by Kaitlyn Rice
“Sure.”
They trudged through the darkness, both quiet. Josie felt she should hold her breath as she waited for the moment one of them finally did or said something normal.
Would they joke about the moment between them on the patio, or ignore it? What if she said something about it and discovered that he really didn’t feel anything? That he’d been thinking about Miss Roberts or clearing some stray mustache hair.
Could Josie handle another rejection so soon after that disastrous meeting with her father?
Gabe broke the silence just before they reached the barn. “What time should we leave on Saturday?”
Thank heaven, a run-of-the-mill question, and undoubtedly the best way to handle the situation. Josie expelled a loud breath.
Then she processed what he’d said.
“Wait a minute, this Saturday?”
“Sure.”
Josie would not be bullied into inviting Gabe along. She’d never even decided whether she was going.
And now, Gabe was becoming more and more of a distraction. She was certain she needed to go alone.
When she went.
If she went.
“I’m not ready to go back this soon,” she said as they reentered the barn doors to join a more relaxed and louder crowd. The stereo had been turned up to compete with the laughing and talking.
“You sure?” Gabe half shouted over the noise.
Usually, Josie loved being a single adult. She could attend a Halloween party on a work night, and not worry about babysitters or bedtimes.
Tonight she yearned for a curfew so she could leave now and avoid Gabe’s query. “Won’t you have a date with Miss Roberts this weekend?”
“Not if I don’t make one,” he said. “Besides, the visit with your dad would be in the daytime, wouldn’t it? I could be home in plenty of time for a late date.”
Ouch. She’d rather not hear about Gabe’s plans with Miss Roberts. She’d simply been trying to change the subject.
Josie faced Gabe, making sure she had his full attention before shaking her head. “Don’t push, Gabriel Thomas.”
He extended her an elbow. “It’s your call, Josie Blume.”
“Good.” She hooked a hand around his arm, and as they had numerous times in the past, they made their way through the crowd. They greeted colleagues, friends and rivals. Josie schmoozed until she was hoarse. When she found herself at the edge of the dance floor with Gabe, it felt natural to step into the crush of strangely dressed couples with him, so she did.
They’d danced together before. When neither of them was dating, they went out together all the time. She knew which songs he preferred, and she considered him an accomplished two-step partner.
And yet, tonight felt different.
Gabe’s hands against her back were as proper as they’d ever been, but she admitted she’d been aching for them to touch her. She coveted the warmth of Gabe’s embrace and the comfort of his voice.
What had changed?
She had. Josie herself. She felt unsteady, vulnerable…fragile. She needed a set of sturdy shoulders to lean on right now, and Gabe’s were as broad as anyone’s.
She needed his friendship. His strength.
That was all this was.
Wasn’t it?
Chapter Five
With a quilt wrapped around her shoulders, Josie stepped onto the welcome mat on her front porch and surveyed the lawn, looking for the Gazette. One of the benefits of living in her mother’s old house was that her closest neighbors were a quarter mile away. She could prance around out here buck naked, and no one would see.
Dang it. The paper was under the sweet gum tree, way out near the edge of the yard. That new carrier wasn’t even getting it close. Next time she saw her, Josie would invite the girl over and teach her how to throw accurately from car window to porch.
Josie stepped off the porch and felt an icy crunch beneath her bare feet. Hard to believe it was this late in the year already. This afternoon, she’d drain the garden hoses and store them in the shed. Maybe she’d also gather menu ideas for Thanksgiving dinner. She’d phone Isabel and Callie to find out what they meant to contribute, then tell them about her meeting with their father.
But only if she found the courage to tell Rick who she was, in a little while. She intended to drink her coffee while she scanned the headlines, and then get moving.
As Josie traipsed across the lawn, crisp grass blades broke beneath her feet and stung so much she finished the trip on her toes. She should try to locate her scuffs. Maybe they were under the bed.
Just after she’d bent down to retrieve the paper, she heard a car approach. Standing quickly, she gathered the blanket tighter at her chest and watched Gabe pull into the drive behind her truck. Hadn’t she told him she was busy this morning?
She was sure she had. She wanted to show up on her father’s doorstep again, sit down in that awful floral chair and start fresh. She’d envisioned the whole scenario. She’d tell her father that there had been a third child—her—and ask if he’d known that her mother was pregnant again.
This visit was no whim. Josie had even called Brenda to set up a time. However, she hadn’t planned to tell Gabe about it until after her return. Even if he sat there with his trap shut, he’d likely look at her in some certain way and make her lose track of her intentions.
Since the night of the party, Gabe had been big and ever-present in her thoughts. He’d surely be too big and present in the small front room of her father’s Woodbine house.
Josie aimed a scowl toward Gabe’s car window, then bounded up the front steps and went inside to wait.
He followed her in within seconds. “What were you doing outside in this weather, dressed like that?” He stood in her doorway, pointing at her bare legs.
She glanced down at the red pinwheel quilt Isabel had given her for Christmas last year. The blanket material was thick, and it covered her from chest to knees. Gabe couldn’t know what she had on, or didn’t, underneath. “I’m covered,” she said. “What are you doing here this early?”
