Montana Mornings (The Wildes of Birch Bay Book 3)

by Kim Law

  That one was a kick in the gut. And a new tactic on her part. “Your mother isn’t here.”

  “And whose fault is that?”

  He counted to ten as he stepped from the truck, but allowed himself the pleasure of slamming his door. Her mother would treat her worse, and she knew it. And it was totally Michelle’s fault that she wasn’t there. He couldn’t fathom where that idea had come from, but he refused to play into his daughter’s games.

  “Get out of the truck,” he barked when Jenna’s door remained closed. “Pops is waiting on us.”

  He could see a group of men gathered at the main barn, with Nick’s head rising above the rest, but he couldn’t put eyes on his father. He did, however, take note of the four-door Lincoln parked next to his dad’s truck. It looked to be a good twenty years old, original copper paint still in excellent shape, and sat up close to the back of the house. Jenna climbed down from the backseat, her bottom lip protruding, and without bothering to say anything else to her, Gabe headed for the house. His daughter followed, but he could hear each drag of her feet.

  Basically, she wanted to do nothing that he wanted to do today. But that was too bad. The new cherry trees had come in, and it was time to get them in the ground.

  “Dad?” Gabe called out as he climbed the steps to the back deck. But he didn’t have to go far to find his father. Doc Hamm appeared at the back door as Gabe hit the top step, with Gabe’s dad and Gloria coming out right behind him. Gabe looked from the doctor to his father. “Something wrong?”

  “Not a thing,” his dad answered.

  “Good to see you, Gabe.” Doc Hamm shook Gabe’s hand and nodded to Jenna. He produced a lollipop, which the now-smiling Jenna took, and headed to his car, but he looked over the top of the vehicle before climbing behind the wheel. “Tell Cord hello for me, will you?” he said to Gabe’s dad. “I’ve been keeping tabs on him. They speak highly of him over in Billings.”

  “Will do, Doc. Proud of that one myself.” His dad waved as the man left, then, ignoring the pointed question on Gabe’s face, winked at Jenna and made a motion as if to take her sucker.

  “It’s mine, Pops,” she snapped out.

  “Jenna,” Gabe growled.

  “Well, it is.” She stomped off, sucker in mouth, and headed for the workers waiting at the barn.

  Gabe forced himself to rein in his anger at his kid, then he gave his dad “the look.”

  “What?” his dad grumbled. Now he sounded as crabby as Jenna.

  “The doctor?” Gabe motioned to where the Lincoln had been parked. “Why was he here?”

  “Just a checkup.”

  Gloria murmured something about brownies and disappeared back into the house.

  “Doc Hamm makes house calls now?” Gabe asked.

  “When you’ve been around as long as Doc has, you do anything you damned well please.”

  His dad stomped off, similar to Jenna, and Gabe was left standing alone on the uncovered deck. Why had he bothered with this idea? No one wanted to help get the trees in the ground, apparently, and hell if he was in the mood to do it, either.

  Nor was he in the mood to be around his dad lately. He’d been that way since coming back home.

  Or hell. Honestly, he’d been that way going on a year now. The closer his marriage had come to taking its final tumble, the more he’d found himself impatient with the role his dad had often assumed in the family. He just didn’t get the man anymore—or maybe he never had.

  He stepped to the back door and stuck his head in. “Is he okay, Gloria?”

  She looked around from the stove, apron tied at her waist. “Your dad?” She nodded. “He’s fine. It was like he said. A checkup.”

  Gabe didn’t know whether to believe either of them, but he wasn’t sure what else he could do. So he let the door slam behind him and took his turn stomping to the barn. But on the way, his mood lightened when he let his mind go elsewhere. Specifically, to Erica’s brick wall the afternoon before.

  That kiss had blown his mind.

  And all for what reason? Because he’d been jealous of her ex-husband? He smirked at himself for that one. He had no right to be jealous of a man who’d been married to a woman he’d long ago broken up with.

