35. Chapter 35

Chapter thirty-five

"And who do you talk to now, big brother?"

W hen Gage walked into the clinic, Journee saw him and came around the counter to give him a hug.

"Are you okay?"

He stepped back from her embrace. "I'm fine. Is Corbyn free?"

"He's in between patients. He'll be in his office."

"Thanks." Even though his four Ambrose cousins were too young to remember Seth, they knew the story. And Journee knew why Gage was there. He headed down the hallway to Corbyn's office.

The door was slightly ajar, and he pushed it open a few more inches.

"Corbyn. Can I come in?"

Corbyn got to his feet. "Of course." He came around his desk and went to Gage as he came through the door. He shook his hand and patted his shoulder. "How are you doing?"

Gage nodded. "I expect I'm doing about as well as you are."

Corbyn motioned toward a chair. "Have a seat."

Gage sat and Corbyn went behind his desk and sat in the antique oak desk chair that came with the office. It matched the desk, which was big and heavy and was probably purchased in the early part of the twentieth century. Gage suspected that aside from nostalgia, the desk remained through multiple doctors over the years, because no one wanted to attempt to move it. It was a lot like the one in his office, which had been there when Lawrence had bought the building.

Corbyn straightened some papers on his desk. "Have you talked to Sydney yet?"

"I'm going to see her next."

Corbyn nodded. "Um…apparently she was concerned about you yesterday and she talked to Remy."

"I was a little…or a lot indifferent when she saw me."

"He told her why you were…indifferent."

Gage leaned back in his chair. "So she knows?"

"Yeah. And, honestly, I think you should've told her yourself."

"I've never told anyone outside of the family."

"I know. But Sydney isn't just anyone. Sydney is special. And I think you know that now."

"I do."

"And don't be pissed at Remy. He was just doing what he thought was best."

"I'm not pissed. At myself, maybe. But not at Remy."

"Where did you spend the night?"

"I went about five miles down the creek. Stopped just pass little waterfall."

Corbyn laughed. "I'm not sure anyone but us would call that a waterfall."

"It seemed like a waterfall when we were floating down it on inner tubes."

"That's true. We thought we were quite the adventurers."

"How old was Clem when we sent her down?"

"Three, I think."

"Shit."

"Yeah. Mom was not happy when she heard about that. She didn't speak to Uncle Rand for a week, since he was with us and didn't stop us from sending her baby down the creek."

Gage laughed. "Yeah. But the best thing we did was put her on that sled, then tie it to the sheep."

Corbyn shook his head. "That was you and Cooper. I wasn't involved in that stunt."

"Mom caught us as we were about to let Shelly the sheep take off."

Corbyn leaned forward on the desk. "Despite losing Seth. We had a damn good childhood, Gage. And that's what you need to concentrate on."

"I know. And I do, the rest of the year."

"Sharing it with Sydney will make it easier. Once I told Julianna, it made April fifteenth much easier to navigate."

"I'm beginning to understand that having someone to talk to makes a lot of things easier to navigate."

"It does."

"And who do you talk to now, big brother?"

"That is one thing I miss about being in a relationship."

"You need to get yourself back out there."

Corbyn sat up straight in his chair. "Probably not going to happen. I'm fine. Rose and I have it all figured out."

"Not quite the same."

"But it works for me."

Gage stood. "I call bullshit on that. But you keep telling yourself that you're fine."

Corbyn looked up at him. "Says the man who has hardly even dated in his thirty years."

"But now, that has changed. And I get it." He moved toward the door. "I'll see you around."

"Wednesday. I'll be at your swearing in."

"Right. The swearing in. Can't wait."

"Bye, Mayor Calaway."

He gave Corbyn a wave as he went to the door. "See you Wednesday, Dr. Calaway."

Gage wasn't sure where Sydney would be. It wasn't her responsibility to open the office when he didn't show up. But she probably did. She'd be there running things without him asking her to do so. He drove to the office and saw Sydney's car parked out front.

When he went inside, she was talking to Brian, who owned the grocery store. They both looked at him when he came through the door.

"Afternoon, Gage."

"Brian."

"I'm just dropping off my ads for Tuesday's edition."

"Great. Sydney can handle it." He looked at her. "I'll be in my office."

She nodded and turned her attention back to Brian, while Gage went to his office and closed the door. He stopped and looked around. Sydney had cleaned up the mess he left behind yesterday. Something else he didn't expect her to do. But it didn't surprise him.

