Golden Trail (The 'Burg #3)(10)

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 f**king 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 f**k 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 ass**le 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.

He stopped in front of her and tipped his head down to look at her.

Then, softly, he said, “I told you not to get hooked up with that guy. I told you he’d bring you trouble. Stew is no good. He treated you right, I’d be happy to eat my words. But I get from this that he’s been f**kin’ around and he’s involved you in it and that is one way a man doesn’t treat a woman right.”

“You’d know how not to treat a woman right, Tanner,” she shot back.

“Don’t go there, Gabby. I took care of you, I took care of our house, I took care of our boys. I worked my ass off to make a life for our family. We weren’t a love match and you knew it and you wanted my ring on your finger anyway. I gave it to you and did the best I could. It wasn’t good enough. You gave a little, even the barest f**king inch, we coulda made a go of it. You didn’t. You can blame me but we both know that’s bullshit. That’s on you and this is on you. I don’t want any part of this. You made a decision a decade and a half ago to hold onto something when you shoulda let it go and you f**ked up your life. You made a decision two years ago to hold onto something you shoulda let go and it’s happening again. I’m not getting dragged into this. I start, it won’t stop for me either and I’m not down with that. You go home, you talk to that ass**le and you tell him to get his shit together and you don’t come here again and hand me this bullshit. Am I clear?”

“You are so full of shit,” she hissed.

“Yeah?” he asked, “How?”

“I gave,” she informed him.

“Yeah, you gave, you gave me attitude for five f**kin’ years.”

“My husband was lusting after another woman!”

Fuck!

He wished he had a dollar for every time she brought up Raquel. He’d have a much healthier bank balance if he did.