“Checking on you. Heading out of town today?”
She lifted her chin. “Why would you think that?”
“Mom told me you’d been asked to help with the Habitat house over in Douglass this morning, and you claimed you were busy.”
“I am.”
“Doing what? You told me you were too busy to catch the game. I assumed you were helping with the Habitat house.”
“I don’t tell you everything I do.”
He eyed the top of the quilt material, then lifted his gaze to hers. “If you’re headed to Woodbine, you know I’m willing to go.”
“I know.” Josie watched Gabe’s eyes drift to her nearly bare shoulder again.
And stick.
She wore panties and a tank top to bed. In the summertime, she slept nude. She couldn’t remember where she’d left her robe, and Gabe had seen her in less clothing plenty of times.
That moment the other night had done a number on her. She’d faltered. Allowed her simmering feelings to bubble over. She was more aware of Gabe. More aware that at any time, he could be thinking about her in the same way she was thinking about him.
Wishing he was.
And at the same time, hoping all this oddness would die down quickly.
Now she felt naked in front of him. She imagined that his expression held a heightened caring, his eyes a new heat. Her body responded to the idea. Her nipples tingled. Her thighs loosened.
She thought of sex. Hot, fast, toe-warming, worry-busting sex.
She yanked the quilt toward her chin.
Gabe’s eyes darkened, then he turned to move an edge of the drapes to peer out the window.
God. She still wasn’t feeling normal. Maybe today’s visit with her father would help.
Today’s visit with her father, alone.
“It’s nice of you to offer to go, Gabe, but—”
“But what?” He faced her a
gain.
“But I don’t want anyone with me.”
“Why not? I could go along for the ride. I wouldn’t interfere.”
Gabe meant what he was saying; she could tell. “You’d keep your mouth shut?”
“Of course.”
“And if I get halfway there and decide to turn around again?” She’d done exactly that last Saturday. She’d come home to find Gabe watching the game in her living room. They’d traded keys several years ago. He safeguarded her place when she was away, and she did the same for him.
Maybe the key trade was a bad idea now.
Gabe held her gaze. “You do what you have to do, Josie. I’d only go to support you. I swear.”
“What if I make it to Woodbine, but chicken out on his porch step?”
Gabe stepped closer, then bent his knees so he and Josie were eye-to-eye. “I. Won’t. Say. A. Word.”
She regathered the quilt into a fist at her neck. “Good. Then I’ll go get dressed.”
“Good. I’ll wait.” His voice carried the same tone it might have if he’d said, Good. I won.
The dang show-off.
After hurling her flaming body down the hall to her bedroom, Josie pulled clothes from her dresser drawers and started for the hallway bathroom. Even while she closed the door behind herself, she thought of something. She reopened the door to holler out, “Gabe?”
“Yes, Josie?”
“You might want to move your car. I’m driving.”
“The beemer has cruise control.”
“The truck’s gas pedal works just fine.”
“The car has a great stereo system.”
She hadn’t had time to react to that statement before he added. “And I bought the new Maroon Five CD.”
“You did? Oh, wow. I lovvve their new song.” Josie waited three beats and added, “But we’re still taking the truck.”
She giggled as she closed the door again, comfortable with their old, familiar banter. Gabe didn’t even like Maroon Five all that much. He must have bought the CD as a lure. Maybe he was curious about her father. Perhaps that was why he was here all the time these days.
Her prealarm dream that had him showing up at her bedside to confess that he’d developed the hots for her was just another crazy notion.
She’d liked the dream, though.
She’d hit the snooze bar twice, dozing longer to entertain the idea in that illogical state between dreams and waking.
Now that she was fully awake, the thought could be moved right back into the crazy category. Or the too-many-reasons-why-not category, at least.
She’d talk him out of the CD later.
She was just turning on the taps, when she heard her front door slam. Gabe must have gone out to move his car. She found herself grinning again.
Forty minutes later, she sat behind her steering wheel, flying up the highway toward Woodbine while Gabe fiddled with the radio dial. After about two songs, however, he clicked the radio off again. “Does your father know who you are yet?” he asked.
“No.”
“Why’d you say you were coming?”
“I claimed that I wanted to bring pictures of his grandkids. Brenda said he’d be home all day. She said he’d be excited.”
“He should be.” Gabe stared out the window. After a moment, he asked, “Your father didn’t sound forgetful or confused that first trip?”
“He was pretty sharp, I think.”
Gabe didn’t ask anything else. After they’d passed the turn for Marion Lake, he started talking about a bid he was compiling to do an extensive office remodel for a Wichita bread supplier. Josie’s questions carried them all the way to Rick and Brenda’s bumpy driveway.
Her father was outside today, wearing a huge blue parka and puttering near the chain-link pens.
“That him?” Gabe asked quietly as she parked behind the bigger pickup.
“Yep.”
“You were right. Your sisters do have his build.”
Josie eyed the older man. “Makes me wonder where I came from.” When she noticed Gabe’s startled look, she added, “Just joking. But I am worried about a lot of things today. Mostly about how he’ll react to the news.”
