by Gina Wilkins
His nod had a slightly mocking edge. “More believable than if he’d announced the two of you had gotten back together,” he murmured.
Her relationship with Avery had been rather acerbic while she’d dated Gavin. He probably liked her even less since the breakup. But that was okay. She didn’t have to try to make Gavin’s friends like her anymore, though she was getting along well enough with Rob.
Still, it was only polite to try to make conversation. “So, Avery, are you still on the force with Gavin?”
Avery had actually entered the academy a year earlier than Gavin, and Jenny had blamed him for having so much influence over Gavin. At the end, Gavin had snapped at her that he knew his own mind, made his own choices and wasn’t just following his friend’s lead. He’d actually set law enforcement as a career goal even before Avery, he’d informed her defensively.
Avery nodded in response to her question. “Different division, but yeah, still a cop. Made sergeant a few months back. And I got married last fall. My wife’s a dispatcher for the department. She’s on duty today.”
She tried to inject a measure of genuine warmth into her smile. “Congratulations on both your promotion and your marriage.”
Not notably disarmed, Avery nodded again. “Thanks. Gavin’s still catching up after he quit for more than a year, but he’ll be promoted soon himself. Wouldn’t be surprised if he eventually makes captain before I do.”
“Um, he quit?” she asked casually.
“Yeah, when he... Oh, he hasn’t mentioned it to you.”
“We haven’t talked much since I’ve been here. Last night we were dealing with the storm and the leaks, and today we’ve been trying to clear the drive, so there hasn’t been a lot of catching up.”
She wondered why he’d quit, what he’d done instead, why he’d gone back—all questions she had no business asking. It was obvious Avery had clammed up now and would be revealing no further tidbits about his friend’s current life.
After unhooking the chain from the now-out-of-the-way tree, the men stood around the trunk arguing the best way to cut it for firewood. They all agreed they should tackle the leaking roof first.
“I’ve got some extra shingles in the utility shed,” Gavin said.
Jenny felt a fat raindrop splash against her cheek. Swiping at her face, she turned to Gavin. “Now that the road’s clear, maybe I should leave before the bottom falls out again.”
All four men spoke at one time, and all with some variation of “no.”
“You haven’t seen how much water is over the road down there,” J.T. explained, motioning with one hand. “To be honest, it was pretty stupid for me to drive through it, even in my rig. That lightweight little car of yours would never make it.”
Deflated, she sighed. “So how long do you think it will take for me to be able to get out?”
J.T. glanced at Gavin. Both shrugged.
Avery scowled up at the dripping sky. “It would help if this damned rain would stop. Now that we’ve cleared out the ditches down there, the water should go down pretty quick once they stop refilling with rain. Even then we’re talking about a couple hours before the road would be completely safe.”
Rob nodded and winked comically at Jenny. “I’d rather you wait until it’s safe. It’s my day off. As pretty as you are, I’m still not in the mood to administer CPR today.”
“Rob’s a compulsive flirt, but you should know he’s an EMT,” Avery said so quietly to Jenny that she wasn’t sure anyone else could hear. “Just another lowly civil servant who doesn’t move in your social circles. I doubt you’d be interested in him.”
A little gasp of indignation escaped her. Had Avery just blatantly accused her of being a snob?
Before she could retort, Gavin surged forward, planting himself in front of his friend with a glare of warning. “Jenny is my guest here,” he said in a low but unyielding voice. “I expect her to be treated courteously. Is that clear, Avery?”
Avery had the grace to look a little sheepish as he muttered, “Sorry, Jenny.”
Biting her lower lip, she nodded to acknowledge the halfhearted apology. The inexplicable acrimony between her and Avery had come between Gavin and his pal on several occasions back in college. She certainly wouldn’t want to cause a rift between them now. As unfair as the remark had been, she couldn’t entirely blame Avery. He was just watching out for his friend.
“Hey, Avery, help me carry this cooler and stuff,” J.T. shouted from his truck, seemingly unaware of the tension between the trio. “We might as well dig into the sandwiches and beer we brought until the rain stops again.”
Avery turned and walked away without looking back. Clearing his throat, Rob followed quickly.
“I’m sorry, Jen,” Gavin said quietly. “I’ll talk to Avery.”
She shook her head. “No, that’s not necessary. He has a right to his opinions of me. Even though they’re wrong.”
She didn’t expect to have to deal with Avery much longer, anyway. And she was perfectly capable of defending herself, if she had to. He’d simply caught her off guard this time.
“You know, I have driven in bad conditions before,” she said, turning to face Gavin fully. “If I’m very careful, and make sure to stay on the highest ground at the foot of the hill, maybe I could get around the flooded area. The road’s paved after that, so...”
She was startled when Gavin took hold of her arm. Feeling the tingle where damp palm met damp skin, she swallowed. “Um...”
He gave a light tug. “Come over here a minute.”
She allowed him to lead her off to the side of the property, a few yards to one side of the woods-lined drive. He motioned toward the river below them, at the bottom of a steep, muddy, rock-and-root-tangled incline. She remembered that the stairs down to the river lay at the back of the property. Only a few feet from the bottom of that staircase, a path led to the clearing in the woods where they’d sneaked away for a couple of sweet, private hours together the last time they’d been here.
