First Last Chance, page 11
“That woman send you up here to feed me?” Ted took a deep breath and looked inside the bag at the neatly stacked containers. “Smells great, but I recently got a haul from her.”
Gabe moved to stand in front of the window where a Bighorn peak stood out. Ted had chosen well. The small cabin was nicely situated. The lake was at his fingertips, and with a view of the mountains to the west, he could watch the weather move in. “I drove up to the northern ridge. Water’s high,” he said with his back to Ted.
“That it is. I saw it for myself earlier.” Ted checked the thermos. “Want a drink? Got Ruth’s coffee here, or something stronger.”
“Coffee sounds good.” Gabe felt Ted studying him as he took the chair across from Ted’s rocker.
“You boys are a lot like your father. I can read trouble on your faces as well as I could Bert’s.” Ted shook his head. “Your dad used to sit in that same chair where you are now and stare into my fireplace.”
Gabe knew Ted missed his dad. The two of them had shared many evenings before this old hearth.
“Got something on your mind?” Ted asked.
“Mulling over a few things.” Gabe mentioned about Sam, but Ted shrugged, the whole act saying he’d seen nothing. “Okay. I’ll take that coffee now.”
Ted poured and handed the cup to Gabe. “Mulling’s good.”
“Hm?”
“You said you were mulling over a few things.” Ted took his seat. “But that means more than one. What’s troubling you other than Sam?”
Gabe took a sip of coffee. “Been fishing lately?”
“Yup, too much like your dad.” Ted smiled at the avoidance. “Always one that gets away, right?” He added another dry log to the fire. “Still a good stack of this dry wood here and at the cabin. Noticed this morning when I was in the woodshed loading my buckets for the day.”
Sly old dog was verbally fishing, but Gabe didn’t take the bait. He didn’t want to talk about Ashley. The logs crackled in the fire, and Ted recounted fish stories, and by the time he was done, dusk had settled over mountains. They were still holding their empty cups when a soft knock on the door broke their silence.
Ted placed his cup on the table by his rocker and made his way to the door. “Well, what a nice surprise.”
Gabe didn’t have to turn to know who was standing on the other side of the threshold. His pulse quickened and he couldn’t tell if it was anger or…something else.
Chapter 14
“Thought I’d bring dinner to you tonight, but I see you have company.” Ashley nodded at the SUV parked in the drive.
Ted stepped back from the door and smiled her way. “Not company exactly. Gabe dropped in with coffee.”
Ashley froze. Damn. All hopes on relaxation and quiet time with Ted was shattered. “Well, I’ll leave you two…” Her words were lost in her throat as she watched Gabe walked toward her, his long, muscular denim-clad legs covering the distance in a few long strides.
“I brought dinner. Thought Ted would like a casserole tonight,” she rushed to say, trying to cover her nervousness. “Ruth stocked the freezer.” She held up the dish in her hands.
“Jason told me to check in on you.” They both quickly covered bases on why they were here, and it felt painful. “It’ll save a drive if you’re here,” added Gabe. “You better come in.”
Ted took the casserole, and Ashley smiled her thanks as he looked out at the dark western sky. “It’s getting to be that time, isn’t it?” he asked no one in particular. “Why don’t we all sit down and have a bite of supper. Not often I get company at mealtime.”
Ashley stepped inside and glanced at Gabe. “Any news about Sam?”
Gabe rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding looking at her. “Nothing yet. Got a few people looking into it. I’m confident they’ll learn something soon.”
They followed Ted into the small kitchen, and while Gabe set the table, he told Ted more about Clay’s involvement with the kidnapping.
“You think this has to do with that company wanting to buy ranch land? Ted asked.
Gabe reached for the silverware. “How’d you know about that? I didn’t mention it earlier.”
Ted held a basket of rolls. “I visit the Black Dog for a beer from time to time. A few ranch hands are always there. From what I hear, nobody’s happy with the land deal Sam made.”
“Here.” Ashley placed the casserole on the table.
