Page 48 of Daybreak

A couple of hours later, her dad came into the house calling her name. She stepped out into the hall.

“I’m here,” she said. “What’s up?”

Garrett came striding toward her with purpose, almost like his old self. “Mom said your boss is on your ass.”

Holly grinned. “I wouldn’t exactly put it that way, but he did ask me when I planned to return to work.”

He shook his head. “Baby girl. I love you with all my heart, but Mom wants to move home, and I’m all for it. At her age, she doesn’t need to be living alone so far away from family. She thinks she’s gonna be taking care of me, but I suspect we’ll be taking care of each other, and right now, that’s good for both of us. I’m not running you off, but if you need to go back to Dallas, then start packing.”

“I kind of already am,” she said. “I’ve been doing laundry this morning and thought about heading back tomorrow morning. I just want to spend one more night with everyone.”

“You have my blessing,” Garrett said and hugged her. “We’ll all talk tonight when Travis is at the table. We keep forgetting that he lost two people in that wreck. Going away without Lee is going to be hard for him, and I need to reassure him that Mom and I will be the ones to get him settled at college.”

“Thank you, Daddy. I guess finding a new level is what’s next on our agenda.”

“Yes, and for what it’s worth, if you and Gunner get together, that will make all of us happy. Tell him thanks for standing up for you at the funeral. Mom told me what a pain in the ass Carl has been.”

Holly smiled. “Gunner took care of all that. He’s been a good friend during a bad time for all of us.”

“The look on his face when he thinks you’re not watching tells me he would like to be more than a friend. Now go do what you need to do, and I’ll see you at supper.”

“Where’s Granny?” Holly asked.

Garrett rolled his eyes. “Oh, she’s out at the office in the sale barn, rearranging everything back to how it was when she ran it.”

Holly laughed. “I love it.” And in that brief moment of joy, she knew they were going to be okay.

Garrett left the house, and Holly went back to her laundry. She was still sorting clothes when her phone rang. Seeing Caller ID made her heart skip.

It was Gunner.

“Hey, you,” she said, as she sat down on the side of the bed to take the call. “What’s going on in your world today?”

“Hi, pretty girl… That’s why I’m calling. I had to make a flying trip back to Dallas last night. It’s something to do with loose ends on an old case. I had to come back anyway, but I didn’t plan on it happening this soon.”

“Oh wow! You’re already there, and I’m leaving tomorrow. My boss is requesting my presence. Will you have time we can spend together before you go back to Crossroads?”

There was a long moment of silence, and just when Holly feared she was about to get a telephone version of a Dear John letter, he started talking.

“There’s something I need you to know, but you absolutely cannot breathe a word of this to anyone…and I mean, anyone.”

Holly’s heart began to pound. “You have my word, but you’re scaring me. What’s wrong?”

“I left Dallas because some Texas crime boss ordered a hit on my life and added a fifty-thousand-dollar bounty to go with it. I had no idea until the first hired gun took a potshot at me on the Loop.”

Holly gasped. “Sweet lord, Gunner. Is it even safe for you to be there now?”

“It’s hard to say. The bounty was called off after I confronted him in a way he did not expect. I came home to Crossroads because of that, but there are underlying issues regarding the whole thing that I can’t ignore. I’m in Dallas to finish what he started, and right now, I don’t want anyone to know about you or that you matter to me. I don’t want them to know we’re even friends. Do you understand?”

“I matter to you?”

Gunner sighed. “You know you do. We have had tacos together once, and funeral food together once, and I don’t even know what your favorite color is. I haven’t kissed you. We haven’t made love, although God knows it’s all on my mind.”

Holly’s heart was still pounding, but for a totally different reason. “Gunner Kingston, I am never going to tell you no. We barely know each other as adults, but I’ve always known your heart. I just never dreamed you would give it to me. I want it. I want you. And I will wait for as long as it takes. That’s a promise.”

He breathed a sigh of relief. After all of that, it hadn’t scared her off.

“Thank you. Just give me time to fix this. There’s so much more I have to share with you, okay?”