Simmons Brothers Series: Boxed Set

by Danielle Gray

  But he held up her hand and she was forced to stop.

  “I cannot let you interview the councilman without any proof that you are the reporter,” he said.

  This time she was deeply offended. Who was this slip of a man? Sure he was handsome, but he was too skinny and irritating. Not to mention he was basically blocking her off from an interview for no good reason? She was so going to kill Joe for this!

  “Well then, why don’t you call my editor and see if he confirms for me?” Gabrielle said icily.

  “That’s a splendid idea,” The man said and took out his cell. Gaby waited as he dialed the number but after a few seconds, he put down the cell and said,

  “It appears that he isn’t answering so I am afraid I am going to have to ask you to leave and come back later.”

  “Ex-“she was about to say something mean but stopped herself. “Alright, I’ll leave my contact information here so you can reach me after you contact my editor. Thanks.”

  She turned away from him, burning with anger and wrote down her information on a card, handing it to Destine, before stalking out of the office.

  If it was one thing she hated, it was handsome men who infuriated her as much as they attracted her.

  ***

  A few hours later, Gaby didn’t regret her outburst, but she was feeling pretty mad at the mysterious man who had so eloquently insulted her. Even the milkshake that she had treated herself to wasn’t helping and its melted remains weren’t attracting her as much as it had before. She was almost tempted to ditch it, but she wasn’t brought up to waste food so she kept on sipping it, glad the flavor hadn’t been effected by the heat. Despite that, the texture continued to put her off.

  She finished it with a bit of effort and stared at her cell, placing another call to Joe. This was the fifth call she was giving him in the last two hours and like she had thought, he still wasn’t answering. What was going on? She had already wasted close to three hours in this diner, replaying what had happened.

  The people in the diner were friendly, kind of. She still sensed a few stares of curiosity which she should have expected. The first hour, she had read a book. Her way of being patient was to read books whenever she had to wait and she always carried a hard copy of a generic book around. But she hadn’t been able to concentrate and after only having gone through three pages, she got annoyed and decided that it wasn’t worth it. The second thing she did was scroll through her cell phone and try to distract herself with recent news and other recreational activities.

  Finally she had ordered her ill-fated milkshake which had promptly dissolved as she tried to further distract herself. She pushed the warm glass away from her and sighed heavily. It wasn’t enough that she had been insulted, now she was stuck without anything to do. She rested her head on the cool counter and lamented her fate.

  She remained like that for a few more minutes until she heard the sound of a plate dropping in front of her. She looked up to see the lady from the counter smiling down at her. A plate of steaming pasta had been set down in front of her.

  “I didn’t order this,” she said surprised.

  “It’s on the house,” the lady said. “You seemed like you were having a terrible day.”

  “You could say that,” Gaby sighed. “Really, you don’t have to-“

  “Don’t worry about it,” the lady said, waving off the remark. “I don’t mind doing things for my customers and I can tell you’re new in town.”

  “That’s easily identifiable,” Gaby said. “Thank you,” she searched for a name tag, but there wasn’t any. “What’s your name?”

  “Oh silly me,” the lady said. “I’m Loretta, the resident owner of this diner. Eat up, Darlin’.”

  “Thank you,” Gaby murmured, pulling the plate towards her.

  “Did you arrive today?” Loretta asked.

  Gaby shook her head and said, “I arrived last night, and had a terrible morning.”

  “Really?”

  Gaby hesitated to say anything, she didn’t want to compromise her interview, but she was teetering on the edge of her anger so she said,

  “I came here to interview someone, but I got railroaded by someone else,” she said bitterly.

  “Interview? Would you be the reporter coming to interview Councilman Hamilton?”

  “How do you-?”

  “It’s a small town,” Loretta laughed. “And a reporter coming here is somewhat big news.”

  “Hopefully what happened won’t spread,” Gaby said.

  “This person who said stopped you,” Loretta said. “He wouldn’t be Jamie Simmons would he?”

  “I don’t know his name,” Gaby frowned. “But I think the last name fits.”

  “Well it’s something I would expect Jamie to do, the boy takes everything too seriously.”

  “He didn’t look like a boy when I saw him,” Gaby muttered.

  That got Loretta to laugh and she smiled widely at Gaby before saying,

  “I am sure it’ll be fine. You seem like an honest girl to me, maybe it was a mistake.”

  “Yeah, a mistake,” Gaby said. She was about to launch into a tirade when her cell rang. Loretta nodded slightly and walked away as Gaby answered.

  “You called?” Joe’s voice came through.

  “Where have you been?” Gaby controlled her voice with effort. “Do you know how long I’ve been trying to reach you?”

  “Well sorry,” Joe said. “I just have to look after a whole newspaper press.”

  Gaby sighed. “It’s not that, just something happened.”

  “What happened?”

  Gaby explained what she had faced that morning and Joe cursed on the other side.

  “My stupid assistant must have forgotten to call them and tell them about the change. I can’t believe that happened, I’ll have to have a talk with her.”

