Jamie: A Simmons Brothers Story by Danielle Gray (1)

 

 

 

Jamie

A Simmons Brothers Story

 

by Danielle Gray

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jamie

This publication is part of a series of products and publications. For more information, p

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Copyright 2017 Danielle Gray

All RIGHTS RESERVED. One or more global copyright treaties protect the information in this document. This Special Report is not intended to provide exact details or advice. This report is for informational purposes only. Author reserves the right to make any changes necessary to maintain the integrity of the information held within. This Special Report is not presented as legal or accounting advice. All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. No parts of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission of the copyright owner.

NOTICE OF LIABILITY

In no event, shall the author or the publisher be responsible or liable for any loss of profits or other commercial or personal damages, including but not limited to special incidental, consequential, or any other damages, in connection with or arising out of furnishing, performance or use of this book.

 All Characters, events and locations in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, dead or living, is coincidental and not intended by the author.  

Cover art: Cover art: Sabrina Ihadadene

 

Stop reading NOW if you don’t like sweet, romantic stories with a little spice in them…

 

Chapter One

Lana yawned as she walked into the kitchen. She had clearly overslept seeing as the clock indicated that it was past ten. She would have felt guilty if she didn’t remember hearing Pete whisper to her to remain sleeping at what she assumed to be eight in the morning. Now it was past ten and she was feeling a bit lazy. Lana ran her fingers through her messed up hair and looked around. There was a pot of coffee ready for her, warm to the touch and a half opened newspaper on the table. Everything else had been washed.

 

She poured a cup of coffee for herself and sat down, opening the newspaper and scanning the headlines. There was nothing of interest and she laid down the newspaper, staring into space as she sipped her coffee. She was trying to think if she had anything to do that day. She didn’t have any art class, her classes had ended a week ago and there were groceries in the fridge, so she didn’t’ have to go shopping. She missed her classes, but after a while she had started to get bored and stressed. It was her ability to quickly catch onto everything that had ultimately acted as a deterrent for her. She was forced to downplay everything which seriously limited her creativity, but Lana didn’t let that get to her.

 

Still, she had continued to work and finally she’d gotten the certificate that enabled her to boast that she was somewhat of a learned painter now. Pete had been adorably happy about it, framing it in his bedroom so that she could see it all the time. He had even gone out to buy her some things so that she could continue to study on her own. She hadn’t started working on it yet, but she decided that she was going to do it today.

 

After she was done with her coffee, she headed over to make some breakfast for her, humming to herself as she fried her eggs. She was busy thinking about what she was going to cook for lunch as she ate. She decided to do some prep so that the only thing she had to do later was cook it. She was busy with the prep when there was a knock on the door.

Instantly she knew it wasn’t one of the boys, because they never knocked so she washed her hands and went to open it. The mailman stood on the other side and she took the mail, signing for them. She looked through the names on the envelopes, mostly it was bills, but there was one for Jamie that looked personal.

 

The logical thing was to leave it but she had explicit permission from Jamie to go through his mail because he was usually so busy that he never opened mail. That had ended up in a couple of issues that she preferred not to remember. So she ripped open the envelope and read through it.

Dear Mr. Simmons,

This is to inform you that our newspaper, Daily News, has sent over our reporter, Mr. Harold, to interview the newly elected councilman for your council. We hope that you will be kind enough to take care of our reporter and show the reporter around as the task is completed. The contact details have been provided.

Thank you,

Joseph Miller,
Editor-in-chief, Daily News.

 

Seems pretty important, Lana thought. I better tell him about it later.

 

Thinking that she put down the envelope and went back to humming for her work. She had no idea when Jamie would turn up but everything would be fine as long she didn’t forget.

 

“Cornbread!” Drew exclaimed with unbridled glee as he reached for it.

 

Lana could only laugh as she handed him the plate filled with the cornbread. He snatched two and stuffed one in his mouth as Mark snickered beside him. Lana noted with a smile that Mark had become more expressive lately, probably due to his relationship with Cat. Cat sometimes came to eat with them but her appearances in the house had become rare of late. She knew that Cat came around often, but was becoming busy now that she was fully taking over her dad’s ranch.

 

The story of how Cat had infiltrated into their ranch and been Caleb was something only the direct members of the family were aware of, including her. She couldn’t believe it at first but it did make sense after she mulled over it. Caleb had always seemed very femininely handsome to her and Cat had pulled it off to perfection so props to her. Lana found that she liked the female counterpart just as much and the two had become fast friends after interacting with each other a couple of times.

 

Pete poked her and she awoke from her reverie and smiled at him. He smiled back and continued to eat. The smile made her remember something important that she had forgotten. She looked over at Jamie and said,

“You had a letter today.”

 

“What letter?” Jamie said, roused from his thoughts. Looking at him, she could tell that he was tired and she didn’t doubt the reason why. Jamie had increasingly become more involved with the council as the days went on to the point where he came home late at night.

 

She had thought once or twice about saying something to him about it, but he seemed to be unapproachable about it. She had talked to Pete about it, but Pete had said that it was up to Jamie and that she could talk to him if she wanted to. It hadn’t been much help, but it had put her at ease.

 

“A letter about a reporter,” Lana said.

“Where is it?” Jamie asked sharply.

“I put it over there,” She said pointing at the counter.

He got up and walked over to take the letter, scanning the insides before sighing. The sigh had become much more common to her and indicated that he wasn’t happy about something.

“Something wrong?” Mark asked.

“Nothing I can’t handle.” Jamie said cryptically.

“Is this about the reporter?” Lana blurted.

“Somewhat,” Jamie replied. “I am getting tired of the bureaucracy.”

“You can always leave,” Pete said. “You don’t have to stay on with the council.”

“I know that, but it’s like I can’t leave,” Jamie said and took a deep breath. “How do I explain it?”

“You don’t have to explain anything to anyone,” Drew said. “Do what you think is best.”

“Thanks,” Jamie said. “I should go tell them about this reporter.”

“Aren’t you going to finish eating?” Lana asked.

“I’ve had my fill,” Jamie said smiling. “Thanks, Lana.”

He walked out leaving her puzzled, but Pete rubbed her leg, reassuring her.

“I’m worried about him,” Lana admitted. “From the way he is always at the council office, you would think that he was the new councilman.”

“Jamie likes working for them,” Mark said. “Or at least he used to.”

“I don’t know why he persists in working so hard.”

“It’s Jamie, he was born to work,” Pete said. “He’ll tell us if he has any trouble. We should trust him.”

But Lana, as she stared at the door, couldn’t quite quell the disquiet in her heart.

 

***

Jamie sighed as he got into the truck. Usually he would take his smaller car, but he had forgotten to take the key with him when he had left the house and he didn’t want to go back inside to grab it. He was sure that Lana had seen through him, that she was right now suspecting that something was not quite right. He had figured out a lot about Lana in the time she had been living with them and he knew she was perceptive.

Jamie sighed as he placed his hand against the steering wheel of the truck. This really was getting out of hand, if it wasn’t for his promise, he would have left a long time ago. Regardless, he started the truck and continued on his way towards town. Hopefully, this reporter wasn’t going to come in and stir things up that shouldn’t be stirred.

He was preoccupied with his thoughts as he reached the council office. It was a humble place, a two-story building painted white with a marbled path surrounded by fresh plants. He got out of his truck and walked inside.

“Good afternoon Mr. Simmons,” said Destine, presiding over the desk. She was the secretary for the council office. Seeing as it was such a small office, she was put in charge of all the councilmen and their affairs. She was a pleasant looking, middle-aged woman with dark hair and bright eyes.

“Hello Destine,” Jamie said, smiling slightly. “Anything happened while I wasn’t here?”

“Nothing particularly,” she said. “Was there something you expected?”

Jamie hesitated and then shook his head. “I just came to check up.”

“The amount of times you’re here,” she said. “You may as well be the secretary.”

“I’ll consider that when the ranch fails,” Jamie said with a smile.

“Councilman Hamilton is in, if you want to see him.”

“I’ll do that.”

Jamie walked towards the Councilman’s office and knocked before he entered. Councilman Hamilton was busy on the phone, but waved him down as he talked. Jamie settled into one of the chairs and looked around. Councilman Hamilton had made himself at home; the remnants of the last councilman were all but gone. There was a frame with the images of himself and his two children, as well as, a separate frame for his wife. Jamie could easily recognize Cat in the image, she was grinning widely. Cat was a pleasure to interact with and he liked her dedication to the art of ranching. He was glad that Mark had found someone that he could be happy with, Mark had always been too silent about everything and this was a good change for him.

“What’s wrong?” Councilman Hamilton said, finally off his phone.

“Nothing is really wrong,” he said. “I was just here to check up on you.”

“Nothing to check up on,” Council Hamilton said with a smile. “I’m adjusting well, as you can see.”

“I can see that,” he said. “I also came to tell you about the reporter who will soon be among us.”

“The reporter?” The councilman asked.

“I think I mentioned it before,” Jamie said. “A reporter is interested in writing an article on you and your journey to become a councilman.”

“Sounds intriguing,” he said. “I didn’t think that being a councilman would bring that much exposure.”

That’s a lie, thought Jamie. You did it, because you wanted all that exposure.

But he didn’t voice his thoughts and settled on a sardonic smile. Councilman Hamilton was oblivious to his thoughts and Jamie looked down once more at the letter in his lap, wondering exactly what this reporter was going to bring to their table.

Hopefully it would be something that wouldn’t bring up the skeletons so carefully hidden in this council house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         

Chapter Two

 

Gabrielle Montague could happily have strangled Joe if he had the misfortune of being in front of her. She glared at the patch of hay on the back of the truck and continued to curse under her breath as it shuddered on its way to her destination.

At one point, there was a loud noise and she started at it, before focusing her fiery gaze on the offender. She was quite miffed that she was stuck on the back of a truck and that she was huddled in the corner, hay sticking to her skirt and hair as it inched its way towards the town where her assignment waited for her. This wasn’t the best assignment she’d ever gotten and the amount of work she was doing for this assignment wasn’t near enough in her opinion.

Gabrielle never thought that Joe would have the guts to send her so far away from home for a measly councilman interview, but she had to admit that she wouldn’t have been able to do anything in his position. It was no doubt something that she’d brought onto herself.

It didn't justify the trouble she was going through just to reach this place, however. For two days, she had been on the road, because Joe hadn’t had the decency to buy her a bus ticket. He hadn’t even bothered to check the schedules and had done everything last minute, which meant that she was unaware that the only bus company that went to the town was currently dealing with issues. This meant that in the end, there were no bus routes available to her. She had already reached the halfway point, before realizing that and had been lucky or perhaps unlucky enough to find a man who would take her the rest of the way on the bed of his truck.

 

She tried to salvage whatever was left of her appearance, but another bump from the truck stopped all progress and she settled for leaning back against the cold metal wall, as she tried to keep herself from jostling around too much. She was trying to gather her thoughts to try and not be ill composed when she actually reached the town. She replayed her assignment in her mind.

She was to go to the town, talk to the councilman, compose an article, send it to Joe and when it was approved, she would be able to come back. Her reporter mind told her that it wouldn’t take more than ten days and having the experience that she had accumulated in her six years of working in the media sector, she knew she would be able to finish it in one week.

That is if she was going to follow the brief. She had another thing in mind which if she was able to implement it, would make sure she could regain the loss she had felt.

Damn you Dave, she thought in her mind. It was because of him she was on this truck right now. Joe was partially to blame and so was she, but in her mind it was Dave who had the biggest blame of it all.

Before she could dwell on Dave, however, the truck went through a pothole which made her squeak. She growled under her breath and hugged her bag closer to herself. It centered her and she breathed in slowly to calm herself down. It shouldn’t be long now, an hour at most. The man had said it would take three hours to reach the town and it was already past the two hour mark, or at least she thought it was. She confirmed with a quick glance to her watch and prepared herself for the rest of the ride.

To while away the time, she took out her notebook and tried to review her questions as the truck bounced under her.

What made you run for office?

What are your aspirations?

Do you have any changes planned?

How do you feel now that you are an official council member?

These questions are rubbish, she thought with disgust. Of course Joe would come up with these questions, they were too tame, but then again, it was a normal interview. I am going to change that, she thought. I am going to make it something that is going to get me back in good graces.

A lot was riding on her for this interview, she had a lot to prove and she would be damned if she let Joe ruin it for her. She was being harsh on Joe, if it wasn’t for him she would have lost her job by now. Still, it didn’t diminish the feeling that he could have done better than demote her into a normal reporter. All that work she had done in the last six years had gone down the drain.

She noticed that she could see the outline of the town and sat up so that she could peer carefully. Yes, that was it. It was the town, which was a good thing for her, because that meant this wretched ride had come to an end. She didn’t lean back as she waited impatiently for the truck to enter the town limits and when it did, she breathed a sigh of relief.

The man had said that he was going to drop her off at the center of town, so she waited until he reached what seemed to be the center of the town. After that, she had to make her way into the rented house that Joe had gotten for her. She had thought that he was going to put her in the local inn, but he had said that he didn’t want to incur too many costs, cheapskate, and that a rented house was more practical for her. She hadn’t offered any protests, but she was already trepidous about it, seeing as it was going to incur more work for her and she wasn’t the type of person to spend hours in the house.

The truck stopped and the man who had helped her came around the back to help her get down. She kept a smile on her face as he did so, because she had started to realize that it wasn’t fair of her to blame the man; after all he had been nice enough to give her a ride. The man smiled back as he took down her backpack as well. She brushed the hay off her clothes as he said,

“Where are you off to ma’am?”

“Just a little further from here,” she said. “I have to meet someone called Miss Hay.”

“Oh that’ll be Jennie,” the man said. “You renting her house?”

“Yes, how did you know?” she said, with surprise.

“The town isn’t small, but we all know each other,” he explained. “Jennie has been looking for a person to rent her house ever since her sister passed away.”

“Is that so?” she murmured. “What shall I call you?

He laughed at that and he did look younger. Gaby had put him at mid-forties with his slightly graying hair and wrinkles. He was dressed in a checkered shirt and jeans which gave off a different feel than a rancher or maybe that was only her imagination. She had always thought ranchers would have a different look. It had to be the city slicker in her.

“Just ask around for Jay,” he said. “I’ll be seeing you around ma’am.”

He smiled once more and got into his truck, driving away with a friendly wave. Gaby looked around and then consulted the street signs before recalling the address that had been given to her. She wandered around for a while, taking some help from the friendly people, before finally turning up in front of a quaint little cottage a bit away from the center of the town. It looked promising as she walked up to the door and rang the bell.

