Golden Trail (4 page)

“No shit?” Tripp asked and Layne looked at
his younger son.

“No shit,” he answered.

“Wow,” Tripp whispered.

“How’d it go bad?” Jasper asked and Layne’s
eyes went to him.

“Maybe, you still care, in about five years
I’ll tell you,” Layne answered.

Jasper studied his father and then, miracle
of miracles, he let it go.

“We goin’ to Uncle Dave’s tonight to eat her
cookin’?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Layne answered.

“That’ll be interesting,” Jasper
muttered.

Layne’s anger dissipated and he grinned. It
was too bad Jasper spent so much time honing his asshole teenaged
kid act. When he wasn’t doing that, he was smart and damned
funny.

“Yep, it’ll be interesting,” Layne agreed.
“Now, you guys hafta get to school. And Jasper, I want you to take
the trash out before you go.”

The asshole teenaged kid came back in a
flash.

Still, he took the trash out before he
went.

After they were gone, in the house alone,
Layne let Blondie out to roam the yard while he showered and
dressed to get ready to go into the office. He was on his way
through the kitchen from the sliding glass door when he saw her mug
sitting on the counter, the impression of her lower lip in pink
gloss on the side.

Layne stopped and stared at it.

Then he decided to do the dishes before he
took a shower.

My Sister Goes the Distance

Layne sat at his desk in his office and
stared at his bank balance on the computer.

Six weeks ago, it was healthy. A year ago,
before he bought the house, furnished it and bought his son a car,
it was very healthy.

Now, after taking the gargantuan hit of
paying his hospital bills, it was not.

He’d lived tight, not much to spend money
on; his biggest expense was child support, which Gabby, on a strict
schedule of every three years, went to her attorneys to jack up. He
never fought her; he just gave her the money. She was a bitch but
she loved her kids and she worked hard as the manager of the
checkout clerks at the grocery store. She wasn’t rolling in it and
she wanted her sons to have a good life. So Layne did his part to
help her give it to them.

He heard the warning beep, someone had
tripped the sensor which meant someone was coming up. His eyes
moved to the video screen on the shelf to his left and he saw Gabby
walking up the steps.

Layne had offices over Mimi’s Coffee Shop in
town. They consisted of his office, a reception and a small room
beside the front door with a counter, a coffeepot on the counter
(not that he used it, he wanted coffee, he went to Mimi’s), a sink,
a microwave also on the counter and a half-fridge under it. There
was a small bathroom, toilet and sink. There was also a big storage
room off his office where he kept his equipment.

He watched as Gabby made it to the top and
turned to the door and he realized that it wasn’t just a shit day,
it was a super shit day.

He stood and was leaning against the
doorjamb to his office when she walked in.

“Tanner,” she snapped when her eyes hit him
and he shook his head. He hadn’t even said hello and she was
snapping at him.

“Good to see you, Gabby,” he replied and her
eyes narrowed at his hard to miss sarcasm.

It was not good to see her. It was never
good to see her. His ex-wife was a bitch.

At first, he knew she had reason. When Rocky
broke it off with him, not even a week later, he’d been out, he’d
been drunk and he’d hooked up with Gabby. She had dark hair, like
Rocky, but also dark brown eyes, not like Rocky. Rocky’s eyes were
deep blue. Nevertheless, he’d fucked Gabby because she reminded him
of Rocky. It had been a one night stand. That was, until two and a
half months later when she hunted him down and informed him she was
pregnant, it was his and she was keeping the baby. She also
informed him they were getting married.

He did not want to do this mainly because,
when he wasn’t drunk, he didn’t like her. Also because he didn’t
believe the kid was his. Everyone knew Gabrielle Weil got
around.

When she had it, though, even as an infant,
Layne took one look at his son and knew.

So he did right by Jasper and married
Jasper’s mother.

It was the second stupidest thing he’d done
in his life, outside getting hooked up with Rocky.

Gabby was far from stupid, though, she knew
he was hung up on Rocky and this made their marriage unpleasant, to
say the least. Layne tried, God’s honest truth, he did. She wasn’t
Rocky, that was true, but he had to give it to her, he couldn’t
imagine being tied to a woman who was hung up on another man, who
you knew she was thinking about him when you fucked her.

