Inside the house, his grandmother asked, “Everyone get back safely?”
She knew about Bradley and Jerry. He nodded.
“Do you have time for a cup of tea before you go?” she asked.
“That would be lovely.” It was Piper who spoke up. She’d followed him inside and now she took a seat at the table and asked, “May I ask you about the reservation?”
Tai tensed. He couldn’t help it. It was his automatic response when people wanted to know about where he grew up. He braced himself for the usual ignorant questions, which would prove he shouldn’t have trusted her.
“Of course you can,” Eyota said, pouring the tea and placing a cup in front of Piper. She gestured for Tai to sit.
Reluctantly he did.
“Why is there no school bus?”
It was not the question he expected her to ask.
“We don’t have the funds for a bus or the driver, not to mention the petrol and maintenance costs,” Eyota told her. “Plus we don’t have a lot of children on the rez.”
“But education is so important. If the kids don’t go to school, they’ll never get ahead.”
“Some don’t believe they will anyway,” Tai said.
“Why not?”
“They see their parents living hand to mouth, and their grandparents, and figure they can’t expect any better.”
“But of course they can change, with a little support,” Piper said. “How much would a bus cost?”
Tai told her. He’d calculated it some time ago but hadn’t managed to raise enough funds yet to make it happen. He agreed with Piper. Education was important, both their traditional education so the culture wasn’t lost, and secular education so the next generation could choose what they wanted to do.
She was quiet for a moment before changing the subject; she asked a series of different questions.
When they finished their tea, Tai stood up.
“We should be getting back,” he said. He wanted to get away. Piper was too comfortable in his grandmother’s kitchen and she asked sensible and intelligent questions.
He was beginning to like her.
“Of course.” Piper got to her feet, thanked Eyota and hugged the woman.
“I hope to see you again,” Eyota said.
Piper smiled. “Me too.”
Tai said nothing. It sounded like she meant it. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. It certainly hadn’t been his purpose for bringing her here.
Outside, he hugged his grandmother and put on his helmet. “I’ll see you next week.” He got on his bike and waited for Piper to get on behind him. Her arms circled his waist, not as tightly as before, and her body pressed into his back.
Heat suffused him.
It was going to be a long ride back.
***
It was evening before they arrived at Piper’s apartment. When Tai stopped the bike, she got off, taking off her helmet and passing it to him. “Do you want to come up for a drink?” She wasn’t quite ready for their day together to end, even though she had work to do.
He shook his head, tucking her helmet into a section on the back of the bike she hadn’t noticed. “I need to stop by the restaurant and do a few things.”
Piper didn’t let her disappointment show. “I’ll have the interview written by mid week. I’ll send you a copy to read.”
He nodded, his face serious. The relaxed, friendly Tai who had let her in had been left at the reservation.
Piper stepped back, fiddling with the strap of her satchel. “Goodbye.”
Tai turned the bike and rode off.
She sighed as he pulled out onto the street, and then turned and walked inside. Moggy ran toward her and she picked her up, stroking her fur as she went into the kitchen. It had been a confusing, exhausting day. She filled Moggy’s bowl and put her on the floor and then took a frozen meal out of her freezer to heat up. When her dinner was ready, she sat down at her breakfast bar to record her thoughts.
The bike ride out to the reservation had been terrifying and then exhilarating. She hadn’t felt that aware and alive in a long time. All her worries had shrunk to insignificant dots as the wind rushed by and she focused on holding on.
Then they had arrived at the reservation and it was a different world from what she knew. A quieter, less hectic world.
She got the impression she’d only scratched the surface with her visit. There had been a lot that had been unsaid – Piper could read between the words and she knew when she wasn’t being told the whole story. But she also understood the Queches’ reticence to open up. She was an outsider. More than that she was a reporter and, from the articles she’d found online, many reporters hadn’t bothered to check their facts when writing about reservation life.
Tai’s grandmother was lovely. She’d slipped Piper her phone number and told her she was welcome to call any time. Perhaps she realized her grandson might not be interested in continuing their contact after Piper had enough for the interview piece.
And that would be a real shame. Tai was an enigma. When she’d met him at the bar he’d been unfriendly – he’d as good as worn a sign that said, back off, but at the restaurant and then at the reservation he was a completely different person.
He was relaxed, friendly, encouraging and only when required was he stern.
Piper suspected his real personality was somewhere in between the two. She only had to consider the way he’d gone so quiet after dropping off the final child. There was something bothering him, but he didn’t let it show in front of the children.
He’d looked so sad when he’d returned from wherever it was he’d gone. There was a heaviness to him, as if the whole weight of the tribe rested on his shoulders. She’d had to comfort him and she’d been surprised when he’d hugged her back. The strength of his arms around her body had also given her comfort she hadn’t realized she needed. She couldn’t remember the last time a man had held her like that.