The door opened and she was facing a pleasant looking middle-aged woman with dark brown hair in a bun and a floral dress on. The lady took her in, before a smile appeared making her gray eyes warmer than before.

“Come in, you must be Gabrielle Montague,” the lady said.

“Miss Hay?” she asked tentatively.

“Who else?” she said with a laugh. “Come in dear,”

Gaby walked in, taking in the cottage in all its glory. It really was something, the decorations were tasteful and the colors were warm. Everything was done up very well. It wasn’t what she had expected when Joe had told her that she would be renting from someone who would be middle aged and unmarried, she assumed that she would be put under scrutiny as some women in that age range were prone to do. Gaby didn’t usually think of it like that, but years of having to deal with it had hardened her to that effect.

Gaby sat down on the soft couch and Miss Hay disappeared to bring her a tray filled with treats and a cup of tea. She blushed as Miss Hay poured her a cup and handed it over to her.

“Drink up dear, I can imagine you have had a rather long journey,” Miss Hay commented.

Gaby was about to ask how she knew that then realized that she must look like a vision. Self-consciously she touched her hair then decided to just enjoy the tea. She usually preferred coffee, but the tea was delicious and the warmth coursed through her, giving her much needed energy.

“Have some of the biscuits as well,” Miss Hay urged.

She nodded and took one, nibbling into it, before devouring it. She couldn’t resist taking another one as her stomach growled. She had to get something to eat soon.

“I left the fridge well stocked,” Miss Hay said. “You shouldn’t have any problem cooking.”

“Thank you,” Gaby said, swallowing and wiping away the crumbs from her lips.

“How long will you be staying?” Miss Hay asked.

“I’m not quite sure,” Gaby said carefully.

“Well, the nice man on the phone has already paid me for the week, but I do hope you can stay longer,” Miss Hay said. “It would be a nice change to have the house full.”

Gaby didn’t want to ask any awkward questions but she was curious about it. Miss Hay must have noticed so she said, “My sister used to live here. I live ten minutes away and Gigi lived here. Our parents left us both houses and we decided to live separately. She passed away last spring, a heart attack they told me. She was young, but who can tell really? She left me the house and it pains me to see it empty, so that’s why I am renting it out. Don’t worry, I removed any personal effects from here,” Miss Hay said. “I wouldn’t want the guests to feel awkward.”

“It’s quite all right,” Gaby said.

“Yes well, if I did miss anything, do tell me. I left my number in the kitchen so if you have any problems with anything, do give me a call.”

“Of course.”

“Well I must be off. You should get some rest,” Miss Hay said. “I’ll see myself out.”

The lady stood up and walked out, the sound of the door closing echoing a moment later. Gaby breathed in and savored the silence, she was the only one in the house now and it was a calming feeling. She finished her tea, before she took her backpack to go upstairs and check out the bedroom. There were two bedrooms, both looked clean and were relatively the same size. She picked one at random and plopped her bag down on the bed. She took out a change of clothes and then went to the bathroom. She had to take in a deep breath, before she dared to take a peek into the mirror.

As she thought, she was a mess. Her light hair was all over the place and there were black bags under her eyes. Her face had become wan and pale, unlike the bronze she usually sported, the effect was most likely due to the lack of sun. Her pale blue eyes looked almost darker which made her slightly surprised. She really was tired.

The hay clinging to her attire was another turn off and she stripped, tossing them to the corner before heading into the shower. The water was deliciously hot and she felt her muscles relax under it. When she was done, she went out and changed but found the allure of the bed too much to bear.

She fell down on the bed and purred, feeling its softness. It felt extra comfortable after the hours of journey that she had to put in. She curled up and her mind drifted to random thoughts, singular thoughts that refused to join.

Even food lost its priority as she fell into her dream, blissfully unaware of the trouble that she was going to have to face the next day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Three

Gaby woke with a start.

For a second, fear gripped her heart as she took in her new surroundings before realizing that she was in the middle of an assignment and this was the place where she was going to be working for the next week. It had surprised her at first, but as she looked around, it wasn’t as shocking and her heart rather slowed down immediately. Once she was able to calm down, she realized just how hungry she was.

She crawled out of the bed and searched around for a clock and checked to see what the time was. It was near twelve and she realized she had slept away most of the day. At least she was kind of in time for dinner.

She went downstairs to check out what Miss Hay had left for her and opening the fridge was surprised to see that it was stocked to the brim. She took out some thawed pieces of chicken and pan fried it, before cutting up the pieces and making a salad for herself, adding a piece of toast as a side. She balanced the plate in her hands as she headed for the living room to catch some TV. She relaxed as she finished eating and finally sated, she lay down on the couch, mindlessly watching TV shows, before deciding to check up on Joe. It was two by then, but she knew that Joe was awake, the man barely slept.

As she reached for her cell, she was surprised to see that there were five missed calls, all from Joe. She hadn’t realized that she had put it on silent and was sheepish as she dialed to call him back. He answered on the third ring.

“Where were you?” he demanded.

“I was conked out,” she said. “Did I worry you?”

“About as much as you do all the time,” he said. “What’s the update?”

“I finally got into town after a lot of hardships,” she said bluntly. “Had to change transportation vehicles two times, before I finally made it here though.”

“Well, live with it,” he said, refusing to cow down to her remarks. “Have you met the subject yet?”

“Not yet,” she said. “I’ll head out tomorrow morning to go the council office.”

“Sounds good,” he said. “Take your time with it.”

“Any other background you have to give me?” she asked.

“Not really.”

“How’s the paper doing?” she asked.

“A bit boring without your articles.”

“Whose fault is that?” she couldn’t resist saying.

“Partly yours, partly mine and partly Dave’s,” he said with a pause. “But we aren’t going to dwell on what happened, are we?”

“No,” she said. “We aren’t.”

“Good, get some sleep.”

“I slept the entire day.”

“Then work on questions. Either way, I have to get back to work. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Fine,” she said. “Bye.”

She hung up and looked blankly at the ceiling. What was she going to do now? Maybe she should take his advice. Thinking that, she took out her notebook and with the sound of the TV in the background, she wrote some new questions, occasionally scratching them out in favor of a better one. It took her some time and two hours later, she was tired enough to fall asleep on the couch, her notebook on her chest.

Despite how later she had slept, she was up like clockwork at eight o’clock. It was a bit late for her standard, but she gave herself an allowance for new surroundings and the lack of need to run after news. The first thing she did was go take a long shower before coming down to make some breakfast for herself. It was nine thirty by then but she knew that as long as she made it to the office at 10 am, it would be fine for her and so she took her time eating.

Finally, dressed in a business skirt and simple white shirt with her hair back in a ponytail, she was ready for her interview. As a seasoned reporter, she knew it was going to take more than one sitting with the councilman, even if she managed to get one today. She also had to check around the town and with her agenda, well she was going to have a lot to do today.

She locked the door and took in the bright day, it was a nice day and she was appreciating the weather as she headed for the council office that is, if she knew where it was. That was a trouble in and of itself for her, at the moment.

This time, there weren’t many people around her to guide her so she was entirely reliant on her directional skills which were challenged at best. Finally she managed to find what looked to be the council house and took in the small office as she walked up the path to the door. She breathed in once before entering, and critically examined the entrance before walking up boldly to the reception table. A woman sat behind it, busily talking on the phone and taking notes as she did so. She noticed Gaby and smiled slightly indicating that she had to wait a few minutes. Gaby wasn’t bothered and went to sit down as the lady took down some more notes. She didn’t mind waiting and patience was crucial for a reporter as she had learned early on in her career. She relaxed herself with some calm thoughts and finally the woman indicated for her to come forward. She had a professional smile ready as she did so and the woman said,

“How may I help you?”

“Hi, my name is Gabrielle Montague, I’m the reporter from Daily News here to interview the new councilman,” she said. “Councilman Hamilton that is.”

“The reporter?” The woman repeated, looking confused.

“Is something wrong…” she said, looking down at the woman’s name tag which said “Destine”, “Destine?”

“I-well-wait a moment please,” Destine said flustered. She got on the phone and said,

“Mr. Simmons could you come out here please?”

Mr. Simmons? She thought. Who could that be?

She got her answer a second later when a tall man strode out of an inside office, coming towards her. She felt her heart rate pick up as he came to stand in front of her and she cursed herself for her weakness for handsome men, because this man was undoubtedly handsome with his messy hair, almond shaped eyes and strong face. He was dressed casually in a shirt and jeans, but he pulled it off somehow, making it seem like he was working here or was some sort of a council member as well. It wasn’t fair, but she was a professional and she kept her eyes impassive as she stared at him without showing any curiosity.

“This is the lady who came saying she is the reporter,” Destine said from the counter. “She said her name is Gabrielle Montague.”

“Miss Montague?” the man said.

“That’s me,” Gaby said, but she could feel a change in the atmosphere. Call it her intuition or whatever, but she wasn’t sensing anything friendly from this man, if anything there was a slight layer of hostility coming from him and she was prepared for it.

“Miss Montague,” he said in his deep voice (Curse him, she thought), “It appears there has been e a mistake.”

“A mistake?” she said.

“Yes, I don’t know if you are here to hijack someone’s interview but we were told that the reporter was a man and that we should expect him shortly.”

“A man?” she repeated and then cursed under her breath, “That bastard.”

“I beg your pardon?” the man said.

“No I mean, “Gabrielle said, finding herself tongue tied for a reason. “I assure you, I am the reporter that is supposed to come from the Daily News. It was a last minute change, which is probably why my editor…”

But he held up her hand and she was forced to stop.

“I cannot let you interview the councilman without any proof that you are the reporter,” he said.

This time she was deeply offended. Who was this slip of a man? Sure he was handsome, but he was too skinny and irritating. Not to mention he was basically blocking her off from an interview for no good reason? She was so going to kill Joe for this!

“Well then, why don’t you call my editor and see if he confirms for me?” Gabrielle said icily.

“That’s a splendid idea,” The man said and took out his cell. Gaby waited as he dialed the number but after a few seconds, he put down the cell and said,

“It appears that he isn’t answering so I am afraid I am going to have to ask you to leave and come back later.”

“Ex-“she was about to say something mean but stopped herself. “Alright, I’ll leave my contact information here so you can reach me after you contact my editor. Thanks.”

She turned away from him, burning with anger and wrote down her information on a card, handing it to Destine, before stalking out of the office.

If it was one thing she hated, it was handsome men who infuriated her as much as they attracted her.

                                 ***

A few hours later, Gaby didn’t regret her outburst, but she was feeling pretty mad at the mysterious man who had so eloquently insulted her. Even the milkshake that she had treated herself to wasn’t helping and its melted remains weren’t attracting her as much as it had before. She was almost tempted to ditch it, but she wasn’t brought up to waste food so she kept on sipping it, glad the flavor hadn’t been effected by the heat. Despite that, the texture continued to put her off.
 

She finished it with a bit of effort and stared at her cell, placing another call to Joe. This was the fifth call she was giving him in the last two hours and like she had thought, he still wasn’t answering. What was going on? She had already wasted close to three hours in this diner, replaying what had happened.

The people in the diner were friendly, kind of. She still sensed a few stares of curiosity which she should have expected. The first hour, she had read a book. Her way of being patient was to read books whenever she had to wait and she always carried a hard copy of a generic book around. But she hadn’t been able to concentrate and after only having gone through three pages, she got annoyed and decided that it wasn’t worth it. The second thing she did was scroll through her cell phone and try to distract herself with recent news and other recreational activities.

Finally she had ordered her ill-fated milkshake which had promptly dissolved as she tried to further distract herself. She pushed the warm glass away from her and sighed heavily. It wasn’t enough that she had been insulted, now she was stuck without anything to do. She rested her head on the cool counter and lamented her fate.

She remained like that for a few more minutes until she heard the sound of a plate dropping in front of her. She looked up to see the lady from the counter smiling down at her. A plate of steaming pasta had been set down in front of her.

“I didn’t order this,” she said surprised.

“It’s on the house,” the lady said. “You seemed like you were having a terrible day.”

“You could say that,” Gaby sighed. “Really, you don’t have to-“

“Don’t worry about it,” the lady said, waving off the remark. “I don’t mind doing things for my customers and I can tell you’re new in town.”

“That’s easily identifiable,” Gaby said. “Thank you,” she searched for a name tag, but there wasn’t any. “What’s your name?”

“Oh silly me,” the lady said. “I’m Loretta, the resident owner of this diner. Eat up, Darlin’.”

“Thank you,” Gaby murmured, pulling the plate towards her.

“Did you arrive today?” Loretta asked.

Gaby shook her head and said, “I arrived last night, and had a terrible morning.”

“Really?”

Gaby hesitated to say anything, she didn’t want to compromise her interview, but she was teetering on the edge of her anger so she said,

“I came here to interview someone, but I got railroaded by someone else,” she said bitterly.

“Interview? Would you be the reporter coming to interview Councilman Hamilton?”

“How do you-?”

“It’s a small town,” Loretta laughed. “And a reporter coming here is somewhat big news.”

“Hopefully what happened won’t spread,” Gaby said.

“This person who said stopped you,” Loretta said. “He wouldn’t be Jamie Simmons would he?”

“I don’t know his name,” Gaby frowned. “But I think the last name fits.”

“Well it’s something I would expect Jamie to do, the boy takes everything too seriously.”

“He didn’t look like a boy when I saw him,” Gaby muttered.

That got Loretta to laugh and she smiled widely at Gaby before saying,

“I am sure it’ll be fine. You seem like an honest girl to me, maybe it was a mistake.”

“Yeah, a mistake,” Gaby said. She was about to launch into a tirade when her cell rang. Loretta nodded slightly and walked away as Gaby answered.

“You called?” Joe’s voice came through.

“Where have you been?” Gaby controlled her voice with effort. “Do you know how long I’ve been trying to reach you?”

“Well sorry,” Joe said. “I just have to look after a whole newspaper press.”

Gaby sighed. “It’s not that, just something happened.”

“What happened?”

Gaby explained what she had faced that morning and Joe cursed on the other side.

“My stupid assistant must have forgotten to call them and tell them about the change. I can’t believe that happened, I’ll have to have a talk with her.”

“That’s not the point,” Gaby said. “The point is, I am stuck without anything to do, because someone called Jamie Simmons wouldn’t let me do the interview. Apparently I was too close to being a fraud.”

“Sensitive isn’t he?” Joe said. “Don’t worry, I’ll call him right now and tell him.”

“That would be great,” Gaby said and after a pause added, “Thanks.”