  “That’s not the point,” Gaby said. “The point is, I am stuck without anything to do, because someone called Jamie Simmons wouldn’t let me do the interview. Apparently I was too close to being a fraud.”

  “Sensitive isn’t he?” Joe said. “Don’t worry, I’ll call him right now and tell him.”

  “That would be great,” Gaby said and after a pause added, “Thanks.”

  Joe hung up and Gaby ate her pasta, savoring every bite. She glanced at the clock and was sure that it would be near impossible for her to get the interview today so that was one day wasted. If only she had been more prepared, she could have started searching for some other piece of news, not to mention she wouldn’t have left her press credentials on her dresser, at home. But it didn’t matter; she was going to make the best of what was happening. She finished her dish and got up to finally leave. She figured instead of moping around, she should get back home and do something else productive, maybe work on her laptop and ask for Joe to send her something to edit or something. That had been her starting job at the newspaper; she had been in charge of editing articles, before she had gone onto becoming a full-fledged reporter.

  God she missed it. Suddenly as she walked towards the cottage, she couldn’t help but miss the rush that she had felt while she had worked in her office. It was something that she regretted, having been demoted for a couple of weeks according to Joe. Who knew if she would regain that same respect again?

  She walked towards the cottage, trying to keep herself distracted which worked all too well, because she walked straight into a wall of lean muscle. She staggered back and found herself face to face with the tetchy man from the council office whose name she now knew to be, Jamie Simmons.

  “Mr. Simmons,” she said stiffly.

  “How do you know my name?” Jamie Simmons asked with a raised eyebrow.

  She shrugged, getting a bit of pleasure from the annoyance that passed over his face. It was almost sinfully pleasurable to annoy him, it let her give him a taste of what he had done to her earlier that morning.

  “Miss Montague isn’t it?” he said.

  “Yes,” she s
aid, without elaborating.

  “Well, I got off the phone with your editor,” he said and she could see where this was going. No wonder he looked so sour. Joe worked fast.

  “Is that so?” Gaby said, pretending to be calm. “I expect he explained everything to you.”

  “Yes he did, it seems there was a matter of miscommunication from your part,” he said bluntly.

  She almost saw red when he said that, did this man not have the audacity to stand there and pretend as if he hadn’t treated her at the last, disrespectfully? She almost wanted to say something, but then decided against it. He wasn’t worth it and she should be patient.

  “That’s good then. When can I start the interview then?” she asked.

  “Come tomorrow, after lunch,” he said. “At 3.”

  “Pretty late,” she commented.

  “That’s when he’s free, he has important things to take over in the morning,” Jamie responded.

  “Three is fine, thanks,” she said and then moved around him to walk towards the cottage.

  “Where are you staying?” he asked suddenly.

  “I’m in the cottage owned by Ms. Hay,” she figured that he would know the address like everyone else seemed to know, and wasn’t disappointed when he nodded.

  “I’ll contact you if there are any changes,” he said.

  She gave a brief nod and then turned her back to him. She didn’t quite know how to feel about their conversation, but she didn’t really care. She had scored her interview and once this interview was done, she would be free to do the research that she needed to.

  This was only first step.

  Chapter Four

  Jamie watched the reporter walk away from him, the haughty air about her being a dead giveaway to how much he had failed in being professionally firm with her. It was getting on his nerves that this girl had gotten the best of him, even after he had tried his best to be as forthcoming as possible. The moment that had part passed through his mind however, he could clearly hear Drew laughing in his head and telling his that he was lying to himself.

  Sometimes it was almost like Drew was his voice of reason. Of course the two eldest siblings stuck together, but Drew was everything that Jamie was not, which in an odd way, made him perfect to be his voice of reason.

  This time he ignored the Drew in his head and headed home so that he maybe he could relax and eat without having to worry about the council. Even as he said that, his cell rang and he picked it up.

  “Simmons here,” he said.

  “Simmons, it’s me,” came the voice of Councilman Hamilton.

  “Yes, Councilman,” Jamie said tiredly.

  “Did you talk to the reporter?”

  “I did,”

  “What did she say?”

  “She’ll be there after lunch to speak to you,” Jamie said. “Don’t worry; I apologized about the mix up and everything.”

  “That’s good,” Councilman Hamilton said. “I wouldn’t want any bad press.”

  Bad press? Jamie thought, but didn’t dwell on it. Instead he said,

  “Is that all?”

  “Yes,” Councilman Hamilton replied. “I’ll talk to you later.”

  The line went dead and Jamie put his cell into his pocket to continue walking home. It took him thirty minutes of walking but it was nothing compared to walking around the ranch. As he walked up the stairs of the farmhouse, he was greeted with the smell of roast beef which indicated that Lana was at it again.

  Two-thirds of the sibling patch was already there, with Drew lounging on the sofa and Pete helping Lana with the cooking. He went to sit beside Drew and asked,

  “Where’s Mark?”

  “He went off to have dinner with Cat,” Drew said. “Love you know.”

  “I do know, I went through that,” Jamie said snarkily.

  “Well well, what bee got into your bonnet?” Drew asked with interest.

  “No bee that you should concern yourself with.”

