Galen's Gemma - Dale Mayer Page 0,7

studied Zack, wondering what was going on. Rebecca and Zack looked friendly enough but not close.

Good.

But Zack’s face was shut down, focused on what he was doing, which, thankfully, was putting on coffee. However, Gemma didn’t appear to be too impressed with that.

“I don’t want to stay here long,” Gemma reiterated.

“We have time for coffee,” Zack said. “You brought the stuff. We might as well use it.”

“I did,” she said, “and I was of two minds, but I wanted to leave soon.”

“It’s normal for anybody to walk in and put on coffee,” Zack said. “Are there cups here, or did you bring some?”

Gemma shook her head. “No, I meant to pick some up but forgot. We can check the cupboards.”

“Coffee just says we were here long enough to sit and relax,” he said smoothly. “So that isn’t an issue.”

Galen watched the back-and-forth between them as the conversation wrangled. Obviously some hard feelings were between them, but that wasn’t Galen’s problem. He looked at Rebecca to see her now slumped in a chair, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Emerald eyes and red hair and a body that screamed of sex. The complete opposite to Gemma’s huge soft gray eyes framed by long lashes that only emphasized the direct look in her gaze and a body that demanded love, honesty, trust. Long and lean, she was more racehorse than model. And he already knew which he preferred.

“You need to tell us what’s going on.” Galen spoke quietly as he walked toward Rebecca.

She snorted and looked up at her sister. “Talk to her. Nobody else can say anything.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning, I’m here against my will,” she snapped, then let out a heavy sigh.

“Give it a rest, Rebecca,” Gemma said.

“Why should I?” she snapped. “Everything you’re talking about is complete BS. It’s typical older-sister crap, and I’m tired of it.” She glared at her sister.

Gemma walked out of the kitchen, through the living room, and exited the front door.

Galen looked at Rebecca with interest. “And what is it that she thinks?”

“She says Joe was murdered.” Her words were emphasized with a wave of her right hand. “The cops made it clear that it was a burglary gone wrong. Gemma always has to escalate things.”

“And why is that?” he asked, as he stared at the empty doorway the older sister had left through. The look on Gemma’s face had suggested she’d heard it all time and time again.

“Because she feels responsible that she couldn’t stop the death of our parents,” she said with a frustrated sigh. “And she’s looked after me since I was fifteen. But I don’t need looking after anymore.”

“Well, maybe you should reassess that.” Zack’s voice was hard and determined. “Because Joe was murdered.”

Chapter 3

Gemma heard her sister’s verbal explosion after Zack’s words, but Gemma was too tired to go back inside and do anything. As she stared out into the landscape from the front veranda, she could feel the stress and strain of making all the decisions for the last couple days. She knew that she had to, otherwise it would be the end of her sister and potentially her little niece, whose life didn’t deserve to be cut short because Joe had been an honest and upstanding citizen.

Gemma had really liked Joe. He’d been good for Rebecca—a calm and steady partner. They had seemed happy together. Zack had been a flash in the pan years ago. He still didn’t look like he was right for her, but that was her sister’s choice. In the meantime, Gemma had done what she thought was right. Sometimes making the hard decisions made her very unpopular.

She could hear them talking in the front room and knew that she should join the conversation, as much as she didn’t want to. She felt vindicated that Zack had agreed with her assessment of Joe’s death. But they still didn’t know all the details. She doubted her sister would think to bring it up. In some ways Rebecca was an airhead. In other ways, she was a good mother.

When a hand settled on her shoulder, gentle but firm, she had been startled but didn’t turn around. She instinctively knew it was Galen.

“You were right, you know.”

She nodded but didn’t say anything.

“What I’d like to know is what caused you to pick up and run.”

“At midnight a couple nights ago somebody tried to break into the house. I chased him away, and I had set up a security system of sorts, so he would set it off and wake us