Joe hung up and Gaby ate her pasta, savoring every bite. She glanced at the clock and was sure that it would be near impossible for her to get the interview today so that was one day wasted. If only she had been more prepared, she could have started searching for some other piece of news, not to mention she wouldn’t have left her press credentials on her dresser, at home. But it didn’t matter; she was going to make the best of what was happening. She finished her dish and got up to finally leave. She figured instead of moping around, she should get back home and do something else productive, maybe work on her laptop and ask for Joe to send her something to edit or something. That had been her starting job at the newspaper; she had been in charge of editing articles, before she had gone onto becoming a full-fledged reporter.

God she missed it. Suddenly as she walked towards the cottage, she couldn’t help but miss the rush that she had felt while she had worked in her office. It was something that she regretted, having been demoted for a couple of weeks according to Joe. Who knew if she would regain that same respect again?

She walked towards the cottage, trying to keep herself distracted which worked all too well, because she walked straight into a wall of lean muscle. She staggered back and found herself face to face with the tetchy man from the council office whose name she now knew to be, Jamie Simmons.

“Mr. Simmons,” she said stiffly.

“How do you know my name?” Jamie Simmons asked with a raised eyebrow.

She shrugged, getting a bit of pleasure from the annoyance that passed over his face. It was almost sinfully pleasurable to annoy him, it let her give him a taste of what he had done to her earlier that morning.

“Miss Montague isn’t it?” he said.

“Yes,” she said, without elaborating.

“Well, I got off the phone with your editor,” he said and she could see where this was going. No wonder he looked so sour. Joe worked fast.

“Is that so?” Gaby said, pretending to be calm. “I expect he explained everything to you.”

“Yes he did, it seems there was a matter of miscommunication from your part,” he said bluntly.

She almost saw red when he said that, did this man not have the audacity to stand there and pretend as if he hadn’t treated her at the last, disrespectfully? She almost wanted to say something, but then decided against it. He wasn’t worth it and she should be patient.

“That’s good then. When can I start the interview then?” she asked.

“Come tomorrow, after lunch,” he said. “At 3.”

“Pretty late,” she commented.

“That’s when he’s free, he has important things to take over in the morning,” Jamie responded.

“Three is fine, thanks,” she said and then moved around him to walk towards the cottage.

“Where are you staying?” he asked suddenly.

“I’m in the cottage owned by Ms. Hay,” she figured that he would know the address like everyone else seemed to know, and wasn’t disappointed when he nodded.

“I’ll contact you if there are any changes,” he said.

She gave a brief nod and then turned her back to him. She didn’t quite know how to feel about their conversation, but she didn’t really care. She had scored her interview and once this interview was done, she would be free to do the research that she needed to.

This was only first step.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                          Chapter Four

Jamie watched the reporter walk away from him, the haughty air about her being a dead giveaway to how much he had failed in being professionally firm with her. It was getting on his nerves that this girl had gotten the best of him, even after he had tried his best to be as forthcoming as possible. The moment that had part passed through his mind however, he could clearly hear Drew laughing in his head and telling his that he was lying to himself.

Sometimes it was almost like Drew was his voice of reason. Of course the two eldest siblings stuck together, but Drew was everything that Jamie was not, which in an odd way, made him perfect to be his voice of reason.

This time he ignored the Drew in his head and headed home so that he maybe he could relax and eat without having to worry about the council. Even as he said that, his cell rang and he picked it up.

“Simmons here,” he said.

“Simmons, it’s me,” came the voice of Councilman Hamilton.

“Yes, Councilman,” Jamie said tiredly.

“Did you talk to the reporter?”

“I did,”

“What did she say?”

“She’ll be there after lunch to speak to you,” Jamie said. “Don’t worry; I apologized about the mix up and everything.”

“That’s good,” Councilman Hamilton said. “I wouldn’t want any bad press.”

Bad press? Jamie thought, but didn’t dwell on it. Instead he said,

“Is that all?”

“Yes,” Councilman Hamilton replied. “I’ll talk to you later.”

The line went dead and Jamie put his cell into his pocket to continue walking home. It took him thirty minutes of walking but it was nothing compared to walking around the ranch. As he walked up the stairs of the farmhouse, he was greeted with the smell of roast beef which indicated that Lana was at it again.

Two-thirds of the sibling patch was already there, with Drew lounging on the sofa and Pete helping Lana with the cooking. He went to sit beside Drew and asked,

“Where’s Mark?”

“He went off to have dinner with Cat,” Drew said. “Love you know.”

“I do know, I went through that,” Jamie said snarkily.

“Well well, what bee got into your bonnet?” Drew asked with interest.

“No bee that you should concern yourself with.”

“It wouldn’t be a certain reporter, would it?” Drew asked slyly.

Jamie groaned inwardly, having forgotten that Drew had lines everywhere in town and was listening on each end.

“Fine, yes, a reporter, she came by to interview and I didn’t like the look in her eyes.”

“The look in her eyes?” Drew asked.

“Yes, she seemed to have an agenda,” Jamie said uncomfortably. “I don’t know, there was something weird I couldn’t put my finger on.”

“You’re imagining things,” said Drew. “Is she pretty? I might get her off your hands if she is.”

“I am not going to resort to that just yet,” Jamie said. Drew, though charming, yielded a dangerous power to make women fall for him and the thought of this one, Gabrielle, falling for him, was suddenly not very attractive.

“Have it your way, you know where to find me,” Drew said with a grin, before turning to the two in the kitchen. “Hurry up! I’m hungry you know.”

“You can always take over if you want,” Pete retorted. “Then we can see how long it takes for you to burn down the kitchen.”

Drew scowled at him, but Jamie said nothing, his mind already on the pretty young blond that may cause more trouble for him the next day.

 

Gaby’s dinner wasn’t extravagant.

The ingredients she had were great, but her morale was low so she just made herself a grilled cheese sandwich and settled in front of the television, munching on it as she watched her shows. But a few minutes later, she felt her focus leaving her as her mind wandered. Her mind went back to Jamie Simmons; that man continued to be thorn in her side. There was something he was hiding, she was sure of it. He had to have some agenda in mind.

But she had won in the end; she had been the one who had ended up with the interview, so she was going to make perfect use of it. She was going to make sure this reflected the whole of her ability.

Gaby placed the empty plate on the table and then lay back on the sofa, staring at the ceiling. There was nothing to do for now, she could start working, but she didn’t want to think too much of work. Some sleep would be nice, she thought. It was a bit early, but she could get up early and go for a run.

She liked the sound of that idea so she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, thinking of the interview.

                                                                                                                                ***

Gaby did nothing of what she had thought she would do. She woke up at eight and then destroyed two hours as she lazed around making breakfast for herself. She spent another hour in eating that breakfast and didn’t regret it one bit. She was thinking about the last time she had so much time to spend and it didn’t even come to her mind. She was always so busy that she never got the chance to enjoy herself and this was a welcomed change of pace. She liked it, but knew that she shouldn’t get too used to it.

Finally as lunch time neared, she started the first processions of getting ready for it. At 1, she was ready to leave the house so that she could get some good exercise in, when the doorbell rang. She was surprised by it, but went readily to see who it was. It was Ms. Hay holding a plate of food for her.

“Oh hello,” Gaby said taken aback.

“Hello,” she said. “May I come in?”

“Please do,” Gaby said.

She moved aside for Ms. Hay to walk in and she did so, placing the food on the table and sitting down on one of the sofas.

“I seem to have caught you on your way out,” she said.

“It’s quite alright; I still have some time before I have to leave.”

“That’s good then. I had some food, so I thought that I would give these dishes to you.”

“Thank you for thinking of me,” Gaby said touched.

“It’s no problem; I don’t usually have a lot a do.”

“Have you lived here your whole life?” Gaby asked.

“Oh yes, I have left very rarely. My sister used to be the traveler, but then she decided to settle down. And that was when I lost her, a dreadful thing, fate,” Ms. Hay said sadly.

Gaby murmured her condolences and Ms. Hay stood up.

“I’ve taken up enough of your time, please enjoy the food.”

She left and Gaby sat down, taking the plate of food and unwrapping it. She ate the food, marveling at how delicious it was. Clearly Ms. Hay was a talented cook. Enjoying the food thoroughly, she left the dish in the sink to be washed later and stared at the clock. It was near two thirty and she figured she could leave now and wait at the office. That didn’t sound too bad.

She left the house and took her time walking towards the office, reciting the questions in her mind. She was not going to be unprepared at all.

                                                                                                                                ***

At the office, she checked her watch and saw that she had ten minutes left. She shot Destine a smile and then took a seat, with her notepad and recorder out. She was not going to mess up her note taking either and she waited patiently for Destine to let her inside.

Three o clock struck and the front door opened to show Jamie Simmons walking in. He saw her, didn’t say a word, and then went inside which suited her just fine. She wasn’t going to be offended by him any longer.

A second later, Destine indicated at her and pointed at the door so she got up and walked through it. It led to an office and before she could look around, she was taken by the person standing in front of her, offering her a hand.

“Hello, Miss Montague,” the man said. He had luxurious white hair and a ready smile. She immediately placed him as the councilman and she shook his hand firmly.

“Hello Councilman,” she said.

“I trust your journey here wasn’t full of rifts,” he said pleasantly as he sat down.

She didn’t want to talk about the troubles she had faced so she only nodded and smiled, noting that Jamie Simmons stood in the corner, his eyes focused on her. Now that she had sat down, she looked around the office, seeing the marks of the Councilman as well as the images of his family on the table.

She made a mental note to talk about it later but now she focused her attention on the councilman.

“I’ll be recording the conversation,” she said. “If that’s alright with you.”

“Of course.”

Jamie Simmons twitched at that, but she pretended not to see him. Without any other issues, she started the interview. The councilman answered all of her questions easily and she tested him a few times, to see if he would crack, but he was perfect under pressure. She liked that, but that also meant that she wouldn’t be able to get anything juicy from him. That was a shame, but that hadn’t been her objective after all. After half an hour, she stopped and Jamie Simmons came forward.

“Will that be all?”

“No,” Gaby said, surprised at his gruffness. “I have to get some images of him as well some of his family.”

“His family?” Jamie said sharply.

“It’s a piece on the Councilman, of course I need to see his family,” she said obviously.

“Of course, that’s a wonderful idea,” Councilman Hamilton interjected.

“Alright,” Jamie said, not looking very happy. “I’ll take you there tomorrow.”

“Why do you have to be there?” she asked rudely.

“Because I’m his aide,” Jamie said. “I have to help him, so I’ll take you there tomorrow.”

“Yes, that sounds great,” The Councilman said.

Gaby didn’t say anything after that, but she could feel the frustration in the air. What was up with Jamie Simmons following the councilman around? Why was he so needed here? It was getting on her nerves, but she didn’t say anything as he escorted her out of the office. She was about to leave when he said, “How about I walk you to where you’re staying?” he asked. “That way I know where to pick you up from.”

She shrugged, she didn’t really care about it and he didn’t say anything either as they walked out. The first part of their journey was quite boring with neither of them speaking and she was feeling the iciness in the air. What would she say to him, the two shared nothing in common! If anything, she hated him for being such a barrier in view of her journalistic endeavors.

“How do you like it here in town?” he asked finally.

“It’s quite peaceful,” she said. “I haven’t explored it fully yet, but I intend to as soon as the interview and other issues are seen to.”

“That sounds nice, the town is intriguing to newcomers,” he said. “We do have some things to boast of.”

“Have you lived here long?” she asked.

“Most of my life,” he said. “I don’t live in town though; I own a ranch with my brothers just beyond the town.”

“I thought you were the aide,” she said surprised.

“I am an aide, out of hobby, not vocation. There’s no one qualified enough to take my post so I remained,” he said avoiding her gaze.

That was strange, but she didn’t dwell on it. Instead, they had arrived at her house and he stopped as she walked up the stairs.

“I’ll be here tomorrow at eleven,” he said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yes, goodnight,” she said.

“Goodnight, Gabrielle.”

It was only after he walked away that she realized that he had used her first name and shockingly she hadn’t hated that at all. She repeated her name, hearing it as it had rolled out of his lips and felt her heart quicken.

Head in the game Gaby, she reminded herself. You have more important things to focus on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                          Chapter Five
 

He was prompt.

Gaby was up and waiting for him and he didn’t disappoint as he drove up to her doorstep in a red truck. She gingerly got into it as he started the engine to head towards the ranch where Mr. Hamilton lived with his family.

“Nice vehicle,” she said as the noise threatened to drown out her voice.

“It’s a spare. I was going to bring my usual car but Drew, my brother, stole it.”

“Does he do that often?”

“No,” he said shortly.

She figured something must have happened and so she didn’t question him. Instead, she took out the camera she had and practiced taking some images with it. The bad thing about being sent to a low budget job was that she didn’t have a camera man with her. All she got was a camera with which she had been instructed to take good images. She had half a mind to tear into Joe about it last night, but decided against it. How hard would it be to take images?
 

She saw Jamie sneak peeks at her practicing with the camera and reluctantly put it back into her bag, thinking of what she was going to write. This second interview was only a formality; she just wanted some good images with the family and a tour around the ranch, so that she could make the story as family friendly and warming as possible. Jamie had said he had a ranch too, she couldn’t help but wonder what his looked like.

He was characteristically quiet during the journey, something that didn’t surprise her. If there was something she knew about him, he preferred to keep to himself. It bothered her in a way and she couldn’t understand why.

Maybe it was because his eyes could be so expressive. He could say all sorts of things through them and she was eager to find out more about him, if only she could get him to talk.

They reached the ranch and instantly she was shocked to see how flashy and modern it was. It wasn’t that she was expecting it to be outdated, but everything about it screamed show off, in a way. She didn’t hate it, but the workers helping them get the car parked, somehow put her ill at ease.

Jamie stopped the truck and then went around so that he could help her down. She reluctantly put her hand in his and felt a slight jolt as he helped her down. Too soon his hand was gone and she was left flexing her hand, wondering if she had imagined it.

                                                                                                                                ***

Councilman Hamilton remained waiting for them at the porch and he gave them an easy smile as they walked up.

“I hope it was easy to come here,” he said, an odd sentiment considering Jamie obviously new the way. Still, Gaby held her tongue. He was nervous about something, that she could detect, but she only smiled, knowing that it wasn’t enough to get her back into Joe’s good graces.

He led the two of them inside and had them sit down while a pleasant lady served them tea. She sipped the tea, but didn’t take the biscuits, looking around the well-decorated interior.

“My daughter and son will be here soon,” Councilman Hamilton said. “They are busy on the ranch.”

“I see, it’s no problem.”

“Will you be asking them any questions?” he asked.

She shook her head. “I don’t think that will be necessary. My objective is to get some images of the family and the ranch, as well as, some back-story on the ranch.”

