ChristmasisComing (14 page)

“Stone her. Run her out of town!”

Gaby didn’t see who made the comment, but
they were stomping on her last nerve. “Get out of my way so I can leave and get
out of your sight. I wouldn’t want to offend you for longer than necessary.”

“You can’t leave the scene of the crime,” a
man shouted. “You ran her down.”

A gasp of shock emerged from Gaby. This
wasn’t a crime scene, not unless they counted the felony of narrow minds and
gossiping old biddies. “I haven’t done anything wrong.”

Without warning, a tomato flew through the
air, hitting her square in the chest. On the verge of over-ripeness, the tomato
exploded on impact, squirting smelly juice over her black and white dress.
Silence descended on the car park until someone snickered, breaking the hush.

“The perfect punishment,” someone cried.
“Pelt the scarlet woman with rotten tomatoes.”

Horrified, Gaby tried to climb back inside
her car but rough hands halted her escape.

The tomatoes she’d glimpsed earlier pelted
her from myriad directions, the crowd roaring for her blood. She spied Rachel
and two of her friends chortling in delight then lost sight of them as the
crowd closed around her, roaring insults and flinging tomatoes.

Only the whine of a police siren halted the
tomato throwing. Slowly, Gaby let her protective hands fall from her face. A
tomato hit her face so hard, she saw stars. Clutching her head, she slumped
against her car.

The siren ceased. Thank goodness. Gaby
concentrated on breathing, wincing when the cult woman started caterwauling
again.

“What’s going on here?” Luke’s hard voice
stopped the woman short.

The crowd started talking at once.

“She ran over a woman and tried to leave
without rendering assistance.”

“She’s a criminal.”

“Arrest that woman.”

Footsteps stalked past her, but Gaby didn’t
open her eyes to look up. Instead she concentrated on holding her emotions
together. She refused to fall apart and give the crowd the satisfaction of
knowing they’d broken her.

A groan came from the front of her vehicle
along with a masculine murmur. Another police car arrived and the crowd started
to disperse.

“Gaby, you’re bleeding,” Richard Morgan
said.

Gaby lifted her head, focusing with
difficulty. “It’s rotten tomato. I wouldn’t come any closer if I were you.”

“What happened?”

“The women from the cult surrounded my car
when I tried to leave. One fell down.”

“That’s a lie. She ran over my friend.
She’s injured her back and can’t move.”

Gaby couldn’t believe these people. The
woman was twisting the truth. “I—”

“I insist you charge her with attempted
murder,” one of the cult women said.

“Hear! Hear!” another woman agreed.

An ambulance arrived and two medical staff
checked the woman before placing her in a stretcher, loading her up and driving
away.

Unbelievable. She was positive she hadn’t
touched the woman with her car, not that anyone wanted to accept her version of
events.

“You’d better come down to the station,”
Luke said.

“But—”

“He’s arresting her,” one of the women
said.

“About time,” someone else said,
satisfaction ringing through her tone.

Stony faced, Gaby glared at Luke. “What
about my groceries? There are perishables in there.”

Richard’s expression held concern. “Go with
Luke, Gaby. I’ll get one of the constables to drive your car home. Are Fletch
and Liam there?”

“Yes.” Gaby squeezed her eyes shut for an
instant, fighting the sting of tears. She would
not
give anyone the
satisfaction of crying in public. “Tell them to unpack the groceries. I’ll see
them at home.”

Richard frowned. “Don’t you want them to
come and collect you?”

“No.” She’d lose her struggle to keep
herself together if she let them collect her.

Richard exchanged a glance with his son and
gave a curt nod. “I’ll make sure your car and groceries get home.”

Luke took her arm and escorted her to his
car. He opened the rear door and waited until she was inside before closing the
door. The last humiliation. She sucked in a deep breath and focused on the
process. In. Out. As they drove out of the parking lot she caught a glimpse of
Rachel standing outside the supermarket building, a toothy smirk on her face
and, for the first time in her life, Gaby wanted to commit murder.

Chapter Thirteen

Gaby maintained a stony silence while Luke
escorted her through the front entrance of the Sloan police station.

