Chapter 7
Gabriel
Seeing a gorgeous blonde on the side of the road, hood of her car opened, would make anybody do a double take, and if you’re decent and at all able, you stop to help. Especially on Lakeside Road. Nobody should have to be stuck out here.
I slow my car, but I’m not able to stop in time, so I do a U-turn. It’s in that process that my chest squeezes tight.
It’s River Judkins. In jeans and that ridiculous Sesame Street T-shirt.
I turn around and pull up behind her car. She frowns when I get out.
“Aren’t you happy to see me?”
I toss out casually.
She chews on her bottom lip. “What are the odds? You showing up like this totally belongs in my book.”
Still, her brown eyes are sparkling. I guess being stuck on the side of the road with her clunker has chastised her.
“Your book?”
“I’m only talking to myself.”
She studies the motor oil on her fingers. “What are you doing here?”
“I had to make a couple of stops before I started heading home.”
“And home is that way?”
She points up the mountain.
“A temporary home, yes.”
I incline my head toward her heap of scrap metal. “What were you doing up here?”
She raises her chin. “I sometimes like to drive around when I need a moment alone.”
“When you need a moment to curse my name?”
She doesn’t miss a beat. “Driving is quite effective for thinking up all sorts of good curse words.”
“Oh, yeah?”
I cross my arms over my chest. “So what kinds of violence have you inflicted on me in your mind?”
“Don’t flatter yourself. This isn’t about you. I’m not going to waste gasoline on thinking about you.”
“Well, that’s smart.”
I scratch my nose and gently press a tire with my foot. “So, what’s the problem with your car?”
“All of the lights across the dashboard started flashing, and there was a weird rumbling, lurching sound.”
“Let’s take a look.”
She gives a soft snort and steps aside. “Be my guest.”
Do I know what I’m doing? No, I do not. But I could probably YouTube University it just as well as anyone else.
I press my hands on the front and peer inside. Using my phone’s flashlight and having River start it up a couple of times, it takes me less than five minutes to get real with her.
“I don’t have a clue what’s happening all up in here,”
I confess. “But I could call Henry and see if he can take a look.”
She frowns. “No, I couldn’t bother you all like that. I’ll call a tow truck.”
“To be honest, that’s probably a good idea.”
This earns me half a smile. I guess I’ll take it. But still, I’m concerned about how things ended at her place.
“I apologize again for asking you to marry me.”
Saying it out loud makes me feel even worse.
She digs her knuckle into her forehead and takes in a slow breath. “It’s okay. I mean, it’s not okay, but . . .”
She tucks a section of hair behind her ear. “It’s whatever.”
Her gaze meets mine. “Thanks for stopping to help.”
“Of course. It’s the Longdale way.”
I don’t live here, but I’ve heard the rumors about how much the community takes care of its own. I don’t mention that she looked so beautiful standing there, those long, curvy legs in jeans, I couldn’t not stop.
She calls her insurance company, who gets her squared away with a tow truck. She turns to me. “Thanks, but I’ve got this now. You’re free to go.”
“Are you dismissing me?”
“No. I just have things taken care of.”
“I’m not gonna just leave you here. Those tow trucks can take a long time, especially up this road.”
“I kicked you out of my house. Why would you still want to hang out with me?”
“I don’t. I can’t just leave you here, though.”
She rests against the side of the car. “Fine, I’ll just have to annoy you, then.”
“I’d love nothing more.”
She scoffs but is true to her word. “Alright, so which brother is the biggest tightwad?”
“Oh, we’re going straight to my origins, huh?”
I face the same direction she is and mirror the way she’s resting against the car. “Okay I can handle it. The answer to that is Sebastian. How about you? Tell me more about Skye.”
“No, we’re talking about the Tates right now.”
“Alright, alright.”
We discuss the intricacies of my family—the stuff I’m willing to talk about—and, in return, she tells me more about her sister. She also mentions her parents’ deaths so succinctly that it might be easy to make the assumption that she’s worked through her grief. Whatever that means.
But of course she hasn’t. Who would have? I can only tell her I’m sorry and ask her to tell me more about them, what they were like.
She says a few things, like how her parents loved learning and were responsible for how sharp and well-rounded Skye is.
Soon, it’s getting dark, and the tow truck still isn’t here.
