby be so big?”

  “His daddy’s over six feet tall. You tell me,” she said and laughed.

  I visualized Lane and then I remembered Caleb was part of the picture too. She must have read the question in my eyes.

  “Lane’s already talking about what engineering college the baby’s going to. If we find out the paternity, he could be crushed. I’d just assume he’s the one who signs the birth certificate.”

  “Have you heard from Caleb?”

  She shook her head. Her hair had grown out. Her curls bounced behind her shoulders.

  “We were all just living it up, and now I’m stuck taking classes here to finish my degree. Hi, Deliah,” she said, peering around me.

  “Are you gonna marry one of my brothers before you explode?”

  “Avery, excuse me,” the assistant interrupted before Molly could answer.

  “Lane’s taking me away for a doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning. He booked a hotel room tonight so we don’t have to get up early to drive.”

  “We need to catch up when you get back,” I said.

  “It’s awesome you and Gabe are still together. I hope he’s happy to have his truck back. Lane made me swear not to say anything. Sucks about the mansion and their mom and all of the lies, though. Lane thinks his dad’s got some big announcement coming. I couldn’t care less.”

  Deliah stayed in the lounge while I attempted to finance my classes with the budget my parents agreed on. It turned out I needed a business degree to figure out how to afford a business degree. Afterward, Deliah followed me to my guidance meeting where they were running late. She put her headphones on and played a game on her tablet.

  “Little sister?” the girl beside me asked. I turned my head and caught her sorting a pile of pamphlets in front of her on a table. Her hair was short and black. “I have one of those. About her age.”

  “Oh no. My sister is younger. Deliah’s my boyfriend’s sister.”

  “Boyfriend?” she questioned. “Good luck finding one around here who doesn’t treat the environment like a wasteland.”

  “I just moved here to be near him,” I told her even though I didn’t know her.

  “Oh, I get it. He’s a fifth hand, and you followed him to this landfill. Everybody works in oil. Ninety-nine percent of everybody you meet migrated from another state to get in on the action. At least you’re on campus and not loafing on a secondhand couch in a porta-trailer.”

  “Um, actually I will be. I missed the deadline to register. All that’s left is to take an online class. I need to figure out what to do with myself.” I hadn’t anticipated meeting anyone I would need to explain my HalRem connection to.

  “I can fix that. We’re meeting by the water tower to organ
ize as soon as I get out of here. You can’t miss the tower. The more, the merrier. Bundle up.” She stood and walked to an office door where a man waved his finger for her. Before the door closed, she added, “If he doesn’t expel me, I’ll see you there. You didn’t tell me your name.”

  “Avery,” I said, but she was gone. I didn’t get her name either.

  Following my appointment, we found Gabe double-parked beside a TV station van. He honked to get our attention. There were no available spots on the street when he came to pick us up. The snowy courtyard was flooded with students carrying signs and people lugging camera equipment.

  “Do you own a watch?” Deliah asked as she climbed into the truck.

  Gabe leaned out his window. He pulled a Tootsie Pop out of his mouth. His words blew steam. “What the heck were you two doing with them?”

  “I met this girl and she said she’d be out here so we walked around and looked for her while we waited for you. I didn’t know she invited me to a protest. I wouldn’t have come if I knew.”

  “They got cameras here. You can’t be around these people. My dad will flip his top,” Gabe said. He reached out the window and snagged my hood. “You got a lot to learn.”

  “You said they were harmless.” I didn’t feel the need to tell him one of the reporters tried to interview me minutes earlier.

  “It’s the media you need to avoid. Wanna see me pick up one of those signs and start hollerin’, drill, baby, drill?” he drawled. “You wouldn’t believe what would happen.”

  I glanced at the crowd and sighed.

  “We saw Molly inside. She’s gigantic,” Deliah told him.

  “She really is,” I repeated. “You’re going to be an uncle any day now.”

  “Well, get in. Meggie called. Emmie needs diapers,” he said.

  I ran around the hood and climbed up and over Deliah’s body so I could sit in the middle. The truck was toasty warm.

  Gabe took every opportunity to do donuts when he found an open space. I was nauseated by the time we arrived at Albertsons grocery store.

  “Stay here. I’ll run in. The baby wears size small, right?” Gabe jumped out of the truck and stopped me from climbing down.

  “She wears newborn. We’re not staying out here. It’s freezing,” I told him as I pulled on my earmuffs.

  He grinned as the snow landed in his lashes. “Watch my truck. Viking scourge, remember? We’ll drive to Bismarck another day so y’all can get your shopping fix. Leave the engine running.” He leaned over and gave me another kiss, pulling my neck, surprising me with more of his public friendliness. “Av’ry, you look smokin’ hot in those earmuffs.”

  I wanted to tell him he looked amazing in anything and probably nothing too, but he walked away.

  “Have fun buying diapers!” Deliah rolled up her window. “He doesn’t want all of those guys looking at you.”

  Gabe joined a group of oil workers all wearing HalRem caps and dirty coveralls. I stopped laughing and aimed the heater vent on my face. The parking lot was a madhouse. I didn’t want to go in the store anyway.

  Ten minutes later he strolled out of the busy store with a box of diapers under his arm, a shovel in his hand, and a girl wearing a store apron, walking at his side. She slipped on the ice and grabbed his arm. He reached around and picked her up by the elbow, but she fell and pushed him into the snowbank. He dropped the diapers and held her waist until she was steady.

  Deliah nudged me. “You see that?”

  “It must be exhausting being one of those perfect girls. I wonder who she is.” I bet she didn’t have a billion chickenpox scars all over her body.

  “She’s a slut. One of those girls who likes boys looking at her butt. That’s why I hide mine under long shirts.”