A local farmer was present, making a report
about damage to his fences by the local high school students. With exams almost
over and Christmas holidays in sight, the students were starting to get up to
pranks. The farmer’s exasperated voice rose in anger and he started to harangue
the constable attending to him.

“In here,” Luke said, directing her into a
room with a battered desk and two chairs. “Hell, you stink. My car is never
gonna smell the same.”

Hurt sliced through Gaby, sending her a
step closer to tears. “Being pelted with tomatoes wasn’t my idea of a fun
time.”

“You’re gonna have a black eye,” Luke said,
inspecting her more closely.

“Figures.”

“You want to risk a cup of our coffee?”

“Sure. Make it black with one sugar.” Gaby
dropped onto one of the available chairs and slumped, holding her head in her
hands once Luke departed. Alone, she catalogued her aches and pains. A nagging
headache stilled gripped her while her eye and the entire right side of her
face throbbed in concert. To top it off, her dress bore big splotches of stinky
red tomato juice. Ruined. Even if she could get out the stains, the idea of
wearing the dress again, with the associated memories, didn’t seem likely.

“Here you go.” Luke slid a mug across the
table toward her.

Grateful for something to concentrate on,
she cupped the mug in her hands. The warmth of the chunky china seeped into her
hands, doing nothing to dispel the physical lethargy that had crept into her
since she’d taken a seat. She was so tired of this, of being unable to appear
in public without worrying about the reactions of people she met during the
course of her outing. She was sick of the snubs, the catty comments. She was
just plain tired.

“Tell me what happened,” Luke said.

“I’ve told you.” Frustration laced her
response.

“Tell me again, right from the start.”

With an exasperated sigh, Gaby recapped her
visit to the supermarket, leaving not one boring detail out. Luke jotted notes
as she spoke. When she’d finished, he leaned back in his chair, tapping his pen
against one muscled thigh.

“That’s not what the witnesses I spoke to
said.”

“Are you implying I’m a liar?”

Luke straightened, studying her through
narrowed eyes. “Of course not. All I’m saying is the eyewitness reports appear
to differ from what you’ve told me.”

“Fine,” she gritted out. “Charge me. Lock
me up. Do whatever you have to do.”

Someone tapped on the door. “Come in,” Luke
said, still studying her closely.

Richard opened the door. “There’s a phone
call for you.”

“Can’t it wait?”

“It’s an eyewitness. The supermarket
situation.”

Gaby’s mouth twisted. Oh yeah. She’d created
a situation all right. Her life was one big situation and, frankly, she
couldn’t take much more.

Luke left and Richard joined her in the
room. Richard screwed up his nose. “It honks in here. Maybe I’ll leave the door
open.”

“I don’t need watching.”

“Of course you don’t,” Richard said,
setting his weight on the chair. “Hinekiri liked your sex toy. I think she’s
getting Janaya one for Christmas.”

Gaby appreciated his attempt to initiate a
normal conversation, not that sex toys were normal. Richard was a good man as
was his son Luke. The trouble was the only witnesses were the cult women, and
they were lying through their teeth.

Luke arrived back. “Who served you in the
supermarket?”

“A young girl. She looked like one of the
Proctors.”

Luke nodded. “She said she was on a break
after she served you. She went outside to have a cigarette and saw everything.
Evidently you didn’t hit the woman with your car. She took a dive.”

Gaby exhaled. “Are you taking her word for
it?”

“She had no reason to lie. She also said
Rachel was the first to fire a tomato and the rest of the crowd followed suit.”

“Doesn’t surprise me. She’s a bitch.”

“Do you want to press charges?”

“No.”

Luke frowned. “Alice told Janaya you’re
getting hassled every time you go out in public.”

“Yeah. It’ll get old soon.”

“I’ll give you a ride home now.” He fished
his keys out of his uniform pocket and waited for her to stand before ushering
her out. He paused and turned back. “Dad, tell Hinekiri it’s time to do a
drive-by. Probably more than one.”

Richard chuckled. “I’ll pass on the
message. See you and Janaya for dinner later on. See ya tomorrow at the
meeting, Gaby.”

“Sure.”

“We’ll go out the back door,” Luke said.

Gaby hopped in the front this time and
wound down the window to get rid of the worst of the smell. “You’ll have to
hose out your car.”

