clatter and turned back to the stove to collect the pan of mixed vegetables that had boiled dry and were slightly scorched.
“Um,” his mom said, sliding from the stool. “I should probably head home. Your father will be worried.”
At this time of night, his father would be obliviously asleep in his recliner, but Gabe wasn’t going to argue her out of leaving. He loved his mother dearly, but at times he had a hard time dealing with her unending scrutiny. He simply could not relax in her company.
His mom slipped from her bar stool, gave Melanie an enthusiastic hug, and crooked a finger at Gabe to beckon him to the door.
“Go ahead and start without me,” he said to Melanie. “I know you’re hungry.”
“She must be if she’s willing to eat your cooking,” his mom teased.
Melanie made a show of heaping her plate with spaghetti-less spaghetti and scorched vegetables. It warmed his heart to have her so firmly in his corner. His mother was not a person easily crossed.
At the door, his mother gave him a quick hug. “She’s wonderful,” she said approvingly. “Don’t let her get away.”
“If you didn’t manage to scare her off, I don’t think she’s going anywhere.”
Beau stood up from his place on the rug by the door and nudged his mom’s hand to receive his customary scratch behind the ears. She obliged enthusiastically. “Where’s Lady?”
“She’s at the animal clinic,” he said. “She got hit by a truck this afternoon.”
“Oh my God,” she said. “Why didn’t you tell me? Was she seriously hurt?”
He nodded. “Yeah, but the vet thinks she’ll pull through.”
Kathy patted his cheek. “You should have called, Boo. We could have helped you with her.”
His mother hadn’t called him Boo in over ten years. What was up with her tonight?
“Melanie helped me out.”
She smiled. “She’ll make a great mother for my grandchildren.”
Gabe’s stomach sank, and his balls tried to hide in his belly. Grandchildren? What the fuck? His mother had known Melanie for less than half an hour and already had her popping out Banner offspring? Wasn’t that a tad premature?
He opened the door. “Love you, mom.”
She beamed and shrugged her shoulders up to her ears in a very girlish gesture he had never witnessed out of her in his entire life. “Love you too, Boo.”
She practically skipped across the porch, and Gabe gaped at her, wondering when pod people had invaded the earth. Who was that woman? She looked like his mother, but she sure wasn’t acting like her.
When she was safely inside her Cadillac, he closed the door, made sure to lock it this time, and returned to the kitchen. Beau followed at Gabe’s heels, looking for a bite to eat, no doubt.
“I think my mom has a girl crush on you,” Gabe said to Melanie as he scooped food onto two plates—one for himself and another with extra, extra meatballs for his dog.
“She was certainly interested in getting to know me,” Melanie said. “But she seemed really nice.”
“That”—he pointed at Mel with his fork and shook his head—“is what worries me.”
Chapter Twenty
The next morning, Gabe left Melanie and Beau to sleep and climbed in his truck to go visit Lady.
Lady was so happy to see him, the vet assistant threatened to make him leave the room so the dog didn’t pull out her stitches with her overenthusiastic tail wagging. Lady tried to get up to greet him, but didn’t make it to her feet. He didn’t know if it was weakness or the awkwardness of her cast, but he figured she shouldn’t be standing anyway. He entered her temporary kennel and sat on the concrete floor beside where she lay on a thick pallet. He petted her face, head, and shoulders, careful to avoid the large white bandage on her side and the cast on her foreleg. He bent to kiss her whiskery nose and said, “What am I going to do with you while I’m on the road for the next two weeks? Do you think you can stand it in here for that long?”
She whined piteously and swatted at him with her good leg.
“I know it’s not ideal, but I can’t imagine taking care of you on the tour bus. Your regular dog sitter can only come out once a day, but maybe I can hire someone else to stay with you fulltime.”
The vet assistant was working at a counter at the end of the cavernous room, but she apparently had good hearing.
“Why don’t you take her to your parents’ house?” she suggested. “They’re good people. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind taking care of Lady while you’re gone.”
One problem with living in a small community was that everyone knew who your parents were and everyone knew all your business.
“They’re busy,” Gabe said.
“Lady can stay here while you’re gone, but she’s sure to get really lonesome. Some dogs get so depressed when they’re injured and abandoned that they fail to thrive and…” She shrugged.
He didn’t want to think about what she meant by that shrug. Lady was the type of dog that craved constant attention. And his parents liked his dogs. Maybe they wouldn’t mind keeping her at their place for a couple weeks. Well, the entire summer if he was being truthful about the matter. But maybe in a few weeks Lady would be able to stay at her own home without constant care and supervision.
“If they’re too busy,” Gabe said, “would you be interested in keeping her for a couple weeks? I could pay you.”