She sighed. Perhaps he needed someone away from the tribe to confide his troubles to. One thing she was certain of: she wanted to see more of him, wanted to get to know him and discover who he was. He fascinated her.
But first she needed to get the article out of the way. She didn’t want him to think it was the only reason she was spending time with him. She would write it up, send it to him for review and then submit it to Geraldine.
Then she could really discover who Taima Woods was.
***
An hour later she had a bunch of notes, but nothing written. She had no idea what to focus on. If she wrote about the restaurant and how much his staff loved him, it was only one aspect – it ignored all the work he was doing for his tribe.
But did he want it highlighted? Surely if he’d wanted recognition, he would have done something about it before now. He could have invited any reporter to do a story. So what should she write?
She debated the whole situation for another ten minutes before getting annoyed.
This was ridiculous. Though it went against the grain, she needed to write what Geraldine wanted. She got typing.
It was getting late when Piper came up for air. She read through the article and frowned. It was good, there was no denying that, but it didn’t show any of Tai’s depth, didn’t mention anything he was doing for his tribe. It was more like an ad for the restaurant.
She saved the article.
Unsatisfied, she wrote the article she wanted to write.
This time the words flew from her fingertips and the piece took her very little time.
Piper read through, pleased with the balance she’d achieved between restaurateur and tribal leader. She saved it and shut down her computer. She’d read them both in the morning and decide which one to send to Tai.
Still, she lay awake for a long time, thinking about him and the things she’d learned that day. She couldn’t wait to see him again.
***
Geraldine called Piper into her office early on Monday morning. “I need the rest
of those profiles by the end of the week,” she said.
Piper gaped at her. “Why?” There was no way she’d be able to get them all done in a week. She still had five to interview plus two to write up.
“Keith’s orders. I didn’t ask why.” Her tone invited no other questions.
“All right.” Piper left her office, consciously trying to release the tension that had leaped to her muscles. It was a ridiculous amount of work, but she could do it. She managed to cajole the remaining interviewees into appointments before Thursday and then grabbed her notebook and laptop and headed out for her first story of the day.
While driving to interview Russell she mentally reviewed all the questions she wanted to ask him. She met him at his house, a large mansion with security gates in a very expensive neighborhood. The maid who opened the door directed Piper into a living room as big as Piper’s whole apartment. It was decorated with basketball memorabilia and had a couple of oversized stuffed brown couches facing the biggest flatscreen television Piper had ever seen.
“Piper, thanks for coming.”
Piper turned to see Russell walking toward her, hand outstretched to shake hers.
“Thanks for agreeing,” she said easily.
He was wearing black basketball shorts and a Rockets’ jersey. His cropped black hair was damp with sweat.
“Have you been training?” she asked.
“Yep. Gotta do my time every day if I want to get the minutes next season.” He took the bottle of sports drink he was offered by the maid, who then put a glass of cold water in front of Piper.
“Thank you.”
The woman smiled at her and left the room.
“Tell me about the training,” Piper said to him. “How much do you do during the off season?”
He laughed. “Hours. I’ve been working on my mid range and ball handling. The association’s competitive: if you don’t work it, you don’t stay long.”
“But you still had time to run the camp for underprivileged kids,” Piper pointed out.
“That’s my passion. You gotta give back to the community.”
“Why don’t you tell me about it?”
Russell launched into the details of the summer camp, focusing largely on what he did and how much time he had spent down there, which, according to what Piper had discovered when she’d called the organizers, wasn’t in fact more than an hour a day.
He was, from all reports, talking himself up.
Piper was used to it, but she couldn’t help comparing him to Tai. Tai had barely said anything about himself, offered nothing more than she’d asked, and had let his staff and his actions speak for themselves.
Finally Russell stopped talking. Piper had more than enough for her article. She asked him a few more questions about what he liked to do in his spare time and where he wanted to go with his career and then said her goodbyes.
It was a relief to leave his house.
She took a deep breath of air and scrunched up her nose at the smell. It wasn’t the fresh air of the reservation. It was more a damp, almost moldy scent, probably due to the high humidity. The heat rebounded off the driveway, cocooning her in its sticky embrace.
Inside her car she turned up her air-conditioner, made a few comments into her voice recorder and headed for her next appointment.
There she was left in a waiting area for three-quarters of an hour, so she used the time to type up her first impressions of her interview with Russell and outline the article she wanted to write. When Bob Randall’s personal assistant finally led her into the oil and gas CEO’s office, Piper was determined to keep the interview short. She now had only an hour before her next appointment and so his would have to suffer. He’d kept her waiting.
Bob Randall was Texan down to the bone. He was broad shouldered and broad accented. He walked across the room, arm outstretched to shake her hand with vigor.
“Howdy, missy. Sorry to keep you waiting.”
Piper managed not to roll her eyes. The CEO of an international company should know better than to call her “missy”. She smiled and firmly shook his hand. “I’m Piper Atkinson from the Houston Age.”
“Yes, yes. Sit down.”
