Chapter 6
SIX
GABE – TUESDAY MORNING
“Your forehead looks lovely. That’s sarcasm, by the way,” Casey said as he came through the door.
“Yeah, it looks worse this morning,” Gabe agreed before Casey could add another snarky comment. “Maybe I should have put a slab of rib eye steak on it like Elton suggested. And I think I may have sprained a rib. But don’t worry, I took some pain killers.”
Casey shot him a look, one that telegraphed, You are possibly an idiot, his stupidly sexy eyebrows drawing together. Why had Gabe been relieved that Casey hadn’t stayed over?
“Does it hurt when you laugh?”
Gabe considered that the correct response for him was probably It always hurts when I laugh, but Casey was already wound up tight, so he decided to skip it. “It twinges, I guess? Not that I’ve been ha-haing much since I rolled out of bed though. That first step was a doozy.”
“Personally, I think that’s a waste of a perfectly decent steak. Is your head bothering you?” Casey asked. “No nausea or dizziness?”
“No, it’s really not. I am fine, I swear.”
“Are you ready for Seattle, then?”
Gabe eyed him. Ranger Man never missed a damn thing. He especially never missed things Gabe wanted him to. Because no, Gabe was not ready for this.
“Fine. You busted me. I’m not ready, and if it weren’t for you and Elton, I would have ignored the letter. Huh. Maybe that’s why Heidi used him as a liaison?”
The other thing Gabe wasn’t ready for was telling Casey about the young woman who had dropped by and claimed to be his daughter. It wasn’t true, but he didn’t want Casey to think poorly of him. Gabe didn’t need more sympathetic glances or worse, pure pity. He wanted his life to be normal.
Really, Chance? Normal?
Fine. Normal-ish.
It had been difficult enough for him to get on Ranger Man’s good side, but they were together now, and Gabe wanted things to stay that way.
Casey didn’t need to know there was someone out there peddling complete fabrications about Gabe’s past. If Juliet Carter returned with something more than printouts, then he’d tell Casey.
Until that time, he was the only one who needed to know about yesterday’s visitor, mostly because he could not figure out the why of it.
“Let me finish getting dressed, then we can blow this popsicle stand.”
Gabe felt Casey’s gaze on his forehead again as Casey shifted the Wagoneer into reverse and started backing out of the gravel driveway. “You’re sure that doesn’t hurt? We can call and tell her we’re coming another day.”
“I swear, it doesn’t hurt. And I just want to get this next Gabriel Karne side quest wrapped up,” Gabe replied.
He clipped his seat belt and settled back for the ride.
“If it makes you feel better, I did slap some more antibiotic ointment on it. It’s all good.
Let’s get this over with. I, for one, am not looking forward to this trip to Seattle.
” Gabe glanced into the back, expecting to see a familiar fuzzy face there. “Where’s my dog?”
“We might need the space for whatever we’re picking up, so Bowie’s with Elton for the day. I was going to ask Mickie to watch him, but”—Casey breathed out a sound of frustration and pressed on the gas pedal—“I thought Mickie might think I was using it as an excuse to check up on him.”
Gabe suppressed a chuckle when Casey flipped on his indicator before turning onto the main road. There was no one else in sight, not even Juliet Carter’s beat-up Ford Focus coming back with more lies.
“Try for the ferry first?” Casey asked. “If it’s full, we’ll drive around.”
“Sure, I like the ferry as much as the next person. Plus, there are jigsaw puzzles to entertain ourselves with.”
Either way, they would be crossing over several long bridges and various bodies of water between here and their destination, which would also give Gabe plenty of time to dive into the problem that was Mickie Lundin. He’d much rather talk about Casey’s brother than his own new crop of problems.
“Are you checking up on Mickie?” Gabe asked after a chunk of scenery had been passed by. “When we talked about this the other day, you said you were going to give him some space. Would you be? Using Bowie as a way to check up on him, that is?”
