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“Thank you for covering up,” she said, her voice low.
He assumed she meant the wound and not his chest. “You’re welcome.”
The puppy settled next to her, leaning heavily on her, ready for the next round of whatever it was they were playing.
“You’re sensitive to blood,” Gabriel said.
The woman winced. “I know. It’s ridiculous. I always have been. You’d think I would get over it, but no. Oddly, I can deal with getting a shot, as long as there’s no bleeding. Otherwise, I have to close my eyes.” She drew in a breath, then looked at him. “Who are you?”
Gabriel frowned. “Gideon didn’t tell you?”
“I haven’t talked to him recently.” She paused, as if trying to remember how long it had been. “I guess I’ve seen him in town but we haven’t spoken.”
Now Gabriel was confused. “You’re not Felicia?”
The woman scrambled to her feet. She was a tall blonde—too skinny for his taste, but pretty enough. She wore black jeans and a ridiculous sweater decorated with tiny Santa heads. Like he’d said before—the suburbs sucked.
“No, I’m Noelle,” she said. “Who are you?”
“Gabriel.”
He was going to say more but her blue eyes widened. “Gideon’s brother?”
He nodded, unable to figure out why someone he’d never heard of was chasing people with an umbrella in his brother’s house. Not that there was an appropriate place for that sort of thing.
She smiled. Whatever else he was going to grumble about faded as her mouth curved. Because the second she smiled, he felt a whole lot better about nearly everything. His hand hurt less, he wasn’t as tired and the avalanche of regret he felt at showing up in Fool’s Gold reduced itself to a small rock-slide.
Talk about a trick.
The smile widened. “Oh, wow. I didn’t know you were coming for sure. You’re the doctor, right? Felicia mentioned she’d asked you to stay for the holidays, but I thought you’d said you couldn’t make it. I’m Noelle Perkins. Felicia and I are friends. I have a store in town and I know Gideon, of course. And Carter.”
The son his brother hadn’t known he had, Gabriel thought. There was a situation.
“Gideon and Carter are shopping in Sacramento. Felicia got stuck in town and asked me to come and let Webster out.” Her smile faded. “Oh, no. I attacked you. I’m really sorry.”
“It’s okay,” he told her. Mostly because it was and partially because he wanted to see the smile again.
“I couldn’t figure out why the door was open and the spare key wasn’t where she’d said.”
“Gideon told me about the key, too, and I used it.”
“Of course.”
The smile returned and his breathing relaxed.
She bent down and collected the umbrella. “I took a self-defense course a few weeks ago. Just a Saturday afternoon of basic stuff. My instructor would so kill me if she knew what I’d done, so if you could not say anything I’d appreciate it.”
“Not a problem.”
She glanced quickly at the bandage, then away. “Um, what happened to your palm?”
“I was an idiot.”
“It happens to all of us.”
“I should know better.”
She flashed the smile again. “And the rest of us shouldn’t?”
“Fair point,” he told her.
She waved the umbrella. “I’ll put this back.” She started down the hall. “Do you want some coffee?”
“Sure.”
She went into the kitchen and pulled out mugs and two small pods filled with coffee as if she knew her way around the place.
He was still having trouble wrapping his mind around the fact that his brother was engaged and had a son. Not that the two events were related. Carter’s mother had died a couple of years ago. As for Felicia... Gabriel frowned as he realized he didn’t know how she and his brother had met. The fact that he hadn’t spoken to anyone in his family in over a year might have something to do with that.
Webster followed Noelle and looked hopeful as she collected spoons and started the coffeemaker. She eyed him.
“I’m pretty sure you’ve already been fed,” she told the dog.
He wagged his tail.
She sighed. “You’re so demanding. Fine. I’ll give you a cookie.”
Webster woofed at the word and followed her to the pantry, where a plastic container of bone-shaped treats sat on a shelf.
“But just one,” she told him, waiting until he sat to give it to him.
He took it gently and bolted from the room.
Gabriel watched him go. “He’s not much of a guard dog. He let me in without a growl.”
“He’s a puppy,” Noelle said. “Felicia wants him to be friendly rather than aggressive. He’s supposed to be Carter’s dog, but she’s the one who takes care of him. He’s been to a few obedience classes but they don’t seem to be taking.”
She motioned to the large table, and he moved forward to take a seat. Noelle added the first pod and pushed the button, making sure the mug was positioned underneath.
She leaned against the counter. “So, you’re here for the holidays. To be with your family. That’s nice.”
“I haven’t seen them in a while,” he admitted, trying to remember the last time he’d joined his parents and brother for Christmas. More than a decade, he thought. Fifteen years? Longer than that? Maybe it had been before he’d left for college. “Feel free to fill me in on what I’ve missed.”
“I’ve never met your parents,” she said cheerfully. “I know Gideon, of course. He moved here before me. It was last year. I just got here in the spring.” She wrinkled her nose. “It was before the whole snow thing. I’m going to have to take some lessons or something. It’s a lot more slippery than I realized. I know there’s an ice element, but I didn’t think it was, you know...ice.” She made air quotes as she spoke the last word.
He chuckled. “You have a lot to look forward to.”
“You mean aside from warmer weather?” She turned back to the coffeemaker and pulled out the mug. “How do you like it?” she asked, already moving to the refrigerator.
“Black is fine.”
“That’s such a guy thing.”
