Chapter 11: Gabrielle

Chapter 11 – Gabrielle

“So, how’d it go in Denver?” Hannah asks from behind the check-in desk. She looks hopeful. “Did you find everything you needed?”

“I did.” I hand her the itemized invoice. “I wrote a check for the deposit today. The balance will be due when they deliver and install everything.”

Her eyes widen a bit when she sees the final price, but she doesn’t balk. She knew how much this would likely cost. Instead, she nods. “Excellent. Did they say when they’d deliver everything?”

“In two weeks. That’s not bad.”

“Let me know if you need help with any prep work before then. We can all chip in and lend a hand. You don’t have to do it all alone.”

“Thank you—”

“Ladies, hello!”

We both look toward the sound of an eager male voice.

“Sheriff!” Hannah says. “What brings you here? I hope you’re not here to arrest someone.” She winks at me.

Chris chuckles. “Not a chance. I just thought I’d pop in for dinner.” He meets my gaze directly. “Hi, Gabrielle. It’s good to see you again. Burke told me about your trip to Denver. I hope it went well.”

I nod. “It did. We’re getting a brand new commercial kitchen installed in a couple of weeks.”

“Glad to hear it.” He points down the hall. “I’d better grab some food before it’s all gone. Any chance there’s some of that apple crisp left?”

“I’m afraid not,” I tell him. “I’ll have to get more apples.”

“You should.” He takes a few steps, then pauses and looks back. “Have you had dinner yet, Gabrielle?”

I have to give him credit for his tenacity. “I haven’t. But John and I ate a late lunch in Denver, and I’m stuffed. I’ll probably skip dinner altogether.”

He nods. “Well, then, I guess I’ll see you later.” He tips the brim of his uniform hat. “Ladies.”

Hannah gives him a little wave. “See you later, Chris.” She watches him until he disappears from sight. “He’s been coming around here an awful lot lately.”

“Who has?” Killian asks as he comes out of the back office holding a stack of papers.

“Chris,” she says. “He was here yesterday, and he’s here again today.”

“I can tell you exactly why he keeps comin’ here,” Killian says, nodding at me. “He’s taken a fancy to our new kitchen manager.”

I laugh. “Oh, I sincerely doubt that.” I try to sound shocked at the idea.

Killian shows the papers in his hand to Hannah. “Where are we keeping the invoices for horse feed?”

“I made a folder in the filing cabinet. It’s listed under ‘feed.’”

“Thanks,” he says. He glances at the paper in his hand. “Man, horses eat a lot.” After planting a kiss on the side of Hannah’s head, he returns to the office.

“So,” Hannah says once we’re alone again. “How’d it go with Burke?”

Immediately, my mood takes a nosedive. I shrug. “Fine, why?”

“Just asking.”

“Everything was perfectly fine. And it wasn’t a date, in case you were wondering.” I can’t help the bitterness in my tone. “He made sure I knew that.”

Hannah looks surprised. “What are you talking about?”

“I tried to pay for lunch—to thank him for driving me—and apparently that hurt his masculine feelings.” I lower my voice to mimic his. “The man pays.”

“Oh.” Hannah looks as confused as I feel. “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, so am I. I was just trying to be nice to the guy, and he got all bent out of shape over it.” I blow out a frustrated breath and shake my head. “Men. I’ll never understand them.”

“Well, forget about that. Hey, I wanted to ask you—do you want to come to girls’ night out tonight? It’ll be me, Maggie, Jennie, Ruth, and Maya. You should join us. We’ll have some drinks—well, except for Maggie, who’s nursing—and maybe play some pool.”

A girls’ night out sounds like the perfect antidote to the frustration I’m feeling after how my afternoon with John ended. “I’d love to. Thanks for the invite.”

“Let’s plan to leave after the dinner clean-up. Around nine?”

“Sounds perfect.”

I leave Hannah and head to the restaurant. On my way, I spot Maya relaxing in the lounge, staring at her phone. I think she’s reading. “Hey,” I say, waving. She must have recently returned from an outing because she’s still wearing her hiking boots.

She waves back. “Hey, girl. How’d it go in Denver? I heard you bought a new kitchen.”

“I did. And it went well, for the most part.”

“What does that mean?” she asks.

“Nothing. Never mind. It’s not important.”

“Are you coming to GNO tonight?” Maya asks.

“Yes. I’m looking forward to it.” I gesture toward the restaurant. “Have you eaten?”

“Not yet. I’m waiting on Hicks. We just got in from a hike, and he’s still getting dolled up.”

Speak of the devil, Travis appears. His dark brown hair is damp, so I presume he recently got out of the shower.

Maya gets to her feet and motions for Travis to follow her. “Come on, pal. I’m starving.”

“You didn’t have to wait for me, Maya,” he says as he falls into step behind her.