She chuckled. “I don’t think my cats would appreciate that. And Lady is a high-strung dog. She’d be much calmer around people she knows. Besides, your mom is a people doctor, so I think she could handle the limited care for an injured dog. And doesn’t your dad have the summer off?”
How did the woman know so much about him? He couldn’t place where he knew her from, but he must know her fairly well. Of course, her back was to him, so he couldn’t see her face clearly.
“He works on his research over the summer,” Gabe said. But compared to his school-year schedule, summers were a lot less busy for his physics-professor father.
Gabe guessed he could try persuading his parents to help out and if that didn’t work, he’d see if any of his local friends would watch over Lady. If all else failed, he’d pack her up on the tour bus and try to keep her as calm as possible. He didn’t really see that as a reasonable option. Maybe Melanie would be willing to take her back to her apartment in Kansas. But how would they transport her there? He doubted Lady was in good enough condition to fly. And Melanie had work and other life responsibilities, so he couldn’t expect her to stay at his place to take care of his dog.
He sighed. Yep, parents, it was.
Even though it made the most sense to ask them for assistance, he hated to ask them for any help. It must remind them of what a disappointment he was to them.
“So how are your sisters?” the vet tech asked, as if to shred his pride a little more. Neither of them were disappointments to their parents. “I haven’t heard from Leslie in years.”
Gabe suddenly recalled that the tech and Leslie had been in the same graduating class in high school. She’d been one of popular-cheerleader-Leslie’s many, many friends.
“She’s in Boston finishing up her second residency,” Gabe said.
“I always knew she’d be a doctor. Smart as a whip.”
Following in her mother’s footsteps.
“And Jennifer?” the tech asked.
“Associate Professor of Mathematics at MIT.”
Another doctor in the family. Gabe was the only one without any letters behind his name. Hell, he hadn’t even finished his bachelor’s degree. He was surprised his family hadn’t disowned him already. Even his grandparents on both sides were either medical doctors or had their PhDs.
“And then there’s the black sheep of the family—their little brother, the famous rock star,” the tech teased, turning from her work at the counter to grin at him. “How did that happen in a family of brainiacs?”
Gabe shrugged. “Debauchery by
proximity.”
“Ah yes, so how is Jacob Silverton, Mr. Debauchery himself?”
Jacob would have graduated with Leslie and the tech-whose-name-escaped-him if he’d actually finished school. Even Gabe’s tutoring hadn’t kept Jacob in school long enough to earn his high school diploma.
“He’s fine,” Gabe said, not wanting to revisit old times.
“And Adam? I heard he’s had a few episodes of overdosing and is lucky to be alive.”
One of many reasons why Adam never wanted to come home. People talked, a lot, and for some reason it made them feel better about their own pathetic lives to focus on the worst part of a successful person’s plight.
“He’s doing well.” Thanks to Madison, he added silently. No way was Gabe going to feed the small town gossip.
“I always figured Jake and Adam would be famous rock stars one day, but I wouldn’t have put my money on you becoming one.”
Gabe shrugged. That would have made two of them.
“You were the geekiest thing in high school,” she added with a nostalgic laugh.
Okay, ouch. Enough already.
“So can I take Lady home today?” he asked, hoping to deter the woman from further prying and from delivering additional kicks to his pride.
“I doubt Dr. Nelson will release her just yet, but I’ll go ask her.”
Gabe stroked Lady’s soft fur absently as he waited for the tech to return. He wondered how different his life would have been if Jacob hadn’t recruited him as the drummer of Sole Regret. Would he have been happier as a geeky physicist? He doubted it. His current life rocked. But he supposed he’d never know. Even though he wondered about what he could have made of himself had he chosen differently, he didn’t regret leaving college. He didn’t even regret being the odd man out in his family of doctors. He would probably always wonder what he could have been if he’d taken a different path, but didn’t everyone?
The tech returned and leaned over the kennel door.
“Dr. Nelson thinks Lady should stay at least one more night. Can you pick her up tomorrow?”
“It’ll have to be early. I have to catch a flight back to New Orleans in the morning.”
“You could always ask one of your parents to come get her.”
And after all his mental back and forth, he still didn’t want to ask them for assistance. But he would. For Lady’s sake.
“I’ll make it work,” he said. He bent low to kiss Lady on the head and closed the door to the large kennel behind him as he let himself out. “Be a good dog,” he said in parting. She didn’t open her eyes, so he doubted that she’d heard him. She didn’t know how to be a good dog anyway, but it didn’t stop him from loving her.
On his way back home, he thought about driving past his house and to the stately colonial a mile down the road, but he was missing Melanie already, so he turned in to his drive instead of going directly to his parents. He found her sitting on the front porch steps, Beau at her hip, while she stared at her phone with a scowl on her face.
