Stranger in Town (Dundee, Idaho #5)(31)
Author: Brenda Novak

“Surely, you can miss one night. There’ll be a group going,” he said, throwing her words back at her. “And I might even be able to come up with someone blond, for you.”

She made a face at his sarcasm. “Right. Well, I don’t think blond hair appeals to me quite as much as it appeals to you, so maybe I’ll take a rain check—”

“Are you kidding?” he interrupted. “It wouldn’t be the same without you. I’ll pick you up at six, and we’ll meet Ashleigh and her friends at—” he turned to Ashleigh “—where?”

“Asiago’s?” she said uncertainly.

“Perfect.” He flashed them the toothy smile Hannah had seen splashed on so many magazine covers, but a muscle twitched in his cheek, confirming that he wasn’t as pleased as he pretended.

She straightened her spine. Maybe Gabe wasn’t happy to have her interfering in his life, but someone had to take him on, damn it. He’d been living like a hermit long enough.

She gave him a glacial smile. “Sounds great.”

“Then we’re equally excited.” He removed a twenty from his wallet and handed it to Ashleigh. “Here, you did such a nice job, I insist on paying you a little something.”

Ashleigh beamed at the compliment and took the money. “Thanks. It was easy. You have such nice hair,” she gushed.

“Too bad his hair doesn’t match his disposition,” Hannah muttered.

Ashleigh’s jaw dropped in surprise, but Gabe acted as if he didn’t hear her. “Thanks for coming, ladies,” he said. Then he whistled for Lazarus, rolled into the cabin and shut the door, leaving Hannah standing on the porch with no basket filled with dishes from the night before, and no yearbook picture.

GABE NARROWED HIS EYES as he watched Hannah’s taillights disappear into the trees. What the hell had she been trying to do, bringing Ashleigh out here to run her fingers through his hair and rub her chest in his face? Obviously, Hannah Price had plans to get him involved with her little friend. But he wasn’t interested in Ashleigh. And he sure as hell wasn’t interested in having Hannah meddle in his love life. He’d dealt with enough interference over the past few years. If Reenie couldn’t railroad him into dating again, nobody could. Evidently Hannah didn’t understand that she was out of her league when it came to stubbornness.

Dropping the blind, he turned back to the kitchen and the beef Stroganoff she’d made for him, wondering why he’d handled Ashleigh’s invitation the way he had. He could have told her no and sent them both on their way. Instead, he’d derived some kind of perverse pleasure in turning the tables on Hannah, who probably needed to get out more than he did.

He thought of the plain slacks and shirt she’d been wearing and nearly chuckled. With a little help in the clothing department and a new hairstyle, he believed she could come pretty darn close to stunning. But he doubted she’d ever go to the expense of a makeover. She probably skimped on herself to provide for her children—and somehow her sacrifice was ten times sexier to him than Ashleigh’s low shirt and short skirt.

So where did that leave him?

With the vague memory of how sweetly she’d let him kiss her twenty years ago—and an ill-advised date for Saturday night.

But trying to avoid Hannah wasn’t working. She wouldn’t forget about the accident and move on. Maybe she couldn’t. Her sense of justice seemed to dictate she pay a price for her mistake. So maybe, for his sake as well as hers, he needed to let her. If he exacted a little retribution, allowed her to atone in some way, maybe she could finally put the whole thing behind her.

It was an interesting thought—seemed to make sense. But what could he have her do for him?

He piled his plate high, added the steamed vegetables she’d brought and a homemade roll and turned on his football tapes. But his mind remained on Hannah. She seemed to like cooking well enough. He supposed he could have her continue to make him dinner until she tired of it. Maybe he’d even have her clean his house, his truck, weed his garden, run his errands. Coaching was already causing him to slack off the rigid schedule he’d designed for himself….

He supposed life could be worse than having someone look after his every need. Especially because he’d be doing her a favor….

He grinned. A favor—to take on so much extra work. Poor Hannah. Some people just couldn’t do things the easy way.

“SO…WHAT DO YOU THINK?” Ashleigh twisted in her seat to face Hannah as they drove the windy road that led down the mountain and back to town. “That seemed to go okay, didn’t it? I mean, at least he agreed to go out with us on Saturday.”

The sun was sinking behind the trees, casting long shadows across the pavement. Hannah flipped on her headlights in preparation for the darkness that would soon follow and pictured the challenge in Gabe’s eyes when he’d pressed her to join them on Saturday. Although well-meaning, Ashleigh had botched everything. Hannah just didn’t want to say so. He’d agreed to go, but something behind his acceptance made Hannah nervous. Surely when he’d mentioned setting her up, he’d been joking….

“It went great. Thanks for coming with me,” she said. Then she glanced at Ashleigh’s chest and wanted to groan. She was going to look like a donkey amid racehorses. She’d probably be ten years older than anyone else in the group and the only woman with no medical enhancements. She worked hard and sometimes she didn’t pause to eat, so she was a little too thin. She didn’t even have tips on her nails. They got in her way when she tried to frame her photographs and, in the months that Russ didn’t pay his child support, she couldn’t afford the maintenance.

Had she done enough to keep herself up?

She imagined herself naked and wondered what a man, someone besides Russ, might think of her. She exercised every day, but she had a stretch mark low on her stomach from her last pregnancy, and her tan came from working in her small garden. As a single mother, she had different priorities than Ashleigh and her single friends. Hannah wasn’t concerned with buying lingerie and bringing a man home on a Saturday night. She was happy with a terry-cloth robe, a good book and hearing Kenny come in before his curfew.

She feared that made her frumpy, boring…

“What’s wrong?” Ashleigh asked, her forehead rumpling.

Hannah realized she was going too slow and sped up. “Nothing, why?”

“You had a funny expression on your face.”