  Gabe gazed across the lot and found me watching. He said something to the girl, and she rubbed her hand over his upper arm in a friendly manner. Then she glanced at me and smiled from afar. She handed him the box of diapers and walked to a guy in a HalRem utility truck waiting in the fire lane. I questioned how many girls Gabe knew in town.

  I rolled down the window when he approached. “I hope she thought those diapers were for your kid,” I said. My jealousy was as transparent as the snow on the ground.

  Deliah joined in. “Do you always shop for girls at the grocery store?”

  He tapped the door with the shovel and gave me a puzzled look. The steam from his breath blew into the cab. He smelled of cinnamon hearts. I was certain they were in his pocket.

  “I gotta dig out the trailer if you wanna go see it after we ditch bigmouth.” He glanced around me at his sister. Then I felt something wet on my face just as he bumped his chest into the door. His expression morphed into a look of disgust.

  I wiped my face and examined the back of my glove. I thought for sure someone threw a snowball at his head. The black smudge on my white glove made me look up. It wasn’t snow.

  Gabe slammed his fist into the door panel. His hazel eyes constricted. “Goddang mother—” He bit his lip hard.

  “Gabe?” I rasped into his face.

  His nostrils fumed while I tried to figure out what happened. When he turned around his back was black from his head to his waist. He muttered, “This is all his fault.”

  “No, Gabe!” He took a step away from the truck and dropped the box of diapers.

  “Call 911 before he kills somebody,” Deliah said. “He doesn’t like anybody messing with his truck. I should know.”

  With his shovel in hand, Gabe took off across the lot in the direction of the attacker. I didn’t see a face, only a black ski mask. I pushed my door into the wind and jumped down. My eyes never left Gabe’s hat. I could tell he was livid by the force of his marching steps.

  “Gabe! Stop!” I shouted as I tried to make my feet work. Deliah grabbed my arm. We followed the trail of black. Our ankles wobbled on the icy surface as we charged after him, darting through a shopping cart obstacle track.

  The perpetrator dove into a waiting Subaru. I watched, overcome with dread when Gabe smacked the headlights with the shovel. The vehicle rocked back and forth in the snow, gunning the engine while the passenger door was still open. Gabe continued to pound the hood with swift, meaningful swings.

  “I’ll give you something to protest!”

  “Gabe, please stop!”

  I feared he would break the windshield and decapitate someone inside.

  A cluster of oil workers carrying groceries and beer blocked us and started cheering him on while the getaway car tried to move out of the snowy rut.

  I wanted to scream for them to stop egging Gabe on, but I was too busy trying to get at him.

  Deliah yelled at my side. “This is just like Cops!”

  Someone grabbed my arm as I was about to lunge at the shovel. “Let go of me!” I shouted and struggled out of his grip. I whirled around to spy an older, bearded man in sunglasses and a cowboy hat smirking at me. The man’s hair was the color of snow. I had no clue who he was or why he felt the need to stop me when Gabe was the one doing all of the damage.

  “Uh oh,” said Deliah as she tugged on my other arm. A patrol car pulled into the lot. Gabe held the shovel up in the air and aborted his strike. The car sounded the siren in one final blare. Everything was a blur after that. Gabe shouted. The officer shouted. The Subaru took off, spinning tires in the snow.

  “Go after him!” Gabe hollered at the officer as he was ordered to set down the shovel and sit on the ground. He held up his hands but didn’t release the shovel. “They friggin’ ruined my truck. They shot paint at me.”

  A female officer shouted, and my heart jumped in my chest. “Stop where you are! Drop the weapon, son.”

  Gabe turned around, the shovel swung with him and the first cop took a stab at pushing him to the ground. “Get on your knees!”

  “Everybody take a step back,” the female yelled as Gabe tried to thrust the male off of him.

  The man screamed at Gabe, “Stop resisting!”

&nb
sp; I screamed into my gloved hands as he dropped the shovel. “Don’t hurt him. You don’t understand!”

  “Go after them—not me.” He gave up and fell to his knees. His phone slid out of his pocket. In a matter of seconds, Gabe was cuffed and yanked back to his feet. He left black paint in the snow. His HalRem cap popped off, and he kicked it when it hit the ground. The officer pushed his tall body into the back of the squad car.

  “Get my phone, Av’ry. Get in my truck. Call Lane. Don’t call Meggie.”

  “Don’t worry, Gabe! We’ll break you out,” Deliah yelled after the cruiser. Then she scooped up Gabe’s phone and handed it to me. The parking lot mob dispersed as quickly as it formed.

  We scurried back to the truck without falling on the ice. The truck was running. I glanced around for the stranger who tried to stop me from interfering.

  “I can’t believe he did that,” I muttered. I panicked when Lane’s number went straight to voice mail. “Lane’s not answering. I think Molly said they were leaving town today. She isn’t answering either.”

  “He needs a lawyer not his brother,” Deliah said.

  “Meggie has a lawyer, but I can’t call her. She’ll tell your father. Caleb would know exactly what to do.” As much as I didn’t want to need him—I did. “Let’s just drive to the police station.”

  “It’s only six turns and three miles away according to the phone. I’ll tell you where to go,” she said.

  We got lost. I made a wrong turn and ended up on a one-way street behind a garbage truck. Garbage trucks don’t move fast on icy roads. It was so cold in North Dakota they couldn’t salt the surfaces like we did in New York.

  When I reached the front desk at the police station, my heart hammered against my ribs.

  “Halden?” the receptionist repeated. “Full name?”

  “Gabriel Joel Halden. They just took him out of the parking lot and drove away. Is he here?”

  “Av’ry, that you?” I heard him. I couldn’t see him.

  I looked around the corner and spotted him sitting on the end of a bench in a long hall, his hands cuffed behind his back, legs stretched out, ankles crossed. There were three other men beside him. He looked relaxed.