“Cat can do that for you, she has everything memorized, even better than my son,” Councilman Hamilton laughed.

“Cat?” Gaby said confused.

“Catherine, my daughter. We call her that affectionately.”

                                                                                                                                ***

Councilman Hamilton continued to do some small talk which she responded to but didn’t care for. She was already bored and wanted to get this over with. Finally two individuals entered, both with similar features and the same colored hair. The lady caught her by surprise, being very lithe and pretty. The man was handsome and seemed pleasant enough.

The two introduced themselves and shook her hand, sitting down. More small talk followed and then she quietly announced her intention to take images.

“Of course, how could I forget?” Councilman Hamilton said.

The three of them posed on the sofa as she clicked images but to her frustration, none of them seemed to come out right. She was nearing the end of her patience when Jamie, who had been quiet throughout the whole thing, tapped her shoulder and held his hand out for the camera.

“Let me,” he said.

She nodded and he took the image in one shot, making a perfect image that she doubted she could have made through the hundreds she would have to take. Gaby was so taken aback by the image that she couldn’t stop staring at it even as the three family members dispersed.

“Well, I think Cat can show you around the ranch now,” Councilman Hamilton said.

“Yes of course but if you don’t mind, can I borrow Mr. Simmons to be my cameraman briefly?” Gaby asked knowing that she couldn’t take images like he did.

“Of course.”

Jamie didn’t say anything but she could see his shoulders stiffen, he wasn’t happy about going with her and that pricked her. She was only asking him for help, he didn’t have to be so mean about it. But then again, what did she expect from this grumpy oaf?

Catherine Hamilton was a delight.

She was completely different from her father and something shone out of her, a sudden sense of openness and freedom. She didn’t mince any words and talked about the animals with fire in her eyes. Gaby could see she loved it and she let her talk, drinking in the information and casting glances at Jamie who took images silently. What was the deal with him? His images were amazing, almost like a professional camera man. Was he a fluke or was there something related to photography in him? She couldn’t tell, but she was eager find out. She wanted to know more about him, immediately but she held her tongue.

“Where do you come from?” Cat asked.

“The city you could say,” Gaby replied, laughing. “I don’t know much about animals which seems like such a shame now.”

“It’s always easy to learn. Some like it, some don’t. I can’t live without it.”

“Did you always want to take over?”

“Oh yes, my father was worried at first, but once I finally convinced him that I was capable, then he caved,” Cat said carefully.

“What about your brother?”

“He has other aspirations which he is following right now. Is that necessary for the interview?”

“Oh no, I was only curious. Please don’t think that I am going to print everything I listen to, I am not that desperate.”

She heard a minor sound, which sounded very much like a snort from behind her and looked to see Jamie innocently take images of the cattle. Her blood boiled, this man…! But she didn’t say anything and eventually Cat went away, citing that she had to look after some animals.

She was left alone with Jamie, who was still taking images. She looked around and breathed in the clean air. Looking at the animals, she could see why people loved this life, there was a sense of freedom here that she never imagined there would be. But it wasn’t for her. She wouldn’t be able to survive here.

She walked to Jamie and tapped his shoulder.

“I think that’s all the images I need,” she said. “You’re pretty good.”

He handed her the camera, not saying anything about her compliment but she figured that she had stumbled onto something and said,

“Did you ever take lessons for it?”

“I majored in it,” he said shortly. “I left it a long time ago, but it never fully left me.”

“Seems a shame,” she said scrolling through the images. “You could have worked as a professional cameraman.”

“Not everything is about career and money,” he said.

“I didn’t say that,” she retorted, shocked.

“But you implied it,” he said. “And that means all the same.”

He walked away from her, leaving her confused and intrigued. Her hunch was right, there was something about it and she knew just the person who could give her some background on Jamie Simmons.

                                                                                                                       ***

“Here’s your milkshake,” Loretta said with a grin.

“Thanks,” she said smiling back. “You have time to spare?”

Loretta looked around the diner and nodded. It was afternoon which was a slow time for the diner so Loretta sat down opposite her as she quietly started her tape recorder under the table.

“Your interview done?” Loretta asked.

“Oh yes, it was a wonderful interview. I only have to finish writing it,” she said.

“The councilman is nice, how was Jamie?” Loretta asked.

“Well he wasn’t very forthcoming but he behaved like a gentleman.”

“The boy never forgets his manners,” Loretta laughed. “I tell you, his father pushed that into him when he was a kid, like he did with all his sons.”

“He is very good at taking images,” Gaby said innocently.

“He went to study that. It was a stink up in the town, everyone knew that old Simmons wanted his eldest son to succeed him but then the son declared he didn’t want anything to do with the ranch. Left town in the middle of the night and then no one talked about it. Of course the rift didn’t stay for long and they reconciled soon after with old Simmons supporting his boy’s ambition.”

“But…?” Gaby said eagerly. She could already feel that there was something strange in the story and she was right.

“Jamie came back suddenly, five years before. No one knew why he had come back and he didn’t have any camera with him. All he said when anyone asked him was that it was none of their business and then he took over the ranch with his brothers. Strange I tell you,” Loretta said shaking her head. “You seem mighty interested in him.”

This was it, the first signs of suspicion but she was used to it so she only shrugged and said, “He has a good talent, I don’t see many with that talent so I got curious. Reporter by nature.”

Loretta relaxed at her answer, “He is talented. He used to take photos of all the events in town. Shame that he gave up on it.”

“Do you think something happened to him?”

“Many say that something happened. Some speculate that he couldn’t get a job or that he was out of luck. I tell you, if anyone had to know what happened it would be Henderson’s daughter, Sally Henderson.”

“Sally Henderson?” Gaby asked. The last name sounded familiar, she was sure she had seen it somewhere and then it clicked. The name had been on the plaque back at the council office, the list of offices. Her father had to be one of the other councilmen.

“Her father works in the office as well. The two children were thick as thieves when they were children and they left the town together. Everyone thought Jamie and Sally would get married and settle down, but then Jamie came back without her. Henderson doesn’t talk about her anymore but people can’t forget. Oh, there are more customers, I should be off.”

She got up and walked away as Gaby shut down her recorder. It seemed like she had a lot more to work on and she allowed a smile to appear on her face as she pocketed the recorder. It looked like there was a mystery here and she could already see the direction of her article. What Loretta said made for a great story and if she could only write it well, there was no ways she wouldn’t be back in the paper’s good graces.

Be careful Jamie, she said. I’m coming for you.

 

 

 

 

Chapter Six

Jamie sneezed, feeling a strange feeling go down his spine. Something didn’t feel right but he didn’t stop to dwell on it. He stabbed the potato in front of him, unable to concentrate on the happy conversation going on around him. He was bothered to think that he had done the one thing he had promised never to do again. But seeing Gabrielle struggling with it had given him a major case of frustration, because he knew he could do a much more efficient job. She had seemed grateful for his help and he couldn’t figure out why helping her made him feel happy. She was only a pesky reporter who would be gone soon, he didn’t need to dwell on her.

“Earth to Jamie,” Drew’s voice kicked in and he looked up.

Lana was looking at him with worry and so was Pete. Mark seemed impassive and Jamie turned to Drew to say, “What?”

“The potato can’t take any more of those stabs,” Drew said dryly and he looked down to see that he had stabbed his baked potato into mush.

“Something bothering you?” Pete asked.

“Not really,” Jamie said, his voice convincing no one.

“The reporter?” Pete guessed.

“Maybe,” Jamie replied. “She isn’t exactly putting me at ease.”

“What did she do?” Mark asked.

“Nothing,” Jamie replied. “That’s what bothers me. She hasn’t done anything that would make me think she was a troublemaker, but something about the way she interacts with me makes me think that there is something on her mind.”

“I am sure it’s only your imagination,” Pete said. “You said her interview was done right? So there’s nothing else she can do that could cause you harm.”

“I hope so,” Jamie said sounding unsure.

“Cat didn’t say anything strange about her,” Mark said. “She said that the reporter seemed like a completely normal person.”

“You’re right, I’m worrying too much,” Jamie agreed. “There’s nothing I need to be worried about.”

Even as he said that, he couldn’t help but think that something was going to happen sooner than he would expect, something he wouldn’t like.

                                                                                                                                ***

Gabrielle decided that if she was going to be go all out with her mission, she was going to be bold with it and being bold with it meant that she was going to take the fight to him. It wasn’t really a fight, but the point was she was going to charge ahead and find out all the information she needed to about Jamie Simmons, through him.

She had the basis but now she needed to interview her target which meant, she needed to gain Jamie Simmons trust as well as his permission to run the article on him. She was a reporter but she wasn’t a sleazy reporter. She wasn’t going to try and run an article without his explicit permission.

It was going to be hard, she thought suddenly, to be all chummy with him but that didn’t mean that it was impossible. She just had to try her best to not mess it up.

Even as she thought that, she knew it was going to be hard.

The first thing she did was dress her best, in her experience, it helped if she looked presentable and harmless enough. She had a game plan ready as she made her way into the council office because she was sure that he was bound to be there.

“Hello,” Destine said, looking at her in surprise. “Anything I can help you with?”

“Yes, I was looking for Jamie Simmons,” she said.

“Oh, he isn’t in today. Jamie doesn’t really work here so he comes and goes as he pleases,” Destine replied.

“Is that so?” Gaby said disappointed. The first part of her plan had already somewhat been foiled.

“Well, if you really need him, you should try the ranch, his ranch. It’s in the city outskirts, hard to miss,” Destine said.

“I’ll do that,” Gaby said and turned away.

This was better, she decided. This way she would see him in his home and get some good info on the background of the article. She started at a brisk pace, keeping it steady as she walked, but soon lost it as she realized that his ranch was further than what she had anticipated. But finally she saw what appeared to be a ranch in the distance and hurried to it, huffing. She was out of shape, she had to rectify that.

This ranch, already in her eyes, suited her tastes. There was a serene feeling to it. She could hear the animals in the background, but that didn’t stop her from admiring the area as well as the pretty farmhouse standing in front of her. She was about to go on ahead when she heard the sound of galloping feet. She had one look of a large shadow before an involuntary shriek escaped her lips.

“Whoa!” a deep voice said and she opened her eyes to see that it had been a horse that had startled her.

The horse’s rider had dismounted and she stared at him, seeing a very strong similarity between him and Jamie Simmons. Then if occurred to her that this must be one of the brothers.

“Are you alright?” the man asked.

She nodded.

“Sorry for startling you,” The man said. “I was taking her around for a ride, didn’t think someone would be here this time of day.”

“It’s fine,” she said.

“I haven’t seen you around,” he said. “Do you need to see someone?”

“I’m here to see Jamie Simmons,” she said.

“Jamie?” the man raised his eyebrow. “Why do you need him?”

“That’s my business isn’t it?” she said.

“It is. But I’m his brother, Pete, so it also makes it my business,” the man returned calmly.

“Yes well, it has something to do with an article I’m working on,” she fibbed and awareness came into his eyes.

He knew about her. What had Jamie talked about to him? That was something that was bothering her quite a bit. Instead, she followed Pete as he led the horse with him towards what she assumed to be where Jamie was.

As they walked, she took in everything and couldn’t help but like this ranch much better than the Hamilton ranch. It was so peaceful yet had its pieces of action in it. She took out her camera, wanting to take an image, but realized the fruitlessness of such a gesture. She wasn’t meant for the camera, but Jamie on the other hand was perfect for it.

She really was intrigued about the whole story. What did Jamie have in relation to Sally Henderson? Maybe she should talk to her father about it. But first she needed to understand who Jamie was and his motivations. Maybe if necessary, she would ask Joe to dig something up for her.

Pete had led her to a small building and he said,

“Jamie’s in there. Mind you, he isn’t in a good mood.”

“Is her ever?” she mumbled. “Thanks for the warning,” she called, before she walked in.

She could tell he wasn’t in a good mood from the way he was using the laptop, his fingers were basically smashing the letters and she couldn’t imagine what had made him so mad. She knocked slightly and when his eyes turned to her, she felt a shiver go down her spine. There was something so intense about his eyes that it made her feel as if he could see everything that she was trying to hide from him.

“What do you need?” he asked impassively.

“It’s nice to see you too, Mr. Simmons.”

“I don’t like exchanging pleasantries,” Jamie replied. “It doesn’t go with how I am.”

“So I’ve noticed,” she said.

“And that’s coming from a reporter.”

“Do you have something against me or my profession?” she asked bluntly.

“Neither, I just think all reporters look for a story and I am not wrong am I?” Jamie said, staring at her again.

He was perceptive and she knew she couldn’t hide it.

“You’re right, we always look for a story.”

“So you found a story in me then?” he asked.

“Maybe,” she said, sitting down. “If you cooperate.”

“You know,” Jamie said, leaning back in his chair. “At least you aren’t hiding anything. You want a story from me and you came to ask me about it? What’s your angle?”

“The trusted aide of the councilman,” she said. “I want more details about you.”

“I refuse,” he said without a pause. “I don’t want any news to come out about me.”

“I need it for the article,” she said, trying another method.

                                                                                                                                ***

“You can use another thing for the article; you don’t need to use my information. I know enough about reporting to know that you’re stretching the truth.”

That made her gears turn. How did he know? This was getting her excited and she smiled without meaning to.

“What’s funny?” he asked.

“Nothing, nothing at all. Fine, at least show me around town while I’m here,” she said, changing her angle. “I want to get a feel of the town, so that I can do justice to the article.”

“You can ask anyone else to do that,” he said.

“You’re a native, its best that you do it.” She said. “And besides showing me around works in your favor.”

“How do you figure that?”

“I can only learn what you want me to learn,” she said. “Isn’t that good for you?”

He raised his eyebrow at that and smiled, something that took her by surprise. So the man could smile and look handsome while he did it.

“You’re right, it does work in my favor. I’ll take you around then, tomorrow.”

“Why not now?”

“Well, unlike you,” he said. “I have some work to finish and it wouldn’t do for me to leave it. So be patient and I’ll be at your house tomorrow at noon. Sound about right?”

“Sounds perfect,” Gaby said, standing up.

“Miss Montague,” he said, as she was about to leave the room.

“Yes?”

“I do not take kindly to people snooping around my business. It’s something I have never been able to tolerate, so please keep that in mind,” his eyes were burning into her though his voice remained calm.

“I have heard worse threats, Mr. Simmons,” she returned not in the least bit afraid. “I only go where the story takes me.”

With that she left the room, happy to know that she had won this round though his words echoed in her mind for a while.

