Hidden Trails

by Bonnie R. Paulson

  He reached up and scratched the creek between his neck and shoulder where a stray piece of straw had landed. “I’m itchy as heck already. You wouldn’t believe it. I think I have straw in all kinds of places.” He snatched his shirt from the truck, brushing off extra strands and dust.

  Stefanie climbed up to the back of the truck. “Why is Nate even having you load this hay? We don’t need it in the truck. We need out the door.”

  Drake froze while buttoning his shirt. He looked at her, his mouth agape. “Are you serious? You don’t need it loaded? Why am I doing this?”

  “No. We’re supposed to be spreading it out back for the animals we’re boarding these last few weeks.” Stefanie reached up and brushed at some flecks clinging to his eyebrow. His eyes caught her gaze and held as she slowly lowered her hand, her cheeks hot.

  Drake broke his gaze first, glancing towards the stall where Nate and Kyle worked. “I think he’s just trying to get rid of me. Keep me out of his hair, or away from Emma.”

  “If that’s true, he’s being stupid. This will only make more work in the end.” Stefanie turned around, surveying what Drake had already done. “It looks like you did a pretty good job of making a mess.” She grinned to take the sting out of her words. “I’m just kidding. But at the risk of being naggy, let’s pick all this out and let’s get it outside where it’s supposed to go.”

  She considered Drake, her arms crossed over her chest. “I don’t know what’s going on between the two of you, but I think it’s going to get in the way of whatever it is you both want.”

  Drake growled, pushing past her to reclaim his shovel. “He’s stubborn. And prideful. And he destroyed my sister.” His words had dropped below a tone that would reach anyone but her.

  She turned to him in surprise, blinking in rapid succession as she processed what he’d said. “Wait, you think he destroyed Emma?”

  “What else do you call it?” Drake said with his jaw clenched. He jerked his sleeves up, rolling them into a tight band above each elbow. Tucking his shirt hem in, he fixed his appearance to that of a smartly dressed man instead of a cowpoke working in the back.

  She didn’t know how he did it, but he turned a flannel shirt and soft work jeans into GQ material.

  Considering his anger for a minute, Stefanie knit her eyebrows together. When she finally spoke, she did so slowly and with care. Drake obviously hurt more than he was sharing. “Nate didn’t give her cancer. He doesn’t want her to die. He’s never loved anybody like that. I’ve never loved anybody like that. Have you?”

  Drake lifted his gaze to hers. The shade of his eyes softened as if the storm had passed. “A love like that? I love someone so much I would be willing to set aside my pride to do anything to make sure the person I love is happy. I would do anything to make sure she’s happy.” Heavy import in his words hung on the dust-filled air between them.

  Stefanie shifted in her boots. She couldn’t break his gaze, something deep in his eyes held her frozen. As if another meaning in his words was meant but she couldn’t quite grasp exactly what he was saying. “You love someone? You have someone in your life that you would give up everything for?” She couldn’t hide her jealousy. Twofold, she had never been that in love, but she knew about it. Knew what it was like to want someone so bad that it could be love.

  Knowing the person she’d always wanted actually loved someone like Nate and Emma loved each other? That stung.

  Drake broke the connection. He fiddled with the handle of the shovel. “Yeah, well she’s not as aware of me as I am of her.”

  Stefanie’s chest was tight. “I doubt that, Drake.” She muttered. She redirected the conversation back to Emma and Nate before she jumped too deep into why she doubted that anyone who breathed wouldn’t be aware of him. “They’re happy. Nate and Emma. Even though she’s... They’re happy together.”

  “Then why?” Drake’s weakness showed. He slumped against the side of the truck facing away from the stalls where Nate and Kyle worked on, obliviously loud in their sealing work.

  Drake lifted a hand to his forehead, covering the vulnerability on his face. “Why her? Why does she have to die? Why can’t she fight? If Nate means so much to her, why wouldn’t she fight to stay with him?”