She pulled out a container of flavored coffee creamer, then handed him his mug and returned to the counter. She obviously knew her way around the kitchen. Because of Felicia, he told himself. Women who were friends hung out a lot doing stuff like having coffee. He supposed it wasn’t that different from going out and having a drink.
She stuck in a second pod, put a mug in place and hit the button.
“You know Gideon bought a couple of radio stations,” she said.
He nodded.
“He does an oldies show every night. Lots of songs I’ve never heard of but most of them are good. Felicia runs the festivals in town. She’s very organized. Carter’s in school, of course.” She glanced at Webster, who sat with his tail wagging. “What about you, young man? Any career plans?”
The puppy barked.
“Impressive.” She glanced up at Gabriel. “Sorry. I talk to everything.”
“It happens.”
She got her own coffee and poured in the flavored creamer then set the container back in the refrigerator. She took a seat across from him and tilted her head.
“What else can I tell you?” she asked. “I have guilt about trying to attack you.”
“With an umbrella.”
She laughed. “I’m not sure if that makes it better or worse.”
He liked how amusement danced in her blue eyes and the flash of teeth when she smiled. He wanted to keep her talking because the sound of her voice soothed him. A ridiculous claim, but there it was. What he couldn’t figure out was why. Why her? He was around women all the time. Other doctors, some of the nurses and techs, soldiers, administrators. But Noelle was different somehow.
“How long has Carter been around?” he asked.
“He showed up this past summer. His mom died about a year before that. He was in foster care with his best friend’s family. They’d made arrangements with Carter’s mom before her death, I think. But they started having marital trouble and he was going to have to go into the system. He didn’t have much to go on—his dad’s name and that he’d been in the military. But he found him and made his way here. I don’t think I could have been that resourceful at his age.”
“Me, either,” Gabriel admitted.
He cupped the mug with his good hand. The wound on his left palm throbbed in time with his heartbeat. If he were his own patient, he would tell himself to take something. That being in pain didn’t reduce the time to heal. But he also knew he wouldn’t listen. That he didn’t want the mental wooziness that was a side effect and that he was a long way from the threshold of what was unbearable.
“You know they’re getting married, right?” she asked. “Gideon and Felicia.”
“I’d heard.”
“There aren’t details yet. At least not that I know of, but I can’t see them waiting.” She paused and raised her mug. “I should probably warn you about her.”
“Felicia?”
Noelle nodded. “She’s really smart. However smart you’re thinking, you’re not even close. She’s beyond genius level, although I don’t know what that’s called. And she speaks her mind, which I adore, but it can surprise some people. She just flat out says what she thinks. So you don’t have to be subtle around her. Oh, and she’s super beautiful. If we weren’t friends, I’d have to hate her.”
The last statement was delivered cheerfully.
“You’re good at speaking your mind, too,” he said.
She shook her head. “Not really. I try to be honest. You know, not waste everyone’s time with game-playing. But it’s a tough habit to break. I’m not advocating being mean at all. That’s not right, either. But I think the world would be a better place if we all stuck a little closer to the truth.”
She paused and the corners of her mouth turned up. “I have no idea where that sermon came from.” She stood. “I should get back to my store before I start boring you with my theories on the meaning of life.”
“You have theories?” he asked as he rose.
“A few, but trust me, you don’t want to hear them. Anyway, I also need to get back to my store because in an effort to save money I hired part-time college students instead of full-time regular people.”
“College students aren’t regular people?”
“Not usually. And especially not when there’s a dusting of fresh powder up on the mountain. I live in fear of returning to my store and finding the door propped open and no one inside. Well, no one who works for me.” She paused. “It’s weird because the high school kids I’ve hired are really responsible. So I guess at nineteen they regress.”
He had no idea what she was talking about but that was okay. Just listening to her voice was soothing. He also appreciated the information about his family. A case could be made that he should have known it all himself, but he didn’t.
“It was nice to meet you,” she told him. “And I am sorry about the umbrella.”
He waved off the apology. “You okay to get down the mountain?” he asked.
She blinked at him, then her eyes widened. “Crap and double crap. My car’s stuck in a snow drift.”
Crap was her idea of a swear word? She wouldn’t have lasted in Kandahar an hour, he thought, amused.
“I don’t suppose you know anything about winter driving?” she asked.
“As a matter of fact, I do. I went to medical school at Northwestern and I’ve been stationed in Germany more than once.”
“Whew. Good. Then maybe you wouldn’t mind backing my car out of the drift? Then I can sort of point it down the mountain and I’ll be fine.”
Instead of answering, Gabriel walked to the front door. Despite being barefoot, he headed out onto the porch and saw her small import nose-first in a bank.
There were skid marks on the driveway and a couple of places where it looked like she’d fallen on her way up to the house.
“This really is your first winter,” he said.
She moved beside him and sniffed. “I have other talents.”
He was sure that was true and he wanted to tell her they were likely far more interesting than an ability to drive in the snow. But she was a friend of his future sister-in-law and this was a small town and he wouldn’t be around for very long. All good reasons to only say, “I have no doubt.”
He stepped back into the house and waited until she’d joined him to close the door.
“Give me a second to put on boots and I’ll drive you back to town.”
“You don’t have to go to that much trouble.”
“Someone has to. I doubt you can make it on your own. Pointing the car in the general direction of town is not an option.”
* * *