What exactly was he hiding 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                      Chapter Seven

It failed to appeal to her why exactly she was dressing up for her outing with Jamie Simmons.

Gaby hadn’t stopped looking through her luggage to find something suitable since morning. It was nearing the time he had told her that he would arrive and she was still stuck looking at the outfits she had spread on the bed. Should she go professional or chic? She had no idea.

Meanwhile, her laptop, perched on the bedside table, glowered at her for her lack of writing. Yes, she had tried to finish the article last night, but the mystery of Jamie Simmons had stuck in her head. Who was he? What connection did he have with Sally Henderson and how had that affected his photography skills? It all had the marks of a juicy story.

“Imagine the headlines,” she whispered to herself. “Trusted aide leaves photography to serve councilman due to a dark past.”

It was already sounding great in her head.

Finally she picked a medium length skirt and blouse, minimum makeup and loosely brushed hair. It was casual, that was all she needed to look like for this.

She was packing her purse when she heard the honk from outside. He was here. Regretfully she threw a stare at the clothes on the bed and promised herself that she would come back later to clean it up. She ran downstairs and to her surprise, saw him waiting for her in a normal car instead of that monstrosity of a truck.

Why did he have to look so handsome? She was finding it to be increasingly distracting. His brother too had the same good looks but on Jamie there was something very mature and dangerous about it.

Let’s not dwell on the subject’s good looks, she said to herself as she was about to get into the car. But Jamie got out of the car and indicated that they were to walk instead which made sense. She shrugged and followed him as he led the way.

“Good morning,” she said pleasantly.

“It’s afternoon now,” he said and she sighed.

“You know, it isn’t a crime to be pleasant,” she said.

“I know, I just don’t want to be pleasant to you,” he said, without any change in tone.

“Are you always like this?”

“Not always, only to reporters who have already declared that they want to snoop around my life.”

“To be fair, you did threaten me.”

“Minor issue.”

“Maybe to you, we take that to be a big offense in the city,” she said.

“I know. I’ve been there. I’ve met reporters,” he said. “Never liked a one of them.”

“Why, did someone run a piece on you without your permission?”

His silence was the confirmation she needed, but he must have realized that because he said,

“Nothing of that sort,”

But the damage was done and now Gaby was sure, Jamie Simmons had a piece run on him at some point. Well, it looked like she had a lead and when she got the time; she was going to get Joe to look through that for her.

“Where do you want to go first?” she asked.

“We’ll walk around and anything that catches your eye, you can ask me about it,” he replied.

The premise sounded bland to her and she said that to him, but he only shrugged.

“It’s a small town, there’s nothing to write much about it.”

“That’s not true, I’m sure you have fond memories of this town. Why don’t you share your experience so I can show it better in my writing?”

“It comes down to me then?” he said sharply.

“Who else? You are the one leading me around.”

It didn’t take him long to see the logic of that and he said,

“Fine, I’ll tell you a bit about my childhood and then take you around the sights of this town.”

Jamie began to talk about how he had lived in town. Unknown to him, she had her recorder recording him just in case she forgot everything. There was a fondness in his voice as he spoke, a sentimentality that made her smile. He even smiled a couple of times as he spoke about playing around with his brothers and then finally a name came up.

“Sally and I used to play around this block,” he said, pointing it out.

“Sally?” she asked.

“Sally Henderson, we used to be close when we were children,” he said without any change of expression. “She left the town and didn’t come back. She is doing well, working somewhere. I talk to her often.”

Curious, she thought. He is talking freely about her but that wasn’t what she would have expected him to do. There was something here that she was missing or maybe he was trying to throw her off, but she wasn’t going to be thrown off that easily. She continued to nod and listen to him talk. But as Gaby listened, she could see how natural he was at expressing his words and it started to touch her as she began to sympathize with the sentimentality in his voice. She had to stop herself however; it wouldn’t do if she got too emotionally invested in him. Instead, she only continued to listen to him as he talked.

Finally he said,

“Are you hungry?”

Gaby nodded, looking at her watch. Somehow it was already two, where had the two hours gone? All they had done was walked and talked, but somehow she felt she had a better understanding of him now.

“Let’s get something to eat and then we can continue the tour.”

She agreed with him and then the two of them went into the diner. Loretta smiled to see the two of them and said,

“Take a seat, I’ll bring you two something to eat.”

“Looks like you already made an impression on her,” Jamie commented.

“I was here before, I like her and the food,” Gaby said.

“You know, I talked a lot about me, why don’t you tell me about yourself?” Jamie said innocently.

“Why?” she said bristling.

“Seems only fair right?”

“I suppose, but you wouldn’t be interested to know about me,” Gaby said. “I’m only a reporter.”

“Try me.”

She leaned back against the booth, thinking. She wasn’t loathe to share her circumstances, but the way Jamie was staring at her made her feel weird, almost as if his opinion mattered to her and Gaby had lived life in a way where no one’s opinions mattered to her.

“What do you want to know?” She asked.

“Why don’t you tell me about your childhood?”

“That’s a boring topic, “she said. “I don’t have a childhood, not one worth speaking of anyways.”

This time he was puzzled and she clarified,

“I’m an orphan. Most of my childhood was spent in an orphanage, with twenty other kids fighting to eat every day.”

The look of horror on his face was something she had expected, but not the sadness that had come with it. No one ever had sadness, they always had pity and this was a new thing. Why would he feel sad for her? She was basically trying to run an article on him. It didn’t make any sense.

“Anyway, I got out of that when I was sixteen, lived on the streets a while, found some good people who took me in and helped me finish off my education, before starting at the bottom of the reporting world.”

“Why did you choose that?” He asked.

“I don’t know, it might have had something to do with the fact that I was always told I was nothing. So I wanted people to know my name and that’s what I lived for,” she mused.

“That’s an admirable goal.”

“What about you?” she changed the topic. “You have an admirable talent as well, your photography.”

“I quit that,” he said.

“You seemed passionate about it. Loretta told me that you left town for it.”

“Loretta knows too much, but I can’t fault her for it.” He didn’t seem like he was going to indulge her any longer, but she made one last attempt.

“Think of it this way,” she said. “Let’s try to be pleasant to each other. I’m not a cheap reporter who will run a story without permission. If I do run a story about you, it’ll be after you give your permission and after you agree to what’s been written. So, don’t worry that everything you say will suddenly become front page news for tomorrow.”

He paused as she said that before he nodded and said,

“At one point, I did think that photography was going to be something I would do for the rest of my life. Sally helped me achieve that, she left the town with me and we both worked together to achieve our dreams. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to get mine but she got hers and never came back. That’s all there is to it.”

“But you’re so talented,” she said, surprised.

“Life works out in different ways. I don’t think about it anymore. I’m happy where I’m right now, with my family.”

“But how come you work in the council office?”

“I think you are going to have to wait for that answer another time,” he said, without malice and with a tiny hint of a smile. “I can’t reveal everything to you right now, can I?”

She laughed and nodded as Loretta came with the food. As they ate, it felt like a barrier had been taken down and she was quite enjoying chatting with him. He seemed nice, once she got past his grumpiness and it made her feel better spending time with him. Even though a part of her told her to be careful, she didn’t think she had anything to be worried about.

She was going to continue, when her cell rang. She picked it up and paled when she saw who was calling.

“Jamie, I-“she stopped and then said, “I have to go. I’ll see you later.”

Despite his confused look, she stood up and walked out, the ringing cell phone clutched in her hands. She almost ran, until she was far away from the diner, before she answered the call.

“What do you want Dave?” she said, her voice ice cold.

“Long time no talk,” Dave’s voice came through. She hated the sound of that voice, it reminded her of the time when she thought that he was perfect for her. “How’s the town life treating you?”

“That’s none of your business,” she said angrily.

“You don’t have to be so defensive about it,” he said. “I was only trying to be pleasant.”

“Then stop trying,” she said. “What do you want?”

“I want you to tell me when you’ll be coming back.”

“I don’t owe you that information.”

“You should, after all we were good together.”

“Yeah, good after or before you got married and conveniently forgot to tell me. How’s Sue? Still doing good with her cheating husband?”

“Don’t take it so personally.”

“I am done with you Dave, goodbye.” She hung up the cell and shook with anger and hate.

She hated herself for having fallen for his word and hated him for having deceived her so easily. The whole thing had been ruined and she felt bad for Jamie, having to see her in that state. She was in no mood to go back and apologize to him now and so she headed home, thinking that when she got the chance she would apologize. For now, she was going to take some time alone so that she didn’t have to think about Dave again.

Even the thought of Jamie’s story didn’t give her any comfort as she walked into the house and buried her head into the pillows.

Tomorrow will be better, she told herself.

Maybe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Eight
 

Jamie couldn’t stop thinking about Gabrielle.

He couldn’t stop thinking about the way she had suddenly left the diner without finishing her food, as if something bad had happened. It had to have something to do with the call she had received. He thought that because he had seen her clutching the cell phone tightly in her palm as if she wanted to break it in two.

It had been a day and she still hadn’t contacted him. Normally he would be happy about it. In his mind, she was surely just a pesky reporter who was out to publish malicious truths about him like the last one had done. Shaking his head though, he knew she was different. And the fact that she was so open about it made him feel that she wouldn’t do anything like that, even though the lingering pain of before remained in his heart.

He hadn’t wanted to talk about Sally, she was a reminder of a painful past but still, he had because something about Gabrielle’s gaze had put him at ease. Maybe that was how she got her subjects to talk, by putting them at ease.

Either way, he tried to put her out of his mind, but found her drifting back. He hadn’t even gone to the council office after that and he had ignored the calls about it. He didn’t want to go back, but he knew he would have to. That was his promise.

“You seem preoccupied,” Drew said.

Jamie nodded absently, looking down at the papers he had taken to work with. He hadn’t been able to concentrate on either of them and as Drew sat down opposite him, he sighed and pushed them away.

“What’s bothering you?”

“I don’t like the council work,” Jamie said truthfully.

“Then don’t do it,”

“It’s not that easy.”

“Why not? No one’s forcing you to do it.”

Jamie didn’t say anything at that and only scrawled a signature onto one of the papers.

“I am telling you that you worry too much,” Drew said. “What happened with that reporter?”

“Nothing, I showed her around town, we talked and then she didn’t contact me.”

“I saw her today,” Drew said. “Walking in the town, she was asking directions from someone.”

“Directions?” Jamie said.

“Yeah, I couldn’t hear but it looked like she wanted directions to a house.”

A house? And that’s when it clicked for Jamie. He got up and said,

“I have to go someplace. Tell Lana that I’ll miss lunch.”

He rushed out and hoped that he wouldn’t be too late to stop her from doing what he suspected she was doing.

                                                                                                                  ***

“This has to be the place,” Gaby said to herself.

She stared at the small house and tried to imagine a smaller version of Jamie playing around the place with another small girl. It did look welcoming with its tiled roof and the small plants arranged in the window sills. A perfect place for a happy upbringing.

The thought made her feel sad about her own childhood but she brushed that aside as she walked up the stairs and rang the bell. She only had to wait a moment before the door opened and she was face to face with an older man with salt and pepper hair and a stern face.

“Can I help you?” the man asked.

“Councilman Henderson?” she asked. “Can I talk to you?”

“You can, if you tell me who you are and what you are doing here,” Councilman Henderson retorted. “I don’t usually like strangers coming to my home without dealing with the office first.”

“I assure you, it has nothing to do with your title. My name is Gabrielle Montague. I am here to talk to you about Jamie Simmons.”

“Simmons eh? Well then come on in.”

She walked into the house and took a look around the house, it was quaint and well kept. She spotted a family image on a small table, a younger looking Henderson, his wife and a small girl who had to be Sally Henderson. She sat down and Councilman Henderson did the same.

“I can’t offer you anything at the moment, my housekeeper hasn’t arrived yet,” he said.

“It’s not a problem. I won’t stay long, just a few questions and I’ll be off.” She said.

“Questions about Jamie Simmons? What is your interest in him?”

“Just a story,” she said. “I did the interview on Councilman Hamilton and now I am thinking of another piece on his aide.”

“Jamie Simmons isn’t his aide. Jamie Simmons is a glorified man we keep around so that we can use him for our purposes.” Was it her or did she hear regret in his voice?

“I wanted to know about his relationship with your daughter Sally.”

“Oh the two were thick as thieves when they were young. She defied me so that he could fulfill his dreams and then she never came back,” Councilman Henderson said with a mixture of anger and sadness.

“So Jamie Simmons is the reason that your daughter never came back?”

“That’s how I see it,” he replied. “Sally never wanted to leave but when she heard that Jamie’s father wouldn’t let him leave, the two ran away. I thought that they had something going on but a few years later, he came back alone and Sally good as disappeared.”

“She never keeps in contact?”

“There are some cards, a few phone calls. She has her own life now, it doesn’t include me often.”

“I see.”

“I’ll tell you this-“

But what he was going to tell her, she never got to know over the thud on the front door. Councilman Henderson looked confused and then got up to open the door. Gaby felt her body freeze when she heard his voice ringing over the house,

“Is Gabrielle here?”

“She is,” she heard Councilman Henderson say. “I didn’t think you would come by that quickly Simmons.”

“It’s urgent.”

He burst through the living room and his eyes were fearful to see as they took in Gaby seated on the couch.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“My job,” she said clearly. “I would like to know what you are doing here.”

“Stopping you from being a nuisance.”

Councilman Henderson appeared and looked at the two with interest.

“She isn’t being a nuisance,” Councilman Henderson said. “I think she is good for you, getting your story out.”

“There’s no need for that,” Jamie said fiercely.

“I have always pushed you hard Simmons,” Councilman Henderson said, “But maybe it’s time that you forget about your past things and learn to forgive yourself. I may still blame you but Sally…”

“We are done,” Jamie said. He reached for her hand, gripping it tightly and pulling her. A yelp left her and before she could do anything, she was being pulled out of the house. Jamie didn’t stop until they were a good distance away and then she tore her hand from his grip.

“How dare you!” she said indignantly. “You had no right to do that!”

“I did. Seeing as you were interviewing him about me, I had complete and total right to do that,” he said fiercely.

“I did tell you I was going to go around interviewing about you,” she said.

He paused, knowing that she was right but then said,

“I didn’t think you would go to him. Councilman Henderson has no right to love me.”

“He didn’t imply that nor did he imply that he hated you. Jamie,” she said, saying his name for the first time. “Stop trying to hinder me.”

“Stop trying to pry into my past.”

“You know I can’t do that.”

“Why can’t you? Your story is done; you are a big shot reporter, why do you want a story on me?” He demanded.