“It’s seen worse.”

The ten-minute drive home didn’t take long
and soon Luke pulled up outside the house.

“What happens if the cult lady wants to
press charges?”

“I’ll speak to the medical staff and obtain
a report on her injuries. Along with the witness you should be right.”

“Thanks, Luke. I’m sorry about the stench
in your car.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Gaby climbed out of the car and waved him
goodbye. When the police car drove from sight, her shoulders slumped. She
swallowed, her throat suddenly tight with a lump of emotion. All she wanted was
to shower and go to bed, preferably alone.

Fletch and Liam stood in the kitchen, both
freshly showered, judging by their damp hair. Liam stirred something on the
stovetop while Fletch was busy chopping vegetables.

Fletch sighted her first. He set down his
knife with a thump. “Fuck, is that blood? Do you need a doctor?” He strode
around the countertop and came to an appalled stop. “What is that smell? What
the hell happened to you? I thought you were with Luke.”

“It’s rotten tomatoes.”

“What happened?” Liam asked.

Her throat constricted and the tears she’d
managed to hold at bay, swamped her eyes. “The modern version of being stoned,”
she said, her voice cracking.

Fletch cursed while Liam went to take her
into his arms.

She held up her hands. “No, I’m going to
have a shower.”

“Take your time,” Fletch said.

Liam went back to his pot. “Dinner will
keep.”

“I’m not hungry.” Her voice caught, a dull,
empty sensation gnawing at her. A tear splashed onto the floor at her feet. Now
that she’d started crying she couldn’t stop. Gaby turned and fled, unable to
hold herself together a moment longer.

“Gaby, wait,” Fletch said.

Liam hauled on his arm, stopping him from
following her. “Give her some time. She obviously wants to be alone right now.”

“But what the hell happened? Richard didn’t
hint at anything wrong when he dropped off the car. I thought it was strange
him bringing the car…” He trailed off at a loss. “What should we do?”

“Give Gaby some time. She’s not sleeping
well either. Her tossing and turning kept me awake last night.”

Fletch went back to chopping vegetables but
his mind dwelled on Gaby. “I love her. I can’t lose her.” He glanced up to
catch an expression of panic on Liam’s face. “I love you too. Goes without
saying, numbskull. All I’m saying is Gaby looks at the end of her tether. We
need to do something.”

Liam turned off the gas on the element and
reached for his cell phone. He hit speed dial. “Luke, it’s Liam.”

Fletch listened in approval as Liam grilled
Luke. A few minutes later he hung up. “The cult women caused problems. A crowd
gathered and Rachel incited the tomato throwing. Evidently it’s not the first
situation in town. Some of the women are being real bitches.”

“Gaby should have told us. We have to stop
this. It’s not right.”

“Rachel is at the root of a lot of our
problems.”

Fletch cursed. “Her old man isn’t doing
such a bad job either.”

“But we’re riding the storm out by working
from home. Gaby doesn’t have the same luxury because she works in town and has
to face the public more than we do.”

“How do we fix this mess?”

“Time to have this out with Rachel and her
father. At the least we need to get them to back off Gaby. They’re not being
fair. It’s me they’re pissed at.”

“Tomorrow?”

“It’s a date.”

Fletch chuckled. “I can think of better
places to go for a date.”

The water switched off in the bathroom.

“Give her more time,” Liam suggested.
“We’ll take her something to eat a bit later.”

* * * * *

She couldn’t stop crying. Tears streamed
down her face as she stepped from the shower. A shiver sped down her body, a
rash of chill bumps springing to life on her arms and legs. Sniffing, she
blotted the water from her hair and wound a towel around her head like a
turban. With a second towel, she rubbed her body dry.

Now tomato-free, the fatigue struck her
worse than before. A yawn slipped free, her entire body aching. Her head still
thumped and the nagging throb at her eye continued unabated. She peered at her
eye in the mirror. Already black, it would look even worse tomorrow. She dug
through the bathroom cupboard, found a packet of painkillers and took two
tablets with a glass of water. After removing the towel around her head, she
gingerly combed her hair. She wrapped the other towel around her body and left
the bathroom.