  “It wouldn’t be a certain reporter, would it?” Drew asked slyly.

  Jamie groaned inwardly, having forgotten that Drew had lines everywhere in town and was listening on each end.

  “Fine, yes, a reporter, she came by to interview and I didn’t like the look in her eyes.”

  “The look in her eyes?” Drew asked.

  “Yes, she seemed to have an agenda,” Jamie said uncomfortably. “I don’t know, there was something weird I couldn’t put my finger on.”

  “You’re imagining things,” said Drew. “Is she pretty? I might get her off your hands if she is.”

  “I am not going to resort to that just yet,” Jamie said. Drew, though charming, yielded a dangerous power to make women fall for him and the thought of this one, Gabrielle, falling for him, was suddenly not very attractive.

  “Have it your way, you know where to find me,” Drew said with a grin, before turning to the two in the kitchen. “Hurry up! I’m hungry you know.”

  “You can always take over if you want,” Pete retorted. “Then we can see how long it takes for you to burn down the kitchen.”

  Drew scowled at him, but Jamie said nothing, his mind already on the pretty young blond that may cause more trouble for him the next day.

  Gaby’s dinner wasn’t extravagant.

  The ingredients she had were great, but her morale was low so she just made herself a grilled cheese sandwich and settled in front of the television, munching on it as she watched her shows. But a few minutes later, she felt her focus leaving her as her mind wandered. Her mind went back to Jamie Simmons; that man continued to be thorn in her side. There was something he was hiding, she was sure of it. He had to have some agenda in mind.

  But she had won in the end; she had been the one who had ended up with the interview, so she was going to make perfect use of it. She was going to make sure this reflected the whole of her ability.

  Gaby placed the empty plate on the table and then lay back on the sofa, staring at the ceiling. There was nothing to do for now, she could start working, but she didn’t want to think too much of work. Some sleep would be nice, she thought. It was a bit early, but she could get up early and go for a run.

  She liked the sound of that idea so she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, thinking of the interview.

  ***

  Gaby did nothing of what she had thought she would do. She woke up at eight and then destroyed two hours as she lazed around making breakfast for herself. She spent another hour in eating that breakfast and didn’t regret it one bit. She was thinking about the last time she had so much time to spend and it didn’t even come to her mind. She was always so busy that she never got the chance to enjoy herself and this was a welcomed change of pace. She liked it, but knew that she shouldn’t get too used to it.

  Finally as lunch time neared, she started the first processions of getting ready for it. At 1, she was ready to leave the house so that she could get some good exercise in, when the doorbell rang. She was surprised by it, but went readily to see who it was. It was Ms. Hay holding a plate of food for her.

  “Oh hello,” Gaby said taken aback.

  “Hello,” she said. “May I come in?”

  “Please do,” Gaby said.

  She moved aside for Ms. Hay to walk in and she did so, placing the food on the table and sitting down on one of the sofas.

  “I seem to have caught you on your way out,” she said.

  “It’s quite alright; I still have some time before I have to leave.”

  “That’s good then. I had some food, so I thought that I would give these dishes to you.”

  “Thank you for thinking of me,” Gaby said touched.

  “It’s no problem; I don’t usually have a lot a do.”

  “Have you lived here your whole life?” Gaby asked.

  “Oh yes, I have left very rarely. My sister used to be the traveler, but then she decided to settle down. And that was when I lost her, a dreadful thing, fate,” Ms. Hay said sadly.

 
Gaby murmured her condolences and Ms. Hay stood up.

  “I’ve taken up enough of your time, please enjoy the food.”

  She left and Gaby sat down, taking the plate of food and unwrapping it. She ate the food, marveling at how delicious it was. Clearly Ms. Hay was a talented cook. Enjoying the food thoroughly, she left the dish in the sink to be washed later and stared at the clock. It was near two thirty and she figured she could leave now and wait at the office. That didn’t sound too bad.

  She left the house and took her time walking towards the office, reciting the questions in her mind. She was not going to be unprepared at all.

  ***

  At the office, she checked her watch and saw that she had ten minutes left. She shot Destine a smile and then took a seat, with her notepad and recorder out. She was not going to mess up her note taking either and she waited patiently for Destine to let her inside.

  Three o clock struck and the front door opened to show Jamie Simmons walking in. He saw her, didn’t say a word, and then went inside which suited her just fine. She wasn’t going to be offended by him any longer.

  A second later, Destine indicated at her and pointed at the door so she got up and walked through it. It led to an office and before she could look around, she was taken by the person standing in front of her, offering her a hand.

  “Hello, Miss Montague,” the man said. He had luxurious white hair and a ready smile. She immediately placed him as the councilman and she shook his hand firmly.

  “Hello Councilman,” she said.

  “I trust your journey here wasn’t full of rifts,” he said pleasantly as he sat down.

  She didn’t want to talk about the troubles she had faced so she only nodded and smiled, noting that Jamie Simmons stood in the corner, his eyes focused on her. Now that she had sat down, she looked around the office, seeing the marks of the Councilman as well as the images of his family on the table.