Montana Mornings (The Wildes of Birch Bay Book 3) Read online

“He does love us. And we are a happy family.”

  Yet there was more here he wasn’t telling her.

  “What’s wrong with your dad?” she whispered.

  Gabe closed his eyes. “Nothing is wrong with him, I don’t suppose. I’m just not a fan of the way he’s always handled his life. He let my mother walk all over him for years. He let her walk all over us.” His eyes twitched under the closed lids. “And then I grew up to allow the same damned thing with Michelle.”

  He opened his eyes, and they bore into her. “Can we talk about something else now? Michelle isn’t a good person, my mother was even worse, and my dad misplaced his backbone a long time ago. Good enough?”

  “I’m sorry.” She said the words quickly, then leaned into him and wrapped her arms tight around his chest. “Thanks for sharing that. But please know that I’d never see you as weak.”

  For a moment they stared at each other, each waiting to see what the other would do or say next. But then Gabe’s hand stroked up her back, the pressure of his touch firm and solid, and he pressed a kiss to her temple. He may not be in the mood to talk, but she thought he might have appreciated her words.

  Comfort surrounded her as she sat there, still straddling his lap. A private space to share things seemed to envelop them. And since she retained a few issues of her own that she needed to work through, she decided to use some of that space. She folded her hands over his chest and parked her chin on top of them. Then she waited until Gabe brought his gaze back to hers.

  “JC talked me into sleeping with him again this summer.”

  The hand at her back quit moving.

  “That’s why I’m here.” She refocused to the base of his throat, suddenly afraid to let him see too much of her while she talked. “I’m not even sure how it started. We hadn’t talked in eighteen months. The divorce had been over for a long time, and though we still saw each other at school, we avoided being in the same room together as much as possible.”

  “It must have been uncomfortable for others when you had to be together.”

  “Actually, no. I guess we got good at faking it.”

  His fingers spread wide over her back. “And what about when Lindsey was around? Did you get used to playing nice then, too?”

  She shook her head. Not even close. “Lindsey quit her job after it came out they were together.”

  Her once best friend had never been shy about owning her desire to be a kept woman, no matter that she did have a college education. She went to school purely because her parents paid for it, and because she had to do something until her boyfriend graduated and married her.

  So once she had JC tied down, her resignation practically flew from her fingertips.

  Erica lifted off Gabe’s chest. “I think I just figured something out.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “It’s not that I’m more mad at Lindsey, but I think my anger at her might have played into why I let myself get taken in again by him.” Gabe watched her, his eyes hooded, as she continued. “She shouldn’t have slept with my husband. She was my friend. Enough said. She shouldn’t have done it. But she’s the type to want someone to take care of her and her kids more than to have someone to love. I really believe that. So she sleeps with JC. He’s got money, he’s a name in town. Then the process is sped up by the pregnancy.”

  “Maybe she planned the pregnancy.”

  Erica considered his words. “Maybe she did. And honestly, at this point, I’d put nothing past her. But she got JC, he moved me out of the house and her in, and then when he started showing interest in me again . . .” She paused, not liking how her words were going to make her sound. But Gabe got it, anyway.

  He sat up straighter on the couch. “You wanted to get back at her,” he guessed. “You might be equally mad at both of them, but she came into a marriage where she didn’t belong, and you had the opportunity to return the favor.”

  “Except she and JC aren’t married.”

  Gabe’s brows knitted. “After two years and a baby, why has he never married her?”

  “I have no idea.” At first she’d assumed it had to do with the pregnancy showing. Lindsey wasn’t the type to walk down the aisle with a belly. But the baby was over a year and a half old now, and Lindsey had long ago lost all the baby weight.

  “So how did this summer come about?” Gabe asked.

  “Near the end of the school year I got a text one Friday night. I can’t even remember what it was about. But he texted me, and for some reason, I texted back.” She gave a half shrug. “A couple of weeks later, I got another one.”

  “And you replied again?”

  “I saw no harm in it. We’d moved on, we were colleagues. We’d been good friends once upon a time. So I texted him back. But then he started stopping by my classroom once in a while, sharing a funny article he found or telling me a joke he’d heard.”

  “The man was pursuing you.”

  She nodded. “I didn’t see it that way at the time. I was playing nice, and to tell you the truth, after eighteen months, I think I’d lost some of the anger. I was tired of being ‘that person,’ so talking was easier. And then he’d call once in a while. In late summer, he got word of his promotion, and he said we should celebrate.”

  “He’s clever.”

  “Or maybe I’m just gullible.”

  Gabe shook his head. “We all make mistakes. We all want things, even when we know better.”

  “Possibly.” But some people just went stupid.

  She lowered her eyes to his chest, needing not to see Gabe as she continued her story. “Our celebration ended up at a hotel. I couldn’t believe I’d done that. But at the same time, he’d been mine, you know? Why couldn’t I do that? A couple weeks later, he talked me into meeting him for lunch. He had something he wanted to tell me.”

  “I imagine he did.”

  She pulled in a deep breath and kept her eyes glued to Gabe’s torso. “He wanted me back,” she said softly. “He’d messed up. He’d known it from the beginning, and had decided he was tired of trying to forget me.”