She gazed down now with a sinking feeling in her stomach and an old, dull ache in her heart. The sight below wasn’t encouraging. Swollen by the storm, the river rushed and tumbled, carrying branches and other storm debris on its churning surface. “Maybe if I hurry, before the rain really starts falling again...”
“Sorry, Jen. That road’s always dangerous when it’s flooded. Dad and I talked about trying to get better drainage downhill, but the county hasn’t been in any hurry to address the problem. If I thought I could drive that little car of yours safely through the flood zone, I’d have the guys follow me down and I’d do it for you. But even as long as I’ve been coming up here, I wouldn’t risk your car or my life just to get you out a couple hours quicker.”
A few more raindrops trickled down her face and she glanced toward the cabin. “Then I guess we should go inside before we get soaked again.”
He released her arm, but didn’t immediately move away from her. Instead, he raised his hand to wipe her cheek with his thumb, his gaze locked with hers. “So,” he asked in a low, deep voice, “are you more anxious to run away from Avery or from me?”
She jerked away from his touch, then wished immediately that she’d been a little more discreet about it. “I’m not running away from either of you. I just...need to get out of this rain.”
With that, she turned and moved briskly toward the cabin, resisting an impulse to run.
“Jenny...”
Pretending not to hear him, she walked a little faster.
It seemed her grandmother had been right about this trip to the cabin being a bad idea. But then, her grandmother claimed to be right about a lot of things. Gran had always said Gavin would break Jenny’s heart. And now Gran claimed Thad and Jenny were the perfect match. She’d been right about the former. Maybe she was right about everythi
ng.
* * *
Jenny sat on the couch with a book she’d dug out of her bag, pretending to read in the glow of the fluorescent lantern next to her. She found the book dull as dishwater, but it was trendy among the social circles she and Thad moved in. It had been brought up during a dinner party last week, and she was the only woman there who couldn’t intelligently discuss the book’s theme. Thad had brushed off her chagrin later, telling her everyone should understand that her business kept her too busy for much reading time, but she’d made a mental note to try to stay more current. After all, there would be many more such gatherings in her future with Thad as he cultivated important connections among potential donors and supporters.
Being a political wife was a full-time job in itself, she’d murmured then with a nervous sigh. Thad hadn’t disagreed, but he’d squeezed her hand and told her he had no doubt she would be as successful in a political partnership as she had been in everything else she’d tackled.
Not that everything she’d ever attempted had been a success, she mused, glancing up from the book to study Gavin across the cabin through her lashes.
She ran a fingertip absently along the page she was trying to read and chewed lightly on her lower lip. One of the reasons she’d needed this time to consider Thad’s proposal was because she was so keenly aware of all the repercussions of accepting. How important it would be not to fail if she decided to take on the challenge. She wouldn’t be simply formalizing a relationship, adjusting to day-to-day life with a partner who shared her bed and her breakfast table. Marrying Thad would change everything in the life she had worked very hard to achieve. And while she could certainly see the rewards, she was also aware of what she would be giving up. Her self-assigned task this weekend had been to weigh those pros and cons and decide once and for all which path was best for her, even though she’d been fairly confident her answer would be yes.
She closed the book. She would read it. Eventually. It was just too hard to concentrate with insufficient light and the distracting noise coming from the other side of the room. Frankly, she was more interested in the men’s conversation.
Gavin and his friends sat around the table with beers and cards, playing poker while they waited for the rain to stop again. They had invited her to join them, but she’d declined. Aware that she was in the room, the men probably toned down the language a bit in their lively conversation. She’d smiled to herself when she heard a couple of quick substitutions for off-color adjectives. It didn’t take her long to deduce that J.T. was also in law enforcement, though he was a state trooper rather than a city cop like Gavin and Avery. Their anecdotes, like their language, were probably toned down for her benefit, but still she winced a few times at the reminders of the unpleasant situations the three officers and the emergency medical technician found themselves in on a regular basis. She couldn’t help thinking that this was a very different type of discussion than the ones Thad and his friends engaged in. She wasn’t judging, she assured herself, just noticing.
In addition to their work, they’d chatted about rowdy gatherings for barbecues and touch football games at various homes and parks, and about an upcoming charity baseball game between cops and firefighters that would apparently involve lots of beer and trash talk. They’d mentioned a patrolman who’d been hurt in a car crash during a high-speed pursuit, but was apparently recovering well. She bit her lip at the reminder that this cheerful, gregarious group willingly put their lives on the line every day in the course of their jobs. It was a brief glimpse of Gavin’s life now—perhaps of the life she’d have shared with him had they stayed together. Lively, communal, but always with that underlying edge of worry.
She set the book aside and wandered to the window. The rain had almost stopped, though the gray sky looked more like dusk than midafternoon. She turned from the window to find Gavin watching her from the table.
“Do you need anything?” he asked. “Want me to put the kettle on?”
“Thanks, but I can do it.” She forced a smile as she moved toward the stove. “I was just wondering how the road is looking down there.”