Gabe pulled out a chair for her and Ashley gave him a thin smile. “It likely has to do with whatever he’s gotten himself wrapped up in. Either the gambling or land deal.” He took a seat beside her.
Ashley reached for a roll, then frowned awkwardly as Gabe did too and their hands brushed. “How’s Megan?”
Gabe pulled away, indicating she go first. “I talked to her this morning, and she’s heard nothing. Odd. You’d think they’d want the ransom paid. I hope to hell Sam’s still alive.” Gabe dished a serving of casserole onto his plate, but then seemed to shake something off. “This smells good.” He passed the dish to Ted, and it relaxed Ashley a little. He was back to wanting to avoid trouble and politics around the table.
That she could handle. She tried to lighten the mood with a smile. “It’s delicious.”
“Ruth’s a great cook,” Ted said with a gleam in his eyes.
Gabe glanced at Ashley. “Jason said he’d drop by tomorrow. Did he call and let you know? He’s over at Megan’s tonight.”
“He did, yeah.” She rested her roll on her dinner plate. “It’s why I came over to Ted’s. Does Megan have other family?”
Gabe shook his head. “An only child, but has three boys of her own.” He finally took a roll from the basket.
“Shame Sam and Grace didn’t have more children.” Ted started to eat as a loud pop came from the fireplace.
“That wood you use burns hot and slow,” Ashley said. “I enjoy a morning fire, especially with a cup of coffee. Thank you.”
Ted nodded. “My pleasure. A morning fire is nice. These mornings are getting pretty cold.” He leaned back in his chair. “What brings you to Wyoming this time of year?”
Ashley took a drink, conscious of how Gabe stopped eating for a moment. “Jason convinced me this was beautiful country and a good place to relax. It was also a good time to get away from work and to spend time with him and the kids.” She glanced at Gabe. “I feel remiss I haven’t spent much time with him, but Lisa and I keep catching up over the phone.” She wanted Gabe to know she was still looking after her, but he didn’t seem to take it that way for some reason.
“Is your daughter planning to visit?” Gabe asked, his voice harsh.
Ashley placed her cup on the table. “I hope so. I’d like for her to get to know Jason and the kids better. She and Lisa hit it off a few years ago and they talk regularly.” She swallowed through a tight throat. She missed her best friend. “Susan was a wonderful person,” she said, her voice barely a whisper.
Ted nodded.
“She and Jason were a good match.” Gabe added a bite to that, almost like a challenge.
“A great match,” Ashley muttered gently.
“Susan spent many a night here at the lake.”
Ted’s words stopped her eating as it hit her. She saw why Jason might delay coming up here. She really hadn’t thought this through.
“She’d bring me warm sugar cookies fresh from the oven from time to time.” Ted emptied his cup. “That cancer sure moved fast.” He looked down at his empty plate and stared. “Good meal, right?”
He was like Gabe in many ways, trying to avoid upset around the table, but some memories, no matter how sad, would always be welcome. But she saw the hurt was too raw, so changed the topic for him. “Fishing. I hear you do a lot of it, Ted?”
His world brightened as he looked over and nodded. Then they were lost to several fish stories, a couple including Gabe and Jason, which had them laughing, which was obviously Ted’s intent.
Gabe told a couple of stories of his fishing misadventures with Jason, and Ashley felt like she was getting to know him better away from any vindictive play. This was the side she liked: talk around the dinner table, a fire crackling along with soft laughter. “Makes me want to go fishing” She put her napkin on the table. “But I need to let you two catch up.” She stood, surprised at how good she felt.
“Sit for another cup of coffee,” Ted ordered.
Ashley shook her head as she carried her plate to the sink. “One more cup and I won’t sleep a wink.”
“You having trouble sleeping?” Gabe’s voice was so close she could feel his breath on the back of her neck, but she didn’t know how to take his comment. It seemed to ask if she had a conscience because of the lack of sleep. He leaned in and placed his empty dish next to hers, and she held her body rigid.
“No, but I’ve had way too much coffee tonight.” She stepped away and headed to the table. “How long are you planning to stay? Are you here to fish?”
