“That sounds perfect,” she said. Did she look as shocked as she felt?
“Good. I best get back to work.” This time, he left, and she heard the door close behind him shortly afterward.
She wanted to jump up and down like a schoolgirl. This was like a dream come true. Annalise couldn’t wipe the smile off her face as she prepared the meal. Gabe was her one obstacle, the man she feared, the cowboy with her fate in his hands. Now that weight had been lifted off her shoulders, and her future, for once, felt promising.
****
“What are you smiling about?” Vinny asked.
“I’m not smiling.” Gabe donned his hat and walked past his friend. He needed to clear their east field and get it ready for planting. There was always something to do, but it seemed keeping busy was as vital as breathing for him. Silence and idle hands gave him too much time to think about things he’d rather forget.
“It’s her, ain’t it?” Vinny followed behind him. “No man has that kind of smile all on his own.”
“Don’t you have work to do?” Gabe asked, trying his best to ignore him.
“I need to talk to you about Annalise.”
He stopped and faced Vinny. Surely he couldn’t see inside his head. There was no way his friend knew about his obsession with the young redhead.
“What about?”
“She’s been here long enough for you to see she’s an asset. I’m going with Archie to pick up her stuff tomorrow. That all right by you?”
“You both want her on permanent?”
“What do you think? I’ve never eaten so well in my life.”
Gabe knew Archie and Vinny better than they knew themselves. Although he was only five years older, that was a lifetime when they were kids. It felt like he’d raised both men himself. He knew it was the reason they respected him and left the big decisions up to him.
He knew they both had a candle burning for Annalise. That didn’t bode well for him. No way would he let a woman come between the three of them. On the other hand, it wasn’t natural for a man to live his entire life without a woman. Gabe had visions of what he expected his life to be like at forty-five. It wasn’t this.
Maybe a happy ending wasn’t meant for him at all. Maybe it was just too late.
“I’m sure all you’re thinking about is food.” Gabe walked off toward his tractor.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You can fool yourself, but you can’t fool me. Just be careful, that’s all I’m saying.”
“I’m not going to try anything.”
“I think you will,” Gabe said. “You’ve dated half the town.”
“That’s different.”
“No, she’s different. Annalise isn’t a fast woman. Not a toy to play with and toss when you’re tired of her. You’ll break her heart, Vinny.”
For once, Vinny didn’t laugh or even talk back. He stood rooted in place, even when Gabe looked back over his shoulder a while later. If he couldn’t have Annalise, at least he wanted one of his best friends to find their happily ever after with her. He only wished the best for them, forever sacrificing his own happiness and comfort for their well-being. It was all he’d known for decades.
He remembered one night when he was sixteen and the boys were close to turning twelve. Archie had snuck out of his foster home, and Vinny had run away from his again. They were starving, lost, and cold. Gabe had been on his own for a year, mucking out for farmers to make enough for food and a small room in the boarding house. Even at sixteen he was as big and strong as most men, so nobody ever questioned him working and taking care of himself.
Gabe had made them a pot of spaghetti, even though it was all he had. They ate like animals. He felt for them because he was them. They’d met because he’d been friends with Archie’s older brother. He died in a car accident two years earlier. The responsibility for Archie kind of fell in his lap. Vinny had been his best friend, so they were a package deal.
He always found it odd that child services never made much effort to get them back in the system. It was hard to place older boys with a violent streak and fucked up by childhood trauma. Nobody wanted them.
Now they were all men and doing well. He was still cooking for them—until Annalise showed up in their lives. It was good to have a woman’s presence in the house. It was something none of them ever had. But for once, it wasn’t as simple as sharing her. She was a human being, not a tractor or plot of land.
He headed out, blanking his mind as the rhythmic sound of the machinery took over. It took hours to clear the field. Others said it was boring or mind-numbing work, but for Gabe, it was relaxing. He loved the land, the smells, the sights. He was grateful for how far he’d come in life, even if things weren’t perfect.