“Have you ever mooned anybody?” Deliah asked eagerly.
“No,” I said even though I did by accident one time when I was lifeguarding at the Y.
“Ask her about flashing,” Gabe said.
“My turn,” Caleb set his beer down. “Mona Deliah, truth or dare?”
“Truth,” she said immediately. “It’s just plain Deliah, okay?”
He grinned. “What’s the last lie you told?”
“Try being more creative,” Gabe said. “Every other phrase out of her mouth is a lie.”
“Gabe,” I said in a scolding tone. “She’s nowhere near the biggest liar in your family.” I hadn’t had a chance to call Caleb out on his phony disappearing act.
“I haven’t lied all day,” said Deliah. Then she slapped the table and chuckled. “That was the last lie I told.”
“Good one,” Caleb said. “Gabe’s turn. Deliah can ask.”
The windows darkened eerily, and lunchtime looked more like evening. Gabe pushed his chair away from the table and crossed his ankles. He pulled the candy out of his mouth. “I’m not playing.”
“It’s fun,” I told him. I had a hard time not ogling him the way he used the chair and relaxed like someone posing for a photo shoot. He was the coolest boy I knew. “Just play along. Don’t be a grump.”
Caleb set his elbows on the table, mimicking my earlier pose. “Truth or dare?”
Gabe sighed and spoke around the lollipop, “Truth.”
“You should try a dare,” Deliah exclaimed.
“No,” he said.
Deliah stood up. “What do you love better, candy or Avery?”
Gabe scowled. “Both the same.”
I punched his shoulder, and he rubbed his arm and pretended he was hurt.
“You just keep asking,” Caleb told his sister. “This beats shovelin’ snow any day.”
“Caleb, truth or dare?” she said. The overhead light went off and on. All of the electronics beeped as the power was interrupted.
He took a swig of his beer. “Dare,” he said as he ran a hand over his hair. It worried me how much he was enjoying the game.
“I dare you to kiss Avery on her lips in front of Gabe.”
I threw my gaze sideways. Gabe didn’t flinch. Caleb, on the other hand, pushed his seat back and cleared his throat. “C’mere, legs.”
“In your dreams. You’ll have to lose this round,” I told him.
“I don’t ever lose to nobody,” he boasted, raising his eyebrows up and down.
“That means you do lose,” Deliah said. “It’s a double-negative.”
“Well, la-di-da,” Caleb told her.
“Next,” Gabe voiced with emphasis, yet seemed to be lost in thought. I looked away from Caleb, but I could feel his gaze linger.
“I have one,” Deliah said. “Who was your first kiss?”
“We’re not going there,” Gabe told his sister. “Try again.”
“Avery, you ask Gabe one,” she replied.
“Truth or dare?” I asked. I was pleased he was humoring her, though it wasn’t a winning performance.
“Truth,” he said distracted.
“How do you know that girl in Albertson’s parking lot? The one you were talking to before you got arrested?” I regretted saying them before the words slipped out.
“You got arrested?” Caleb leaned forward and set his arms out in front of him. “Do tell. Now this is getting interesting.”
“Gabe smashed a car with a shovel,” Deliah told him excitedly. “He got handcuffed and pushed into a cop car and hauled off with the lights on.”
“The lights weren’t on,” I corrected her.
“He got black paint shot at him. It was all over the truck and in his hair. It was everywhere. It was the activists,” Deliah said.
“That’s because he’s got the reaction time of a slug. I would’ve destroyed them personally,” replied Caleb. “That explains the buzz cut. I just thought your girlfriend here wanted you to look like me.”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” I told him.
“Truth or dare, Caleb,” asked Deliah. She was overly persistent.
“Truth,” he groaned.
“Did you love mom?”
Gabe reached into my jacket on the back of my chair, stood up, and left the table.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
Caleb laughed. “He’s leaving the kitchen. He can’t take the heat.”
