“Will do.” Kara backed out of the office, her dimples showing. “You know, I think Chief Peralta might be kind of interested too. Just saying. If you’re looking to ‘get out there’—”
“Out.” Monica pointed to the door. “Not you too. I already have enough busybodies interested in my love life.”
Kara was laughing when she shut the door, but Monica was already distracted. Going out with West had been fun. She found him attractive, but he was also pretty easy to read. West was all out there. Gabe Peralta, on the other hand, had that stoic, reserved, unflappable thing going on.
Watch out for the quiet ones. Isn’t that what they said? Monica shivered. She had a feeling Gabe was a quiet one. Reserved? Yes. Cold?
Not even a little bit.
She saw his truck pull up to the hotel, and she noticed a new addition to the party. By the time it parked in front, she was at the door, opening it and greeting Chief Peralta like the professional, sexy, smart, confident woman who had gone out with a very hot biker the night before.
“Chief Peralta.” She held out her hand to shake his. “How are you? Nice to see you again.” I am not thinking about you naked this time. Okay, maybe just a little bit. “And who is this?”
A lanky teenage boy with long dark hair slid out of the truck. “Hey.”
“This is my son Logan. And again, please call me Gabe.”
“Gabe.” Monica nodded. “Logan. How are you?”
“Logan is staying with me for the summer, and I thought I’d give him an idea of what I do all day.”
Logan’s arms were crossed over his chest. “Yeah, it’s superexciting.”
Monica recognized the teenage ennui immediately. She also recognized the gritted jaw Gabe was wearing. “I’m sorry to say that what we have to talk about isn’t the most exciting, but why don’t I call my son Jake? He can show Logan around, maybe take him out in the boat for a spin around the lake.”
Logan’s eyes went from bored to lit. “A boat?”
“Yep.” Monica grabbed her phone and texted Jake. “That will give your dad and me time to go over the stuff we need to without you having to hang around and listen to the fire code.”
Gabe said, “You really don’t have to—”
“It’s fine.” She smiled. “I have three boys, and they were all teenagers once. Way better to get outdoors and stay in the fresh air, right?”
“I’ve never been on a boat,” Logan said. “But I’m a good swimmer. Will I have to wear one of those stupid orange vests I’ve seen on TV?”
“It’s the resort boat, so you’ll have to wear a vest, but we have some of the adult ones that the river guides use. Trust me, you won’t look like a dork.”
“Cool.”
Monica saw Jake in the distance and she pointed to Logan as she waved. “Gabe, why don’t we let them hang out and you can come in my office to go over the report?”
“Dude! Hey, welcome to Russell House. I’m Jake Velasquez, the activities director here. What’s your name, my man?”
“Um, Logan.”
“Logan, awesome to meet you. I heard you have to hang out for a while. I could use some help in the boathouse if you have a minute.”
“Really?” Logan focused on Jake. “How many boats do you have? Are they like the ones with sails or engines? Are they for fishing?”
“Dude, come with me.” Jake nodded at Monica and took the boy by the shoulder. “I’m working on the ski boat engine right now. If you can help me out, we can take it for a spin later.”
“Cool.”
Gabe looked flabbergasted as Jake led Logan toward the boathouse without a backward glance, waving at Monica over his shoulder.
“Wow.” Gabe watched them walk away. “What did you text to Jake?”
“Red alert: bored teenage boy at the main house.” Monica shrugged. “He’s the oldest of four. He’s great with younger kids.”
“I’ll say. Your son managed to get more conversation from Logan in three minutes than I’ve been able to eke out all summer.”
“He usually lives with his mom?”
Gabe nodded. “In the East Bay. He’s been here most of the summer, and he thinks Glimmer Lake is the height of boring. No offense.”
“None taken. He’s a city kid. It’s a totally different life here. I imagine Jake will entertain him though. Everyone loves Jake.”
Gabe smiled a little and looked at Monica from the side. “I have a feeling I know where he gets that from.”
Wait, was that a compliment? Was Gabe… flirting?
“Why don’t we go to my office?” Monica said. “We can talk more there.”
Chapter 11
Gabe and Monica settled in her office with coffee and lemon scones from Misfit Mountain. Instead of sitting on opposite sides of her large desk, Monica moved them to the long table that had been part of the Russell family library.
“This is a great office.” Gabe looked around at the tall bookcases surrounding her desk. “Kind of… masculine though.”
“This was Gordon Russell’s home office,” Monica said, immediately going into the spiel prepared for guests. “From this office, he ran Russell Timber, which remains one of the most prominent logging operations on the West Coast. Russell Timber is the leader in sustainable tree farming and logging; it’s also at the forefront of several green-energy initiatives now.”
Gabe raised an eyebrow. “Rehearsed that one, right?”
Monica smiled. “There’s a historical tour we offer guests if they’re curious about the family.”
Gabe ran his hands along one bookcase. “Imagine growing up here.”
“You don’t have to imagine,” Monica said. “Grace Lewis, my partner in Russell House, likes to hang out at Val’s coffee shop. She did grow up here.” She smiled. “Or you can ask me. I spent most summers here growing up.”