  But that didn’t mean he hadn’t been.

  Why she was still hung up on someone who’d cheated on her, he didn’t know, but when he’d seen the text message, he’d also seen red. He hadn’t been joking. The intent of the kiss had been to get her mind off her ex. But it had also been to get it onto him. And that was stupid in every sense of the word, because now he just wanted to do it again.

  And now he knew that what they’d had years ago had only magnified.

  Jenna squealed up ahead as Nick picked her up and put her on his shoulders, and Gabe slowed his steps to watch. At least someone could make his daughter smile today.

  He couldn’t mess around with a woman right now no matter how much he wanted her. No matter that it was Erica. He had a daughter who alternately hated his guts and acted like the sweetest thing in the world, as well as a wife who—if he were a betting man—had caused last month’s delay on the divorce proceedings. He had no idea what her motive could be, but he’d gotten another call from his lawyer the day before. The final hearing had been pushed back yet again.

  Probably her motive was merely to fuck with him. That seemed to be a game of hers.

  Now he’d have to wait until November before he could put the past behind him and Jenna for good.

  He reached the group of men, and when Nick suggested that Jenna hang with him that day, Gabe readily agreed. He wanted Jenna to have fun out there. To feel a part of keeping their family’s orchard alive. And he knew, given how their morning had started, that wasn’t something she’d be capable of achieving by his side.

  They broke into pairs, and after all the trees had been hauled out to the prepared field, Gabe found himself working side by side with his dad. They worked well in tandem, this not being the first time they’d set out trees together, but it wasn’t long before he noticed Gloria making excuses to appear at their side.

  She brought water, needed to talk to his dad about the clothes he wanted to wear to an upcoming wedding, and even had to discuss tomorrow night’s dinner with him at one particular moment in time.

  With each trip she made, Gabe’s mood worsened. Not because he didn’t like Gloria. In fact, he’d always thought her to be a great fit for his dad. They’d dated for seven years before marrying, and come December, it would be two years since they’d tied the knot. Yet today, he studied her in a new light. She was hovering. And he didn’t like women who stuck their noses where they didn’t belong.

  His mother had been like that. If she wasn’t ignoring them, she’d been controlling them.

  So now he found himself wondering if his dad had once again fallen for the same type of woman. It would be just like him. Pick someone who walked all over him—and then stay for the continued humiliation.

  Gabe growled under his breath and tried to quit thinking about his past. None of that mattered now, and if his dad had gotten sucked in by another woman who only wanted to control him, then that was none of Gabe’s business.

  He stopped digging at the sound of low laughter, and looked around to find that Gloria had shown up once again. Only, she and his dad had their heads together this time, talking in low tones, and as Gabe watched, more confusion filled him. Because he’d swear that what he was witnessing was real. He’d also swear that he’d never once seen that kind of happiness on his father’s face the entire time Gabe had been growing up.

  Was he just looking for trouble where there was none?

  His dad pressed a kiss to his wife’s cheek, and this time the look of utter contentment came from her.

  Gabe sighed. What the hell did he know about love, anyway? He’d been married to Michelle.

  Erica scrolled through the e-mails that had come in that day, twisting up her face every time she ran across one stating how
they’d love to have her, but . . .

  There was always a but. Securing a teaching position in the middle of a school year wasn’t exactly an easy thing to do. Few teachers ever walked out on the job.

  She dipped a chip in salsa and popped it in her mouth as she took a break from the e-mails and eyed the dark house across the road. She was perched on a barstool in her kitchen, having chosen the stool with the best direct line of sight out the kitchen window and across the road in front of her house, yet she’d repeatedly told herself that she wasn’t sitting there waiting for Gabe. She was sitting there because it was a good space to work.