The two men were still in the kitchen. She
could hear a masculine hum of voices and smell the enticing aroma of cooking
spaghetti sauce. Wincing at a nasty jolt of pain at her temple, she shuffled
down the passage, hesitating outside Fletch’s bedroom. Gritting her teeth, she
kept walking and turned into the bedroom she’d claimed as her own but hadn’t
used, except as a dressing room, for weeks. The door shut with a solid clunk
after her. She drew the curtains, dropped the towel and crawled between the
musty sheets, seeking oblivion in slumber.

Sleep didn’t occur.

She tossed and turned, unable to find a
comfortable spot. Pain embraced her skull like a lover, settling in for the
duration. And her thoughts… Her thoughts chased round and round like the puppy
she’d had as a child. She loved Fletch. She loved Liam.

It was that simple and that complicated.

There was no choosing one over the other
because in her mind they came together. Fletch with his cocky, sometimes brash
manner and great smile balanced Liam’s quieter, more contemplative manner.
Physically they both attracted her, made her heart go pitter-patter.

But none of that was enough.

Love didn’t make the world go round.
Instead, the presence of love made her life messy and complicated.

A fresh batch of tears filled her eyes and
this time a sob broke free. She couldn’t do this anymore. The only people who
spoke with her were her workmates. Everyone else treated her like a leper when
all she’d done was follow her heart.

Gaby pushed back the covers and found a
cotton dressing gown in her wardrobe. She walked down the passage, heading for
the kitchen, feeling a bit like a condemned man.

Liam noticed her first. His lips curled in
a gentle smile, taking his handsome face from serious to stunning. “Are you
ready for something to eat?”

“No.” She sniffed, wishing she’d taken the
time to grab a hanky. “I’m not hungry.”

“Sweetheart, you need to eat.” Fletch
grasped her hand and directed her to the table. He pulled out a chair and
seated her.

Their care and concern brought more tears.

They reached her side in seconds. Fletch
crouched at her feet, looking up at her while Liam rubbed her shoulders.

Another sob broke free. “I can’t do this. I
can’t be with you anymore.”

Fletch and Liam exchanged a quick glance
before turning their full attention back on her. Liam pulled a couple of
tissues from a box on the counter and handed them to her.

“Can’t do what, sweetheart?” Fletch asked.

“I thought I could be with you both, but
it’s too…too hard.” Unable to meet either of their gazes, she bowed her head
and stared at her clenched hands until the rapid fall of tears shrouded her
view. She blotted her eyes, but the tissues rapidly became a damp, sodden mess.

“Gaby, what’s too hard?” Liam asked.

“I can’t take the insults, the rude
remarks.” A shudder went through her, and she swallowed, attempting to force
the lump in her throat away. It didn’t work. The lump returned immediately.
“The…the tomato throwing,” she croaked. “I’m going to move out.”

“Move out?” Liam’s hand tightened on her
shoulder and she winced. He immediately removed his hand and started to pace.

“Wait a minute,” Fletch said. “You can’t
let other people drive you away.”

“You don’t know what it’s like. The
constant snide remarks. The dirty innuendoes.”

“But we’re good together,” Fletch said, a
trace of urgency in his voice.

Gaby swiped a hand over her eyes. “It’s not
enough.”

“We love you,” Liam said. “Doesn’t our love
count for anything?”

Her resolve softened for an instant. She loved
them too. Perhaps she always had. Their love was the one thing in this sorry
mess that kept her going. “Sometimes love isn’t enough.”

“Where do you want to go?” Liam asked in a
hard voice.

She flinched, his abruptness lashing like a
whip. God, why did this have to hurt so much? Misery weighed her down and she
suddenly felt alone, so alone. “I’ll go to Gran’s.” It was the only place she
could count on a welcome. The knowledge twisted and turned inside her. A couple
of months ago, she’d possessed lots of friends. She was popular. How quickly
things changed.

Fletch and Liam were doing that
silent-guy-communication thing again. The silence lengthened, an uneasy one on
her part. Finally, she couldn’t stand the hush any longer. She pushed to her
feet and walked over to the phone. She picked it up and dialed her grandmother.
After a quick talk, she hung up.