Gabe turned to Ted, and Ashley saw the questioning look in the older man’s eyes. When Ted lifted his brows, she knew he was waiting for an answer to her question as well.
“Thought I’d take a morning to fish with Ted and give myself time to figure out what’s going on with Evans Development.”
No rush back to Marilyn? To find out about Sam? Ashley narrowed her eyes. What are you playing at now, Gabe? “So, fresh fish for dinner for us tomorrow, huh?” she asked without thinking. Then she froze. She’d invited herself to dine with them, or at least Ted.
“Fresh fish it is for us, then.” Ted grinned. “I’ll expect you for supper.” He pushed back his chair and stood.
“Ted fries a good fish at least.” Gabe was back to digging his hands in his pockets, looking as if he wasn’t sure what had just happened either. “And dinner’s good.” He found her gaze. “Has to be, right?”
He’d just called truce, and yeah, for Jason’s and the kid’s sake, maybe it had to be right. Ashley washed, and Gabe dried. She covered the remaining casserole and placed it in Ted’s fridge. Satisfied everything was clean, she wiped her hands and turned to the door. “It’s getting late. I should go.”
“Stay for a while. I want to show you something.” Ted hurried from the room, returning quickly and placing a case on the table. “Now that there’s three of us, I dug out my game.” He ran his hand lovingly over the top of a dark, wooden antique case the size of a clarinet case. He smiled with a far-away look in his eyes, then turned to Gabe, “You up for a game?”
Gabe folded the towel and put it on the counter before going over. “Absolutely. But it’s been a while since I’ve played.”
“It’s a game one never forgets.” Ted opened the intricately carved lid, lifting out two red felt-lined trays filled with tiles. He turned the trays over, and small, rectangular tiles, looking like tiny bars of soap, scattered across the table. The backs of the tiles were blank, but their faces were covered with strange symbols. “This is a Chinese game. Lacy taught me to play so I could fill in for one of her sick friends.” He grinned. “I don’t get to play much anymore.”
Ashley held her breath as she stared at over a hundred tiles with mysterious Chinese symbols lying on the surface of the table.
“The game is Mahjong.” Ted waved his hand above the table. “Over the years I’ve taught the Coulter boys how to give me a good game. But we need three players, and they’re rarely here at the same time.”
Ted selected four of the tiles, placing them in front of her as she took a seat, and saying the name for each of the symbols shown. “They’re magnificent, aren’t they?”
Without taking her gaze from them, Ashley nodded. “They’re beautiful.”
Gabe removed three racks from the case as he sat, placing one in front of each of them. “These are used to build our walls, but first we need to turn the tiles face down on the table and shuffle them. Then we select the tiles for our walls.”
Ashley watched as Gabe and Ted mixed up the tiles then began placing them face down against their racks until they had a length of eighteen tiles and a height of two. She followed their lead.
“Lacy once told me this game was played quite a bit in the Midwest.” Ted took his seat too. It was the second time he’d mentioned his late wife. Both times with longing.
Ted removed a small pair of dice from the case and seconds melted into minutes as they guided Ashley through the game. Three didn’t feel like a crowd here. It felt like a safety net. She felt transported back to days long gone, sitting here in this small cabin with crackling wood in the fireplace playing an ancient game.
She was enjoying herself and was surprised she felt so content and relaxed here with two men she’d known only days. She lifted her gaze and caught Gabe’s. She offered him a smile, and for once his came back her way with no gameplay behind it.
Ted won the first game, and in the second, Gabe threw his hands into the air as he called out “Mahjong.”
Ashley laughed at the pure pleasure on his face.
Ted shook his head, muttering, “It’s about time. I thought maybe you forgot how to play.”
Everyone pushed the tiles to the center of the table, and Ted turned to Ashley. “What’d you think?”
“I understood precious little.” She laughed and helped Ted stack the tiles in the trays. “But I enjoyed it.” She gave a tired stretch. “But I’ve really got to get going now.”
