Sophie Oak: Chasing Bliss

Nope. Gemma Wells wasn’t for him. Still, he kept his eye on her until she turned the corner and disappeared from sight.

He went back to his burger. His appetite was back in full force.

Gemma opened the door to her small cabin with a sigh. This was home for now. She was back to her childhood, moving from place to place. In the last six months, she’d lived in New York, Chicago, and now Bliss, Colorado. She’d come to Colorado with a suitcase full of completely impractical shoes and bags, her laptop, and her phone—neither of which were doing her a bit of good. Everything else she owned was in a storage container in Brooklyn and she wouldn’t see it again for another couple of days when the movers finally shipped it. She didn’t have anything to work on, and so far no one had called about her resume. Big surprise there.

And now she had another job. The sheriff had worked to get her, but how long would he keep her?

And why couldn’t she stop thinking about Bare-Chested Ape Man and the Sweet One? The very last thing she needed was for her hormones to go on all-out, full-on, call-in-the-troops alert.

She tossed her purse inside and turned back, looking at the slightly larger cabin next door to hers that her mother had rented. The front porch was empty, which could mean only one thing. She closed the door and walked around to the back. Twilight was encroaching, but that meant something different in Colorado.

Blues and pinks and oranges painted the sky. In New York, evening had just meant the world got darker, but it was a nightly show here.

How long had it been since she just sat and watched the day fade? The last ten years of her life had been one long press against the borders of time. Time was the enemy. Time had to be used. Every second of it. Gemma Wells, hard-nosed lawyer, fought against the whole idea of sitting and watching the sunset.

But she wasn’t a lawyer anymore. She was a daughter, and she’d almost lost her mom.

“Hey, baby girl.” Her mom turned her head, a serene smile on her face. How she managed her constant peaceful mood, Gemma had no idea. Her mom had spent years battling cancer, but there was no bitterness in her body. Even when she’d lost both breasts, Lynn Wells had simply told Gemma she was grateful for the time she’d had with them. She’d held a damn party to say good-bye to her breasts and invited all her hippie friends to read eulogies to her mammaries. Nope. She didn’t understand her mom, but, god, she loved her.

Patrick had told her the party was ridiculous. He’d been embarrassed when she’d mentioned it to her coworkers.

“Hey, Momma.” Gemma took the Adirondack chair next to her mom and let her head rest back, closing her eyes.

She bet Jesse McCann wouldn’t have laughed. He’d probably have escorted her to the party and said good-bye to her mom’s breasts, too. She could size up people pretty well. She’d had to learn to in her job. Jesse was the sweet one. Jesse was the one who could be easily led by his penis and would smile and thank the woman who led him.

Not the Neanderthal shirtless dude, though. No. He was trouble.

“How was work?”

“Assaulted a man. Got fired.” She was done prevaricating. Her mom would know the truth soon enough.

“Now, Gemma, that is not the way I heard it.”

Or she’d already heard the story. Gemma sighed and opened her eyes. Her mom’s brilliant blue eyes were staring right at her.

“Oh, thank the lord, the nightly entertainment is here!” Naomi Turner rounded the corner, a tray in her hand. It contained all the new nightly rituals that had been implemented since they’d gotten to Bliss. A bottle of rich red wine, a tray of cheese and crackers and prosciutto. There were three glasses, and Naomi passed Gemma one.

“Thanks.” Gemma took a long sip. Naomi Turner was a godsend. She’d been her mother’s nurse in Chicago during her surgery and the subsequent radiation treatments. She wasn’t sure how or why, but Naomi had agreed to come with them when they retreated to Colorado. She rather thought Naomi was running from something, but she’d been far too grateful to ask.

Her mom took her glass and shook her blonde hair. “I heard that the nosy sheriff had a hand in everything.”

Naomi winced, her dark eyes turning slightly toward the front of the house. “Keep your voice down, sweetie, we have company.”

A pretty woman with brown hair and sparkling eyes rounded the corner, another tray in her hand. “Oh, it’s all right. I know my husband is a manipulative bastard. He told me what he’d done earlier today. That’s why I made my spinach dip.”

An ethereal brunette in a long cotton skirt, tunic, and Birkenstocks followed Mrs. Wright. “And I brought cruelty-free pita bread to go with the spinach dip, although you might simply want to eat the bread. The dip has sour cream.”

“Hi, I’m your neighbor, Callie Hollister-Wright. This is Nell. She thinks sour cream is evil.”

The woman named Nell shook her head. “No, I simply think it’s ignorant of the harm it does. But Gemma here is very good. Did you know she’s a lawyer?”

Thank god. Someone in the world didn’t think she was the second coming of Satan. “Thanks.”

Nell had a serene smile on her face. “You’re welcome. I’m very involved in all the environmental cases going on in the area. I heard you worked on the Calvin Township case. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”

Gemma reached for a piece of bread. “Yeah, though I’m surprised you’ve heard of it. We tried really hard to keep Tremon Industries out of the press. Guess my old firm is laying down on the job.”

Nell gasped and grabbed the bread from her hand. “You weren’t representing the town?”

“No.” Yeah, her reputation in this town was going to hell.

Nell sat down, crossing her legs, a stubborn expression on her face.

Callie Hollister-Wright grimaced. “Sorry. She’s protesting you now.”

“Oh, dear.” Her mom stared at the now-protesting woman with a worried look on her face. “Should we do something?”

Callie shook her head. “Not unless she starts singing. Now, I would like to apologize for Nate’s evil plan to get you to work for him. All I can say is, apparently he’s been plotting ever since Lynn called Stella and said she was coming home and you were coming with her. He’s really shorthanded right now with Logan in Dallas. Hope, his last office manager, just got married and she’s working out at her new husbands’ ranch. I’m way too busy with the twins. Laura and Rafe are trying to set up a new business. Holly says she has PTSD every time she walks into the station house since she almost got killed by Russian mobsters there. And Jen doesn’t need the money. Oh, and Zane, my other husband, told Nate he would cut his balls off if he poached Lucy, so you were really important to Nate.”

“Your other husband?” Gemma needed that wine.

Callie smiled. “Oh, yes. They usually get along great, but it’s hard to find good help in this town. It’s why I wish Nate would have left well enough alone. Stella is going to give him hell, but he refuses to back down. He says he won you through sheer ruthless determination.”

The sound of a car rolling up the gravel road distracted her for a moment. The valley was usually very quiet, but it sounded like everyone was getting home from work at the same time today.

Her mom sat back. “Thank the lord. I thought something terrible had happened. It’s just Bliss antics.”

The woman in front of her seemed to be meditating, a low hum beginning in the back of her throat.

“Bliss antics? I was manipulated into assaulting a man, Mom.”

Nell’s eyes opened, a look of shock going across her face.