But he’d wanted to be a good Dad. He didn’t
have a father, his father took off within weeks of him being born,
and he didn’t want his son to grow up like that. That was the
primary reason he’d married her.

But no matter how he tried to make their
marriage good and worked to bury the bitterness of losing Raquel,
Gabby sensed it under the surface and she made life a living hell.
He was close to breaking it off with her when she fell pregnant
with Tripp. They hadn’t had sex in months and she knew he was
pulling away. That was why he woke up with her mouth latched to his
cock, his cock hard under her working him and he’d fucked her. If
Tripp hadn’t come out of that, he’d think it was the third
stupidest thing he’d done in his life. But he couldn’t imagine life
without Tripp.

He’d lasted nearly two more years before he
split.

“We need to talk,” she told him, coming into
the reception area.

“All right,” Layne agreed, having learned it
was better to let her say what she had to say and move on than try
to fight it. She wasn’t only a bitch, she could get mean and the
mean could turn nasty. His day started with Rocky and would end
with a dinner she’d cooked that he’d have to eat with her and his
kids there. He didn’t need Gabby to turn nasty.

She stared at him a second, then looked
beyond him into his office. Her face turned hard when she realized
he wasn’t going to ask her to come in, take a seat, offer a cup of
coffee.

“I need you to take the boys next week,” she
announced.

Layne sighed.

The reason he was home was because she’d
hooked up with Stew Baranski. When Tripp told him that, Layne’s
blood ran cold. Stew Baranski was a total asshole. He’d always been
an asshole. Fuck, the guy could teach classes on how to be a total
and complete asshole. He didn’t want that guy around his kids but
when he’d called and shared this with Gabby she’d lost her fucking
mind. Then she’d ranted about how she’d taken care of his kids for
twelve years and now that she had something good in her life (that
was a joke, Stew being anything good was a freaking joke), he was
trying to screw it up for her. She continued to rant about how she
gave everything up for her boys while he did whatever the fuck he
wanted.

He had to admit, she wasn’t entirely
wrong.

But it was clear she was passed bitter
straight to hostile and it was also clear she wasn’t giving up
Stew. She’d dated, he knew this, but she hadn’t had a long term
relationship in awhile. She’d let herself go after Tripp, in a huge
way, and no longer bore any resemblance to the attractive, built
woman she was in her twenties. She was hanging onto Stew, a last
ditch effort to end a lonely life of single parenthood.

It was either let Stew Baranski turn his
sons into assholes, or be an asshole to them, or both, or come
home.

He came home.

And since he did, he often doubled up his
weeks so Stew and Gabby could do whatever Stew and Gabby did that
they needed his sons clear of it. Layne didn’t want to know, he
also didn’t argue. She was right. She’d borne the brunt of raising
his kids. It was his turn to kick in.

“Fine,” he replied. “You need to come into
the office to tell me that?”

“Nope,” she shook her head once. “Needed to
come in to tell you I need five hundred dollars.”

Layne did a slow blink. “Come again?”

“Need five hundred dollars,” she
repeated.

“Gabby, this may have escaped you but
circumstances are changed. I got joint custody and your support was
reduced because of it. You get what you get and that’s
all
you get.”

He watched her straighten her shoulders. “I
need five hundred dollars, Tanner.”

“Is this something for the boys?” he
asked.

“Yes,” she answered.

“What?”

She looked over his shoulder. The bitch was
lying.

“What?” he repeated.

Her eyes came back to his. “Jasper and Tripp
need stuff for school.”

“What do they need?”

“Stuff,” she answered. “Clothes and
shit.”

They did not need clothes and shit. He knew
this because he handed them both wads of cash about two days after
he got out of the hospital so they could go back to school
shopping. Both his boys were kitted out with trendy gear like rock
stars.

“I think they’re covered,” Layne
replied.

“Yeah, with stuff they keep at your house.
They don’t have as much at my place.”

“Well, since they’re at my house most of the
time, that works, don’t you think?”