  “I don’t know.” Stefanie didn’t have any answers. The pain on Drake’s face was enough to harden the concrete in Nate’s bucket. She swallowed against the ache in her chest that bloomed with the emergence of his.

  Stefanie followed Drake as he moved to sit at the end of the truck. She sat beside him, their legs dangling from the tailgate.

  He sighed, folding his arms and slumping beside her. “I just don’t understand.”

  “Maybe it’s what you were saying. Maybe Emma loves Nate so much she’s willing to give up everything so he’ll be able to find happiness.” Stefanie reached over and took Drake’s hand.

  She wasn’t trying to build the tension between them or increase the way they felt. She reached out as one person to another person in pain.

  She had no other way to offer comfort. The only thing she could offer was to sit there with him, just be with him.

  She didn’t really believe what she said about Emma. Of course Emma loved Nate. But Emma wasn’t just destroying Nate. She would destroy them all.

  The entire crew of Montana Trails loved Emma so much.

  Stefanie loved her. She was her sister. The last thing she wanted to do was say goodbye. She couldn’t imagine how hard all that was for Drake.

  The loss coming up in their lives was something Stefanie hoped they would all be able to survive.

  Chapter 12

  Drake

  Spending time with Stefanie proved to be distracting and more than a little inspiring.

  They scooped and spread the straw around the base of the pens. Laughing and tossing straw at one another, Drake could’ve been a teenager again.

  Stefanie stumbled from the tailgate where she clung as she tried to climb down from the back of the truck. She giggled, falling into Drake’s side.

  Drake set the shovel against the truck, placing his hands on her hips. “Whoa, hang on there.” He flicked straw from her hair, gazing into her eyes. When was the last time he’d seen such blue eyes?

  Stefanie’s giggle faded. She couldn’t look away from him. Drake could almost read the struggle in her eyes. He watched her, as she nervously tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

  “I guess we’re done out here. Maybe we should go in and take a shower.” Stefanie bit the side of her bottom lip, plumping the other side.

  Drake’s voice dragged from his throat in a throaty-over-theatrical huskiness. “Is that an invitation?”

  Stefanie giggled again, cocking her head to the side. “No. Maybe next time.” And she winked. Turning away, she headed towards Nate. Over her shoulder she added, “You head in first, I need to finish up some stuff here with Nate. Don’t take all my hot water.” She wagged a finger toward the sky.

