Back To You (In Tune Book 1)

by Jessica Ruddick

  “Earth to Gabe,” Tyler said.

  I looked up to see a server holding a pizza. “Sorry.” I moved my elbows off the table to make room for the pie.

  Tyler helped himself to a slice. “Is everything okay? You were lost there for a minute.”

  I sighed. “Just scheming. I’ve got to get out of here, man.” I cringed. “No offense.”

  He shrugged. “Small-town life isn’t for everyone. You were never going to be a lifer here.”

  “That’s the truth. I close on that property on Wednesday,” I said. “So even if I’m not a lifer, I’m still laying down roots.”

  “For that metaphor to work, doesn’t the plant have to stay with the roots?”

  “Jackass,” I muttered. But he was right. I wasn’t laying down roots so much as… I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. Building a vacation house in a very unlikely destination, I guessed. Because the truth was that I didn’t want Leah to spend much time in it, either. I wanted her with me.

  “Taint licker.”

  I shot him an appreciative look. “Nice one. You’ve been upping your game.”

  “I can’t take credit. The locker room at the precinct is a colorful place. You should visit sometime. It might give you ideas.”

  Remembering his vocal rendition of “Rumpleforeskin,” I shook my head. “Hard pass.”

  Chapter 22

  Gabe

  Leah pulled the pie out of the oven with a frown. “It doesn’t look like Sharon’s pies.”

  I came behind her to look over her shoulder. “If you wanted it to look like Sharon’s pies, then maybe you should have gotten one of Sharon’s pies.”

  “You can’t bring a store-bought pie to Thanksgiving,” she protested.

  “It wouldn’t be store-bought. It would be from a restaurant.”

  She pursed her lips. “You know what I mean. It needs to be homemade.”

  I planted a big, fat kiss on her cheek. “It looks great.”

  Tyler’s parents had been divorced since he was in elementary school, which meant he alternated holidays between them, even as an adult. It was his mother’s year for Thanksgiving, and she was gracious enough to include me, Aunt Rose, Leah, and Lacey. I got the sense that Leah would have liked to host the holiday, but she obviously didn’t have room. I hoped things would be different next year.

  Lacey swept through the front door, stripped off her coat, and tossed it on the couch. “I’m here! I’m here! Sorry I’m late.” Lacey had been much more involved in high school than Leah, Tyler, and I had ever been, and it seemed like she was trying to meet up with her entire class over her Thanksgiving break. She’d barely been around since she got home.

  Leah looked over her shoulder as she slid another pie into the oven. “You missed helping with the baking.”

  Lacey sank into a kitchen chair. “I wouldn’t say I missed it.”

  I grinned. I hadn’t spent much time with Lacey back in the day, but the kid was growing on me. Kid… hell. She was eighteen. But I saw her through Leah’s eyes, which meant she’d always be the kid sister. I resisted the urge to ruffle her hair like annoying older siblings always did in sitcoms.

  Sighing, Leah rolled her eyes. “Move your bag, Lacey. The pie needs to cool away from the heat of the oven.”

  Lacey picked up her massive purse from the kitchen table and slung it around the back of the chair so Leah could place the pie on the table. “Mmm,” Lacey said. “That smells good.”

  Leah beamed. “Thanks. Let’s hope it tastes good. I tried to talk Sharon into sharing her recipe, but you can imagine how well that went over. By the way, I’m going to the laundromat tomorrow. Let me know if you have stuff that needs to be washed.”

  “Ugh. Stupid laundromat.” Lacey wrinkled her nose. “I can’t wait until I never have to go to one of those again.”

  Lacey had just given me the perfect opening. “Actually, that could happen sooner than you think. Hang on.” I saw the sisters exchange puzzled looks as I ran out the door to retrieve the brochures from my car. When I got back, I laid them on the table next to the cooling pie.

  “What’s this?” Leah asked.