“He’ll be fine.”
Remembering her father’s dependence on pills, Josie studied the frail-looking older man. Rick Blume seemed so nice. Nothing at all like what she’d expected based on her mother’s descriptions. She liked him, she thought.
Whatever happened, she didn’t want to hurt him. “I changed my mind,” she told Gabe. “I do need your input. If you think I should shut up, jab me in the ribs or something, okay?”
“Why would you need to shut up?”
“If I start talking too much or not enough or…well, anything. I’m completely nervous.”
“You don’t get completely nervous.”
“I do now. So help me?”
“That’s why I’m here.”
She might have coached Gabe more, but her father was already nearing the truck in big, welcoming strides.
After retrieving her billfold from the glove compartment, Josie hopped out. “Hi, there,” she said. “I hope you don’t mind that I brought a friend. This is Gabe Thomas.”
Her father shook Gabe’s hand. “Thomas?” he queried, glancing between the two of them. “She’s a Thomas. Am I to assume that you are this young lady’s husband? Her brother?”
Crud. Once again, Josie had forgotten about the fake name. “Uh, he’s my husband,” she said.
Gabe’s eyebrows shot up.
She’d asked him to pose as her boyfriend plenty of times, but never as her husband. And she could just as easily have said he was her brother. But husband was the word that had popped out of her mouth, so for the few moments between now and her confession, she’d be Gabe’s pretend wife. No big deal.
As they headed inside, Rick Blume told them that Brenda had taken all the dogs to a veterinarian’s office in nearby Abilene for their annual shots. He hung his coat and Gabe’s jacket on a rack near the front door, but Josie kept her sweater on. She was still cold. The truck’s heater needed some work.
“Is Brenda your wife?” Gabe asked on their way to the living room, causing Josie to find his rib with her elbow.
“I’m in charge,” she mouthed. “Not you.”
Gabe lifted his shoulders.
“She might as well be my wife,” Rick said, unaware of the drama going on behind his back. “We’ve been together for over twenty-five years.”
Josie nodded, feeling awkward, and then drew the picture sleeve from her billfold. There was another moment of confusion when Gabe sat down on the tea-towel end of the sofa, but her father simply claimed the chair, then Josie took a seat next to Gabe.
She handed the pictures across to her father and started listing the children’s names and ages.
No matter how loudly her mind shouted it, she couldn’t bring herself to say that she was the children’s doting aunt and his third child.
After Rick had chuckled over every picture and listened to a few cute kid stories, Josie folded the photos into her wallet, then watched Gabe pull the towel from beneath his thigh.
“You care for some coffee?” her father asked, standing.
“No,” Josie said, surprising herself with a burst of bravery. “And I’m not married to Gabe. We’re friends. He’s here to support me today.”
Rick lowered himself into the chair again and leveled a questioning gaze her way.
“My name’s Josie—Josephine Sarah Blume.” She studied her father, watching as his expression progressed through several degrees of agitation.
Finally, he shook his head. “You gave a false name before?”
He’d heard her real name, hadn’t he? Josie Blume? Of course she’d given a false name. She was the daughter he’d never bothered to meet. How many people would feel courage when sitting in front of the person who’d caused such insult to their lives?
Josie glanced at Gabe, then took a deep bre
ath and said, “I’m Callie and Isabel’s little sister, Rick. I’m Ella’s third daughter.”
His expression grew more confused, and Josie actually felt sorry for him. “You are?” he asked.
“I was born on October twelfth, twenty-seven years ago.”
“I see.” He didn’t look as though he did.
“Didn’t you know about me?”
He took off his glasses and wiped them on his pants, then replaced them on his face and peered at her with an odd expression. Pain? Regret? Finally, he stared down at his knees.
He was wearing the same blue shirt and tattered pants that he’d worn two weeks ago. Today, Josie noticed that the toe of his left shoe had lifted from its sole. He looked tired. Old.
Josie didn’t mean to make this overly hard on him. She felt they could take their time getting to know each other. She could be gracious. She’d simply wanted him to know who she was.
Maybe she should leave now. She could let the knowledge of her identity sink in, and come back another time to ask about Lilly and pursue whatever connection they could find.
“I couldn’t have been sure that Elly was pregnant, but I suppose I’m not shocked,” her father said. Then he sat up in the chair and added more forcefully, “If I’d have been aware of your identity two weeks ago, I might have said something.”
“Right, well. I didn’t tell you then.”
He kept his gaze low. What was the man’s fascination with his own knees?
“I’m telling you now.”
“Right, well,” her father echoed.
The moment was absurdly clumsy. Josie felt as though she’d stepped into a long, dark tunnel this morning, and had just made it through to the other side. But she wasn’t sure yet which planet she was currently on.
Though she understood so much more now, new questions popped up every time Rick Blume answered one. Her father was obviously upset and confused, she was sure as heck upset and confused and she had no clue about what to say or do next.
Gabe shifted closer, and the new slant of the sofa cushion caused her body to tilt in his direction. She allowed herself to rest against his comforting solidness.