J.T. looked up from the phone in his hand. “I just checked the weather radar. Looks like the rain’s finally cleared. The flooding should start receding fairly quickly now. State and county police have been busy working wrecks all day, but it seems to be getting better out there.”
“Considering everything, it’s amazing we all have the weekend off,” Rob commented. “Can’t even remember the last time that happened.”
“So you decided to waste your day off cleaning up my property?” Gavin shook his head in skepticism.
Jenny saw his friends exchange quick glances, but Rob replied with a lazy chuckle and a shrug. “We owe you a few favors. Remember when you drove an hour and a half to help me out after that drunk ran a stop sign and hit my car in Brinkley? It wasn’t raining, but it was cold. Below-freezing cold. We nearly froze our, uh, body parts off before we arranged to have my car towed and unloaded my things from it. All while you were facing the graveyard shift that night.”
Gavin shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “That’s not...”
“You sat up with me at the hospital for three nights straight when my dad was sick last year,” J.T. joined in to add. “Brought me coffee and sandwiches, made calls for me, anything I needed. Mom was able to go home and get some rest because she knew you were keeping me company.”
“Guys...”
Speaking over Gavin’s embarrassed protest, Avery said flatly, “Truth is, we all owe you more than a few favors. Least we can do is to help you out here to keep you from doing any more damage to that shoulder.”
Jenny wondered if most of that exchange had been for her benefit. Just what had Avery said to Rob and J.T. while she and Gavin had lingered for a few moments outside earlier? Had he told them that she and Gavin had once dated, that he believed she’d broken up with Gavin because she hadn’t thought him good enough for her? Surely they didn’t feel they needed to defend Gavin’s character to her?
She gave Avery a narrowed look, but he merely gazed blandly back at her. Rob and J.T. weren’t looking at her, but were smiling at Gavin. They seemed to enjoy their friend’s discomfiture, as if good-natured ribbing was very much a part of their typical interactions.
Gavin tossed his cards on the table and scraped his chair against the floor as he pushed back. “Can’t really focus on poker right now. I’m going to check those leaks in the bedroom again, make sure they aren’t getting any worse.”
“We can help with that, too,” J.T. assured him. “Won’t take long to nail down those shingles. That is, unless Avery tries to help. Boy’s useless with a hammer,” he added, making Avery grumble and the others laugh.
Biting her lip, Jenny filled the kettle. It was truly nice of Gavin’s friends to have driven up to help him. Obviously they’d been worried about him up here, supposedly alone after a damaging storm, at risk for reinjuring himself with the repairs they knew he’d feel compelled to tackle. Perhaps they’d thought to cheer him up with their surprise visit, unaware that he had a visitor, even if an uninvited one. Very thoughtful and supportive of them, and yet...she could never have imagined she’d end up stranded here all day with Gavin and his buddies.
How much more bizarre could this weekend get? She wasn’t having a bad time exactly, but it was just all so...awkward. And she still had to figure out a way to try to explain it all to her mother, her grandmother and Thad. They were certain to ask how her solitary weekend had gone, and she wouldn’t lie to them.
“You want me to look at that wound for you?” Rob asked Gavin, who was pacing the living room and stretching his arm.
“No, that’s okay. Jenny helped me change the bandage when it got wet earlier. It’s fine.”
She felt all eyes turn to her again, though she kept her attention focused on the selection of teas in the
cupboard. She reached for the chamomile, deciding she needed its soothing benefits.
Avery stood, shifting his weight restlessly. “Did you lock the utility shed, Gav? The rain’s done for now, I think. I can start hauling the ladder and extra shingles to the back porch so they’ll be ready for us to use.”
“I can help you with it.”
“Rest your arm awhile. No need to overdo it.”
“Avery’s right,” Rob agreed. “You’ve likely overused it already today. We’re here now. Let us help.”
“Look, I appreciate the offers, but...”
“C’mon, Gav, it’s not every day you get offered free labor,” J.T. chimed in with a laugh. “Most folks have to pay for repairs on their rental properties. All you had to do was get shot.”
The box she’d just taken from the cupboard fell from Jenny’s suddenly limp fingers, scattering tea bags over the countertop. The kettle whistled, but it took her a moment to remove it from the burner and turn off the gas. She felt as if she were trying to move through molasses as J.T.’s words reverberated in her mind.
Shot. Gavin had been shot? He’d lied to her?
She hadn’t realized until that moment that after all these years, he still had the power to hurt her.
Chapter Four
J.T. seemed to sense immediately that he’d said something wrong. Maybe he picked up on the sudden tension radiating in waves through the room following his joking remark.
“I wasn’t shot.” Jenny sensed that Gavin directed the words to her, though he spoke to his friend.
Rob nodded. “Technically, that’s true.”
“Semantics,” Avery pronounced with a wave of one hand. “I’d say being hit by shrapnel from a ricochet counts as being shot.”
Gavin jerked his chin toward the back door in a less-than-subtle hint. “The utility shed is unlocked. The ladder’s on the left and the spare bundle of shingles is on the shelf to the right.”
“I’ll help you carry the stuff, Avery,” Rob offered, springing to his feet.