24. Chapter 24

Chapter twenty-four

"I can trust you, right?"

G age and Sydney stayed by the creek until they got cold, then walked back to the house. Their quick walk had ended up taking them two hours and by the time they got home, Gage was tired again.

"Why does everything wear me out so much?"

"Your body is recovering from a trauma. Plus, the pain medication probably makes you drowsy."

He pointed at her. "That. I'm going to go with the pain meds." He yawned. "But I refuse to give in."

She patted him on the chest. "Don't fight it. Go lie down and rest. If you fall asleep. You fall asleep. I brought the laptop from the office. I'll go over the articles for Tuesday's edition. When you come back out, we'll eat some lunch."

"Okay. You win. Or my body wins." He took off his coat and hat, then hung them by the door. "I will see you soon."

"I'll be here."

After cutting herself a slice of pie, Sydney sat at the table with the laptop. Gage had said she was a good journalist. But he was really good. His articles were always interesting, clever, and right on point. He could go to any big newspaper in the country and get a job as a feature writer. But here in Calaway Crossing, he was the editor, writer, photographer, and investigator. And she had no doubt he loved it. No matter how much he might complain about being overwhelmed. Being a perfectionist might be hard on him. But it was great for turning out a quality, informative and interesting edition twice a week.

She opened the laptop and pulled up the current articles, most of which were written by Gage. She had written a few yesterday. But he'd done most of the work and had outlined them. She just had to fill in the blanks.

She'd been at it an hour when she heard a vehicle in front of the house. She went to the door and opened it to Cooper and Cabe getting out of Cooper's truck.

"Hi, guys."

Cooper smiled. "We're here to take care of the killer tree."

"Good. It needs to be gone."

Cabe came around the front of the truck with a chainsaw in his hands. "How's he doing?"

"He's okay. He's not bouncing right back, which is frustrating for him. But he's coming along. He's currently taking a nap."

"Well, we appreciate you taking on the job of watching over him. It would've fallen on my shoulders."

"You two would've been fine."

"Maybe. But I'm sure he prefers you over me."

Cooper nodded. "Are we going to wake him with the chainsaws?"

"I'm pretty sure he won't mind. Getting rid of the tree is more important than more sleep."

"Okay. We're on it, then."

They headed around the house, and Sydney went back inside. A few minutes later, she heard two chainsaws going. It wouldn't take long for them to make the tree disappear. She was halfway through the next article when Gage came out of the bedroom.

He yawned as he came into the kitchen. "The guys are here?"

"Yes."

"Good." He went to the sink and filled a glass with water. "How does the paper look?"

"Looks good to me. But I'd like you to go over it and give it your blessing."

He looked at her empty pie plate. "Over some pie?"

"Sure. Unless you want lunch."

"I think I'll start with pie." He nodded toward the couch. "But I'll have it in there."

"Go sit. Do you want some coffee with it?"

"Beer." She raised an eyebrow, and he smiled. "I haven't had any meds since this morning."

"I'll bring you a beer with your pie. Even though that's kind of weird."

"I'll be on the couch." She handed him the laptop, and he headed for the living room. After cutting him a piece of pie and taking a beer from the refrigerator, she brought both items to him.

He smiled up at her. "Thank you." She sat in the chair and he cocked his head at her. "Come sit over here so we can go over these articles together."

Sydney moved to the couch next to him. "Do you want me to handle the laptop while you eat?"

"Yes, please."

She took it from his lap and opened the file that showed the layout of the front page. From there, you could click each article or photo to get a closer look.

He studied the screen for a moment while he chewed a bite of pie. "It looks good. Organized. Symmetrical." He pointed at the story about his accident. "I don't want that on the front page."

"Like it or not, you getting hurt is big news. You know the rumors are probably flying already. The town needs to know their next mayor is okay and ready to take on the job in a few weeks."

"Fine. Let me see the next page."

"You don't want to read the article about you?"

"No. I trust you." He looked at her. "I can trust you, right?"

"Yes. Just enough details to satisfy everyone's curiosity."

"Okay. Next page then."