“Let me make a call,”
I tell her, knowing Sebastian can probably get things going. He’s got to know somebody who can help.
I walk down the road a few yards to get a better signal, call him, and join her back at the car. “Sebastian’s taking care of it. Let me take you home, and we’ll go to the mechanic shop in the morning once they’ve had a chance to look at it.”
“It’s fine. You go home. I’m good to wait.”
“River, don’t be stubborn.”
“You’re the stubborn one, not letting me wait. This is my car. I need to make sure it’s okay. Besides, I have a bottle of water and a paper sack of my dad’s old lemon drops in the glovebox. I could survive for days.”
“Come on. Let’s go.”
I shake my keys. “I’m not going to leave you on the side of Lakeside Road.”
“It’s Longdale, which means I’ll be fine to wait here by myself. Skye won’t get home for a while.”
“Bears and mountain lions aren’t going to mess with your car, but they most certainly will mess with you.”
I start walking toward my car, the gravel crunching under my feet.
“Yeah, because bears and mountain lions are like you. You are a plague that won’t stop messing with me.”
“That’s me. The plague,”
I toss behind me. I push the remote start-up and the engine purrs to life. “Get over it and get in my car.”
“Whoa. Stranger danger.”
I spin around. “River. Come on. Sebastian’s contacted the guy but he’s on the other side of the county helping out with an accident. It could literally be hours.”
“Why? You hoping to talk me into your marriage scheme?”
I scratch the back of my head. “I was wondering when that was going to come up.”
“So? Were you hoping to talk me into it? Is that why you’re here?”
I’ll give her this, she knows how to push my buttons. “How was I even supposed to know you were broken down by the side of the road? I stopped because that’s the decent thing to do.”
I don’t mention that I did a double take when I saw her because no one can notice how nicely she fills out those jeans without wanting to stop. It would be impossible.
Her mouth forms a thin line before she speaks again. “Decent? Is it decent to ask me to marry you so you can get back into your dad’s good graces?”
I swipe my hand across my mouth. “I don’t know why you’re picking a fight with me, but I guess not.”
I shrug. This woman. “I guess it isn’t decent. And so, I’m sorry. I thought it might be beneficial to us both.”
“I still don’t understand why me? You could have anyone and you’re asking me? Because let me be honest here. I don’t date, okay?”
Her arms spread wide before slapping against her thighs. “I haven’t in years. I take care of Skye and I work. That’s about it. It’s the way it has to be. So not only would it be completely unbelievable considering I never date anyone, but that mere fact means I can’t just be casual about stuff like this. Asking me this was . . . you just don’t know me at all.”
“You’re right, I don’t. But I would like to get to know you.”
I pause. “And to answer your question, there is no one else, River. I can’t ask someone in Denver . . . there’s too much of a chance it would get out. If anyone so much as suspects anything fishy about this, it’s all over. So, for one thing, you’re the only marriageable person I know who isn’t in Denver, but isn’t too far away, either. Because I have to be close to Foundations but not too close, you know? And it would make sense that we’ve been dating. You work for my brother, so it’s plausible we would know each other. No one has to know that we just met.”
She sniffs and fixes me with a hard stare.
“You’re a good person, River.”
I start ticking things off my fingers. “You have a good reputation. You’re attractive.”
A whisper of a smile graces her face. “Oh really?”
“Yes. That’s not exactly a revelation.”
“It’s not?”
Her brows go in the air.
“It’s not.”
“Why would the person you marry have to be attractive, though? Are you saying someone’s only marriage material if they’re attractive?”
I grab the hair on the top of my head. I should probably stop doing that but right now, I don’t care. “Are you mad at me for saying you’re attractive? Or do you just want to pick a fight?”
“Answer my question. You could easily marry someone unattractive. Or would that be too unbelievable? That someone of your degree of handsomeness would ever stoop so low as to marry an average-looking woman?”
I whistle low. “My mind is blown in so many directions right now. I feel like this is a trap. No matter what I say, it will be wrong.”
She laughs. But then her chin goes high, challenging me.
When it’s clear she’s not going to let me off the hook on this, I venture a try. “So I’ll say one thing. And that is . . .”