  “You know how I closed on that property earlier this week? These are the builders the realtor recommended for a house.” In my boredom, I’d flipped through them and dogeared a few pages, but I didn’t have a strong preference. I’d spent so much time sleeping in hotel rooms that I was pretty adaptable. The girls could decide.

  Lacey pulled one closer. “Ooh… this is nice. I like the brick.” She flipped the page. “This one is nice too. And this one. They’re all nice!”

  I guessed since she’d lived in a tiny apartment and dorm room, it didn’t take much to impress her.

  “I prefer the side-loading garages so that the garage door isn’t the first thing someone sees when they drive up to the house,” I said.

  Lacey nodded. “Good point. Ooh… this one looks like a cottage from a fairy tale. Only the mansion version of a cottage.”

  While Lacey oohed and aahed over the brochure, I watched Leah. Her face was set to a carefully neutral expression. That was not the reaction I’d been hoping for.

  Lacey looked up at her sister. “What do you think of this one?” She had the brochure open to a Craftsman-style house that had a porch running the length of it. I’d paused at that one, but it only had a two-car garage.

  “That’s massive,” Leah finally said.

  I blinked in surprise. It was actually one of the smaller homes featured in the catalog. Still, irritation flared within me. Lacey was more excited about the houses than Leah was. I understood that she needed time to adjust to the changes that were coming in her life, but it wasn’t like the changes were bad—they were overwhelmingly good. I didn’t think it was too much to ask for Leah to be happy about it—or at least to pretend for my sake.

  I held in a sigh. That wasn’t fair either. I didn’t want her to be fake, but damn. It wasn’t like the idea of building a house was a surprise. All I wanted was to improve her life, and I didn’t understand why she was making it difficult.

  “Go big or go home, right, Gabe?” Lacey put her fist up, and I bumped mine to it. I definitely liked this kid.

  “I was just thinking it’s a lot of house, considering you’re hardly ever going to be there,” Leah said.

  I frowned. “It’s not just for me. It’s for all of us.” Really, though, I figured Lacey would spend the most time there, but I wanted there to be enough room for each of us to have our own space. Hell, maybe I could put a studio in. That would make my work life more flexible.

  “Amen to that.” Lacey grinned. “I want a walk-in closet big enough to fit a king-sized bed in it.”

  “You got it.”

  She laughed then realized I was being serious. “Are you for real?”

  I nodded. “I’m really building a house, and I really want you and Leah to have input, because I’m really going to give you your own keys.”

  Her jaw dropped. “So I can have my own bathroom?”

  “Well, yeah. That’s the best part about building. You can get exactly what you want.”

  Lacey shook her head in disbelief. “I think I need to start a list. When do you need it by?”

  I laughed, happy to see the pure joy on her face. I wished I could say the same for her sister. “Not for a while yet. We need to decide on the basic model. I’m partial to ones like these.” I flipped the brochure to a large brick house with brown bricks instead of the traditional red.

  “That’s not a house. That’s a mansion!” Lacey exclaimed.

  “How much upkeep would a house that size take?” Leah mused. “It takes me at least five or six hours to clean a two-thousand-square-foot house.”

  Lacey scoffed. “Seriously?” Only this time, she said it with disdain. “This man is trying to build you the house of your dreams, and all you can think about is cleaning it?”

  Well said, Lacey. At least one of them understood.

  Leah blush
ed. “It’s a valid concern.”

  “Gabe can hire us a butler or something, right? Come on, Leah,” Lacey said. “Play along.”

  Leah looked from me to her sister before finally smiling. I could tell it was forced. “I want a laundry room. A full-sized room and not a washer and dryer behind folding doors in the hallway. With a utility sink.”

  “Done.” I wrapped my arms around her. “Now, was that so hard? Anything you want, just name it.”

  She exhaled. “Careful what you wish for.”

  I didn’t know if her comment was directed at me or herself.

  The Thanksgiving celebration was the best I’d had in a long time. The last proper Turkey Day I’d had was when I still lived in Cedar Creek—I’d been on tour every other November.