They worked their way through the paper, which was only six pages long, with one page dedicated to ads. And one page for the classifieds. He seemed to be happy with it all and only made a couple of changes.

"So it's all good?"

"Yeah. I'd say we're ready to do the final layout on Monday and go to print."

She turned toward him. "On Wednesday, you were in a panic over Thursday's edition. And here it is Saturday and we're ahead for Tuesday."

"That's because I have my Lois Lane back." He took a drink of beer. "And I wasn't in a panic. I just needed some help."

"I will rephrase. You were feeling overwhelmed?"

"Slightly overwhelmed."

"Okay." She closed the laptop and set it on the pine table. "How was that pie?"

"Great. But I'm still hungry."

"Ready for lunch?"

He thought about it. "I think so."

She took his empty pie plate, thought about kissing him and decided against it, then got to her feet. He took her hand.

"Why did you just stop yourself?"

"From what?"

"Kissing me."

She smiled. "I don't want to rush you."

He pulled on her hand, and she bent down and kissed him. "I want you to do what you feel like doing. If I feel rushed, I'll let you know."

"Okay."

While she was in the kitchen making lunch, Cooper knocked on the door, then opened it. "Can we come in?"

"Yes. Get in here."

He and Cabe came through the door in just their socks. Cabe wiggled his toes. "We got a bit muddy."

"Thanks for taking off your boots."

He took Gage's phone from his pants pocket. "Found this buried in a few inches of snow."

"Thanks. I suppose the rice trick won't work after three days."

"Probably not." Cabe set it on a table by the door.

Cooper went to the chair and sat down. "The tree is gone. We stacked the rounds in your woodshed. Come fall, we'll come help you split it, and you'll have wood all winter."

"Thank you."

"Yeah. Probably good we got it done before the storm hits."

"Storm? Not more snow?"

"Rain, actually. Wind, lightning, thunder, and a lot of rain."

"So, a spring storm. It's about damn time. When's it coming?"

Cooper shook his head. "How do you not know about the storm? Most people depend on you for the news around here."

Gage scowled. "I've been a bit out of touch since Thursday morning. No phone. No internet."

"Right. We'll let it slide this time. It should roll in around eight or nine. Then fizzle out in the morning."

Sydney called out from the kitchen area. "I hope you guys are hungry?"

Cooper laughed. "We're always hungry, Sydney."

"Good. I made you a sandwich."

Cabe went to the kitchen table and dragged a chair over near the couch, then sat down. "You look like you're feeling better."

"I am. If I could just get past being tired all the time."

Cooper nodded. "I'm sure that will pass. Just listen to your body."

"Thank you, Dr. Calaway."

Cooper flipped him off, then grinned when he saw Sydney coming with the sandwiches. "I love my brother. I really do."

"I can see that." She handed Cabe a sandwich, then Cooper.

Cabe smiled. "Thank you."

Sydney went to the couch and sat next to Gage before handing him his sandwich. She kept a few feet between them, so as not to give his brothers any hint that things had changed.

Gage glanced at her and gave her a wink, then picked up half of the sandwich. "Looks great. Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Cooper looked at them for a moment, then cocked his head and pointed at them. "What's going on?"

Gage shook his head. "What do you mean?"

"You two aren't at odds anymore."

Gage scowled. "If we were at odds, Sydney wouldn't have offered to spend the weekend babysitting me."

"Right. Yeah, that's not it."

"She's coming back to work. Which I'm very relieved about."

"Hmm." Cooper looked at Cabe. "You're picking up on this too, right?"

"The overt sexual tension? Yeah. I feel it."

Gage sighed, and Sydney blushed before saying, "We're just happy to be working together again."

Gage nodded. "Yeah. So ah…let me give this back to you." He showed Cooper his middle finger.

Sydney laughed. "You guys are like adolescent boys sometimes."

Cabe shook his head. "They are. I'm just sitting here enjoying my sandwich. Which is really good, by the way. You must've brought the ingredients with you."

Cooper and Gage both flipped off Cabe. He ignored them and smiled at Sydney. "I don't suppose my brother has another beer in the fridge."

She got to her feet. "I'll get you all one. It can't make things any worse."