Chapter Twenty Nine #2
“You want me to teach them?” she asked, taken off guard.
“Why not? You ran your family ranch, Garrett raves about your cooking, and you need a job,” Rebecca said, pointing out her qualifications.
“You’re not doing this because you’re pitying me over Garrett?” she asked, suddenly feeling embarrassed.
“No,” Rebecca assured her. “You can work for your room and board because I know you won’t accept our charity.
There’s a new cabin recently built near the community housing.
Dr. Greene stays in the one next to you, and the other remains empty.
I do have to warn you, Garrett accepted a position working with us on this side of the ranch, which means he’ll be patrolling the area. ”
“I’ll be sure to stay out of sight on his rotations,” Riley said, wiping her eyes with a tissue Rebecca handed her from the table. “I don’t understand how things went from me seducing a man for the first time this afternoon to getting kicked out in my nightie.”
“I’m afraid Garrett wrestles with demons of his own. Until he decides to address them, he’ll never heal,” Rebecca said quietly.
“Listen to her. She attends a lot of therapy and can probably diagnose you on her own. In layman’s terms, Garrett’s a dick, and until he decides to change, you can’t do anything about it,” Rachel volunteered.
“When I followed Matthew here, I acted like an idiot. Delaney helped me see the light because she told me if I didn’t like myself, then I needed to do the changing.
It took a lot of self-reflection and work.
Your past doesn’t define you. If you don’t like the narrative, then change it. ”
“Yeah, it makes sense,” Riley agreed.
“Come on, I’ll take you to the new cabin. You can keep using my truck until we find you different transportation. Rebecca will follow us and bring me home.”
Riley rose, feeling somewhat better. At least she didn’t have to stay in the fleabag hotel. Rachel pulled into the driveway of a cute log cabin structure. Rebecca pulled in behind, and they entered the house together.
“All the cabins have the basics, and we leave a week’s worth of frozen meals in the freezer. Tomorrow, Matthew will go over your pay,” Rachel said, showing her about the area.
“I’m working for room and board,” she reminded her.
“Yes, but he may use you from time to time when things get slow, and we’ve placed everyone.
You get paid for his extra duties. You can help prepare the cabins for the next group during your downtime.
It’ll take the pressure off Delaney and me.
With her pregnancy, she tires easily,” Rachel explained.
“Thank you again. I’ll pick up Tara, and we’ll grab some groceries. I’ll get your truck back to you as soon as possible,” she said, taking the keys back.
“Don’t stress about it. Most of my job, I do from my office at home, and there’s always a vehicle here for me to use,” Rachel said, waving her off. “Get a good night’s sleep and tomorrow will seem brighter, I promise.”
She bade the women goodnight, took her pillowcase stuffed with her clothes to her room, and hung everything up.
It didn’t have the homey feel of Garrett’s place.
She felt like she belonged there. This place made everything feel temporary.
Then again, she planned on saving enough money for her and Tara to settle in Corpus Christi.
Garrett’s cabin resembled what might have been: the story of her life.
Garrett sat on the couch, feeling the emptiness of the cabin.
The cold beer he held in his hand appeared warmer than the room as he searched for Riley’s presence.
He made it halfway through the ranch’s land when he turned the truck around to apologize.
By the time he returned, she already packed and left, making his home feel empty.
Racking his brain, he went over the conversation in his head with Kenny.
The man knew too much about Riley for it to be a mere coincidence.
He knew about the necklace and claimed it came from a customer.
The rescue mission to save her turned out relatively easy considering all the factors, making the doubt in his mind double. Did she set him up?
Returning to the day he hit her with his truck, he recalled asking her if she knew him. She said no, then wished to hell she never heard his name. It backed up Kenny’s story. She came searching for him. Did she feel desperate enough to run in front of a moving vehicle?
Groaning, he rose, walked about the cabin, and entered Tara’s room.
The closet no longer held the few clothes the teen owned, and the bed had been made recently.
He sat on the edge, wondering if Riley had taken her from the party.
She didn’t seem keen on letting the teen go to begin with, and Garrett handed her the ammunition to take her away.
His head pounded as he felt the guilt override the doubt. On the small desk lay the laptop he purchased for Tara. Frowning, he picked it up and turned it on. Tapping on the email icon, he scanned the messages, hoping to find something to prove him wrong.
