The First Time I Saw You

by Lorhainne Eckhart

  Gabriel could feel the judgment coming from Blake as he stood before his desk, a beat-up old wood thing that was from another century, he thought. Blake was leaning back in his old squeaky chair, his hands now linked and folded over his belt, where his gun was holstered, his wedding ring flashing. He studied Gabriel as if he thought he was hiding something—or maybe that was just his imagination. Blake Gatlin was a cop first, and he had a way of talking as if he were questioning, studying.

  “Yes, the guy’s her ex, and your point here is what, exactly? I have no intention of kicking her to the curb,” he added through gritted teeth, taking in the way the sheriff’s lip quirked as if he found it funny, but he wasn’t laughing. It was a look that said Gabriel was pushing it.

  “What exactly do you know about this young lady? I mean, you sure you want this kind of headache? It may be more prudent to give her her money back and ask her to go. Otherwise, I hate to tell you, this guy could become a problem for you, the kind of thorn in your side that you don’t want. It could likely cost you in ways you can’t even begin to imagine.”

  There it was, the advice he didn’t want.

  “Look, Blake, seriously, I came to you because I thought I could actually get some help for Elizabeth. She’s a nice lady, and she has a sweet little girl, smart. She doesn’t deserve to have a dickhead like this dogging her heels. All I know is the last two places she’s lived, he’s found her and become a nuisance, and she’s had to move. He wants her back and isn’t taking no for an answer, and before you say she’s the type who will eventually cave and just go back to him after he leaves a path of destruction for everyone else, I’ll tell you she isn’t. She’s nice, just down on her luck and hasn’t gotten a break. Instead of complaining about it, though, she’s doing something about it. Doesn’t that say something about a woman, when she won’t stay with a loser like that but has the courage to stand up and say no and take her daughter to try to make a better life?”

  “Fine,” the sheriff said, leaning forward, slapping his hands on the desk, and giving him a look as if he were a pain in the ass. “I get it, I do. You know that. And it’s admirable, you here, wanting to stick by her, but just make sure you’re not doing it because of a pretty face. And…” He jabbed a finger his way. “You talk to your mom and dad, because I can’t see Andy being too happy about any of this.”

  Great, here we go. The last thing he wanted or needed was for his dad to step in, because then he’d have to tell him why he’d rented out the room and explain why he wasn’t about to ask his parents for a handout even though he knew his dad would bail him out of anything.

  “You know what? This is my situation to deal with, not my dad’s, and that’s why I’m here. It’s not my dad’s problem to take care of for me. I’m a grown man who handles my own life. And again, Elizabeth is great. She doesn’t deserve to be treated like this. She doesn’t deserve to be messed with by this guy, so if there’s any way you could maybe have a word with him, set him straight, tell him she isn’t interested in him and to walk away and stop bothering her, I would really appreciate it. Maybe give him that tough-love cop talk about how he’s pushed it and this is bordering on the kind of crazy stalkerish behavior that will land him in hot water and hard time. He needs to grow the fuck up and take the hints she’s very clearly laid out to leave her the fuck alone, and then do so.” Gabriel rested his hands on his hips, his cell phone buzzing again. He knew this time he couldn’t ignore it, so he pulled it out and saw his boss’s number.

  “Fine, I’ll have a word with Mac Murrin and set him straight, but you, sir, let your parents in on what’s happened, because I don’t want Andy Friessen in my face and on my doorstep, breathing down my neck, if, God forbid, this guy does show up at your house and takes a round out of you.” Blake actually stood up and rested both palms on his desk, shaking his head. “You know as well as I do that your dad wouldn’t stand for that, and since he’s a friend of mine, I do not want that on my conscience. I do not want your dad angry at me, because…” He held up his hand when Gabriel went to interrupt him. “Go talk to your dad, tell him about Elizabeth, this ex of hers who’s like a powder keg about to go off, and then I’ll have a word with him.”

  Gabriel just stood there, squeezing his now silent phone, which had likely gone to voicemail again. Then he crossed his arms, taking in the expression on the sheriff’s face as he walked around the desk and rested his hand on his shoulder.