  “Your ex is full of shit.”

  She looked up at the growled words, and the fierceness in Gabe’s expression suddenly lightened the mood in the room. She gave him a wry smile. “Bree thinks so, too. Of course, she also thinks he suffers from little-dick syndrome.”

  A look that could only be described as raw masculine pride covered Gabe’s face. “He has a little dick?”

  “I did not say that.” Erica snickered. “I just said that Bree thinks he has that problem.”

  Talk of another man’s genitals apparently did something to Gabe, because she felt him stir against her thigh.

  “Is it . . .” He started to ask but didn’t finish it. He merely looked at her in anticipation.

  “Bigger than yours?” she finished for him.

  He stirred again, and she gave a little wiggle against him.

  “Well?” he prodded. His hands gripped her hips and tugged her up his thighs, the move encouraging more wiggling.

  “We used all three condoms,” she whispered, as if sharing a secret he wasn’t aware of.

  “Then stop talking about how I’m more man than your ex is.”

  She laughed and pushed up off him. “I did not say that.”

  But as she rose from the couch and stepped over his legs, she looked down at the erection now over half formed, and she caught herself making an “impressed” face.

  “I knew it,” Gabe crowed. “Mine’s bigger.” His chest puffed up.

  “You boys are ridiculous.” She smirked. “I’m going to clean myself up. You might want to do the same.”

  “But you didn’t tell me how it ended,” he called after her.

  “You mean this summer?” She stepped into the bathroom at the back of the room, leaving the door open as she bent to get a washcloth from one of the vanity drawers. When she stood back up, Gabe was at the door.

  “You’re going to hotels with him,” he s
aid, “being swept off your feet at his charming, little-dick ways, and then what?”

  An emotion spread through her that she hadn’t felt in a long time. Being with Gabe was pure pleasure. Even talking about JC with him wasn’t as bad as when she normally thought about her ex. “He talked me into another hotel,” she told him. “A weekend this time—while assuring me that he was breaking up with Lindsey. Just as soon as he found the right time, of course. And as an added bonus, he tossed in a promise that he’d never mess up with me again.”

  “I take it those were lies?”

  “Every last one. I overheard him on the phone Sunday morning, giving Lindsey some story about why he hadn’t made it home the night before. Telling her he loved her, and that he couldn’t wait to see her. His weekend had been utter misery without her.”

  “He couldn’t even leave the hotel room to make that call?”

  She shook her head.

  “Stupid and a little dick.”

  Laughter burst from her. “Stop it. This isn’t funny. The jerk turned me into the other woman, instead of the other way around.” The humor vanished, and Erica stood there, both of them naked from head to toe, and she found herself glad she’d run into Gabe again. “I never wanted to be that kind of person,” she said with all sincerity. “Another person’s marriage is none of my business. Another person’s relationship applies, as well, but especially when there’s a kid involved. But the kicker was that I stood there that morning, listening to this jerk prove his jerkiness to me yet again, and I felt myself beginning to break down. I’d wanted him back. I didn’t just get caught up in the moment, I wanted it.”

  Gabe took her hands in his.

  “I left Silver Creek because I realized that he wasn’t the issue so much as me. I won’t have a man who can’t be honest with me. And I won’t allow myself to be in a position where I’m in the middle of a relationship. Where I have to beg for attention.” She shook her head, more determination than she’d ever felt swelling inside her. “So I had to leave. I had to move beyond my ex-husband once and for all.”

  “And are you beyond him now?”

  She paused, her breaths heavier than normal. “I’m close. Being here is good for me. Talking about it is good. But at the same time, I’m terrified that I’m not quite there yet.”

  “Maybe more sex with a very well-endowed man will do it for you?”

  She laughed, the sound as sad as it was happy, and when Gabe’s arms closed around her and gently pulled her to his body, she lifted her mouth. “Maybe it will,” she whispered against his lips. “I’d certainly be willing to give it a try.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  He had to buy more condoms.

  Gabe stared at the video of last night’s football game playing out on the TV in his office, seeing nothing but Erica’s naked body riding him on her couch. He definitely had to buy more condoms. Though he had no idea when they’d get to use them.

  “Dad?”

  Jenna’s face appeared in his office door only seconds after she’d spoken, and he grabbed the remote and paused the game tape. “What’s up, kiddo?”

  “Can I go outside? One of my friends is here with her mom.”

  After leaving Erica’s that morning, he’d driven over to the farm to get Jenna, and after checking on the new trees—as well as waking his dad from a nap simply to make sure the man was only tired, and there was nothing wrong with him—he and Jenna had headed for the high school. “Is it Mrs. Waters’s girl?”

  “Yes.”

  He opened the blinds on the only window in the small room. “Can you play right out there where I can see you?”

  “Da-ad. We can’t play out there. There’s nothing to do.”

  “Out there” consisted of a small grassy courtyard area between two parts of the building with a concrete drainage ditch running down the middle. “Sure there is.” He snatched up a football and tossed it to her. “You can play catch.”