That made her stop. He couldn’t tell her why he was so intent on hiding his story and she couldn’t tell him why she wanted to do this story. They were at an impasse.

“I can’t tell you that.”

“I am warning you Gabrielle, stop your efforts. There’s nothing you can find here.”

With that, he stalked away from her, leaving her feeling pathetic on the sidewalk as she mulled over the strength of his words.

For whom was she doing this story?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Nine
 

She shouldn’t feel guilty.

It didn’t make sense, why would she feel guilty for doing her job? But every time Gaby saw Jamie’s face in her mind; she felt a sense of guilt gnawing at her insides. He had seemed so angry with her that it made her doubt the legitimacy of going through with this investigation. What was the point of making someone sad?

No, it wasn’t someone, it was Jamie. What was the point of making him sad? That begged her to ask the question, why did she care about Jamie Simmons? Granted, they had only one good conversation, but somehow she cared about upsetting him somehow. Wasn’t that why she was, at this moment, laid out on her couch, staring into space instead of working on the article like she should be?

She had already overstayed her time, the week she was supposed to stay was already over and she was at Day 10. Joe had called about that but she had listlessly promised him that she would have the article sent to him in a day or two while asking him to dig up anything about Jamie Simmons or Sally Henderson. That had made her feel worse. She almost wanted to stop doing the investigation, but now it was more to satisfy her curiosity and less about her story. She was starting to think that there was no point in writing a story about him. She was just wasting her time.

Ms. Hay had come by to see how she was doing and to ask her delicately about the rent seeing as she had passed the time the paper was going to pay for it so she had signed it over from her own pocket. Who cared, it wasn’t that much and she could stay as long as she could pay.

She hadn’t seen him in four days. It was gnawing inside of her. She wanted to see him. She wanted to talk to him, apologize maybe.

What the councilman had said had stuck to her. He hadn’t insulted Jamie Simmons, if anything he had said something about Jamie forgiving himself. What had Jamie done that required forgiveness? She wanted to know that as well, but she didn’t know how she could actually figure that out. Was there something Jamie was hiding? Something that he had done?

All these hints, they tugged at her but not for a story and that was when she realized that she didn’t want to know his story to write, she wanted to know his story so that she could know the truth. She was personally invested in Jamie Simmons now. How stupid could she be?

Gaby groaned and sat up, her stomach rumbling. She needed some food and then she would finish this stupid article and send it to Joe. There was no need for her to be invested anymore. Finish the article and leave the town, forget Jamie Simmons. And that thought made a pang go through her heart.

She went into the kitchen, fixing herself something as she told herself that she was fine. When she returned, she saw that she had a message.

Found something on the person you wanted me to, sent it to your mail. You owe me one.

She put down her food, her heart thumping with anticipation at what Joe had found for her. She wanted to know, could this lead her to the answer? She ate a piece of her sandwich and opened the document that Joe had sent. It was an article and as she read through it, her mouth went slack, forgetting to chew what was in her mouth. She swallowed hastily, feeling indignation and horror going through her.

Oh god, she thought. What have I done?

I have to apologize right now, she thought. She looked outside, it was dark but who cared. She had to do this right now. No wonder, he felt so guilty, no wonder he wanted to hide this.

I am stupid; she thought as she pulled on a jacket and ran out the front door.

                                                                       

***

“You know,” Drew said sardonically. “I think the food in this house will be very happy if you don’t take out your anger on it.”

Jamie looked at Drew blandly and then down at his mashed potatoes which were spread all over his plate. He could see that Lana and Pete were hiding smiles while Mark pretended not to see anything. He gathered them again and said to Drew,

“Mind your own business.”

“I would if you stop spraying me with mashed potatoes,” he said, flicking some off his sleeve. “Seriously, if someone made you mad, don’t you think the logical thing is to go talk to them about it?”

“No one made me mad.”

“And the Easter Bunny visited me last night,” Drew said sarcastically. “It’s the reporter isn’t it? I feel like we should give her a name now.”

“Her name is Gabrielle and she is none of my concern now.”

“That makes me think she is your concern.”

Jamie gripped his fork tightly and Mark interjected,

“Maybe it’s better if we don’t have bloodshed right now.”

Jamie fumed as the rest of dinner went by and after Lana cleared everything, Drew indicated for him to go outside. They walked outside, feeling the cool breeze and sat down on the porch.

“So what’s bothering you?” Drew asked.

“Nothing,” Jamie said.

Drew fixed him with a stare and Jamie sighed.

“Gabrielle has been trying to write a story about me, she’s been digging around.”

“I see,” Drew said. “That bothers you?”

“It does.”

“Lots of people have pried about you, you are the town’s mystery pariah, why does she bother you so much?”

That made Jamie think. Why did she bother him so much? In a way, she was the one person he didn’t want to know about his past, because he was afraid it would influence her in some way. Did that mean he saw her in a different way? That couldn’t be it.

“Speaking of people,” Drew said. “I would say you have a visitor.”

“What?” Jamie said looking up to see a figure running towards them.

The figure got closer and he saw to his shock that it was Gabrielle, dressed in slacks and a t shirt with a jacket over her. She was gasping for breath, her hair completely out of place and as she bent over, Drew stood up.

“I’ll be inside; making sure no one bothers you.”

He left the two of them alone and Jamie could only stare at Gabrielle who was still trying to catch her breath.

“What are you doing here?” he asked calmly.

“I had to see you,” she said. “I…I found the article.”

He froze, unable to say anything and she stepped closer to him.

“I am so sorry, I didn’t realize that…”

“You have nothing to apologize for. It happened a long time ago.”

“But I didn’t think that Sally would…”

“She did what she thought was right for her,” Jamie said. “I have nothing against her for it. It happened a long time ago.”

“Didn’t you ever try to ask her why she stole your work? Or the reporter for falsely reporting that it was her work?”

“I can only assume she had a hand in that. Sally wanted that life and she probably got jealous from the way I only focused on myself. Sally gave up her life here to come with me, but she never found anything there that caught her, until she fell in love with photography. But she didn’t get the exposure she was getting so she stole one of my works and claimed that it was hers. At first I was mad at her, but then I decided that I didn’t really care,” Jamie said slowly. “I always thought that I was in love with Sally, but she never saw it that way. She thought I was a dear friend and maybe I thought that letting her have this was my way of atonement for making her give up her life.”

“But I don’t get what your promise is then. You came back, but why did you work in the council office?” Gaby asked.

He indicated that she sit down beside him and took a deep breath.

“Before I left, Sally made me promise that I would take care of her father. She did apologize for what she did, but I told her she could have it. Her request was that I take care of her father because she would rarely come back and I agreed. Her father didn’t know about that or maybe he does. Henderson is a mysterious guy, he let me work for him in the council office and I haven’t stopped since.”

“I think he was trying to tell you that when I went to him,” Gabrielle said. “That you don’t need to honor it anymore.”

“Maybe he was,” Jamie said. “I am still going to do it. I like the work and the other three handle the ranch well enough.”

For a few minutes they were quiet and then Jamie said,

“You have your story now, are you going to publish it?”

She shook her head. “I quit it. I don’t have any story to publish.”

“Why not?” he asked surprised.

“I am not that type of person and besides, I didn’t really have a motivation for it.”

Gabrielle took a deep breath and said,

“I needed a story for selfish reasons.”

She made a split decision and decided that since he had told her about his story, she might as well tell him about hers.

“The reason I needed the story was to get my credibility back. Before I came here, I was working the hot stories, going around the city, interviewing everyone, living the best life as you can imagine. I wanted my name to be known but I made one mistake. I went into a relationship with a co-worker without knowing that he was married. To be honest, he didn’t bother telling me and I was so caught up in being the best that I didn’t bother to search. But then…” her voice choked up as she remembered.

“His wife came to me, in the office and begged me to let him go. It was a rude eye opening and then I confronted him. Joe had to demote both of us so that we didn’t kill each other.”

“That’s why you were sent here,” Jamie connected.

She nodded. “I was put on this last minute because he wanted the two of us away from each other.”

“Did you love him?”

She thought about it and shook her head.

“I don’t think it was about love really, it was more about convenience and he fulfilled my ego, the orphan kid being successful and all that.”

“He called that day at the diner, didn’t he?”

“You are pretty smart, Jamie,” she complimented, smiling. “Yeah, he did. Wanted me back, god knows why. There, we are both on equal ground now.”

Jamie laughed and said, “We both made mistakes and suffered for it.”

“We are human after all,” she said.

“You aren’t so bad, Gabrielle, I may have misjudged you a bit,” he admitted.

“Good thing you learned then,” she said.

“So what are you gonna do now?” he asked.

“Stick around a bit, bother you a bit. I don’t know,” she said. “Don’t have anything to do to be honest.”

“I wouldn’t mind that.”

She looked at him in surprise and then looked away quickly, unable to bear his gaze.

“You might regret that.”

“Let’s see then.”

And the two sat there without words, staring at the night sky, finally at peace with one another.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Ten
 

It was Gaby’s idea to come and learn the ways of the ranch.

Jamie had only raised his eyebrows when she had suggested over their daily lunch that she spend a day at the ranch with him and everyone else so that she could learn it.

“Besides, it could help me one day,” she had said optimistically.

Jamie didn’t know in what way it could help her, but seeing her enthusiasm, he had agreed and couldn’t wait to see how she was going to deal with working on the ranch with them. Even Cat had to take some time before she could have adjusted to it but Gaby seemed very optimistic.

It had been ten days since the two had shared their regrets and somehow that had paved the way for them to become closer. They had lunch together, took some walks and she even asked him about things to do around the town.
He didn’t mention the council and she didn’t mention work except in passing. They talked about music, books, whatever came to their minds and he liked that. He was also aware that she was lingering on his mind more than he would have thought she would, that he would find himself in the middle of work and then suddenly she would come to mind, making him smile. It was worrisome in a way but he didn’t dwell on it. Instead, he tried his best to reign in his thoughts and be a friend. Just a friend.

“It’s going to be great,” Gaby said as she walked across the field.

Jamie nodded and smiled at what she was wearing. It was casual but completely wrong if she was going to work in the ranch. She was wearing jeans and a t-shirt but it looked new. She was going to end up ruining it.

“Are you sure about your clothes?” he asked.

She looked down at herself self-consciously.

“Is something wrong?”

“No,” he said. “I was just asking.”

“I’m sure,” she said smiling, taking his breath away. She had the ability to do that, he noticed and he could only stare as she ran ahead to where Mark was waiting for them with Cat.

“You are taking on a big challenge,” Cat said. “Are you sure about that?”

“Completely sure,” Gaby said.

“Take it easy,” Jamie cautioned. “I don’t want you hurt.”

“She is going to get hurt,” Cat said. “It’s just matter of when and how.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Gaby said sourly.

Jamie patted her shoulder and said, “Don’t worry about it.”

“Thanks,” Gaby said, her cheeks blushing slightly as she walked away with Cat.

“You know,” said Drew suddenly coming out of nowhere. “It’s the first time you brought a girl to the ranch.”

“And your point is?” Jamie said testily.

“You know,” Mark said. “I’ll leave the two big bros to their talk and go see what Cat has in store for Gaby.”

He walked off, leaving the two spectating as Cat led Gaby to a pile of hay.

“Why did you even let her come?” Drew asked.

“She wanted to have some fun,” Jamie said.

Drew snorted. “You know that’s not how it works. You like her.”

Jamie didn’t deny it as he watched Gaby struggle with the hay. He even smiled as she toppled over under its weight and Cat had to help her with it.

“Why aren’t you telling her?” Drew asked.

“She has her own life which doesn’t involve me. Who knows how long she’ll stay here, a week? A month? Then she’ll have to leave.”

“That’s not something that should stop you,” Drew said.

“What’s your point?” Jamie asked.

“I am just saying,” Drew said. “If you like her enough, you should give her a reason to stay.”

Jamie couldn’t fault the logic but suddenly he heard her yelp and without thinking, he was running towards her. Gaby was on the ground, cursing as she stared at her arm.

“What happened?” Jamie asked sharply.

“She lost balance on one of the stacks,” Cat said.

“I’m fine,” Gaby said wincing a bit.

“You are not fine,” he said gently, sitting down beside her. He took her arm and saw a large bruise starting to form on her arm. “This is why I told you to be careful.”

“I am fine, really.” She said.

“Why don’t you sit down a bit,” Jamie suggested. “And then go help them with the horses?”

“Fine,” she pouted adorably.

Drew threw him a look as the three of them walked off and Jamie led Gaby to the side so that they could sit down together.

“I can’t believe I hurt myself like that,” she said. “You must think I’m silly.”

“Nothing about that,” Jamie said. “Everyone is out of tune with new things. You wouldn’t expect me to write an award winning piece now would you?”

“No, I wouldn’t,” she laughed. “It does sting a bit.”

He realized that he was still holding her hand and she didn’t seem bothered by it one bit.

“Gabrielle, what do you think you’ll do from now on?” He asked suddenly.

“I don’t know, I think I might stick around for a while. Bother you a bit,” she said thoughtfully. “Why, is that a problem?”

“No, it’s good enough.”

She looked at him puzzled but before she could say anything, he leaned in and kissed her. She went still from the contact before relaxing and reciprocating until the two forgot everything around them. She didn’t speak for a few seconds after he let go of her but then she said,

“You know how to take people by surprise,” she said.

“Was it a bad thing?”

“No,” she said, her fingers entwining with his. “It’s not a bad thing at all.”

                                                                          ***

Gaby decided that she had to be stupid.

What could have possibly induced her to say that she was going to cook for him? Why would she take such a big risk? I mean, it was going so well! After he kissed her, big surprise but it took him long enough to do that, the two had gone out regularly, spent a lot of time together that was until her big fat mouth decided to tell him to come over for dinner. It had only been a week since they properly started dating and then she decided to ruin everything by asking him over. She didn’t have the skills to make a fancy dinner, if anything; she could barely cook for herself.

It didn’t help that he had looked intrigued when he had accepted. No doubt he was used to good food, she had dined once at their place and Lana was great at cooking. How was she even going to make something edible for him?

She decided to go through with this, she was going to need some help from someone who was experienced in cooking and the best person for that had to be Ms. Hay. So she walked over to Ms. Hay’s house so that she could ask her about it. Ms. Hay’s house was similar to her sister’s house and she loved the similarities in them. Ms. Hay seemed surprised to see her but after she had explained why she had arrived, she readily helped her pick out some cookbooks.

“These used to help me when I was younger,” she said, handing her a stack of books. “I think you can find something special for your little date.”

“Thank you so much,” Gabrielle said, smiling.

“It’s no problem dear.”

