Stranger in Town (Dundee, Idaho #5)(8)
Author: Brenda Novak

Lazarus barked, Gabe threw, and the dog took off again.

“It was called My Little Pussy,” Mike said. “He thought it was about a kitten.”

“God.” Gabe grimaced.

“You got it.”

“Did Kenny see the video, too?”

“I don’t think so.”

“How’d you hear about it?”

“Russ told half the people at the Honky Tonk last Monday. He found Brent’s questions about what he’d seen hilarious.”

“What an idiot.” Gabe shook his head in disgust. “How’d she end up with a guy like him?”

When Mike propped his arms behind his head and put his feet up on a nearby footrest, Gabe almost regretted asking. It looked as if his friend was planning to stay awhile, and having company wasn’t in keeping with Gabe’s plans. He needed to mentally prepare himself for his first practice with the team. After being out of circulation for three years, he’d be dealing with a lot of people. He’d face an onslaught of questions, an avalanche of curiosity, and plenty of rude, blatant stares. Being famous made him an attraction already. Now that he was crippled and famous, he couldn’t go anywhere without conversations falling to a hush and people whispering behind their hands.

But he suspected Mike knew it wouldn’t be an easy day for him and had come over to keep him company—probably so Gabe wouldn’t back out. And as long as they were talking about Hannah, Mike was unlikely to bring up Lucky.

“You don’t remember what happened between her and Russ?” Mike asked.

“I’m not sure I ever knew.” He’d been away at college, too busy making his dream come true to pay much attention to what was happening in Dundee.

“They got married a few months after she graduated from high school. She was pregnant.”

Gabe glanced across the lawn, expecting Lazarus to come charging back to him, and saw him chasing another squirrel. “I can’t see her sleeping with Russ in the first place.”

Mike shrugged. “Who knows how it happened? She couldn’t go away to college like the rest of us. She had to stay and take care of her mother, and Russ lived right next door.”

A few weeds had infiltrated one of the garden boxes Gabe had built up off the ground. He bent forward to take care of the problem. “What was wrong with her mother?”

“Cancer.”

Gabe tossed the weed he’d pulled on top of the pile he was making. He’d heard about her mother; he remembered now. “Where was her father?”

“Died in a plane crash when Hannah was little. I know they got some sort of settlement, but it was just her and her mom until her mother died.”

Gabe smoothed the soil he’d disturbed and stretched to reach around another plant. Hannah must’ve been lonely….

“My mother thinks she was after his family,” Mike added.

Brushing the dirt from his hands, Gabe glanced up in surprise. “I’ve heard of a woman being after a guy’s money, but never his family.”

“When Hannah’s mother got sick, it was Violet Price who helped her deal with the situation. After her mother died, Hannah might’ve been trying to cement those relationships, to hang on to the people she already cared about.”

That sounded reasonable to Gabe—but the years didn’t match up. “Kenny’s only sixteen years old,” he said. “If she got pregnant right out of high school—”

“She miscarried.” Mike gave him a sidelong look. “Any other questions I can answer for you about Hannah Price?”

Gabe scowled. “We’re just talking, Mike. There’s nothing wrong with talking, is there?”

Mike’s lips curved in a broad smile. “Not a thing, buddy. You need someone to fill you in on what you missed all those years you were busy showing off on national television.”

Showing off… Mike had always teased him about his fame.

Gabe smiled in spite of himself as he rolled over to the tool-shed to retrieve his small pruning shears. He’d spotted some dead blooms on his roses. “Considering the gap between Kenny and Brent, she must’ve stayed with Russ a long time.”

Mike didn’t comment. He leaned his head back, closed his eyes and tilted his hat to shade his face.

“Mike?”

“What?”

Gabe knew he was stupid to press the issue, but he was probably never going to hear the end of Hannah, anyway. So he risked one more question. “Why didn’t she leave him after the miscarriage?”

“If you’re not interested in Hannah, why do you want to know so much about her?”

“I’m familiarizing myself with the family situation of my starting quarterback. Coaches do that sort of thing.”

Putting his feet down, Mike sat forward and nudged his hat up. “So Kenny’s the attraction?”

“Of course.”

Mike hardly looked convinced, but he shrugged. “Well then, for coaching’s sake, I’ll tell you this. I don’t know why she stayed as long as she did. Especially because Russ was a lousy husband. He went from one job to another, hung out at the Honky Tonk every weekend, went home drunk more times than not, and bought things they couldn’t afford, even when he wasn’t earning any money. My mother’s been a good friend of Violet’s for years and shakes her head whenever Russ’s name is mentioned.”

Gabe lifted his gaze as Mike stood. “Was Hannah supporting the family with her photography way back then?”

“Not in the early years. She worked at the diner, remember?”

“No.” For more than a decade Gabe had been living out-of-state and hadn’t paid attention to anything beyond his career and his immediate circle of family and friends. “So when did she start taking pictures?”

Mike crossed the deck. “Beats me. Must’ve been before the divorce, though, because I heard Russ went after her for spousal maintenance.”

That statement made Gabe prick himself on a thorn. Mumbling a curse, he shook the sting out of his finger. “Tell me he didn’t win. Certainly she’s not supporting him….”

Mike’s teeth flashed in another smile. “You’ll have to ask her.”

“What?”

His friend strode down the ramp and sauntered toward the gate. “Call her,” he said.

“I’m not going to call her!”

“Why not? Take her out to a movie.”

“No way.”