  She took in the printouts she’d spread out along the countertop to prove her point. Information on potential schools in the state she could be interested in, schools in other states she might be willing to move to. Then there was the scribbled list of jobs that had nothing whatsoever to do with teaching. She didn’t want to take another type of job, but at the same time, she wanted to do more than be an on-call substitute for the rest of the school year. She needed a purpose, even if it would be only until the following fall when new jobs would be easier to find.

  She pulled up her old school’s website, and rolled her eyes at the sight that greeted her. With JC now the principal there, his picture came up front and center. It pleased her that she had no urge to linger over the photo of the man she’d once been married to, but she couldn’t shake the anger that still pulsed through her when she scrolled down the list of teachers’ names. Her name should be on there, too.

  She should be living in Silver Creek.

  She absolutely hated the fact that her ex had stripped her entire life from her.

  Her phone rang, and when she saw that it was her parents’ home number, she pushed the negativity away and decided to answer. It was time to stop playing phone tag and only communicating through text messages. She missed hearing their voices.

  “Hey, Mom.”

  “It’s actually your dad.”

  “Oh.” Erica sat up straighter, unconsciously mimicking the posture of one of his students. Her dad, a no-nonsense high school educator, believed that the brain worked best if not deprived of oxygen. And sitting straight allowed better flow of oxygen. “Then hi, Dad.” Her mom was usually the one who made calls. “How are you?”

  “I’m great. Missing my oldest daughter, but other than that, I can’t complain.”

  She smiled at his words. “I miss you, too, Dad. Your classes good this year?”

  “I’ve had better.”

  She chuckled, because he said that every year. Yet by the end of the school year, he would declare his current group of students the best he’d ever encountered.

  “How about yours?” he asked. “I usually hear all about your new batch of students by now.”

  Guilt plagued her once more. She’d hurt them by leaving the way she had. So she went into detail about several of her students, filling him in, not only on their struggles, or lack thereof, with class subjects, but also about whatever she’d learned concerning their parents and their home lives. As a person who’d grown up with teachers for parents, Erica had long ago become accustomed to hearing such conversations at the start of every school year. After she’d begun teaching, she’d made the habit of going over to her parents for dinner one night early in the fall semester, and continuing the tradition.

  “Sounds like a good group. You having any real trouble with anyone?”

  “Nothing I can’t handle.”

  “That’s my girl. What about next month?” he suddenly asked. “Got another job lined up yet?”

  “I’m trying, Dad. So where’s Mom?” She changed the subject before either of them could become frustrated. She didn’t want to risk him pointing out again how she shouldn’t have left a secure job, and he wouldn’t want to hear her silence as she refused to agree with him.

  “She’s just coming out of the shower. We found out this week that we’re a last-minute addition for this year’s Sunset Garden Tour, so we stayed outside working on the flowers until dark.”

  Her mother had been trying to get selected for that honor for years.

  “Good for her. I know she’s proud. Be sure to send me pictures on the big day, will you?”

  “Sure thing.” Her dad paused for a second before adding, “Or you could just come home for it. It’s this weekend.”

  She’d been gone from Silver Creek for less than four weeks, but that was the longest her parents had gone without seeing her since she’d been in college. And with Bree always on the go and Annalise still away at medical school . . .

  Erica carefully blew out a breath. She knew her parents missed their kids.

  But at least they had Seth—who’d also already granted them two grandchildren.

  “I can’t come home this weekend, Dad.” She rose and headed for the fridge. She didn’t really have a good excuse other than that she didn’t want to go. “Homework to grade,” she mumbled, knowing he would read through her words.

  “We could grill out,” he offered. “Make some ice cream.”

  The latter brought a smile to Erica’s lips, and as she poured herself a glass of tea, she wished that she was back home. Even with JC still trying to get in touch with her, she couldn’t help it. She missed the routine she and her parents had created since moving back in with them.

  Only, that routine had been a part of her problem.

  After her divorce, she’d reclaimed her childhood bedroom instead of finding a place of her own, and she’d allowed herself to once again become part of her parents’ world instead of creating a new one for herself.