  “I get it,” Blake said. “Really, I do, and I empathize with this woman and her situation, but we’re talking about you, and the fact is that I know you and not her, and your dad would be pretty angry with me if he learned this shit was happening to you, that someone was messing with you, and I knew and didn’t tell him. So when you leave here today, talk to your dad, and think about what I said, because if you insist on letting this young lady stay, then you need to be sure you at least got good locks on your doors and windows.”

  The expression on his face said it all, and Gabriel wanted to argue with him so he could…what? Understand Elizabeth and see her the way he did, as an amazing strong woman, even though her parents were eccentric and meddling, and she had a crazy ex, but her daughter was sweet, sharp, and smarter than most kids her age. Then there was Elizabeth herself, who seemed to have her head screwed on straight. If there was a black sheep in the oddball family he’d met, she was it.

  “I hope I’m getting through to you, Gabriel. Talk to your dad,” Blake repeated as he stepped away and opened his office door. “Then I’ll personally go and have a talk with Mister Murrin.”

  That was all he could ask. “Thank you,” he said as his phone started ringing again, and he stepped out of the sheriff’s office and walked to the front door before pressing the phone to his ear. “Hello?”

  “Where are you?” It was actually Dwayne, his boss’s son, and he sounded irritated.

  Gabriel stepped outside, seeing his truck, and jogged down the steps. “Just had to stop and take care of something, is all. Told your dad that when I left him a message. I’m on my way, will be there in less than five…”

  “Hey, just giving you a heads up, we had some trouble here last night. Seems the job site was broken into. Kids, we think, spray painted everything, punched holes everywhere, and the entire heating unit is trashed and has to be replaced. It’s all hands on deck. The client is pissed, and dad even more so, because whoever was here last may not have locked up.”

  Gabriel stopped on the sidewalk in front of his pickup, pulling his keys from his pocket. He yanked open the door and just stood there a minute, lifting the phone away from his ear and staring at it. “I wasn’t the last one there,” he said, because this was that feeling he got when someone was about to pin something on him. He hoped he was wrong. “I left before you,” he added.

  “Did you? Oh, I don’t remember that.”

  Oh, bullshit! There was no way in hell he was taking the fall. “Dwayne, cut the crap. You were finishing up the framing in the dining room when I walked out the door. You said you wanted it done because the electrician was coming in today. So that was you, and there’s no way you’re pinning it on me,” he snapped. “Tell your dad I’m on my way.”

  He hung up, pocketed his phone, and climbed in his truck, then took a minute behind the wheel as he ran his hands roughly over his face and let out a breath. “Ah, fuck. Now what?” he said as he shoved the key in the ignition. It seemed today was just one thing after another, and things weren’t going his way.

  Chapter 9

  She’d spent the day unpacking the few boxes in her bedroom, where the air mattress was lying in a heap in the corner. A tiny hole she couldn’t find made it absolutely useless to sleep on, but then, she and Shaunty had slept in Gabriel’s very comfortable king-sized bed the night before, in a spacious room with a spa-like bathroom the likes of which she’d never seen.

  She felt the need to set some boundaries. Where had he slept but on the sofa, a gentlemanly gesture that she couldn’t let happen
again, because after sharing that amazing, healthy, tasty dinner he’d cooked, she felt as if she was slipping into a place where she would and could become beholden to him, and she’d warned herself that nothing good ever came from owing anyone anything, especially a man as good looking and hot and charming as Gabriel Friessen.

  It was a slippery slope, and the line could easily become blurred between them, considering she was living in his house. She’d promised herself that never again would she ever make the mistake of falling in love with a pretty face.

  She was watching Shaunty, who was unpacking her dolls and putting them on a box she’d dressed up with an old blue paisley scarf, when there was a knock on the door to the house, followed by the doorbell ringing.

  “Lizzie!” It was her mother calling out, followed by another series of raps and the doorbell ringing over and over.