  A very teenage roll of the eyes was his answer, but both Jenna and the football exited the room. Minutes later, she appeared with the girl she’d met the previous Saturday when he’d also come by the high school, and though the football didn’t get thrown between the two, Jenna did keep it tucked under one arm. He watched out the window for a couple of minutes, noticing that for the first time his daughter actually smiled more than frowned. Slowly but surely, she really was making progress.

  He returned to the paused tape and restarted it, then forced his mind to remain on the game playing out in front of him—and not on the run to the convenience store that he so desperately wanted to make.

  Twenty minutes later, another noise sounded at his office door, and he looked up to find Chase. The boys knew that he liked to come into the school on Saturdays when possible, and he’d made it clear that they were always welcome to stop by.

  He paused the tape once more. “What’s going on, Chase?”

  “Hey, Coach.” The boy seemed nervous as he shot a quick look behind him. “You got a minute?”

  “Sure.” Gabe turned off the TV. “Take a seat.” He motioned to the vinyl armchair on the other side of his desk, and at the same time, took a quick peek out the window. The girls were still out there, and Jenna was now tossing the football in the air.

  “I’ve just got a few minutes,” the boy said. “Mom’s waiting on me.”

  “Everything okay?”

  “Yeah.” Chase nodded and lowered to the chair. “Actually it’s pretty good. I got a callback from Boise.”

  “Yeah?”

  “As well as Oregon.” The words rushed out, and then Chase’s ears turned pink. “And Montana.”

  The kid’s wildest dreams were coming true, and the poor thing looked scared to death.

  Gabe sat up straighter in his chair. “This is a good thing, Chase. This is what you want.”

  “I know. I just . . .” Chase stared at his lap. “They want me to visit the campuses.”

  Gabe couldn’t help the smile. Being a teen could be rough when you suddenly had choices you’d worried would never be presented. “And you want to visit them, right?”

  “I do.” Chase peeked up. “Very much.”

  “Good deal. Explore your options before deciding. There’s no hurry.”

  “I know.” His breaths came harder. “But my mom. She . . .”

  Gabe was aware that Chase’s mother was raising two boys alone, and understanding began to dawn. “I could go with you,” he offered. “If you wanted. If your mom has to work.” It might eat into whatever time he could pull together to be with Erica, but this was important. This was the type of man he wanted to be.

  “My mom says she can work it out with her boss. It’ll be tricky, but she thinks she can do it. It’s just . . . the money.” His words grew thin. “She doesn’t know how we can afford it.”

  “Ah.” Gabe nodded. The boy looked pained, but this, too, could be handled. There was always a way. “I’ll tell you what. You and your mom work out the details, and Coach Mann and I will put our heads together on this.”

  “Yeah?”

  He stood. “Absolutely.” He reached across the desk. “Congratulations, Chase. You’ve got three great schools looking at you. We’ll make sure you get to look at them, too. We won’t let this opportunity pass you by.”

  Relief put a smile on Chase’s face, and soon Gabe once more sat alone in his office. But instead of turning the video back on, he just sat there. Chase would get a scholarship, Gabe had no doubt. The team continued to improve, and with three schools now looking at him, there would be zero chance he’d get passed by.

  He leaned back, true contentment settling inside him for the first time since coming home. His team was doing well, his daughter might still hate him—but she’d been outside for thirty minutes now with a football in her hand—and he’d just spent the morning in the arms of a woman he cared for and respected. And who he was pretty sure thought he wasn’t so bad, either.

  Life was looking up.

  Whe
n his phone rang, the display showing a private caller, he thought nothing about answering it. It could be any number of students or players he’d shared his number with. Except, it turned out to be none of them.

  “Hello, Gabe.”

  His blood froze. “Michelle.”

  He forced himself to breathe normally, ordering himself to come up with something else to say, but all he could do was face the window and stare at his daughter. She was still out there, walking around in the grass, the football once again tucked under her arm. But her friend was nowhere to be found.

  “Why are you calling?” he finally scratched out.

  “I just wanted to talk to you. I’ve missed you. I miss Jenna.”

  “Bullshit.” She never just wanted to do anything. And she’d never missed either one of them.

  “Come on, don’t be like that.” A tiny mewling sound hit his ear. “I know I messed up, but I’ve changed, I swear.”

  “Good for you.” He’d heard the story before. “Maybe it’ll help with your new relationship.”

  “But I want to have a relationship with my daughter, too.” Her words and pleading tone gave voice to the fleeting thought that she had to be performing for someone. Her boyfriend, most likely. But why?

  And why now?

  “I’m busy, Michelle. I’m working. Something you know little about, I’m aware, but it’s what people who don’t have yachts and buckets of money do every day. And we already addressed your relationship with your daughter. You no longer have one. Now, if there’s nothing else?”

  “But there is.” The soft kitten routine disappeared. “I want to see my daughter, Gabe.”

  “No.”

  “I have rights. You can’t keep me from her. The separation agreement granted me visitation.”

  “Which you proved yourself too irresponsible for.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  He pulled the phone back and stared at it. What in the hell was she up to? She knew exactly what he was talking about.

  Forcing his grip to relax before he damaged his phone, he racked his brain to try to figure this out. There was no way she wanted to see Jenna. Not because she cared.