  Drake’s day was looking up.

  ~~~

  Rubbing a towel through his hair, Drake turned off the light in the extra bathroom and moved towards his borrowed room.

  Hannah had let him take her room and she had moved in with Stefanie. Some nights ago, when Drake went down to get a drink or something, he’d almost tripped on Hannah sprawled on the floor in a sleeping bag outside Nate and Emma’s room. Probably so she could be closer to Emma. He didn’t blame her. The moments within an hour grew shorter and fewer with that one.

  Nate’s voice carried down the hall from the office. “Look, Mr. James, I’m not trying to get rid of it right now. I understand there are limitations. But if someone wants to buy it and we don’t have to wait for auction, I would much rather get rid of it sooner rather than later. If you have any interested buyers can you let me know, please? Yes, I’d be happy to waive the auction admission fee. Thank you.”

  The phone clicked onto its base. The sound carrying down to Drake.

  He didn’t wait or
try to pretend he wasn’t there. He grabbed his shirt from the bathroom counter, still clean because he hadn’t been working too hard while wearing it, and pulled it on.

  Drake thundered down the hallway, bursting through the door into the office.

  Nate jerked his head up, glaring at Drake. “What you want?” His elbow rested on the desk as he had been staring at the landline based phone. He watched Drake enter the office with a feral gleam in his eye.

  Drake came to a halt. He crossed his arms over his chest, and met Nate’s glare with an equally hostile scowl. “What did you do? Did you sell it?”

  “Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m close. Riddick just offered ten percent more than the asking price.” He sighed, standing and moving to settle onto the top of the desk.

  He crossed his arms and considered Drake. “Ronan James said someone is trying to help Stefanie. If it’s you, I want you to back off. I have no problem selling to Riddick. I don’t mind waiting for the auction, but I want you to stop encouraging Stefanie. If she’s supposed to do this, she’ll do it. I’m trying to save this family, not sink it deeper. And trying to carry this place is doing us in.”

  “I can help. You don’t have to sell Bella Acres. Stefanie loves this place. This is Emma’s home. Come on, I bet even you love this place.” Finally, it occurred to Drake that it was Emma’s home, and he cared that Nate loved it. As much as he hated Nate, the man was still his brother-in-law. He was still the one Emma had chosen over everything and everyone else.

  Nate held up his hand. Focusing his gaze on the floor for a second, he closed his eyes and shook his head. He returned his gaze to Drake. “You don’t know anything about me or my family. You need to back off.”

  The sudden switch to open hostility rankled. “What?” Drake clenched his fists at his side. Was this going to be it? Was he finally going to be able to beat the hell out of Nate?

  “I’ll sell to Riddick with three days to close. He offered another ten percent to make it fast. I’ll do it. I’ll sell out from underneath everyone. Just push me.” The challenge in Nate’s eyes took on a maniacal gleam. He’d made everything personal to him and wasn’t worrying about anything else.

  “It’s Emma’s house, too.” How could he do this? “Stefanie is trying so hard.” Desperation welled within Drake. What could he do to protect Stefanie from that kind of betrayal? Where would Emma go?

  “Yeah? Emma is my wife. I can’t lose her. Selling this house with an extra twenty percent on top will get us so much medical help for her.” Open consideration softened Nate’s hardened expression.

  “So would taking my money.” Drake bit his tongue from saying anything else. He didn’t want to argue with Nate anymore. He couldn’t do it and fulfill his promise to Emma.

  He might not understand exactly where Nate was coming from, but he knew his brother-in-law was hurting.

  With nothing left to say, Nate brushed by Drake as he stormed out of the office.

  Drake stayed behind, more confused than ever.

  If he backed Stefanie, she could easily buy the place and pay him back on her terms. But it wouldn’t help anything.

  For some reason, Nate’s determination to get them out of there blinded him to logic.

  What was Drake going to do? He rounded the desk, glancing up to make sure Nate really was gone.

  Picking up the phone on the desktop, he scrolled through the caller ID and redialed the number with the name Riddick above it.

  The phone rang. But it didn’t ring long. “Rourke, I didn’t think I would hear from you so soon. James from the bank is a lot smoother than I thought.”

  Drake squeezed his eyes shut, his fingers tightening around the phone until it creaked. “Riddick. This is Drake Benson. I will pay you to back off Bella Acres. Ten grand, cash.”

  Riddick’s laugh rolled through the phone like glass-covered asphalt. “I want the Rourkes and the Bensons gone from Clearwater County. Are you willing to pay me fifty percent of the asking price? That’s the only way I’m going to back off this deal.” He waited in silence, his taunt tossed so lightly into the space between them.

  Emotionally, Drake wanted nothing more than to buy that place. He wanted to pay off Riddick to get him off their back. Give them a little bit more time. Minus the pressure of extra income. Minus the pressure of someone breathing down their neck. But Drake’s business side was smarter than he was. He wasn’t known as one of the top financial advisors of the West Coast for nothing.