She waved to Ms. Hay as she helped and with the books in hand; she was more determined than ever to make something good for Jamie’s visit.

                                                                        ***

It took her three hours to set a menu and to actually get everything started. She decided that she was going to go for a baked dish and then prepared that to put into the oven. The starter was going to be a salad which thankfully fell into her area of capabilities but dessert was something which she knew she was pushing onto herself which was a crème brulee. She didn’t know why she chose that, but she figured it was easy enough. Or thought until she ruined two attempts of it. The third attempt went well enough but after putting it into the oven, she was completely tired and conked out on the sofa.

She awoke to the smell of burning and was up, panicked. She ran to the kitchen to see that the top of her baked dish was charred and that her crème brulee was ready to come out. At least the salad had survived but as she was starting to think about what to do, the sound of the door alerted her to the fact that Jamie was here.

Red-faced, she went to open the door, all dreams of looking great having gone out the window. Jamie took one look at her face and asked,

“What’s wrong?”

“I messed everything up!” she said. “I was going to make something nice and impress you, but then it all ended up worse!”

Jamie chuckled and hugged her.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m already suitably impressed with how you are.”

He kissed her forehead and mollified, she accepted the flowers he had brought her.

“So now, what did you mess up?”

Gaby led him to the kitchen where he calmly scraped off the burned bits, sprinkled sugar on the crème brulee and put that back in the oven. He set the table for her and then pulled up a chair for her, winking as he did.

“I can’t believe you were so calm through that,” she said shocked.

“I have been through worse,” he said casually, pecking her. “Besides, Lana once set something on fire.”

“Lana did?” Gabrielle exclaimed. “But she always seems so poised and composed.”

“She didn’t know anything when she came to work with us. Pete used to hide around and help her, he thought we didn’t know and then she started to gradually learn through that. That’s how they fell in love.”

“That sounds romantic,” she said.

“It does,” Jamie agreed. “Not as much as this though.”

“You being my knight in shining armor by fixing up my mistakes?”

“Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?”

She laughed at that. “You are a smooth talker Simmons.”

“I have to be so that I can impress you.”

“I am impressed already.”

He leaned over to kiss her again and this time, she deepened the kiss. He was the one who broke the kiss saying,

“We should eat first,”

She laughed and felt a rush of warmth flow through her as she stared at him. This was the first time she was feeling so happy. Her relationship with Dave had been built around their jobs but here, with Jamie, she didn’t have to care about anything. She could be happy with him without having to worry about anything.

Love was such a beautiful thing.

That made her almost frown. Love? Was this love? Did she love Jamie? Watching him laugh and talk as he ate, she felt her heart expand.

Yes, love.

She would enjoy it and then when the time was right, she would tell him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Eleven
 

“You seem happy today.”

Jamie looked at Destine who was beaming at him and smiled.

“It’s a good day.”

“You have been happy ever since you went to hang out with Miss Montague.”

Jamie laughed out loud at that and said,

“Nothing escapes your attention.”

“No, nothing does. But I think everyone has started to notice that you look happy most of the time,” she said. “Especially now that you won’t be here more often.”

Jamie had finally listened to Gabrielle and decided to put his foot down with the council house. He had stated that he wasn’t going to be helping around more often and that his interest with them was going to be strictly related to the ranch and nothing more than that. They had accepted it well enough and Henderson had seemed pleased about it, which lightened the load on him. Gaby was right; it was time to leave everything in the past. Sally was surely happy in her life and he was going to be happy in his life as well.

With that in mind, he was starting to think about going back to photography. Maybe use it as a hobby, it had been a long time since he had taken a decent picture and he still had his equipment in storage somewhere. Taking the images for Gabrielle had reminded him how much he loved taking pictures.

“Look who is here,” Destine said with a knowing smile.

Jamie turned to see Gabrielle, her face glowing with excitement as she burst through the doors and ran over to him.

“What’s on your mind today?” he asked laughing.

“I have something to do and I need you for it.”

“Why don’t we discuss that in the diner?” He suggested. “We’re making a spectacle of ourselves.”

“Nonsense,” Destine said. “I quite enjoy seeing you two.”

“Hello Destine, having a good day?” Gabrielle asked cheerfully.

“Quite. Sad to hear that Jamie won’t be here as often, but I think it’s for the best.”

“You won’t?” Gabrielle asked puzzled.

“The diner,” Jamie said with mock sternness.

“Yes sir,” she said, doing a mock salute.

He took her hand and then the two of them walked out of the council house together, heading for the diner. Loretta took one look at them and then smiled, nodding to indicate that she would be there with their order. The two sat down at a booth and Gabrielle looked at him expectantly.

“You first,” she said.

“Fine, nothing to say. I decided that I was going to take a step back from the council,” he said.

“That’s great. You will have more free time now,” she said. “The others are always complaining about how you are never there.”

“Yes, I know. Now it’s your turn.”

“Okay, so you know how there’s going to be a circus nearby?”

“You mean the annual fair?” he said. “It happens each year in the neighboring town.”

“Yes well, that,” she said impatiently. “Joe called me today to cover it. He usually sends someone, but since I am close by, he said that I should cover it.”

“That’s great but what does that have to do with me?”

“How do you feel about working as my photographer?” she asked, her eyes shining mischievously. “I’ll pay you.”

“That does sound intriguing,” he said playing along. “Will it be worth my time?”

“Well, you’ll have to tour the whole fair with me so…”

“That does sound tempting. Fine, when do we have to go?”

“We can go tomorrow, at 10,” she said. “You have to be on time.”

“Already acting like my boss aren’t you?” he said laughing.

“I am a very serious worker,” she said. “You can’t slack while I ‘m watching you.”

“Alright, alright,” he said. “I’ll ask Lana and Pete if they want to go too.”

“Sounds great. I am hungry, wonder what Loretta will give us today.” Gabrielle twisted herself to see and Jamie felt a warm smile on his face. He couldn’t imagine anything else he would have to do without her.

                                                                        ***

“That does sound great,” Lana said wistfully. “But I already have plans with Pete to go to an art gallery.”

Jamie looked at Pete, who simply shrugged.

“I didn’t know you had an eye for the fine arts,” Drew said mockingly.

Pete ignored the sarcasm and said, “She is getting me into it.”

“What about you and Cat?” Jamie asked Mark.

“We are planning to look over the ranch together,” Mark said.

“It’s amazing how you found someone that thinks that going over the ranch is a great date,” Drew chimed in.

“You talk like that,” Jamie said. “You’re going to be the next one to find someone.”

“Not me, I’m going to be a lone wolf. I have no interest in getting shackled down,” Drew said easily, popping a grape into his mouth.

At least he had tried. He was actually looking forward to being alone with Gabrielle at the fair tomorrow, especially now that he had gotten the chance to test out his equipment. It was going to be a fun day.

                                                                        ***

“I thought you said that I had to be on time?” Jamie said as Gabrielle, yawning got into the car.

“I forgot and slept really late. Don’t judge me,” she said yawning again.

“What were you doing?”

“I seem to have found a fascination for TV shows, that’s going to be hard to get rid of.”

He ignored the last part, preferring not to think of it. He knew that there was a time limit on his relationship with her that the two didn’t talk about. She had her life to go back to and he knew he couldn’t stop her from doing that, but whenever he thought about it, his heart hurt because he didn’t want to let her go. She had gotten too close to him but he always pushed it out of his mind when he had to think about it.

“I have never been to a fair before,” she said. “I wonder what I’ll get to see there.”

“You have never been to a fair before?” he said, surprised.

She shook her head. “I never got the chance to go.”

“We used to go every year when we were young. Mom and Dad used to take us so that we could appreciate it, but when we grew up, we never thought we would need to see it.”

“That sounds great,” she said wistfully reminding him of the fact that she hadn’t any parents.

“We’ll have fun today and we’ll take lots of pictures as well,” he said.

The car ride went smoothly enough. Jamie had driven he truck on purpose, smiling when Gabrielle scooted next to him. Then the two of them were in the outskirts of the fair. It was pretty crowded but he managed to find a decent place to park the truck. Gabrielle’s eyes shone up like a child’s and she couldn’t wait to enter the fair. Jamie could already tell that she was going to make this outing an exciting one.

The first thing that she did was buy the two of them cotton candy.

“We have to get into the feel!” she insisted as she handed him the stick.

“How exactly am I supposed to take images with this in my hand?” he asked.

“You’ll figure out a way,” she said and then ran off.

He shook his head, but couldn’t help but smile as she took everything in with awe on her face. The two of them toured the attractions while he brushed off some of his old skills into taking some images for her article. He managed to snag a few images of her which he was planning to wash for her. He would tell her about it later. It would be a nice surprise for her.

“What show is that?” she asked pointing at the poster.

“It’s the show that they hold every day, a circus show. You should hurry up if you want to catch it,” he said.

“Is it any good?”

“It’s the best,” he assured her.

“Okay!” she said excited and ran off to take the ticket.

He almost felt the need to remind her that she was here for work, but then decided against it. Let her enjoy it as much as she could. They got into the show and while Jamie got into his job of being the photographer, Gabrielle had just as much fun in seeing everything for the first time. She was constantly tugging his sleeve and asking him what that or this was which almost made him feel like he had brought a child with him.

“That was so much fun!” she gushed as they got out. “I didn’t think the tiger would actually leap through the ring of fire.”

“It was pretty expected,” he said. “I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

“What’s next?” she asked excitedly.

“I think that’s about it,” he said. “We’re at the end of the show.”

“No fair,” she said, pouting. “It’s not even-“

“It’s not even noon?” he finished her sentence. “It’s actually afternoon.”

“Seriously?” she said shocked. She looked at the sky and had to say that he was right because it was fast approaching evening. “I didn’t even realize where the time went.”

“That happens when you have fun,” he said.

“It really was fun,” she said wrapping her hand around his.

“Let’s get home then,” he said. “I think I know a way to extend the fun.”

“I don’t doubt it,” she said. “You always do.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” he said.

They got into the car and as he drove, Jamie realized that maybe for the first time in his life, he wanted the woman beside him to stay. Not just for him, but for her. He wanted his life to be enough, to make her happy. He drove up to her house, helping her down from the truck. He knew then that if she asked him in, he’d go willingly.

“Thank you so much for today,” Gaby said, smiling. “I don’t think I’ve ever had so much fun working.”

“I’m not sure you could call that working,” he grinned. “But the pictures were fun.”

“So it wasn’t a total bore for you?”

“No,” he smiled. “I enjoyed watching you take it all in.”

“Speaking of,” Gaby said, still holding his hand. “Will you come in, stay with me tonight?”

Jamie smiled before he leaned over and kissed her. Picking her up, he carried her into the house and gently kicked the door closed.

                                                                        ***

Gaby sighed when Jamie simply carried her upstairs. Tiny tremors went through her as Jamie set her on her feet, his mouth still securely fused to his. For a seemingly patient man, tonight he was less than as his hands roamed over her. His mouth followed in a hot streak that left her dizzy with want.

“Jamie,” she whispered, her mind barely coherent as Jamie continued to undress her. His whispered curse rang in her ears as his hand cupped first one breast and then the other, his thumb flicking her already tight nipples. Then she found herself lying under him on the bed, her clothes still strewn everywhere.

She moaned at the bulge she felt against her thigh as need coursed through her. She was shocked at just how much she wanted this man. “Gabrielle,” Jamie said, his hand streaking down her belly. She felt his hand unsnap her jeans before those strong fingers slid under her satin panties. “Let me take you,” he growled, his fingers sinking into the heat they’d created.

She rose up then, her hips bucking wildly as her climax took her over. Then she was ravenous, her own needs shoved to the back at the thought of meeting his. She tore his shirt away, needing to feel his flesh under her hands. She was rocked by the muscles that rippled over his chest and stomach. He was so wiry that she certainly hadn’t expected him to be so ripped.

Pulling him down to her, she silently begged him to join her. Her mouth fused to his, her tongue seeking the warm return of his kiss. He tasted like she’d expected, of the earth and a little hint of mean. Ironically she’d found him to be incredibly calm and collected, so unlike the man she’d first met at the Council House.

                                                                        ***

Jamie knew the moment he’d first touched Gaby that his need for her was next to uncontrollable. Tethering it now was like holding onto a tornado. Holding her was even more so. Need whipped through him as he uncovered more of her and her fast climb to peak was only more fuel on the fire.

Now he was greedy, wanting to watch her discover that he could make her come repeatedly. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t the first, but it was a jolt to his system that he wanted very much to be the last.  

Once she was naked, he stripped his own clothes away coming back to her as she opened to him. He hand his hand up her smooth thigh, pulling her leg against his hip so that she’d wrap her legs around him. Settling closer to her, Jamie watched as her eyes went dark with desire. And when his name trembled on her lips, he filled her, pushing her so fast to climax that he felt her shudder and knew his own control was slipping quickly through his hands. “Gabrielle,” he breathed, only to find that her mouth has clamped, none too gently onto his shoulder. Her nails dug into his back as he continued to fill her, her gasps like sugar to a sweet tooth.

Looking down at her, Jamie felt her hot pussy clench down in a rhythm that had him cursing under his breath. “I’m sorry,” he said as his own orgasm simply slipped through him, beyond his ability to control it.

His muscles strained to hold himself up as his bones simply melted away. Then she was laughing and rolling him over, her body rising up over him so that her beautiful breasts bounced above him. She grinned wickedly as she reached down to stroke him, ruling his body in a way no woman ever had.

Then she was taking him in again, riding him to a clear and fast finish.

Jamie waited for her to fall asleep before he eased out of the house, quietly locking the door behind him.

                                                                        ***

Gabrielle awoke with a start.

For a second, she was confused about where she was then remembered that this was the room of the house. How had she ended up here? She remembered being in the car with Jamie and her body remembered how he’d taken her in the night, with a restrained passion that even now made her body tremble. She sighed and then smiled as she recalled the fair. It had been so much fun, he had been so much fun.

What time was it? She looked around and saw that it was near two. She had better get some work done or Joe would be mad at her. She picked up her cell and saw that there were three missed calls from Joe. She called him back and waited for him to pick up.

“What’s up?” she said when he picked up.

“Where were you?” he asked.

“I was tired. Anything urgent?”

“Kind of. I wanted to tell you something,” he said. “You don’t have to stay out there anymore.”

“What do you mean?” she said, her heart stopping.

“You can come back now. Dave left the company so there’s nothing stopping you from working your usual post. Isn’t that great?”

But Gabrielle, listening to him, couldn’t even speak as she thought about what that phrase meant for her.

 

Chapter Twelve
 

Something was wrong.

