Galen's Gemma - Dale Mayer Page 0,6
Zack, or why he and Rebecca had walked away from each other all those years ago, but that wasn’t Gemma’s problem. That was theirs.
As she drifted off into slumber, her last thought was wondering who the hell this Galen guy was. Was he the same caliber of guy as Zack? Would Galen have left his pregnant girlfriend too? She wouldn’t judge all men by that one incident, but Zack had left a bad taste in her mouth. This Galen on the other hand? Something about his voice, with that crisp and clear commanding tone, had her smiling. She just hoped that it wasn’t wrong to trust him. She had trusted the wrong people in the past and had gotten into deep shit. The last thing she wanted was more of that.
She closed her eyes and dozed, but she surfaced constantly. Asleep, awake; asleep, awake. Anytime she was about to go under, any odd noise outside had her lying here, wide awake, her ears tuned to see if more came. But, so far, all was quiet.
When she heard a vehicle drive up, she immediately hopped to her feet, walked out of the back bedroom into the main room, and peered behind the curtains of the living room window. She didn’t recognize the small pickup, but she definitely recognized Zack’s face in the windshield. She studied the guy beside him, realizing he sat both taller and wider. But he had the same kind of look to him.
As Zack stepped out, she frowned, not even recognizing the man in many ways. The years obviously hadn’t been easy for him. He had changed. Maybe that was a good thing. He’d been one of her sister’s conquests. For some reason Gemma had initially trusted him, even as she had worried about her sister’s influence on him. Still, Rebecca had called him after all these years. When Rebecca broke up with Zack, Gemma had heard he’d gone into the military. Hence he might have skills to help her—them—out.
She let herself out the front door, then walked around the veranda to where they’d parked. Zack looked up at her.
“Are they okay?”
She nodded. “They are.”
Galen hopped out, held out a hand, and said, “I’m Galen Alrick.”
She shook his hand, looked at him, and frowned.
His eyebrows shot up. “Why the frown?”
“You look like you’re used to taking charge,” she said.
“I am.” His voice sounded a challenge. “If a situation goes to shit, somebody has to.”
“But that somebody should have been Zack a while ago,” she snapped. “He didn’t, so I did.”
“If the situation is as bad as you made it out to be,” Galen said with a nod, “then you did the right thing.”
Almost immediately she could feel something settling inside her. And how sad was that? To think that some stranger gives her a note of approval, and here she was ready to smile and to accept him for it. “Maybe,” she said. “I guess that will remain to be seen.”
“Yep,” he said. “Let’s go in and talk.”
“I don’t think we have time,” she said, glancing at her watch. “I think it’s more important that we get on the road again.”
“Are they awake?” Zack asked.
“Hold on,” Galen said to her, his voice inflexible. He nodded toward Zack, already heading into the cabin. “Apparently he wants to make sure that Rebecca’s here.”
“Of course he does,” she said, crossing her arms. “If there was ever a convoluted relationship, it is definitely theirs.”
Galen chuckled. “I’m a simple guy,” he said. “I like things up-front, clean, and honest.
“So do I,” she said. “Yet people say that but then don’t necessarily follow through.”
“I agree with you there.” Taking the front steps two at a time, he stretched, rolling his neck. “Did you bring any coffee?”
“I don’t want to take the time to put any on.”
He nodded. “You really think they’ll follow you here?”
“I’m counting on it,” she said.
Picking up on her wording, he studied her intently. “Good. I’d like to hear about your plans. Can I presume you’re leaving something for them to find?”
She shrugged. “Hopefully just enough. It’s what I want to find that’s the purpose for being here.”
“What are you thinking of?”
She frowned. “How are you with electronics?”
He gave her a long, slow smile. “Decent. Have you any experience with them?”
“I have,” she said. “It just depends on whether I can make things work or not.”
“Come on in. Let’s talk.” He opened the door and motioned at her.
As they walked in, Zack was putting on coffee with Rebecca at his side.
*
Galen