Beau wagged a greeting, but Melanie only offered Gabe a slight nod when he dropped down beside her on the step. He’d been hoping to find her still in bed so he could wake her with an orgasm and a smile.
“Something wrong?” he asked.
“I still haven’t heard from Nikki. It’s been two nights, Gabe. I’m really worried about her. Do you think I should call the hotel?”
“Will it make you feel better?”
“Only if she answers.”
He cupped the back of her head and slid his hand down to give her neck an encouraging squeeze. “I’m sure she’s fine, but go ahead and call her so you can stop worrying.”
She stared at her phone for a solid minute. “She’s probably still asleep at this hour. Maybe she’s learned to be responsible and doesn’t need me, so that’s why she hasn’t returned my calls or texts.”
“If she’d learn to be responsible, she would have returned them so you didn’t worry about her.”
Melanie sighed and nodded. “If she hasn’t called by noon, I’ll call the hotel.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
She shoved her phone into the pocket of her shorts and smiled at him. “I missed you this morning. How is Lady doing?”
He’d left Melanie a note by a freshly brewed pot of coffee explaining where he’d gone. Apparently, she’d found it and had been able to read his illegible scrawl.
“She was awake for a while and she knew who I was. She looks pretty beat up, though. I have to find someone to take care of her while I’m on the road.”
“I wish I could help, Gabe, but there’s just no way.”
He took her hand and held it. “I know, baby. Don’t look so guilty. I was thinking of asking my parents to watch her, I just…” Need you there to support me. “…uh, thought maybe you’d like to go with me so my mother can fawn over you some more.”
“Will I get to meet your dad?”
“He should be home. He occasionally takes a Sunday off.”
“Let me get my shoes.”
She let Beau into the house with her. Gabe closed his eyes, basking in the Texas heat, listening to the serenity around him. Except for the hum of insects, the occasional chirp of a bird, and a persistent toad croaking in the distance, his ears were blessed with silence. His home life was so different from his life on the road. And he was ready to share it with someone special. But was someone special ready to share it with him? He’d wait a while before asking her. He didn’t need to rush. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her away by moving too quickly.
The screen door bumped closed, and he glanced over his shoulder at Melanie, who had her shoes on now. She also had all of her hair stuffed under the cowboy hat she wore.
“Nice hat,” he said.
“I wouldn’t want to offend your parents with my bed hair,” she said.
He almost said that if his hair didn’t offend them, nothing would, but his hair did offend them. “You look cute,” he said, “but you know I love that hair of yours, even when birds are eyeing it as nesting material.”
She laughed. “Not birds,” she said. “Raccoons.”
Since it was only a mile to his parents’ house, he convinced Melanie to ride with him on one of his ATVs and take the scenic route. He made her trade her cowboy hat for a helmet and zoomed across a pasture, weaved through trees in a bumpy wooded area, and splashed through a creek at the bottom of a heart-stoppingly steep hill before skidding to a stop behind his childhood home. While Gabe’s log house blended with the woods and the scenery, his parents’ stately colonial looked like it belonged in a Louisiana bayou. It was impressive, to say the least.
“That was fun!” Melanie said breathlessly.
“Better than fishing?”
“Well, dryer than fishing,” she said.
He wiped a few splatters of mud from her bare leg. “Potentially,” he said.
“Gabriel!” his father called from the back porch. He pulled himself out of his favorite rocking chair, using a heavy wooden cane for assistance, and hobbled down the steps on his stiff left leg to meet them in the yard. Melanie took off her helmet and attempted to smooth her untamed hair. It was a losing cause; raccoons were already closing in.
“Is this the young lady that has your mama mooning about grandbabies again?”
“Nice, Dad. Let’s terrify her before you’ve even been introduced,” Gabe said. “This is my old man, Luke. And this is my new girlfriend, Melanie.”
Melanie’s gaze darted to Gabe’s as he tried out the girlfriend word for the first time, but she didn’t make him retract the statement, so he was feeling pretty good about his prospects of making it a reality.
His dad extended his tanned and weathered left hand because his right was tightly gripping his cane. Melanie naturally extended her right hand so instead of shaking hands, they ended up awkwardly holding hands, but her charming giggle melted the old man on the spot. Gabe was feeling pretty good about that too.
> “Come up on the porch in the shade,” his dad said. “You’ll bake your brain in this heat.”
By the time they made it to the porch, his mother had brought out a pitcher of iced tea and four glasses.
“So glad you stopped by,” she said. “Even though my Gabriel only lives a mile down the road, I hardly ever see him.”