Leaning back against her broken down car, her eyes are glittering in the moonlight. I face her and place both hands against the car on either side of her. She doesn’t shrink back. If anything, she leans towards me, and her mouth falls open the smallest amount. Her breathing quickens and her tongue darts out to touch the top of her upper lip. It’s cruel for her to expect me to not be attracted to that little move.
“The person I marry, whenever that may be and whoever that may be, is going to be attractive to me,”
I say. “Because that’s how it works. And I wouldn’t care if no one else thought she was attractive.”
My gaze sweeps across the planes of her face. “She could be considered average or whatever you want to call it, but it’s not because I think I’m all that. It’s because, in a marriage, you have to be attracted to the other person, knowing full well that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”
I lean in further. “I don’t give a rat’s behind about if she’s considered attractive to other people. We just have to have that spark, you know? It’s about what I feel when I’m around her.”
I wrap my hand around her lower back, and she shunts in a breath at my touch. “And you feel stuff? When you’re around me?”
she asks, breathless. Her brown eyes widen.
I chuckle, easing myself even closer. “I feel a lot of things. Annoyance, frustration, irritation.”
At her small squeak of indignation, I switch gears. “But yes, I’m attracted to you. I can admit it.”
And I’m drawn to her lips, the way she’s pouting and frowning, clearly irritated by me, too.
My phone rings and we startle apart. It’s my aunt Stella and, as I answer it, I’m grateful for the reprieve from River.
“Gabriel, I heard about everything.”
Stella’s voice is grave.
I start walking back up the road aways. “Of course you did. Who told you? My mom or my dad?”
“They both did. Sweetheart, you know there’s no judgment from me, right? I figure you’ve heard enough of that from my brother.”
A stone forms in my throat, and I fight to get it to calm down so I can answer her. How is this my life now?
“You could say that.”
I wait, at war with how much to ask. “How’s my mom holding up?”
I screw my eyes shut. Do I even want to know the answer to that?
“Your mom is strong. She’s okay. She wants to know if you’ll be okay.”
I’m ten years old again, in Stella’s little rambler in Longdale. She’s both mom and dad, while ours are away working for Foundations all summer. Every summer.
She’s sussing me out and loving me in the way that only she can.
“It’s all good,”
I assure her. “I just have to deal with it.”
When she doesn’t respond, I cave. Of course she knows it’s not all good.
“I’m going to be okay, eventually.”
I want to smooth things over, not justify my actions, but I want to help Stella and my mom understand that things weren’t as bad as they looked. “Those photos do not paint an accurate picture, Stella. And the drinking? It was only the second time in my life. I hadn’t since the night I turned twenty-one.”
She’s quiet, and the only thing I hear from her end is the sound of her dogs barking. Finally, she starts to speak. “I believe you, Gabriel.”
She breathes in and then lets out a long sigh. “What’s the next step for you?”
I glance at River, who’s got her head tilted back, still leaning against her car, looking up at the stars. “I’m trying to figure that out.”
“Well, I trust you to do what’s right for you. Know that we love you, okay?”
I tell her that I love her, too. Stella’s love is so freely given that it’s natural to say it back.
Before she ends the call, she spits out, “And call your mother back, Gabriel!”
I will. I guess talking with Stella makes it feel a little more possible.
Right as I pocket my phone, River’s rings.
She groans when she looks at the screen, then puts it up to her ear. “Skye? Is everything okay?”
I hear indiscriminate wailing on the other end, and then, “You’re home from Caring Souls already?”
River looks at her watch. “Oh, right. I lost track of time. I’m so sorry. Skye, Skye, take a breath, okay?”
Her voice cracks. “I’m coming.”
I’ve got River by the arm, gently leading her to my Bronco while she’s still talking on the phone.
"Uh huh. Don’t worry,”
she says into the phone. “We’ll find her. Just stay in the house. Skye, listen to me. Stay in the house!”
she shouts. “I’m coming. I’ll be there in ten minutes. Set the timer. Yes, move the hand to the ten. And stay home. Do not leave. I’m coming.”
I open the passenger door and help her in. When I lean over to clip her seatbelt in, I breathe in her sweet vanilla scent. The look River gives me is a mix of confusion, gratitude, and sheer panic. Her hand holding the phone drops into her lap. “I told her ten minutes.”
I drop a swift kiss on the top of her head. “I’ll get you there in eight.”