“Really?” He peeked out the window that looked over the broad expanse of lawn and the glittering blue water of Glimmer Lake. “Pretty incredible.”
“We didn’t come in the house much” —because it had been creepy as hell with the ghost of Robin’s grandfather haunting the third floor until they banished him— “but we spent hours and hours in the lake. When Grace’s mother passed and she was trying to figure out what to do with the property, I was the one who thought of turning it into a small hotel. I just figured why limit that fun to family only, you know? Russell House’s beach is one of the best on the lake.”
“I can see that.” Gabe turned around. “So it’s open to the public?”
Monica shrugged. “Within reason. Anyone can boat over and enjoy the lake. Mostly it’s just guests or friends and family of the staff. We don’t have all the facilities and restaurants the beaches in town do.”
Gabe shook his head and turned back to the window. “You know, I thought Logan would have such a good time being up here all summer, but he’s barely left the house. We live right off Ponderosa Creek Road. You know the street?”
“Yeah. That’s not too far from my place.”
“Biking distance to the lake, right?” Gabe stood with his hands on his hips, the sunlight framing his profile as he talked. “He doesn’t have his license yet, but he’s got a bike. I thought he’d be at the beach every day up here.”
Monica shook herself from staring at his ass the moment he turned from the window.
“It’s tough.” She cleared her throat. “At that age, it’s all about their friends. All four of my kids grew up here, so all their friends grew up doing the same stuff they did, camping and boating and fishing and skiing. For a kid like Logan, who’s new to the area, that can all be pretty intimidating if they don’t have someone like Jake introducing them to the scene.”
“I swear, all he wants to do is stare at his computer.”
“Oh, that was my daughter Sylvia. She’s the bookworm of the family, doing graduate work at Berkeley right now. But all my boys would live outdoors if they could.”
Gabe gave her an appreciative glance
up and down. “I have to say, you do not look old enough to have four grown kids.”
Monica resisted the urge to squirm, but her body felt hot all over. Something about the interest in Gabe’s eyes reminded her of the heat in his gaze when she’d dreamed about him. “Well, my late husband and I got started early.”
“I guess so.” He smiled. “We should probably get to these reports.”
“Sure.” She sat next to him at the table. “I briefed the Lewises about our conversation, and Grace liked the gazebo and back-garden idea.”
“And that should work with the amount of defensible space I would recommend, so I’d suggest starting on that as soon as possible. I did want to talk to you about the area around the boathouse though.”
Monica nodded and tried to concentrate on the plans he’d sketched out. She could tell he’d put a lot of thought into the rough design, so she really tried to focus.
He smells good.
She could feel the heat from him and couldn’t help but remember the visceral feeling of his large, callused hand on her naked shoulder.
No! Bad Monica. This was why you went out with West, remember? To forget about Hot Gabe!
Forgetting didn’t seem to be on the menu. Sex visions were not the same as sex dreams. Monica felt like they’d already been intimate, she could remember everything so well.
“So with this part” —she cleared the roughness from her throat— “you’re saying we need to clear even more trees from along this path?”
“I’m saying that you have to think about your evacuation routes. And while your plan is very good—the front lawn is more than enough to keep guests safe—you still have to think about getting there. And if anyone is in the boathouse, keeping some space around the path there will keep guests from possibly walking through a fire storm in order to get to safety.”
“I’m not disagreeing,” Monica said, “but why would anyone come to the house in a fire if they were already at the boathouse?”
“Your son lives and works there, right?” He raised an eyebrow. “You think in a fire he’s not going to rush to the main house to help?”
“Fair point.” Jake wouldn’t like it, but Gabe had a point. “I’ll talk to him about that.”
“That one is a suggestion, not a necessity, but again, I’d really think about clearing that significantly, or at least cutting some trees and planting lower, lusher plants like ferns that provide some protection.”
“Got it.”
Gabe leaned his elbow on the table and angled his body toward hers. “I have to say, you’re a lot less argumentative than most homeowners and businesspeople.”
Monica smiled. “I supposed being married to a firefighter for twenty-five years probably helps. This is not an unfamiliar conversation. Gilbert was fanatical about keeping the trees around our house cut back.”
“And you didn’t mind?”
“Of course I did. It was a battle every time he got out that chain saw. I told him he’d build a Walmart parking lot around the perimeter of our house if he could.” She laughed. “He’d be horrified by how many little trees have sprung up since he passed.” A wave of guilt hit her. “I should probably take care of that. It always seems like it’ll never happen to you, you know? It’ll be other towns, other forests.”
Gabe was silent for a long time. “We always want it to be.”
“Yeah.”
“If you want me to come around your place and give you a hand, I’d be happy to.”
Monica’s cheeks heated. “Oh?”
Gabe drew back. “I meant… with the trees. Give you a hand tagging the trees and that kind of thing. It’s my job.”
“Right.” Monica took a deep breath. “Thanks. That’s very generous. I have your card, so I might call you.”
“That’s my personal number I wrote on back.” His voice was a little rough. “It’s my mobile, so you can text me too. If you’d rather text.” He was staring at her, his eyes on her mouth. He cleared his throat and looked away just as his phone started buzzing in his shirt pocket.
