Page 30 of Trails of Temptation

“Have you eaten?”

Barely.

When I didn’t answer, he tucked his hands in his pockets and said, “Go up to the big house. There’s some leftover breakfast. I sent Keely and Moira to the day spa in town for a few hours. The house is empty.” Before he turned to talk away, he continued, “I’m telling you to do this as your boss, George. Go eat and rest. But as your friend I need to say… Don’t fall into the bottle. You’ll have a hell of a time getting out of it.”

I nodded at him but didn’t meet his gaze. He walked away, and I remained seated on the ground for another few minutes before I gathered the wherewithal to stand and gather up my tools. He was right about falling into the bottle. I’d done so over a decade ago and it had been hell clawing way my way out. Beer was one thing, but liquor?

It had been the only thing to numb myself from the pain of losing my late wife and blur the nightmares from my time overseas to the point where I could actually sleep.

I’d been strong until now. Until Keely.

I walked to the big house, leaving my tools on the back porch. The walk through the heat of the day had sweated out some of the liquor still pumping through my body and I felt leagues better than I had when I woke up this morning. A little food would take care of the rest, and after a long nap I was sure I’d be feeling fine again.

I opened the fridge and froze. There was plate on the shelf, wrapped in foil. A yellow sticky note with my name on it threatened to shatter my heart into pieces as I pulled it out. Keely’s handwriting was crisp and neat. I set the plate on the counter and tried to take a breath past the pain gripping my chest.

She’d made this breakfast for me knowing I’d feel like hell when I woke up, knowing I’d need something heavy and filling to wash away the alcohol I’d drowned myself in.

I’d overslept, yeah, but I hadn’t had any plans to even come up to the house like usual this morning. I hadn’t wanted to run into her… but she’d been expecting me. She’d done this for me, and I hadn’t shown up.

I took the sticky note and folded it neatly before putting it in my pocket. I sat down at the kitchen table and ate the food cold, barely tasting it.

I didn’t deserve her, not in the slightest. I needed to accept that. I needed her to accept that.

ChapterFifteen

Keely

If George wasn’t to go do anything about what was going on between us, neither was I. It sucked, but I had to accept it. Moira hadn’t liked that I was giving up, but what else was I supposed to do?

The first day I spent getting over George, I sat on the couch with Moira and ate enough ice cream to make my stomach hurt for days. The next day I had it in mind to bake enough chocolate chip cookies to feed a small army and not only did that heat up the kitchen to the point every single window in the house needed to be open to help cool the air, but I’d dropped two trays on the ground and Jennie got ahold of several cookies. Grant had had to call the vet to make sure she hadn’t poisoned herself from eating what was close to an entire bag of chocolate chips when it was all said and done. I’d felt awful about and wallowed in self-pity and embarrassment for days.

To make matters worse and my own life even more miserable, I’d decided on a whim that my menu for the week wasn’t enough. I redid the entire menu, starting from scratch. It’d taken me hours and several trips to the grocery store, but it had taken my mind off George for a while, at least.

I hadn’t seen him around much. He’d occasionally come to the house to talk to Grant, but I didn’t ever try to catch his eye. That didn’t mean I couldn’t feel his gaze on the back of my neck from time to time when he walked through the kitchen door on his way to Grant’s office while I was cooking. I’d dropped a bowl while unloading the dishwasher while he’d passed, and he silently picked it up and put it on the counter without saying a word.

If he came to dinner, he was coldly polite to me, never fully meeting my eye.

That was the extent of the attention we were giving each other. It hurt, but maybe it was for the best.

A week eventually went by without a word from George. He’d been gone for three of those days at an auction with Grant, which meant it was just me, Moira, and Day.

I’d been driving Day to his science camp, which I really enjoyed, and on Friday I picked up him and three of his friends from camp and drove them back to the ranch for a big sleepover where they’d be camping out in the pasture.

It was all Day wanted to talk about all week. He was so excited, and I leaned in to making it perfect for him.

“Where’s the big tent?” I asked Day as I walked along the rafters in the old barn. It had been refurbished to be used for storage. I’d been looking for the six-person tent Moira said was out here to no avail, and the boys were starting to get antsy to go out and play instead of helping me find what I was looking for. Between the four 10 year-olds they had about a ten second attention span, and as I peered down between the rafters, I saw them sword fighting with marshmallow sticks inside of looking for the tent.

“I don’t think it’s here, Day,” I called out.

“George had it last,” Day shouted, then giggled at something happening below. I heard a crash and knew the boys had knocked something over, likely making a huge mess.

“Alright, well, you guys go out and play outside,” I said through gritted teeth as I carefully made my way to the ladder, careful to not fall through the gaps in the rafters and fall to my death. I cursed as I slipped on the ladder and skinned my knee, but the boys were already out carrying on outside and beating each other with sticks, so they didn’t hear me grind out “Fuck!” loud enough to startle the pigeons roosting along the ceiling.

I looked down at the wound, sighing to myself.

I needed to find this tent or all four hellions would be sleeping in the living room and disturbing everyone’s peace. If George had it last, the only other place it could be was his house.

He wasn’t supposed to be home until later this afternoon… Could I go through his shop, or the two small sheds on his property without him noticing I was there?

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