Someone to Watch Over Me

“You look like a city boy of the highest order,” she said without inflection.

“Looks can be deceiving.” Although as the words fell from Gabe’s lips, he doubted their truth, especially in Isabella’s case. With her ravaged, empty eyes, she looked like hell. He’d wager that assessment was pretty accurate.

“They were elk,” he said with firm assurance. “I take it you’re ready to drive back to town?”

“Yes.” She turned to lead the way. A hundred or so yards upstream, near a bend where sprinkles of sunlight filtered through the trees, Gabe’s two elk lumbered out of the trees, as if on cue. Coats dark against the backdrop of gray trunks, they lowered their magnificent heads to drink from the stream. Isabella stopped on a dime. She drew in a deep breath of awe and grabbed Gabe’s arm to keep him from stepping on a broken branch that lay in their path. For several seconds they stood beside each other. Their shoulders might have even brushed.

“Your range cows,” he murmured so close to her ear that his warm breath sent a shiver up Isabella’s spine. The pale skin beneath her fringe of bangs wrinkled faintly as she frowned at him. The slight turn brought her lips into very close proximity with his smooth-shaven cheek. Flustered, she jerked her hand back, and quickly took two giant steps away from Gabe.

Her foot landed squarely on the branch. Its crack in the quiet glade sounded as sharp as if a rifle had fired. Once more the elk bounded into the thicket.

When Gabe tore his eyes from the spot where the animals had been, Isabella had widened the gap between them. In fact, she’d moved into the clearing, head down and steps determined. He had to run to catch up.

In normal circumstances, Gabe would have needled her until she verbally acknowledged that he’d indeed seen an elk. The minute he noticed the array of headstones fanning out beyond the silhouette of the van, he was reminded that no relationship with this woman could be classified as normal. He watched her climb inside the van, then walked slowly to the passenger door.

But again she surprised him. He felt her gaze on him the whole time it took him to buckle his seat belt.

Her voice somewhat muffled by the growl of the van’s engine, Isabella said, “I’ll retract my hasty judgment of you, Poston. You may dress like a city boy, but you do know an elk from a range cow.”

“Thank you. I hope it didn’t cost you too much to admit that.”

She didn’t bother to respond.

As she jockeyed the van around a small graveled area in order to head back down the narrow road, Gabe pressed his nose to the side window to see where she’d placed the two bouquets. He spotted them right before she succeeded in completing her turn. Three-fourths of the way up the hillside, not quite in the shade cast by the big pine, two splotches of bright color jumped out at him. The flowers were small, nestled in the middle of a double headstone. On either side of the stone, two tall pinwheels whirled in the breeze. One blurred in shades of red, white and blue. The other spun out every color of the rainbow.

Queasy without warning, Gabe shut his eyes, and kept them shut until he felt the hot pressure behind his eyelids abate. Totally shaken, he was amazed to realize that Isabella showed no sign of crying. Or maybe she had no tears left. He knew she wasn’t without feelings. The ever-present bleakness in her eyes couldn’t hide the truth. So how did she cope? What was Isabella Navarro all about? More than ever, Gabe wanted to stick around and find those answers.

Opening his eyes, he saw his breath had steamed the cooler window glass.

“That drop-off on your right isn’t as steep as you might think,” she said, completely misreading why his forehead remained against the window. “I’ve been navigating these country roads since I was sixteen, in case you’re worried that I’ll send us over a cliff.”

Gabe swallowed hard several times. “No, ah…I noticed the pinwheels.”

Sorrow washed over Isabella, leaving her pupils dilated wide. “Papa used to buy them for his grandchildren at the county fair,” she said haltingly. “My nieces and nephews broke theirs within days. Toni and Ramon loved…the colors. They took such good care of them.”

Gabe touched her face. A gentle tracing of one finger against her cheek. She seemed to understand it wasn’t sexual but meant to connect him to her grief. She was able to regroup and concentrate on her driving when his hand fell to his lap.

Nothing else of a personal nature passed between them on the drive back to the Inn. And darned few generalities, either, Gabe thought after she pulled up and stopped in almost the exact place they’d stumbled upon each other shortly before noon.

Neither one of them quite knew what to say when it came time to part. It hadn’t been the kind of journey he could thank her for. In silence Gabe opened his door and prepared to exit.

After a brief awkward moment, she took matters into her hands. “I appreciated your company,” she said, not fully meeting his eyes. “I didn’t expect to, but…well, I did.”

Gabe dug into his reserve for a lightness he didn’t feel. “I owe you. If I hadn’t invited myself along, I would’ve missed the elk. I’d like to repay you by taking you to dinner. Tonight,” he clarified.

“Not necessary,” she said, clearly impatient now to be on her way.

He shrugged. “I didn’t think you’d accept. Take care,” he said quietly. “I’ll see you around.” Stepping to the ground, he carefully closed his door, then deliberately set out for his room. Which was where he’d been going when he’d run into Isabella. Two hours ago, he saw now as he glanced at his watch.