Monica heard the distant sound of sirens on Granville Road, where the fire station was located. “You have to go.”
Gabe looked at his phone, not looking away from the screen even as he stood. “Fire south of town, over by the dam.”
“Right.” Monica felt the familiar rush of dread. She knew what was happening right now, the heavy jackets being thrown on in sweltering summer heat. The heavy-duty masks being counted and the calls being made.
She stood and ran to the window, searching for smoke. The dirty brown-and-grey sign of imminent disaster threaded from the trees and drifted over the south shore of the lake.
“Be careful.” She turned to see Gabe running out the door. “Gabe, be careful.”
He paused at the door. “Can you get Logan—?”
“Jake and I will take care of him. Don’t worry, go.”
Two hours later, she dropped Logan off at his father’s house on Ponderosa Creek Road, making sure he knew where Monica’s house was located if he needed anything. Sully had texted Val and Val had texted Monica and Robin. The fire was out, but not before it had completely consumed another old hunting cabin in the woods. They thought it had been started in the early-morning hours; they’d gotten to it later than the one at the Alison cabin and the house was completely consumed, along with part of the forest.
As soon as Logan was safe at home and he’d gotten a text from his father, Monica drove to Misfit Mountain Coffee and walked to the door.
The coffee shop was closed, but Val was wiping down tables and waved. Monica got on the phone with Robin. “I’m at Misfit. You heard about the fire?”
“Yeah. Sully texted Mark that it was contained?”
“Uh-huh.”
“He also said it was arson.”
Monica froze as Val unlocked the door. “I hadn’t heard that.”
“Sully told Mark it was definitely arson.”
Monica put her phone on speaker so Val could hear. “Robin, you’re on speaker. I’m with Val. How do they know it was arson?”
Val’s eyes went wide, but she remained silent as Robin answered.
“Accelerant, for one. Gabe Peralta took samples and said he’d have to get them to the lab in Bridger, but he could tell by the scent that kerosene was used inside the cabin.”
Val asked, “Robin, do you know if they found any evidence I could read? I asked Sully, but he didn’t know when I talked to him.”
They heard Mark speaking in the background.
“I don’t think so,” Robin said. “It sounded like the cabin was completely consumed. Might have been empty before that anyway. It was another one of those old hunting cabins people built before the dam. Probably belonged to someone who lived in Grimmer.”
“Weird,” Monica said. “That’s two hunting cabins burned.”
“Are they taking a second look at the Alison cabin?” Val asked.
“I don’t know.”
“They need to.”
Monica turned when she heard the sound of a vehicle pulling into the small parking lot of Misfit. It was Sully’s big department truck. “Robin, Sully’s here. Why don’t we call you back after we talk to him?”
“Okay.” Robin took a breath. “I think I need to get pushier with the ghosts around here.”
Sully opened the door and stepped out of the truck. He looked utterly exhausted, dirty, and covered in sweat.
Val walked to him and put her arms around him as Monica told Robin goodbye.
A thousand images of Gil coming home from a call filled her mind.
Dirty and sweaty Gil after a successful call.
Ashy and sad Gil after a loss.
Hyped and horny Gil after a training exercise with his company.
“It’s contained,” Sully said, his arm around Val. “They’re watching it right now and laying down more water. They were lucky the cabin backed up to a creek. The ground around it was pretty damp and the fire hadn’t reached
the canopy yet, so it consumed the cabin but didn’t develop much past that.”
“That’s a relief,” Monica said. “Val, can we get a drink?”
She looked at Sully. “You off duty?”
“Not technically, but I don’t think anyone’s going to give me a hard time if I have a beer.”
“Sounds good.” Val ushered them both inside and flipped on a single light near the counter. “Gabe was at Russell House with Monica when he got the call.”
“Oh yeah?” Sully raised an eyebrow. “He was right in there with the guys.”
“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.”
“He’s never been a desk guy.”
“Yeah.” Good Lord, did she want that again? She’d imagined Gil dying a hundred times before he passed from a heart attack. Did she want to even think about getting involved with another firefighter? Because even though Gabriel Peralta was a chief and an administrator, Monica knew Sully was right. Gabe wouldn’t ever be content to sit behind a desk if his company was answering a call.
Sully was staring at her. “So you didn’t see anything about this one?”
Monica shook her head. “Nothing. I was out pretty late last night in Bridger and I was exhausted by the time I got home. I passed out and didn’t have a single dream.”
Sully grunted and took a drink of the beer Val placed in front of him. “Well, until we get this guy… maybe think about taking more naps.”
Chapter 12
Two days after the fire, Sully went with Monica, Val, and Robin to the site of the burned-out cabin. The scent of blackened pitch and scorched pine was a pungent stain on the clear morning air. Smoke still lingered, and ashes hung in the air despite the amount of water that had been spread on the site.
There was nothing left of the small hunting cabin that had stood in the clearing for over one hundred years.
Sully walked over and leaned on a scorched pine near the ruined chimney. “I think this belonged the Harrises maybe?”
Psychic Dreams: A Paranormal Women's Fiction Novel (Glimmer Lake Book 3) Page 8