  His hesitation was a little too long.

  Riddick’s laugh continued to peal through the phone line. “Yeah, I didn’t think so. Get your stuff packed, Benson. I have a feeling you’ll all be moving out soon.” The old man hung up the phone. The dial tone droned through the silence while Drake stood there with the phone in his hand.

  Drake would have to come at this from a different angle. The only way to get rid of Riddick was if the house was already sold. Drake couldn’t come out and buy it himself. Everyone was against that. He’d be shackled to Bella Acres with no one to live on it. Nate wouldn’t stay if Drake owned it, and Stefanie would feel betrayed.

  Somehow he had to figure out a way to back Stefanie.

  In the tight place that he was in, Drake didn’t have many options to save the girl he’d always cared for.

  He wouldn’t get help from Nate. How would he be able to convince Stefanie to let him help? Add that job to the list of figuring out what he was supposed to do with his parents and his dying sister.

  Chapter 13

  Stefanie

  Stefanie scraped the trowel across the railing, removing chipped paint. She’d been working on the deck for almost four hours.

  The paint remains littered the deck behind her. She hadn’t made it very far, about four feet down and eight feet across. She shifted to her butt, dragging her knees up to her chest.

  Leaning her head forward, she sighed. “It’s no use.” Glancing down the rest of the deck, she noticed all of the flaws stood out more than usual. Every flaw warred with the evident need for a wheelchair ramp.

  If she was going to keep that place, Emma would need a safer place to roll her wheelchair.

  Emma. Moving into a wheelchair. Who would’ve thought that her vivacious sister-in-law would need a wheelchair? Who would’ve thought that Emma would give up the fight?

  Emma’s parents hadn’t stayed long. She’d asked them to leave after a few lengthy fights about giving up and trying anything. Emma’s mother had left crying and her father had made promises to visit for holidays. But the light in his eyes had faded. He knew he wouldn’t be seeing them again under happy circumstances.

  As if appearing from nowhere, Drake leaned forward, making sure to cover Stefanie’s view. “Did that deck do something to anger you?” Shiny black leather boots poked from under matte black slacks, out of place amongst the curls and flakes on the porch.

  Stefanie leaned back. Glad to see him and grateful to be pulled from her despondent thoughts, she glanced up at him from where she sat. “No, I just have so much to fix. If I want to buy this place and keep it, I want to be able to get it appraised for the price I need it to. Nobody understands why, but I can’t keep the house like this. Emma will stick her wheelchair on the boards poking up everywhere, even if all she does is roll out here.”

  She leaned the trowel against the railing and shook out her hair, pulling it tighter up off her neck. “I guess it doesn’t matter right now. But if Emma wants to come out here in her wheelchair...”

  Holding out a hand to help her up, Drake nodded towards the driveway. “Don’t worry. I have a crew of men coming to fix the deck, and put in a wheelchair ramp along the side.”

  Stefanie set her jaw, unwilling to take more from him than absolutely necessary. A wheelchair ramp wasn’t something they had to have. “Drake. You don’t to keep spending money on us.” She shoved herself to her feet, ignoring his hand and ready to be angry with him but not sure why.

  The heat of Drake’s h
and on her arm soothed her. For some reason he had the ability to anchor her and calm her at the same time.

  His soothing voice further calmed her. “Stef, it’s not a big deal. It’s my job to help the economy and as a financial advisor that’s what I do. This gives the local guys something to do, and gives me a little bit of time to work. Do you mind if I borrow a quiet place where I can?”

  Stefanie glanced out at the empty driveway. If the men did come, she wouldn’t want to be in the way. And maybe she could sit with Drake. Ask him some questions. “What kind of a place are you looking for? What kind of work do you need to do?”

  “I have some emails and phone calls I need to make. Plus, some paperwork and contracts I’m behind on. Your dad’s office would be perfect, but I don’t want to intrude. I really just need some place I can set up temporary shop.” His devastatingly wide smile charmed her more than she wanted it to. Admitting that he charmed her was maybe the hardest thing she could’ve done that day. “Maybe you could sit with me?” The openness in his eyes promised something more than just casual companionship.

  Sitting with Drake and asking him questions might help keep her mind off of the call she was waiting for from Mr. Burns. She didn’t it to bother her too much, but she never had so much riding on something she needed so badly.

  Did she want Drake in her dad’s office? Could she see him at the desk? For some reason the idea that someone worked in the office other than herself was strangely exciting. The office would get used again.

  Plus, Stefanie wouldn’t balk at the chance to spend a little more time with Drake.

  Chapter 14

  Drake

  The opportunity to sit with Stefanie while he worked reeked of domestication. Something Drake desperately needed in his life.

  The work crew showed up in a roughed up truck whose side panels didn’t match and a large dent on one door.