“I know,” Maya says. The rest of her reply is muffled as they’ve turned the corner to the hallway that leads to the restaurant.

I follow after them and take over manning the host podium from Tammy. It looks like she’s helping out in the restaurant this evening, which explains why Hannah was manning the check-in desk. “Thanks, Tammy. I’ll take it from here.”

“Great. I’ll be at the front desk if you need me.” And then she practically skips out of the restaurant on her way back to the lobby.

A group of three women walk into the restaurant, dressed in jeans and tight T-shirts with very low necklines, all looking a bit disheveled. They’re laughing about something, practically giggling like school girls even though it’s been years since they were in anything resembling a school. I’d put them in their mid-thirties.

“How many?” I ask. “Three of you?”

The one in front, a tall striking blonde, nods. “Yes, thanks.”

“Were you out hiking?” I ask, trying to make small talk.

“No,” the blonde says. “We just had riding lessons.”

“Horseback riding?” I’m confused because John was with me all afternoon.

“Yes,” says a petite brunette. She laughs as she rubs her backside. “God, my ass is sore.”

“I know who can make it feel better,” the blonde says.

All three women laugh, as if they’re sharing an inside joke.

“Who did you have riding lessons with?” I ask, still confused. “John—Burke wasn’t here this afternoon.”

“With his assistant,” the brunette says. “Norma? Nora? Something like that.”

“Nora,” the blonde says. “We were having lessons today in preparation for our trail ride with Burke tomorrow. It’s just the three of us and that sexy cowboy. We have him all to ourselves.” She wiggles her eyebrows.

“I’ll need more than one day with the cowboy,” the brunette says, and again the women laugh.

“Ew, you can have him,” the third woman says. Her light brown hair is cut in a wedge. She rolls her eyes. “Have you seen his face?” She shudders. “No thanks. He looks like Freddy Krueger.”

For a moment, I freeze, and my skin tightens all over. I want to wring that woman’s neck. How dare she talk about John that way? How dare she talk about any disfigured person that way? It’s mean and hateful and—

“Excuse me, but would you mind seating us now?” the blonde asks. “It’s getting late, and we’re starving.”

“Of course.” Mentally, I shake myself. I don’t think Hannah would appreciate me ripping these women new ones in front of the other guests. But inwardly, that’s exactly what I want to do.

I lead them to a corner table.

Two of them order the dinner special for tonight—Betty made chicken and dumplings—and the third one orders a Cobb salad. All three order glasses of white wine.

As I head to the kitchen to prepare their orders, that woman’s hateful words reverberate in my head. I’m so tempted to dump her Cobb salad into her lap.

For the rest of the dinner period, I’m fuming over the way she described John.

I return to their table once more to ask if they need anything.

“Well, I still think he’s hot,” the blonde says. It appears they’re still discussing John.

The brunette takes a sip of her wine. “Brittany, you’d do anyone wearing a cowboy hat, admit it.”

The blonde—Brittany—laughs. “That is true, Krista.”

“You can both have him,” says the light-brown pixie cut. “I’ll take the big Cajun. He’s sex on a stick.”

The brunette—the one apparently named Krista—says, “Shut up, Andrea! I already said I have dibs on him.”

“No, you said you had dibs on the sheriff.” Andrea points across the dining room to where Chris is seated.

Krista laughs. “He’s cute, but he’s too young for me. I’m no cougar.”

Amidst the fresh laughter, I have a hard time getting their attention. “Is there anything else I can get you?” The sooner I get away, the better, before I say something I might regret later.

“I think we’re good,” Brittany says.

“So, you’re going on a trail ride tomorrow?” I’m just clarifying. “With Burke?”

“Yes,” Krista says. “We’re riding up to some lake, where we’ll stop and have lunch. Then we ride back.”

“What time do you leave?” I ask.

“We’re supposed to meet at the barn at eight o’clock,” Brittany says.

At the end of the dinner period, I run outside and across the parking lot to the big red barn across the way. Sure enough, John is there, standing at the pasture fence, watching the horses nibbling on grass.

“I’ve decided to take you up on the offer to tag along on tomorrow’s trail ride.”

He nods. “Great. Meet here at eight, dressed for riding.”

“Okay. I’ll be here.”

As I walk back to the lodge, to help with the kitchen clean-up, I’m wondering if I’ve lost my mind. I’ve only had the one riding lesson, and now I’m going to spend hours on a horse riding up into the mountains. I don’t know what possessed me to do such a reckless thing. I guess it was because I was pissed off after hearing those women talk about John like he’s a sex object or criticizing his scars. I thought he should have a friend on the ride. And I do, at least, consider myself his friend.

This afternoon, he made it clear we weren’t on a date, but he never said we couldn’t be friends.