I found Gabe in the living room, pressing his nose into the frosted glass. “I know that girl from summers here. Her brother works on Lane’s crew. They have a band.”
“Oh,” I said quietly. I felt stupid. “Come back in and eat.”
Gabe turned around and leaned on the wall beside the window. Snow began falling. He had a far off look in his eyes. The envelope from Tessa was in his hand. His tie was slipping off his neck. He looked adorable and tortured at the same time.
Judson appeared in the hallway. “Joel’s limo spun out. Somebody forgot to give him the memo about using four-wheel drive in the snow.”
“Are Meggie and Emmie okay?” I asked.
“They’re waiting it out at Lane’s until this passes.”
“I’m going too,” Gabe said abruptly.
“To talk to your father? Is that really a good idea?” I asked him. “What about the roads?”
The door slammed and he was gone. The blood rushed out of my face.
“Some things never change,” Caleb drawled from the kitchen.
“I’m going upstairs to practice,” Deliah said. She picked up her guitar case and stomped her feet.
I tried to appear dispassionate about Gabe’s hasty exit though I felt a bit of desperation fill my lungs.
“Where did you disappear to?” I asked Caleb. “You’re a big fat liar. Did you really think we’d buy the army story?”
“I’m pretty sure you bought it.”
“Where did you go?” I picked up the deli tray and returned it to the refrigerator. My hands were shaking. “You need some truth serum.”
I turned around and glared at him.
“What a relief. After all this time, you still find me sexy as hell.”
I ignored his flirting words while he watched me clean up. I tried not to catch his eye again. He wasn’t going to trick me or trap me or get me in any hot water with Gabe.
“If you’re not going to tell me where you were—then what’s up with you, Molly, Lane and the baby? What about your father’s company? Is something bad going to happen?”
“What’s up with all those spots? You break out in hives when you landed in oil country?”
I moved a chair with my hip and leaned across the table to wipe it clean. “Didn’t they teach you about viruses in medic training? It’s chickenpox,” I said. “What’s in the envelope?”
I stepped around the table into his reach to pick up a glass. He sat back and crossed his arms instead of touching me. “What envelope?”
“Caleb, you know what envelope I mean. What was in yours?”
“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”
I grunted.
He rolled his sleeves to his elbows and started drinking another beer. “I’m not opening it until I’m tanked.”
“So that’s why Gabe left,” I muttered as I realized their mother wrote them each a letter.
“Let the kid mope it all out. You know the drill. Maybe Jud will take him out and loosen him up.”
“Do you think your uncle’s…never mind,” I said.
He laughed. “Adopted?”
“It’s not easy for Gabe to be here. He’s doing the right thing going back to HalRem and finishing his contract.” I rung out the dish rag and tried to find something else to do.
“You won’t catch me looking cross-eyed at an oil well. That’s why I got first-aid training. If I say I quit—I quit.”
“You should hear why Gabe thinks you wanted to be a medic. I seriously hope he’s wrong. Why are you here?”
I didn’t answer him. He clearly wanted a reaction.
“Pray tell, what does my little brother make of my career choice?”
“Ask him yourself.”
He set his beer on his knee. “Something about you is different, legs,” he said.
Of course Caleb would be the one person to observe what was invisible. I didn’t plan on telling him anything about my relationship with Gabe. He didn’t deserve my trust.
“It’s not the boobage. They’re about the same size.”
I ran a hand through my hair in an attempt to hide the uneasy feeling he triggered.
“Not the hair. That’s the same. Well, maybe it’s lighter.”
“I’m going upstairs,” I told him. I set my boot on the first step and thought of Gabe’s playfulness before everything got stirred up and complicated.
“Ain’t the ass either,” he snickered.
I climbed the stairs to the landing so he couldn’t see me.
“Hold up there, legs. Wait a damn minute—I know what it is.”
