Chapter 4
Hailey hated going back to the greenhouse.
It had been so much fun imagining herself living in the big house with Gleason.
And he’d have to be there too, or it wouldn’t be perfect like she had in her head.
She shouldn’t have gotten so attached to the house and the man.
It would end in disaster, and she knew it.
The man was simply too nice, and she was falling for him.
She wasn’t in love with him. That would be bad on so many levels, but she did like him a great deal.
He was kind and funny, two things that she didn’t know she wanted in a man.
Also, he was good-looking, too. The man was like candy on a stick.
And she found that she wanted to lick him all the way to the core.
He was tall to her five feet ten inches.
She thought him to be about six feet five at least. There didn’t seem to be an ounce of fat on him either.
Though he did eat well and a great deal, she thought he burned it off easily enough in whatever he did while he wasn’t working around his home.
She knew that he and Bodi did investments to keep their money going, but other than that, she knew very little about him.
And even with all that, she still liked him a great deal.
Since she had to work tonight, she didn’t get a chance to see him again.
It was probably just as well. Seeing him too much was bad on her heart.
And it had a tender place there for him.
She had heard a little bit more about his family life when he and Bodi were together.
And that was enough for her to feel sorry for all of them.
To think that their own father had wanted them to help cut their mother up with a chainsaw while the police were on their way.
She had bad dreams about it even though she wasn’t there.
Her heart broke too for the younger two boys.
They must still have nightmares about it, even though it had been a long time.
Work was busy, and she was glad. It made the time go by faster, and she was happy for that. It was hard work being on her feet all night long, but she was enjoying her job enough because it paid well. And the bosses weren’t that bad to work with either.
“We have a big order coming in. The Penningtons are going to order at eight o’clock.
They wanted to order later, but I told them it would take just a bit longer to make them since Ronald called off tonight.
I’m going to have to fire that guy. He’s forever calling off.
” She started on the order as soon as it was called in.
Just as she was finishing up the subs, there were six of them, she was boxing up the first of the pizzas that came out of the oven.
The last of the pizzas was coming out of the oven when Gleason came to pick them up.
He smiled and winked at her when she told him the total.
He was more careful about calling her a name.
Twice, he just called her Candy, but the other times, he just called her babe.
She wasn’t sure where that had come from, but she was all right with it.
At least he didn’t give away her real name when he was around.
Just as he was leaving, he passed her a note.
Just like in high school, she thought and put it in her pocket.
As soon as she got time, she pulled it out to read it.
The first line had her laughing out loud.
“You need a cell phone.” She didn’t want one because she had to have identification for it, and she only had her fake driver’s license and no form of address.
“How about dinner tomorrow night? I know you don’t work because I got your schedule from Rosie.
” Then he signed it, Love Gleason. He called the pizza shop about an hour later, and she answered the phone.
“Well?” She said that she’d love to have dinner with him. “Great. I have a cook now, and she doesn’t start until the day after tomorrow. That way, we can have dinner and have some fun before I start eating at home with you.”
“You’re going to make me fall in love with you, Gleason.
You’re not being fair. You know that I’m on the run.
” He said it was fun to know that, too. “I don’t know.
What if I end up in prison after falling in love with you?
I don’t know what I would have done to end up there, but with the idiot running around looking for me, you never know what’s going to happen. ”
Hanging up, she got back to work on closing up. Just as she was letting herself out the door, he pulled up in his truck. She looked around and saw no one around and got into it with him. She asked him what he was thinking about coming to the place she worked to pick her up.
“I’ll get you the best attorney there is.
Like you said, you’ve not done anything wrong that would have you arrested, so I don’t know what you’re stressing about.
” She didn’t either, but she didn’t trust McGee at all.
“I’ve been thinking about what you should do.
You should go to the Feds and find out if they’re looking for you.
It might be all on McGee, and that’s all.
He’s still looking, but you don’t know if the Feds are looking for you, too. ”
“What if they are?” He said that was the part he was working on. “It sounds like a good plan, but I’m afraid. What if they think that I’m the one who was running the place?”
“I think you’re stressing about this too much.
I don’t know that anyone would think that you’re in trouble when all you did was do the dishes.
I think that once you talk to them, you’ll feel better all the way around.
I know that I would.” She trusted what he was saying but didn’t trust the system.
McGee was out to get her, and she didn’t want him to catch her unawares.
“Let me talk to a friend of mine and see what he has to say. He might well agree with you in telling you to lay low like you are, but we won’t know until we ask. ”
“Why do you care what happens to me?” She watched as he seemed to struggle with an answer. “I’m nothing to you. Only someone who is living in one of your buildings, while I hide from the police. That can’t be too much of a stressor on you.”
“But it is. Because I like you.” She snorted, and he laughed. “I like a lot about you, and the one thing I can count on is that you’re going to tell me the truth. And you know when I’m bullshitting you.”
“You do that a lot.” She thought about what he was saying and told him that she’d wait to see what his friend had to say about things. “Just don’t tell them where I’m living. I don’t want you to get into trouble for hiding me when you know that the police are looking for me.”
“I won’t tell him any more than I have to.
” Hailey trusted him in that. He might be in trouble, too, if someone were to find out what he was doing.
Because not only did he know where she was, but he was helping her to hide.
And that had to be a big no-no. “He’s a father figure to me.
I think I might have mentioned him before to you.
Or maybe not. David Winchester is his name.
We’ve not really talked all that much. But I’ll call him now and talk to him. Will you wait here?”
“Where else do I have to go?” He laughed and pulled out his cell phone.
As he was talking to the other man, she made herself some soup.
If she was honest with herself, and she usually was, she was getting tired of soup and crackers.
What she wouldn’t give for a nice thick juicy hamburger with some fries. Anything that wasn’t soup and crackers.
She didn’t listen in on his conversation with the other person, but she did hear bits and pieces.
When he turned to her and stared, she knew that she was going to be in trouble.
Instead, the other man, David Winchester, decided that he wanted to talk to her in person.
Just to see her side of the story that was going around town.
“All right. I can meet him somewhere.” He asked if now was a good time. “I suppose. I don’t know that I trust him, but I do you, so that’s the only reason that I’m going.”
After telling the man on the phone that she was willing to meet with him, they both got into Gleason’s truck and drove to his house.
He figured that there would be more privacy there than in a restaurant, not to mention they could have dinner while they were at it.
She was leery about going to his house, but the sooner that she got this finished, the faster that she could go back to her life.
She missed being able to go out and about without the fear of McGee finding her and having her arrested.
Hailey had a feeling that once she was in jail, she’d never be able to get out.
And the entire operation at the Sheep would fall into her lap, and she’d be put in prison for the rest of her life.
They drove to the house in a matter of minutes.
She had watched the house go up and was surprised at how quickly it had been finished.
She supposed that if you had all the money in the world, you could get things done fast. As soon as they were in the house, she was given a great bear hug from the man and his wife.
She was so shocked that she hugged them back.
“I’ve made a couple of calls on your behalf.
You are being looked for by the Feds.” She nearly fainted, and if not for Gleason standing close to her when she felt herself going down, she might well have hit the floor.
As it was, he picked her up and put her on the couch so that she could rest. “I didn’t mean to upset you, young lady.
I’m too blunt for my own good at times.”