  Lacey had gone to visit some friends, so it was just Leah and me in my car for the ride home. Since I’d had more to drink, she was driving and was going seven miles under the speed limit. On a more populated road, people would have been honking and giving her the finger left and right.

  “You can go faster, you know. This is a muscle car.”

  She flashed me a nervous look. “I think this is the nicest car I’ve ever been in. I’m petrified I’m going to crash it.”

  I chuckled. I had grown fond of the Challenger in the short time I’d had it, but it was a Dodge, not a Bentley or even a Mercedes.

  My phone chimed with a text from Liam. He was planning a last-minute trip to Vegas and wanted me to come. I frowned at it.

  Leah noticed. “Is everything okay?”

  “Yeah, it’s fine. It’s just Liam. He wants me to come to Vegas.” If I hadn’t had so much to drink, I would have kept that information to myself.

  “Oh,” Leah said as if unsure how to take that news.

  “It’s okay,” I assured her. “I’m not going to go.”

  “Why not?”

  “Well, the text said to bring my girl. And I already know you’ve got work and class.” I couldn’t keep the irritation from my voice. I admired her work ethic, but damn, she didn’t need to work anymore. I had more than enough money for both of us.

  Frowning, she glanced at me. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t go.”

  “Yeah…”

  “I think you should go,” she said more firmly. “I know you’re antsy. This would help.”

  That was true, but it was a Band-Aid and not a cure. “You know what else might help? Why don’t we take a few days and fly out to Malibu? You can see the house before you move there.”

  Leah’s knuckles tightened on the steering wheel. “What about building the house here?”

  I was still put out about her lackluster response earlier, but maybe I had been expecting too much. I knew Leah loved me and wanted to be with me, but I was asking her to turn her whole world upside down. She’d worked so hard to provide stability for Lacey that it was unrealistic to think she wouldn’t have some reservations.

  I dismissed her concern with a wave of my hand. “We don’t need to be here for that to get started.”

  “Lacey will be home for winter break, though.”

  “She can come too. I want her to feel welcome in our home.”

  “Which one?”

  The question took me aback. “Both of them. Of course.” I paused. “What’s going on? Lacey was more excited about building the house than you were. Don’t you want this?”

  She exhaled. “I guess I’m having trouble thinking of the house in Malibu and the one you’re building as mine. They’re your homes, Gabe.”

  “All the more reason for you to come see the Malibu house now. If you don’t like something, we can change it before you move in. Then it’ll feel more like yours.”

  “That makes sense.”

  I could tell she wasn’t convinced though. I didn’t know what else I could do to make her feel better. “I know you’re nervous about leaving Cedar Creek, but you know I can’t live here, right? At the very least, I need to be in a city with a major airport. The LA area is best because so much of the entertainment industry is there. It’s not a big deal to do a guest spot on a talk show or whatever.”

  “I know.” She seemed resigned.

  I didn’t like it. I wanted her to be excited about starting a life with me. “Then what’s wrong? Talk to me.”

  For a moment, she seemed like she was going to deny that anything was bothering her. “I’m not contributing,” she said finally. “You’re planning to build this mansion here, and you already have a fancy house in California. I won’t have a job in California, and even if I did—”

  “Leah,” I interrupted, “I don’t care about money. I have plenty of it. If you want to work, fine, but don’t do it because of money.” She was independent, and I loved that about her, but damn. Would it kill her to accept my help? She would move to California to be with me, and I would take care of the financial side of things. It seemed like a fair trade.

  She sighed. “I’m not used to anyone carrying my weight.”

  “Baby, I will gladly carry your weight and everything else. But I don’t think of it that way.” I paused. “Pull over.”

  “What?”

  “Pull over.”

  She did as I asked. Once the car was in Park, I twisted to face her and cupped her face in my hands, staring intently into her eyes. “You’re contributing you, and that’s more than enough. It’s all I want from you. I want to be with you. I want to share my life with you. Do you want that too?”