* * *
Gabe didn’t answer when I called him. By dinnertime Josh materialized in the house looking for food. Meggie wasn’t coming home. I figured I had to feed Deliah, so I set out the luncheon spread and the three of us ate sandwiches and deviled eggs. Again.
“I unlocked a crapload of armor in Halo,” Josh told us as he shoved his sandwich in his mouth.
“Can I play?” Deliah asked eagerly. “I’m bored to death waiting for Tessa to come back.”
“Uh, maybe when I finish,” he said. “It’s kind of not a girl game. And it’s cold out there.”
Josh had a lot to learn about his half-sister. I glanced out the window with hope I would catch Gabe driving in. I planned to return to my bedroom to sulk after we finished, but Deliah begged me to watch her take on Josh out in Meggie’s office.
“That’s all Joel’s stuff,” she told me as I explored the wall of file boxes plastered with the HalRem star logo. Rolls of blueprints stuck out of the cracks. “He brought it all in the house, but Meggie told him he wasn’t allowed to work when he’s here.”
“He had a huge office in the mansion in Texas,” I told her.
“You gotta stress the word had,” Josh said as he spun his game controller in the air like a cyclone. “When he comes out here to work, I split.”
“He must be planning something. These are building designs.” I bit my lips closed when I realized the address printed along the top was Benjamin, Texas.
Deliah’s shoulder brushed mine, and she pulled the long paper from my grip and unrolled it as I held the ends.
“Oh boy. They’re gonna be divorced before they ever get married,” she said. “I watch soap operas. This is classic. The man goes behind the woman’s back and ticks her off for making all the big decisions.”
I sighed noisily. “Meggie won’t like this. We better not say anything. Can you keep it to yourself?”
There was no way Mr. Halden could convince her to move to Texas by building a house the size of a cruise ship.
“I don’t want to live here, but I don’t want to live there either. Gabe said there are snakes everywhere. I’d have to carry a pistol if I go outside to get the mail.”
She was right. But around Williston she’d need a force field to avoid being hit by paint.
“You have to give this a chance. Aren’t you a little bit excited to start school?”
She rolled the paper back into my hands. “Y’all keep asking me that. I don’t know anybody who gets excited about school.”
“Good point,” I said. “But you’re smart. You’ll make friends. I bet you after one week you’ll have a boyfriend.”
Josh chuckled. His glazed-over eyes didn’t leave the screen.
Nothing I did over the next hour took my mind off Gabe. I thought about asking Deliah about the letters from Tessa, but she seemed upset that she vanished without a goodbye, so I figured she hadn’t gotten hers.
“I’m going in to make hot cocoa,” I announced. I left out my plan to sit upstairs by the window and write Gabe’s name on the wet glass and watch the road for as far as I could see. I zipped my coat and braced for the cold.
I took two steps before I saw him standing on the porch with his cowboy hat on. I shuddered as the chilled air passed through my layers. Gabe waved for me to follow and climbed in his truck. I ran.
“When did you get here?”
“Just now. Get in before Mona Deliah sees you.”
I climbed over a pile of books.
“I didn’t think you were coming back. I thought maybe you got into it with your father or uncle,” I said as the optimism returned to my voice. He glanced down his nose and creased his forehead at my statement. He smelled like everything I couldn’t resist. The best part—he hadn’t changed out of his suit.
“I didn’t see my dad. Jud dropped me at Lane’s.”
“Why did you go to Lane’s? Why is Judson here? Did he tell you?” I asked.
Gabe didn’t respond right away. “No clue. Maybe business.”
“Exactly what business is he in?”
Quickly he replied, “What’s all this about?”
“Nothing.” I sat with my hands in my lap.
“You’re not pestering me about where we’re going,” he drawled with a hint of sarcasm. “Don’t you always gotta know everything?”
“I don’t care where we go as long as we’re alone,” I said. “Did you eat?”
“Yup. There’s nothing good to eat in this town. I miss Texas barbeque.” He pulled a roll of Mentos out of his shirt pocket and popped one in his mouth.