  “That’s your granny at the door…” Elizabeth said as her daughter ran out and beat her there. The door was white, with a plexiglass front and a shiny deadbolt. She flicked it open, but her mom was still ringing. “Mom, seriously, I was coming,” she said, taking in her mom’s heavy makeup, blue shadow on her lids, with thick mascara and liner. Today she was in a yellow dress, sleeveless, from the looks of it, with a white sweater over her shoulders and a black shiny handbag. Her eyes, as always, scanned Elizabeth from head to toe, from her black and white T-shirt sundress, to her wet hair pinned up in a bun, to her bare feet. She was without a stitch of makeup.

  “Oh, tish tosh,” Chloe said. “And look at you, Lizzie. You need to finish your hair and put on some makeup, and that dress isn’t flattering. Don’t you have something nicer?” She stepped inside and was still talking about something, but Elizabeth didn’t have a clue what.

  Chloe walked straight for the kitchen. Just then, Elizabeth spotted her sister, Ruby, walking up the steps in a tank that was cut so low it left little of her cleavage to the imagination. Her hair was black with white streaks, and the shadow and liner around her eyes was thick and black. She was holding a shopping bag that seemed to have something pretty big in it.

  “Hi, Ruby. What you got there?”

  Her sister reeked of cigarette smoke, and Elizabeth was surprised she didn’t have one lit up now and hanging out of her mouth. “New air mattress for you,” Ruby said. “Mom said yours was a dud, wouldn’t hold air last night, so I stopped at the store and picked one up for you and one for Shaunty, two singles that were on sale.” Ruby handed the bag to her, and Elizabeth watched as her sister took in the porch and the house and then whistled. “Wow, look at this! Looks like you scored big time here. This is nice. And mom said that the guy who owns it is a hottie.”

  She had to fight the urge to roll her shoulders. It was just a quirk of her family’s, the way they always had to stick their noses into every aspect of her life, and they had an odd way of viewing people, slotting them into categories as if that meant anything.

  “Thanks for the air mattresses,” she said. “Come on in.” She forced herself not to elaborate on Gabriel or this house, and she closed the door, hearing her mom and Ruby in the kitchen with Shaunty. She found she needed to take another breath and let it out.

  “So where’s all the furniture? A sofa and big screen, very important, but there’s nothing else in here.” Ruby gestured as she walked around. Her boots had a three-inch heel, and her jeans were skintight, likely a size 12 on her size 14 frame.

  “I told you already,” Chloe started, “that he put all he had into this house, into renovating. The furniture he’s planning on buying next.”

  Of course her mom knew everything, Elizabeth thought. She’d been poking and prodding and being extremely intrusive as she questioned Gabriel the day before.

  “Oh, right, and didn’t you tell me too that his dad owns a ranch west of town?”

  He did? She just took in her mom and the way she nodded. “Yup, big family he comes from. His parents live outside of town, and he has two brothers and two sisters. One of the pairs are twins. He still helps his dad out on the ranch with the cattle, a big venture for the two of them, and he splits his time between that and construction. The construction he got into to learn everything he needed to fix this house. He’s a thinker.” Her mom tapped her forehead with her fingers. “And he really is a useful feller. Has a good family, just the kind of man you should be setting your sights on.” Her mom nodded, and Elizabeth wondered what expression was on her face, because she didn’t know anything about Gabriel.

  “You know I don’t agree with Mom on much, but he sounds like a great catch,” Ruby added, and at this point Elizabeth knew there was nothing she could say to get it into their minds that this was platonic and there would never be a boyfriend−girlfriend or any kind of relationship between them. So she said nothing.

  “And how are things going with mister hottie?” Her mom was now picking up the kettle that was tucked beside the coffeemaker—and that was another thing. Gabriel had left half a pot of fresh coffee for her to drink that morning. There’d been a note that said, No sense wasting it. Drink it. She’d had to fight the urge to crumple the note but instead had folded it up and dumped it in the trash. Then, after her shower, she’d dug through the garbage and pulled it out before tucking it into the box of keepsakes and stuff in her room.