  She inhaled sharply, and I could feel her hands shake where they rested on my thighs. “More than anything.”

  “Then the rest is just details. Trust me. We’ll figure it out.” I pressed my mouth to hers, hoping that some of my confidence in us would transfer with the kiss.

  Her lips parted, and she fisted her hands around the fabric of my shirt, pulling me closer. I snaked my hand around the back of her neck, tilting her head back.

  Then a car laid on its horn as it streamed past. The moment was ruined.

  Catching her breath, she looked at me, desire in her eyes.

  “Want to climb into the back seat?” I asked with a wry grin.

  Laughing, she righted herself and guided the car back onto the road.

  Chapter 23

  Leah

  I’d known as soon as I climbed the steps leading to the front of the Hannigans’ house that something wasn’t right with my car. As I got closer, I saw that my tires were flat. No, not just flat—slashed. There were long cuts in each of them.

  What… the… hell? Well, shit. Now, how am I going to get to work? I kicked my tire. Damn it, damn it, damn it.

  I supposed the first step was calling the police to file a report. I retrieved my phone from my purse, but my hand stopped before calling Tyler, like I did every time I needed the police. Which, come to think of it, is way too often.

  Gabe had invited him to Vegas, and they were flying out this morning. Even if I called the precinct instead, Tyler would find out. If he and Gabe heard about it before their flight, they’d call off their trip.

  Gabe needed that trip. Being stuck in Cedar Creek was eating away at him. If not for me, he would have flown the coop already, since Aunt Rose no longer needed him. While he was away, I was supposed to figure out when I could take a few days to go to California. It frustrated Gabe that I hadn’t quit my jobs already. He wasn’t content to sit around and do nothing, yet he couldn’t understand why I wasn’t eager to do the same. My cleaning business and job at the diner might not have been flashy or huge earners, but they were mine.

  I didn’t know what I would do when we moved to California. Our situations would be reversed, and Gabe would be the busy one. Where will that leave me? Am I supposed to don an apron and play the content little housewife… er… house girlfriend? I didn’t mind domestic things, but I wouldn’t be content if that was all I had. Perhaps Gabe had the right idea by suggesting I visit before the final move. Then I would know what I was dealing with so I could start to figure things out.<
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  Pursing my lips, I considered my current situation. If I put off dealing with the car until later, I wouldn’t have to miss work. I would just have to figure out transportation. Uber was nonexistent here, but Tyler wouldn’t need his truck for the next few days since Gabe was driving them to the airport. I texted Tyler.

  ME: Ugh. Two flat tires. I don’t have time to deal with them now. Can I borrow your truck?

  TYLER: Two?!?!?

  ME: I don’t know what happened. Maybe nails?

  I cringed as I hit Send. Technically, everything I’d said was correct. I did have two flat tires, as well as two more. And I didn’t know for sure what had been used to slash my tires. I assumed a knife, but perhaps nails had been involved.

  That was stretching it. I was such a bad friend to lie like this. But it was for his and Gabe’s own good. There was no reason for them to cancel their trip over me.

  TYLER: Do you want me to come and put on the spare for you?

  ME: I don’t have two spares. I’ll call a tow truck to come get it.

  TYLER: Makes sense. Do you want me to drop off my truck? Then you can drive me to Aunt Rose’s house to meet Gabe.

  I hesitated. That would have been ideal, but that would risk him seeing the tires and telling Gabe. As a cop, Tyler was bound to recognize slashed tires.

  ME: I’m not quite ready yet. When is your flight?

  TYLER: Gabe is picking me up in half an hour.

  Perfect. If I started walking in about ten minutes, then Tyler and Gabe would be on their way to the airport by the time I got to Tyler’s house. I would only be a little late to work.

  ME: I don’t want to make you late. Can you leave me the key?

  TYLER: I’ll leave it on the kitchen counter. You still have my house key, right?

  ME: Yup. Thanks a million, Tyler! Have fun!