“That sounds good,” I replied.
“You need to try barbequed snake,” he said. “Next time we go back, I’ll catch one.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
He gave me a sideward grin.
“Do you think it was okay to leave Deliah with Josh?”
“No. I’ve got something that will make you forget them.”
The wipers swished across the glass and cleared the snowy window. I leaned forward. Snow crystals sparkled like diamonds on the hood.
“This view is incredible. The wells are all lit up.”
“Yup. Those are HalRem wells. It’s the lieutenant’s land as far as you can see and ten times as far beyond that. I’ll be stationed way out there.” He pointed to a row of lights that were only visible when the wind stopped gusting.
“It’s clearly booming,” I muttered.
“It was for a while. There’s talk of a bust. OPEC isn’t backing off. They’re trying to put us under by producing more.”
“That all sounds good and kind of bad.”
“Lane says a bust won’t happen even if we see a gradual decline in oil production. He thinks oversupply of US crude production isn’t as high as the media makes it out to be. He’s been getting into projections, strategic planning, production futures. He’s the one with an engineering degree, but he’s got a mind for business.” We turned off the main road. “The lieutenant won’t listen to him half the time. He’s a wiz at financial stuff just like my mom was.”
“And you’re bossy like your father,” I said and made him smirk. “Nobody talks about oil where I’m from.”
“You mean on Mars?” he asked. “Everybody should talk about it. That’s all you hear about out here.”
“You grew up in this. It’s your world.”
Gabe ran a hand over the steering wheel. The truck slowed. Snow shot at the windshield. “Today it cost me half of what it usually costs to fill her up.”
“Don’t you get some kind of a discount since your father owns the oil?”
“No. We don’t own an actual oil refinery. That’s a whole different industry. We make our money off drilling—the lieutenant does.”
He reversed into a semicircle and hit the brakes for fun. The truck slid until it hit an embankment. I shrieked. Books slid off the seat.
* * *
The tires crunched over the snow. The drive was only as wide as the truck. Gabe managed to plow through the spots where snowdrifts had blocked the path. Though I couldn’t see a foot ahead when snow shot at the headlights, I knew where we were going.
“I hope it’s warm. I can picture us frozen together like popsicles,” I said. “My phone isn’t getting any reception.”
“That’s why I didn’t answer you today. It’s spotty out here.”
Gabe reached behind the seat and lifted two bags from Albertsons.
I unbuckled and waited for him to circle the truck and open my door. He disappeared in a burst of white and reappeared. Snow covered his head and shoulders. I pushed the door into the wind. Instead of giving me his hand, he grabbed my waist and slung me over his shoulder. The door shut and the sound ricocheted through the storm. I screamed.
“Gabe, put me down!”
“It’s hog-killing weather,” he said as he stomped through mounds of snow, following a trail of faint footprints. I curled around so I could see where he was going. When he stopped, I noted the steps were shoveled clean.
“Now can you please put me down?” I asked. I knew he wouldn’t.
He unlocked the door and walked up two steps and entered a warm room. I looked up, but my hair was covering my face.
“You need to preserve your strength. You’ve only been on the mend a few days.”
My feet hit the floor, and I fell backward into the wall. Gabe pulled my hair out of my mouth. The bags dangled from his other wrist.
“Oh wow, this is nice,” I said as I took in the tiny space. “It smells new. I thought it was going to be a one of those rusty old trailers with broken windows taped up with cardboard.”
“It was. I had it towed out. Blew half my savings and brought in this one. I could buy a real house in any state with what it cost me to get this on the quick.”
I stood in the doorway grinning. “Is that a bedroom?”
There were stacks of books along the wall. Eli’s guitar was propped in the corner.
“There’s no furniture.”
“There’s a lamp,” he countered.
“Ok. There’s a lamp and a fridge. But no curtains or chairs?”
Stubborn Truth (The Stubborn Series Book 3) Page 9