  “Actually, I need to stay here to prepare for a new class I’m starting next week. An exercise class.”

  “For kids?”

  “No. This one is for adults. I’m offering it for free at the local gym.”

  “Is that so?”

  Erica detected a bit of shock in her father’s words—as well as the resounding pity she’d picked up on ever since her divorce.

  “Well, I’m glad you’re getting out some.”

  “Thanks.” The reminder that her parents felt sorry for her for losing JC had her wanting to point out that she had a very full life here. Not only would she be teaching an exercise class, but she had a violin lesson scheduled for the following night, as well. And she’d also seen an ad for a sushi class she was considering signing up for. She’d never been able to fully master sushi, and since JC hated it, she hadn’t even tried in years.

  She didn’t say any of that, though. Because the pitifulness of it was obvious without having to utter it out loud.

  “We’ll miss you,” her dad told her. “But I’ll take lots of pictures to share later.”

  Her mom got on the phone a few minutes later, and after a brief chat while her dad went off to start a late dinner, Erica and her mother hung up. She sat there in the silence of her apartment, staring at her untouched glass of tea and contemplating the emptiness of her life.

  Then she eyed another e-mail that had dropped into her inbox. We’d love to have you but . . .

  She should have poured herself wine instead of tea.

  Or something harder.

  Her cell beeped with an incoming text message, and with little energy, she leaned over to read the words on the screen.

  Any progress on that fling, yet?

  A small smile touched her face. Bree hadn’t checked in with her since leaving the week before, but Erica wasn’t surprised to see a follow-up to the suggestion of sleeping with Gabe. She took a drink, contemplating how she should reply, then quickly typed out a message before she could change her mind.

  Only one mind-blowing kiss.

  She snickered to herself as she imagined Bree’s hysteria at reading the words, and once again looked over at Gabe’s house. The two of them hadn’t exchanged so much as a word since their kiss. Their paths hadn’t even crossed.

  And she’d admit, she’d kind of expected him to at least make that happen.

  It
didn’t take long for Bree to respond. Erica’s phone rang just as Gabe’s truck pulled up across the street. She tapped the answer button and put her phone on speaker as she kept her eyes glued outside. Jenna jumped down from the backseat, her father’s foot hitting the ground at the same time as his daughter’s, then the little girl lifted a hand and waved at Erica.

  Erica waved back. She sat in a small circle of light in her kitchen, and with it now being dark outside, it didn’t surprise her that she’d be seen.

  Then Gabe looked up.

  His eyes landed squarely on hers, and she lifted her glass in a little salute.

  “Erica? Are you there?”

  Shock yanked her attention from Gabe to her phone. “JC?”

  Crap.

  She hadn’t even checked the caller before answering. “Why are you calling me?”

  “I need to talk to you.”

  Bree’s number flashed on the screen. Now she was calling. “No.” Erica shook her head as if her ex-husband could see her. “We’re not talking, JC. Not now or ever. Don’t call me again.”

  “Come on, just for a few minutes? I know I messed up. I—”

  His words silenced when Erica jabbed the “End” button. Damn that man for not leaving her alone. Why couldn’t he accept that they were over for good? She’d moved away from town in order to prove it. She’d quit her job.

  Anger had her hands shaking as another text came in. Thankfully, it was only her sister.

  Answer the freaking phone! A kiss? What kiss? When? I MUST KNOW ABOUT THIS KISS!

  She looked across the road once again, working to catch her breath and get herself back under control, but found that Gabe and Jenna had disappeared inside. She could make out Mike running around the fenced-in backyard, and knew that to mean that Gabe wouldn’t be coming back out to walk the dog. At least not anytime soon. Which was just as well. She suddenly found the idea of thinking about any man distasteful.

  Picking up her phone, she punched out a message.

  Sorry. Yes, a kiss. I’ll tell you about it later, I promise. No time now. But don’t get too excited. It was a one-time-only thing.