The large, lush corner office had glass windows looking out over Houston and toward the gulf. As she took the chair he indicated, he started talking, not even letting her ask a question.
It appeared Randall wanted to talk about the good his company was doing for the environment. Piper kept her disbelief well hidden until she asked, “How many of the average two hundred and eighty-five oil spills in Galveston Bay per year is your company responsible for?”
He blinked at her and then his expression grew firm. “Oil spills are an unfortunate side effect of doing business, but my company is doing what it can to reduce the number. Not all companies are as environmentally conscious as we are.”
Piper didn’t comment. Her father was the vice president of environment and sustainability at a competing company and they’d had many discussions about the industry. She knew how bad Dionysus’s record was, but that wasn’t what she was there for. Her managing editor, Keith, wanted a positive piece and it really galled her to have to portray this man in that way. He was in it to make as much money as he could for his shareholders – the environment be damned.
She stood. “Thanks so much for your time, Mr. Randall,” she said, offering her hand again.
“I’ve got more to say. I thought this was going to be an hour’s interview,” Bob growled.
Piper kept the smile pinned to her face. “It was. We were scheduled to start earlier than we did and I unfortunately have meetings one after another today, so I can’t stay later.” That would teach him to keep her waiting.
“Keith is a good friend of mine,” Bob said.
Piper recognized a threat when she heard it. “I’ll be sure to tell him you said hello,” she said. “It was lovely meeting you.” She shook his hand and left.
It wasn’t until she got into her car that she started shaking. “Argh!” People like him made her blood boil. He thought he could walk all over her because he was in a position of power. Well, she wouldn’t stand for it. The Age couldn’t fire her for keeping to her schedule. She’d behaved professionally and hadn’t shown her irritation.
Breathing in and out slowly, she tried to release the tension.
Checking the time, she started her car. She couldn’t dwell on it now: she had to get to her next interview. Deadlines waited for no woman.
She’d just arrived at the next office when her cell rang.
“What the hell are you doing, cutting off Bob Randall?” Geraldine screeched in her ear.
Piper closed her eyes and put her best bright and perky voice on. “I would have loved to have stayed, but I’d already set up the meeting with Laurel. You want these interviews by the end of the week, don’t you?”
“Yes, but Bob is an important man.”
“I understand that. He kept me waiting for forty-five minutes.”
Geraldine was silent for a moment, then she swore. “I’ll explain to Keith.”
It was as close to an apology as Piper was likely to get.
She hung up and focused on her next interview.
***
By the time she was finished with Laurel, the socialite charity queen, she’d had enough, but it was too early to go home. She still had articles to write. Unable to face the office and the conversation she would have to have with both Geraldine and Keith, she headed to Eat, Drink, Read.
Today she managed to get a seat at a table, and as she settled in she waved at Elle. Her friend came over to take her order. “What are you doing here?”
Piper grimaced. “I can’t bear to go back to the office.”
“Sounds bad. What happened?” She took a seat.
“Just one of the men I had to interview for the people of Houston profiles.”
Elle waited for her to elaborate.
“He made me wait three-quarters of an hour and whe
n I cut the interview short, he rang my managing editor to complain. I’ve had Geraldine on the phone already and I’m not ready for a face-to-face confrontation.”
Elle shook her head. “Why would they listen to him?”
“He’s a friend of Keith’s and the CEO of Dionysus. He’s a very influential man.” She shrugged. “He’s also a sexist pig who cares nothing for the environment and is about as insincere as they come. I wouldn’t have stayed longer even if I didn’t have back-to-back interviews today.” Her words became angrier the more she spoke.
Her friend smiled at her. “Sounds like it’s a good idea you don’t go back to work.”
Piper huffed out a breath and made an effort to calm herself. “Sometimes I don’t know why I don’t just quit.”
“So why don’t you?”
Her question made Piper stop. “Because I want to write articles that make people think.”
“Aren’t you already doing that on your blog?”
Elle was right. Was Piper too stuck on the idea that she had to work for a big paper that she wasn’t recognizing what she already did?
“I think the articles you write are brilliant, and you said you’ve got thousands subscribing. Isn’t that better than working on the paper where Geraldine can change anything she wants?”
“My blog doesn’t pay anything.”
“I’m sure there’s a way you could change that.” Elle squeezed Piper’s hand and got to her feet. “I’d better get your lunch order in.”
Piper absent-mindedly got her laptop out of her bag and set it up. Perhaps she should look into ways to monetize her blog. She’d heard about people doing it and, while it wasn’t something she could make a living off immediately, it could be her long-term plan.
She’d have to think about it.
Elle’s second-in-command, Nora, delivered her lunch, and Piper began typing, sending in her regular stories as soon as she completed them. By closing time, Piper still had a few more articles to write, but she didn’t want to go back to the office. If she did, she’d get more work to do.
The Texan Quartet (Books 1-4) Omnibus Page 87