  “His name is Gabriel, Mom. Seriously, don’t call him that. Even though, yes, I admit, he is handsome, that doesn’t define who a person is.”

  Her mom gave her an odd look, and she took in Shaunty, who was sitting at the counter on a stool. There was a bag of chocolate chip cookies there. Of course her mom had brought them. That was just a normal everyday part of being an Abercrombie: Cookies and candy were always out.

  “Oh, come on, Lizzie, spill!” Ruby said. “I’m so pea-green jealous with envy, hearing all about Gabriel from Mom and how you scooped him up, and he owns this? Wow, this is a step up for you.” She was leaning on the kitchen island, reaching into the bag of cookies. She handed one to Shaunty and took two for herself, and Chloe was plugging in the kettle and opening cupboard doors and drawers looking for what, exactly? She didn’t have a clue.

  “Ruby, seriously, there’s nothing to tell, and I didn’t scoop anyone. I’m merely renting a room from a nice man in a house. That’s it. There’s nothing more to it, so don’t make it into something it isn’t. Mom, what are you doing?” She glanced from her sister to her mom before she pulled out a stool beside Shaunty and reached for the bag, grabbed one of the chocolate chip cookies, looked at it, and then took a bite.

  “Well, tea bags, of course. My my, I’ve just never seen anything this organized. This just is not normal for a man,” her mom commented.

  “I have no tea, Mom, and you’re not going through Gabriel’s things. Remember, I rent a room from him. We’re not living together. His stuff, my stuff. Boundaries. Tea wasn’t on the list of essentials for me.” No, tea was way down under…well, she’d have to get a better job, more hours, and better pay.

  “Well, why didn’t you tell me? I could have brought you over some of my Red Rose. But I’m sure Gabriel wouldn’t mind if you used his tea. It’s the right thing for a man to do.” Her mom gave her all of her attention. The way she looked at her, it was as if she was getting ready to lay in and tell her something really important. “You know, Elizabeth, you could do worse than Gabriel, and I’m telling you there’s interest there. With guys, you have to let them do things for you. They like to provide for a woman. Men don’t like all that independence and boundaries stuff you keep going on and on about. Yes, you made a doozy of a mistake with MM. Didn’t we point that out to you?” Her mom was pulling open all the cupboards again and then stopped and faced her, a puzzled expression on her face. “His cupboards are empty. He’s got nothing, no cereal, potato chips, cookies, crackers… What if he gets hungry? That’s just no way for anyone to live.”

  Her sister started laughing. Crumbs from the cookies were all over the neat and tidy island. Then her mom was in the fridge again, looking ar
ound at all the healthy greens, fresh vegetables, fruit. She closed the fridge as if she’d been defeated. “This is just so wrong, Lizzie. He doesn’t even have real food here. What kind of man is he?”

  For a second, she didn’t know what to say. She had to remind herself that her mom was serious, but then, she knew well her mom’s idea of cooking was to throw a couple TV dinners in the oven and voila! A complete balanced meal in one serving.

  “Gabriel likes to eat healthy.” She bit into her cookie, knowing he’d never consider eating one of these, and for a second she had to fight the urge to read the list of ingredients, because once she did, she knew she’d never let her daughter have another bite. Then she realized by the odd look on her mom’s face that she didn’t get it. “You know, fresh foods, vegetables, fish, lean meats? Healthy stuff, no additives, no preservatives, no stuff with zero nutrition.” She picked up the bag of cookies as if to make a point and set it back down.

  Her mom pulled back as if she’d just realized Gabriel was from another place in the universe and what Elizabeth had said made no sense. “He one of those tree huggers who’s always eating granola and such?” she said as the kettle boiled. She unplugged it, of course. She didn’t have a choice, since there were no tea bags.

  “No, he just takes his health seriously, and he’s a good cook, too.”

  “Yeah, he made me and Mom dinner last night, salmon and salad,” Shaunty added as she took a bite of cookie, letting the crumbs drop on the counter.

  “Do say!” Ruby said. “He made you dinner? That doesn’t sound like a man who wants boundaries. Just the opposite there, Lizzie.”