Casey was quiet for long enough that Gabe thought maybe he wasn’t going to answer. Which, fine, he could understand.
They passed by Norskland General Store, currently on limited hours since it was a weekday during the low season.
He frowned at the closed sign. Yes, Gabe had a fancy espresso machine of his own, but he still liked stopping by for a coffee and a chat, so Mercy and Barry’s absence bugged him.
He even liked talking to the teenagers; it was always good to keep up with what they were into.
“No. At least, I don’t think I am,” Casey finally said. They’d crossed onto the mainland and were headed toward Hood Canal Bridge. “I just worry.”
They’d had this conversation a few times since Mickie had been exonerated by Eli Rizzi’s confession to the murder of Maya Crane and finally released.
After years of worrying about his brother, Casey was having difficulty finding the Off switch.
Gabe understood, at least he thought he did, but he knew for sure that Casey needed to let his brother do his own thing. For both their sakes.
“You spent years doing everything for Mickie. It’s hard to give that up.” Gabe figured a lot of what Casey was currently feeling had to do with his almost primal need to protect those he considered his people. His family.
“Don’t I know it.”
“But Mickie needs to figure out his life on his own. You know that?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
Gabe had gone along with Casey to collect Mickie when the older Lundin had been released from prison.
He’d been mildly surprised when Casey had accepted his offer, but his acceptance had backed up Gabe and Elton’s theory that Casey didn’t know what to do with Mickie now that there were no bars or plexiglass between them.
A theory that was being confirmed over and over.
It still boggled Gabe’s mind that the Powers That Be had just sort of pushed Mickie Lundin out the gate, no offer of transportation or even decent bus service.
Just opened the doors, watched him walk out, and locked the gate up behind him.
Again, Casey had been the one there for his brother.
Their parents hadn’t even bothered to show up.
What the fuck was with that? Casey and Gabe had been the only people waiting in that desolate parking lot.
“Oh, hey.” Gabe pointed to the side of the road. “The coffee stand is open. Let’s stop.”
“I’ve literally never met anyone else who enjoys coffee as much as you do.”
“Except Elton, and you say that like it’s a character flaw,” Gabe pointed out. “This place has great pastries too. They get them from one of the bakeries in Westfort.”
“Only you, Gabriel Karne, Charming Fucker himself, would have chatted up a barista for intel on the baked goods,” Casey said. “How do you manage it?”
“Pastries are important. Life is meant to be enjoyed.”
Casey grunted and veered off the road to where Watershed Espresso was doing brisk business. The Shed’s owners had tapped in on the local need for caffeine—and baked goods—between Heartstone and the canal. Or Westfort, depending on which way a person was driving.
“I counted once, and there’re at least fifteen roadside espresso stands between here and the ferry.”
“Bet you missed one or two.”
“Shall we bet on it? Closest to the correct number buys coffee for a week?”
“Nope, I’m not taking that bet.”
“Coward,” Gabe said with a laugh.
They were lucky, just third in the line, more cars arriving while they waited. Eventually, the barista handed over two twenty-ounce Americanos, a glazed lavender-lemon tea cake for Gabe, and a toasted bagel for Casey.
“Are you ready to get going now?” Casey asked, pulling back onto the road.
Apparently, he’d clued in to Gabe’s delaying tactics.
“You have a blob of cream cheese on your nose,” Gabe said, popping a bit of the cake into his mouth.
“I do not.” But Casey swiped at his nose anyway.
“Made ya look.”
“Asshole.”
“Yes, but I’m your—”
“Don’t say it,” Casey ordered.
Smirking, Gabe took a bite of his lavender cake and groaned long and loud—several times. “God, these cakes are delicious. I should have gotten two of them.”
Gabe glanced at Casey, who was shaking his head at him. But a half smile curved his lips as he focused on the road. Yeah, he’d do a lot to make Casey happy, even pull out a Meg Ryan impression. A rather good one, if he had to say so himself.