He sat at his desk and moved a couple of items around that weren't in the right place. He liked his desk how he liked his desk.

When Sydney knocked on his door, he got up and opened it. She looked apprehensive, and he stepped back to let her in.

She looked at him. "I'm sorry I straightened up. I didn't want you to come back to a mess. Not that it was a mess. But for you…"

He took her hand. "Thank you."

She took a breath. "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay." He let go of her hand and returned to his chair. "Have a seat." Sydney sat. "I know Remy filled you in on the reason for my behavior yesterday."

"Please don't be mad at him."

"I'm not mad." He looked at her for a moment. "Instead of being an asshole yesterday, I should've told you myself. I just never felt close enough to anyone to talk about it."

She shook her head. "I'm so sorry you went through that. Your whole family. It's devastating."

He nodded. "Yeah. I guess we all deal with it in our own way. Everyone else manages to do that without turning into a bastard once a year, though."

"I understand. It's how you cope. Where did you go after you left the office?"

"I took a hike down the creek. I always spend the night out by myself. Sometimes two. But last night Cooper and Cabe showed up."

"I'm sure they were worried about you."

"It was comforting. I'm beginning to think I've been going about this all wrong."

"I'm here for you, Gage. Whatever you need."

"I know. And I'm sorry I didn't realize that until today. So, can you forgive me for being an ass yesterday and not telling you about this sooner?"

"Of course."

He smiled. "Good. Thank you for coming in today."

"I'm not going to leave the office closed just because the editor needed to take a personal day."

"I think I need to promote you."

She smiled. "I wouldn't be opposed to that."

"How does assistant editor sound?"

"It sounds good. But I'm kind of used to working two jobs these last few weeks. And my job as your social liaison is over now that you're the mayor elect."

"Hmm. Well, how about we keep that position going? But we give it a new name."

"Like what?"

"The mayor's girlfriend and escort to all social events."

She nodded. "I can work with that."

"Good."

Sydney cocked her head. "Do either of these promotions come with a raise?"

Gage grinned. "I believe the Calaway Report can afford to bump up your wages some. And as for the other, it comes with some perks."

"Really? Like what?"

He shrugged. "You get to sleep with the mayor."

Sydney laughed. "Good perk. But I'm already doing that."

He pointed at her. "No. You're sleeping with the mayor elect."

"Right. Okay. I gratefully accept both promotions."

"Great. Your first assignment as the mayor's girlfriend is to order dinner to go, then escort him to his house in the woods."

"Will I be coming home tonight?"

He shook his head. "Nope."

She stood. "I'll go get that food ordered."

"And put a sign on the door. We'll open again Monday morning."

Gage and Sydney were sitting on the front porch. They'd just finished the meal she'd ordered from the tavern, and she reached for his hand.

"Will you tell me about him?"

Gage was quiet for a moment. "We were inseparable. We did everything together. The twin connection thing was strong with us." He turned in his seat toward her. "I'll never be completely whole." She nodded, and he went on. "He was more outgoing than I was. My parents told me when we were toddlers, he did all the talking for us. They were a little afraid I'd grow up in his shadow, and that once we got to school, he continue being our voice. But they didn't have the heart to separate us. And I did just fine. In fact, I got in trouble for talking in class more than he did."

"You must miss him terribly."

"I do. And I always will."

"Can you tell me what you were looking for in your office yesterday morning?"

Gage took his wallet from his pocket, then removed the baseball card. He handed it to her.

"Is this valuable?"

Gage shook his head. "Only to me. The guy only lasted a couple of seasons in the majors. But I gave it to Seth for our birthday."

"Oh." She studied the card for a moment, then gave it back to him. "What did he give you?"

Gage put his wallet into his pocket, then took out his key ring and showed her a small silver key. "This is the key to a buried treasure."

"What was it?"

Gage shrugged. "I don't know. I never opened it. He'd hidden it in a secret spot we had in the barn. It's still there."

"Aren't you curious about what's in it?"

"I think about it once in a while. Someday I'll open it."

She stood, then sat in his lap. "I love you, Gage. I hope you know that."

"I do." He grinned. "It's kind of obvious." She leaned against him and put her head on his shoulder. He kissed the top of her head. "I love you, too."

She whispered, "It's kind of obvious."

Gage laughed. "I think it's time we take advantage of that girlfriend of the mayor perk."

She sat up and looked at him. "You are the boss."