Nine hundred emails went back and forth between Kara and Tara, and the word ‘forever’ was mentioned in every other sentence, making him chuckle. His finger drifted over to the drafts folder, and he clicked it.
He leaned in, seeing messages from Tara to her mom.
Dear Mom,
I hear Riley crying every night when she thinks I’m asleep. She’s worried about the money. Dad didn’t pay the taxes.
Dear Mom,
Riley said we’re leaving in the morning. I don’t know how he found us, but he’s angry and drunk. She won’t go to bed. Riley sleeps in front of the door to keep me safe.
Each letter detailed the last two years, from sleeping under a bridge when they didn’t have money for a hotel to the joy of sleeping on a bed for the first time in three months.
“Shit,” he muttered, growing angrier with himself. He let his past dictate his future and lost the one person he truly cared about, no, make that two people. Tara’s heartbreaking letters tore him apart but revealed Riley’s resilience. He continued to the dates when he came into the picture.
Dear Mom,
Garrett makes Riley rest. You know how she gets mad and restless, but he’s good to her. Thank you for sending him.
Dear Mom,
Garrett and Riley kissed! They didn’t know I saw them. I hope they fall in love and get married. Maybe then we can have the family we lost after you died.
Dear Mom,
I wish you were here to see how happy Riley has gotten. She laughs again, and she even made your special ravioli, which you always said made a man love you.
Dear Mom,
I’m attending a party! I have a friend now. Maybe Riley will stop worrying.
His gut twisted like someone plunged a knife through it. The woman he loved left because he let Kenny get to him. Shutting off the computer, he went to her room, searching for a sign of where she might’ve gone. He needed to make amends.
Walking into Riley’s room, he glanced at the bed, noticing a piece of paper and a pile of cash under it.
His heart dropped into his stomach as he realized what she wrote.
Everything he purchased, food, clothing, Tara’s laptop, and her hat, which hung on the door, was written down with a total beside it.
At the bottom, she scribbled an IOU and the amount she still thought she owed him.
Running his hand through his hair, Garrett rose, heading for the door. He needed to find her.
Swinging it open, he halted when he saw Matthew and Julio getting out of their vehicles. Jameson pulled in after them.
They walked toward him solemnly while Jameson held a bottle in his hand and bounded up the steps.
“Hey, dipshit, I heard you fucked up. Don’t worry, I’ve screwed up so many times they named a whiskey after me. Where do you keep your glasses?” Jameson asked, walking inside.
“I can’t stay. Have you seen Riley? I’ve got to find her,” he said, suddenly concerned about them showing up unannounced.
“Relax,” Matthew said. “She’s with Rachel and Rebecca. Mac has to stay off his leg, and Delaney returned home. What the hell did you do?”
“What did Kenny say to you?” Julio asked.
Garrett shut the door and sat at the kitchen table.
“He knows all about Riley. Everything he said carried some truth to it. It all connected and explained why the bikers followed Tara here in the car. I didn’t ask her.
I demanded Riley leave without asking for any explanation.
When she told me she spent the last eight months working at Kenny’s hangout, I lost it.
He knew about the necklace. Riley told me her mother gave it to her.
Kenny claimed a customer gave it to her.
He said she used men to get what she wanted.
When I took her to the horse sale, she seemed interested in a hat.
Then she told me a story about her mom, and I insisted she get it.
Riley refused at first, like Kenny said, to get more out of men. I bought her the damn hat.”
Jameson poured them each a finger of whiskey. “Damn, when you screw up, you do it royally.”
“We all make mistakes,” Matthew said, trying to make him feel better.
“How is she?” he asked, quietly.
“How do you think? She trusted you, and you let her down,” Julio informed him. “I’m aware of your past history on paper. Let me ask you something. It says your grandfather treated you like an abusive asshole. Do we need to worry about you?”
“No. I’d never physically hurt Riley or any woman,” Garrett denied.
Julio peered at him for a long minute before confessing, “When they took Becca, I blamed myself. Every month that they held her captive, burned my soul. Rebecca and I attend counseling to deal with those feelings and strengthen our relationship. You might consider talking to someone yourself.”