Jamie could feel that something was wrong. It wasn’t like Gabrielle to avoid him like this. He tried to talk himself out of being wrong about it, but the hints said otherwise. She hadn’t contacted him in two days and whenever he went to the house, she didn’t open the door. He hadn’t done anything wrong, that he knew of, but there had to be something on her mind.

He even had the images of her washed and they looked great. She looked happy in the images and he knew that he should get them to her soon. But why was she avoiding him?

He had to know the reason. With that thought in mind, he prepared to visit her for the day. This time, he wouldn’t leave, until he knew what was going on.

When he reached her place, he rang the bell several times and then even knocked for good measure.

“I know you are in there,” he shouted. “I am note leaving until you come out!”

“Go away Jamie,” he heard her whisper.

“Not fair, Gabrielle,” he said. “Let me in.”

After a few seconds of silence, the door opened and he saw her standing on the other side, looking down. When he saw her, the frustration went out of him and he entered before holding her shoulders and asking,

“What’s wrong?”

“Jamie…” she didn’t finish her sentence and looked worse than before.

“I have some images washed for you,” he said. “You should take a look at them, they turned out great.”

He was trying to find a way to change the awkward atmosphere but then she took his hand and looked at him before saying,

“Joe called me,” she said. “He said that I could go back.”

There was a long silence after what she said and he tried to make sense of her words. The first thing that hit was the crippling pain, how could he let her go? That was impossible, but then he forced himself to recall that he had expected this would happen. He had told himself that she had a life different than his, but a part of him wanted to believe that he could always have her with him, that she would want to stay.

“So then you should go.”

Her eyes, filling with tears, fixed on him and she whispered,

“You want me to go?”

“I want you to do what makes you happy,” he said. “And if being happy means that you should go back to where your job is then…”

“You know that’s not it!” she said, agitated. “I want to be here with you! I want…”

“You want to be there too, working your job. Doing what you always dreamed of,” he finished.

The silence persisted and then he placed the envelope on the table and said,

“I’ll see you later.”

With that, he walked away from her, leaving her alone to her thoughts even as his own heart was breaking from it.

                                                                        ***

Gabrielle heard him drive away and then collapsed on the couch, her head a mess of thoughts. She couldn’t think about why he was being like this, but then she understood that he was giving her the easy way out. It couldn’t have been easy for him to think that she was going to leave one day and he was basically telling her that it would be all right if she did leave, but she didn’t want that. She didn’t want to leave him. She wanted to stay here, but she didn’t want to give up her job either. She had to make a decision.

Joe was waiting for her and she couldn’t delay it any longer.

She walked over to the table where Jamie had left the images for her and opened it. She expected it to be images of the fair, but they were images of her, enjoying herself.

Somehow he had captured everything perfectly and that was his talent. She saw the pictures, her smiling face in them and couldn’t help but feel tears prick her eyes. Never had she been faced with such a decision. When Dave’s wife had come into her office, the only thing she had felt was horror towards Dave, it hadn’t been hard breaking the relationship off with him. That had been something she did without any remorse, it was only the mark on her pride that really affected her.

Now, she felt as if she was breaking apart. This had to be worth something right? She saw her smiling face in the images again and her decision came to her. With determination, she picked up the cell and dialed a number.

                                                                        ***

Jamie sipped the coffee he held in his hands but felt no warmth for it.

It was a couple of hours after he had left Gabrielle and his heart was still recovering from the pain that he felt when he forced himself to leave. He wanted to go back in and tell her that he was wrong and that she should stay with him, but that would have been selfish of him. He would be doing the wrong thing.

But what was the right thing?

“Something on your mind?” Drew asked, sitting down beside him.

“You seem to be there whenever I’m in deep thought,” said Jamie, sipping his coffee.

“I might become a therapist for you,” Drew grinned. “What’s on your mind?”

“Nothing,” Jamie said. “Or something. Gabrielle got asked to go back to her office.”

“That’s going to suck. You told her to stay didn’t you?” Drew said.

“No, I told her to do what made her happy.”

“That’s gotta hurt. But you did tell her how you felt right?”

“How I felt?” Jamie said listlessly. “I couldn’t tell her I loved her.”

“Why not?”

“I think that would have been unfair to her. I know what kind of person she is. She would have stayed if I said that. I want her to make the decision on her own.”

“While I admire your noble ways, I think that was pretty stupid of you,” Drew said. “You know that she would have wanted to hear that.”

“What’s the point Drew?” Jamie said. “It would have made her feel worse.”

“Sometimes I think you let the moment pass by you too easily. You know how much I wish I could have said the things I wanted to her when she was here don’t you?” Drew said with uncharacteristic seriousness.

Jamie took in a sharp breath. “You know that’s not the same.”

“The feelings are. I lost my chance, you shouldn’t lose yours.”

Drew stood up and patted his shoulder before going inside the house. Jamie sighed, regretting having reminded Drew of something that was painful to him but his words did have a point and a sharp one. He hadn’t told Sally of his feelings either, but that had been completely different. Jamie had always known that Sally hadn’t felt the same and those feelings dissipated as if they were nothing. Gabrielle, she wouldn’t disappear. She meant too much.

Maybe he should have told her that he loved her.

But the chance was probably gone now, she would be leaving soon anyway.

His heart hurting more than ever, he got up to go back inside but the sound of someone walking made him stop. He looked up and saw her, walking towards him with a determined look in her eyes. He opened his mouth, but she stopped him with a raised arm.

“Let me finish first,” she said. “I talked to Joe and we got to an agreement.”

He was prepared to hear her say that she was going to be leaving but instead she said,

“I am going to be around every day except a few times when I am going to disappear for work. Other than that, I am going to be bothering you a lot.” Her eyes filled with tears as she said, “Also, I love you.”

“B-but…” he spluttered. “Your work? Your home?”

“I decided that going back didn’t mean anything, unless I had you with me,” she said. “And I never thought I would see the day when Jamie Simmons would sputter.”

Jamie remained still before he ran to her and hugged her tightly. He heard her laugh through her tears before hugging him.

“Tell me you love me,” she ordered.

“I do love you,” he said. “I thought that was obvious.”

“Make it more obvious next time.”

“I’ll show it to you every day,” he promised, before kissing her.

                                                                        ***

“I really do like the look of this,” Lana said approvingly.

She looked around the table, happy to see everyone seated with their respective partners except for Drew, who was casually helping himself to the cornbread. When she had thought about doing this dinner party, she had been glad that there had been a table that would be big enough for everyone. It really did make her happy to be a hostess, something she had always wondered why her mother would do for everyone. She really got it now, with everyone around her.

“It smells great,” said Gabrielle.

“Thank you, Gaby,” Lana said, smiling warmly at her. Gabrielle was a delight and she could see why Jamie liked her so much, she had the fire that Jamie didn’t.

Cat and Mark were helping themselves too and looking at each other happily. Cat was definitely something else and the way they were planning, they were probably going to expand the ranch soon.

“Ugh, all the couples are making me sick,” Drew said, as Pete rolled his eyes.

“You’re next,” Mark and Jamie said at the same time.

“Don’t bet on it,” Drew said. “That’s past me now.”

“Who knows,” Lana agreed. “There might be someone coming for you too.”

“Speaking of that,” Jamie said. “Did I mention that Henderson is going for a new change in the town?”

“What kind of change?” Pete asked interested.

“He is going to introduce new ways to attract tourists. He wants new income from them so basically, you are going to see a lot of new faces around here soon.”

“That sounds great,” Lana said. “Maybe Drew’s princess in shining dress will be one of those tourists.”

Drew scoffed and Jamie only fixed him with a gaze, a gaze filled with worry. Jamie knew that Drew was always against any emotional attachment but couldn’t help feeling that maybe it was time for him to really let go of the past. As he thought of the new changes, he couldn’t help but get a feeling that something was going to change and that it was coming towards them soon.

He felt Gabrielle squeeze his hand from beneath the table and smiled at her. At least he had his change and he was better because of it.

He wouldn’t be anywhere else but here with her, for now and forever.

The End.

 

 

 

 

 

Make sure you don’t miss Drew’s story! It comes out 10/1/2017

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

Danielle Gray has always enjoyed creative writing and this is her first foray into the romance novel world. As a history major in school, she loves making sure details are correct, down to the saddle of the times. 

Although, she never sought out a writing career, her desire for the written word grew the more she home-schooled her daughter.

Now, Danielle lives in the Midwest with her husband, amazing daughter and two furry friends. Living in paradise, being a stay at home mom, and to be able to share her stories has been a blessing.

 

 

Thank you --

If you enjoy my work, please be totally awesome and leave a review so others might discover it as well. Long review or short, your opinion will help other readers make future purchase decisions.

 

 

 

 

 

Check out my other books:

Daughters of DeSmet Series:

 Ezekiel “Zeke” James, is a rancher by trade and by heart. It’s more than blood and bone; it’s a calling he’s known all of life. Still, scratching out a living in DeSmet, South Dakota isn’t easy, even with the new railroad. Being alone doesn’t make like any easier and Zeke finds himself hankering for someone to share his life with.

Danielle Thompson is as beautiful as a prairie flower in full bloom. Young and strikingly gorgeous she’s used to men staring when she walks by. As an unattached woman, she finds herself the recipient of many an unwanted kindness. When she’s yanked up into Zeke’s saddle as he returns from a long and successful cattle drive, they both get more than they bargained for.

When life offers adventure, can Zeke convince Danielle that they have more to share than a fast, hard ride, or will Danielle run back to the waiting arms of her stern, but predictable father?

 

Rebekah Bradley is the only survivor of a brutal attack of Apache Indians during her trip west with her older brother. Hiding inside a built-in box inside the wagon she was traveling in, Rebekah is found unconscious by men from the town of DeSmet in the Dakota Territory. Johann Tska, who runs the hotel, agrees to shelter Rebekah while she grieves for her brother and family who were lost in the raid.

Realizing she needs money to live, Rebekah asks Johann if she can work for him waiting tables. Johann agrees as he’s found a soft spot for the beautiful young woman. Over the next year, that soft spot turns into something much more grown up and Rebekah must decide whether or not she shares Johann’s attraction and love.

Dr. Josiah Isaacson arrived in DeSmet, in the Dakota Territory to much fanfare. Within weeks of his arrival, he’s been offered an investment in a new hotel, more baked goods than any man can eat, and even a marriage proposal from a man, who apparently had a daughter to marry off.

Shiloh Hensley is the sole survivor of a Scarlet fever outbreak that took everyone in her family. Dr. Isaacson finds her in the throes of the disease, brings her inside his clinic and nurses her back to health. During her recovery both Shiloh and Josiah must decide if they can risk their hearts when so much has been taken from them. Will love prevail over every obstacle, or are some things insurmountable?

Four Seasons Sisters Series:

Lily Fogel is one of four heiresses to a massive fortune, until the Civil War destroys her father’s finances that is. Forced to accept her parents’ new destitution, Lily refuses to marry the men her parents will inevitably parade her in front of in hopes of securing financial investments in return for her betrothal.

When she runs across a mail order bride advertisement, she secretly answers the ad and is more than impressed with the man who returns her inquiry.

Abner Anderson moved out west to Montana, three years prior and since then has been rethinking his decision. Living on the frontier, he’s more than aware that there are virtually no marriageable women within a three-hundred-mile radius. Sending out a mail order bride advertisement, he’s bombarded with answers from back east and answers only those that intrigue him.

Can Abner win the heart of a woman who drives him so close to insanity that he can taste it? More importantly, does he want to? Will Lily ever learn what it means to love a man whose life is so far from the only life she’s ever known? Only time will tell whether their desperate measures will pay off in the end.

Elizabeth Fogel has never truly been interested in a traditional marriage with children. It’s not so much that she’s opposed to the idea, as it is that she feels unfit. She sees herself as a pariah, especially among her three pretty sisters. As the oldest, she feels a responsibility to watch over her sisters and help her parents as much as possible.

When she accompanies her younger sister Lily to Montana as her chaperone, the last thing Elizabeth expected was to meet a man who sees her for who she is. When Jack Russman showers her with his seemingly undivided attention, Elizabeth struggles with keeping her head on straight, even as Jack makes his intentions all too clear.

Jack Russman is about as manly as they come. He’s rough around the edges, but Elizabeth appreciates that he doesn’t want a frilly female, as she doesn’t feel she’s ever been one. However, when an old love interest shows up in her life, Elizabeth will be torn between what’s familiar and safe, and finding her hearts true love.

Can Jack convince Elizabeth to stay and be his bride, or will she turn to Elias’ Carnahan’s arms in search of safety and security?

Amber Fogel is the youngest Fogel sister. As such, she’s always felt cheated by the experiences of her older sisters. What no one knows, except Amber, is that she’s been in love for more than a year now. Always friends with Harrison Roberts, when he moved to Montana, Amber kept in touch with letters every week. Now, well beyond the age of consent, she is desperate to move to Montana and marry the man she loves.

Harrison Roberts in head over heels for Amber Fogel. Having to wait for her to mature wasn’t easy, but now the plans he’s had in his mind and heart for a while can finally move forward. Everything seems to be well in order, including the blessing of her parents. When Harrison is wounded in a mining accident, however, the last thing he wants is Amber’s pity. He certainly doesn’t feel fit or able to ask for her hand.

Can Amber show Harrison that it’s the man inside that matters, or will Harrison turn away the one woman he loves, because he can’t love himself?

Victoria Fogel, a year younger than her sister Lily, is the center of attention. As a youngster she accomplished this by doing things others said she couldn’t or shouldn’t do. As a grown woman, she’s determined to continue her streak of outrageous behavior and finds the perfect outlet when she answers an ad to accompany an older widow across country to settle in Montana with her son, without telling her parents of her plans. What Victoria doesn’t know may indeed hurt her when she discovers that the woman’s son is a wanted criminal.

Thaddeus Henshaw has the unfortunate problem of looking exactly like Tom O’Day, a notorious horse thief from the Wyoming Territory. When Thaddeus is mistakenly cornered as O’Day, he is quickly taken into custody without so much as a chance to prove his innocence. That proves to be even more difficult when he’s sitting behind bars.

Will Thaddeus be freed or will he hang for crimes he didn’t commit? Can Victoria help Thaddeus prove his innocence and preserve the plans they’d made?

Simmons Ranch Series

When Pete Simmons suggested a housekeeper for himself and his brothers, he never imagined that he would be shook up by her.

Lana Jones is everything he imagined to be the exact opposite of a housekeeper, young, pretty and naive. But despite her outer look, she harbors a secret that could make or break her job.

Pete can't help but want to find out more about her but will that end up with him crossing the line?

 

Drew – coming 10/1