Ted nodded as she got to her feet and headed over for her coat. As Ashley buttoned her jacket, Ted reached for the lantern she’d found by the door of her cabin. When she turned to say goodnight and take it, Gabe had a jacket over his shoulders and another lantern in his hand.
“I’ll walk her back,” he said to Ted.
“You don’t have to. I—”
“No.” Gabe stared down at her. “For once you let me be a gentleman and get you back safely like Jason said.”
***
The sounds of night surrounded them as they walked down the steps onto the gravel drive. The crunch of the rocks under their feet and the moonlight peeking through the evergreen branches made for a fairytale scene.
Neither spoke until they’d left the drive behind and turned to follow the dirt path along the lake. A breeze blew Ashley’s loose hair across her face, and she tugged it behind her ears.
“Is Ted keeping you busy?” Gabe asked in a low voice, sending a chill through her.
Her throat was dry, and he walked too close. She had a hard time concentrating on more than putting one foot in front of the other. “He drove me up to Alpine Ridge. I took a few pictures.” She described their trip to the ridge, then asked, “How was your trip to Cheyenne?”
Gabe didn’t answer, and she began to think he hadn’t heard the question. “Didn’t go as planned, but all in all, I learned a few things,” he finally said.
“A few good things, I hope.” She moved the lantern to her other hand to keep something between them. When the path narrowed, she felt the heat from his body, and too often his arm brushed against hers. She wanted to ask if Marilyn had gone with him, but didn’t need the aggression tonight.
It wasn’t until they took the left turn from the lake to the cabin he said, “Yeah, a few good things. I need to find a way to stop commercial construction on grazing land.”
“I can see why you want to preserve it around here. Does part of that land belong to Sam’s ranch and that’s why you’re so concerned over it being sold off to developers?”
“Yeah. The section across the river is part of High Mountain.” He sighed. “Or it used to be.”
They’d reached the lake side of the cabin. Before leaving the path, she stopped and turned to look back the way they’d came. A panoramic view of dark water shimmered in the moonlight, and the long shadows cast by the trees looked like shady figures lurking in the forest. Loneliness swept over her.
Gabe sat on the top step of the cabin’s deck, looking out over the lake. “I’d hate to lose any of this. I grew up here.” He paused. “I wish Alicia had seen it like I do.”
Feeling a little awkward with being left standing close to her door, Ashley sat beside him and took a deep breath as she looked at Gabe. “Marriages end despite our best efforts, don’t they?”
Gabe looked her way, smiled. “Yeah, they do,” he said gently. “What went wrong with yours?”
She shrugged. “Does there need to be a reason nowadays?” She couldn’t get into the whys with Gabe now. Not when she didn’t trust him, not with what he’d pulled with Marilyn. “We were young. Rob didn’t like responsibility. A wife and child prevented him from being…him.” She took a deep breath. “Abby and I have been on our own for several years.”
He watched her for long moments. “So you’re after stability? Someone with a proven track record of staying around kids.”
“What?” She knitted her brows. “I’m not after anything. Most women aren’t. Falling for someone either happens or doesn’t it.”
“So you play by chance?”
Ashley stared at him. “This isn’t politics, Gabe. Love’s not the next bigger, better deal.” She tried to kick herself from saying it, but Gabe was pressing little buttons here. “Maybe to you and Marilyn, but not the rest of us.”
He went to snap something, but Ashley denied him the snide comeback and headed into the cabin, closing the door behind her.
Chapter 15
Moonlight lit the path around the lake as Gabe headed back to Ted’s, and he kicked a branch to get it out of his way. This wasn’t him. He wasn’t a jerk, but Ashley brought out the worst in him.
His father used to say, “It’s not about doing what we want, it’s about doing what’s right,” and he was trying to, so badly. He’d took a moment to see if Ashley would be all right with Jason despite what had gone on because, damn his head, he liked her. He damn well loved his brother, so he’d wanted to sound her out on her feelings for Jason. Only she’d taken the high ground when they’d both rolled around the mud behind his back.