Her face started to get red, not with
embarrassment, with anger. “Oh, I get it. Dad’s the cool one, gets
his son a hot rod, fills their closet with designer clothes. They
go to Mom’s and they’ve got shit.”

“It isn’t like they don’t have bags. They
want their stuff, they can take it with them to your place.”

“You
want
them to go back and forth
like vagabonds?”

Layne sucked in breath and sought
patience.

Then he reminded her, “Stew’s livin’ with
you, Gabby, your expenses are lowered and you still get money from
me. You wanna get them clothes, get ‘em.”

“I work at Kroger, Tanner. I’m not a shit
hot PI who charges a hundred and fifty dollars an hour plus
expenses.”

“You’ve worked at Kroger for fifteen years,
Gabby, you’re a manager and you had to disclose your income the
last time you took me to court. You are far from hurting.”

This was true, except the part about him
learning this when she’d had to disclose it the last time she took
him to court. He’d checked up on her regularly, he’d known for
years exactly what she was paid, what she spent her money on and
what she spent his money on.

“Jesus, why do you make me jump through
hoops like this when it’s for
our
boys?” she snapped, her
voice rising.

That pissed him off.

“I have never, not once, Gabrielle, made you
jump through hoops when it’s for our boys. Not… fucking…
once
and you fucking know it.”

She snapped her mouth shut. She knew it.

“And you’re standin’ there lyin’ to me. You
got trouble? You tell me, I’ll help you out. But do not walk into
my office and hand me a load of shit and expect me to pay you to do
it.”

“I’m not lying,” she retorted.

“Bullshit, Gabby. You think in my line of
work I can’t spot a liar? I didn’t learn that quick, I’d be
dead.”

Her flush suffused her face; she knew he’d
pegged her.

“Now, why do you need five hundred dollars?”
he continued.

“I don’t,” she returned.

“You asked for it not five minutes ago.”

“Stew does,” she bit off, her eyes sliding
away from him.

Layne felt his body get tight.

Then he stated in a quiet voice, “You are
fucking shitting me.”

Her eyes shot back to him. “He’s in a
jam.”

Layne pushed away from the door and crossed
his arms on his chest. “Don’t give a fuck Stew Baranski is in a
jam.”

“If he’s in a jam,
I’m
in a jam.”

Layne’s brows drew together. “You in
danger?”

“No,” she hissed, pissed as all hell she had
to tell him what she had to tell him. “Things are just tight. I
might not be able to make the mortgage.”

Layne sucked in another breath and his head
dropped back so he could look at the ceiling.

Then he made a decision and looked back at
his ex-wife.

“I told you –” he started.

“Don’t!” she clipped, her voice again
rising.

“I told you not to let that asshole in your
life. You did,” Layne went on.

“He’s my man, I love him,” she shot
back.

“Your choice and because of that, he’s your
problem.”

“I miss the mortgage, I could lose my
house!”

“They don’t foreclose for months, Gabby,
tell him to get his shit together and figure it out. I’m not
getting involved.”

“He’s in deep, Layne, he’s trying to sort it
out but it’ll take time. I can’t lose the house in the
meantime.”

“What I don’t get is how the house is on the
line. You got enough money to –”

“I’ve been helping him out.”

Layne studied her. Then he asked, “How bad
is this?”

“Bad.”

That wasn’t a good answer.

“How bad and how long’s it been goin’ on?”
he pressed.

She stared at him and didn’t answer. That
meant awhile.

Then she said, “I lose the house, Jas and
Tripp –”

“Then you’re lucky I’m home, Gabby. Means
the boys are good, always got a bed with me.”

“I can’t believe you!” she yelled

He dropped his arms and walked to her. While
doing it, he tried to find Gabrielle Weil in her bitter face, now
twisted with anger. She hadn’t been a knockout but she had been
very pretty. She carried an extra fifty pounds now, at least, and
she didn’t carry it like she was comfortable with it. Her hair was
now dyed and looked that way and she should have left it to turn
gray. Her mother’s hair was thick and gray and attractive. She
worked it, Gabby could have too. The skin on Gabby’s face was slack
because she didn’t take care of it, bags under her eyes, probably
from not sleeping or being pissed off at Layne and the world for
nearly two decades.