Return To West Texas

"You did it, girlfriend! I'm so proud of you." Gaby Navarro accepted a hug from her ebullient friend, Beth Thom. "I keep wanting to pinch myself." Though, truth was, she'd burned a lot of midnight oil to get this promotion to style editor atBijoumagazine. "It's real hot stuff," Beth advised. "The boss better watch out or you'll have her job." "I think she's safe for a day or two." Gaby wondered why, now that she had what she'd battled so hard to obtain, she didn't feel more jubilant. From the day she'd left college and arrived in Manhattan, she'd been focused on exactly this climb. She was only tired; that was all. "We have to celebrate tonight. I'm making reservations." Beth's cheer was impossible to resist. "Put yourself in my hands, girl. We will have a rip-roaring time." Gaby found herself smiling. Letting the sense of accomplishment sink in. "Thank you." "Hey, I'm selfish. Editorial board meetings are a pain in the you-know-what. I could use a partner in crime." Gaby laughed. The phone on her desk buzzed. She glanced at it, then at Beth. Sighed. "Back to the real world." Beth grinned. "No rest for the wicked." With a wink, she departed. Gaby picked up the receiver. "Yes?, "There's a call for you from Texas," the receptionist said. "A Sheriff Anderson. He refuses to leave a message. Congratulations, by the way." Sheriff Anderson? It had been nine years since she'd had contact with anyone back there. "Okay, I'll take the call. And thanks." She punched the flickering button. "Gaby Navarro." "Gabriela?, So strange to be called Gabriela once more. And the voice was not the older one she'd expected. This was his son, Chad. Her former boyfriend. "Chad? you're--the sheriff?" He chuckled. "Amazing, huh? My dad passed away two years ago, and the voters saw fit to give me the job." Memories crashed in on her--. Chad, the golden boy, literally. Blond, tall and handsome. Quarterback of the football team, student-body president. All that a girl could dream of. Until Eli had changed everything. "Gabriela, I'm sorry, but this isn't a social call. I'm afraid I have bad news." The past vanished with the warning in his tone. "Papa is all right, isn't he?" A long silence. "That's why I'm calling. You need to come home." "Is he sick? Hurt?, Papa had always seemed invincible. "I wish I didn't have to do this on the phone. No easy way to break it. Your father is gone, Gabriela." "Gone?, she echoed. She dropped into her chair and opened the middle desk drawer, then groped for the picture she kept there. "There was a fire in one of the barns. He was alone." "Where was RamAn?, The foreman had been with her father as long as she could remember. A pause. "Your father had to let RamAn go several months back, so there was no one--" He cleared his throat. "By the time a passerby noticed the smoke, it was too late." She hunched over her desk, clutching the photograph. She'd left Texas in a fury. Thrown ugly words in her father's face, and now they would never-- She barely registered what Chad was saying. "--Good man, but in the last few years, his health had deteriorated." The knife slid in a little deeper. "I'll be on the first plane." "Let me know which flight, and I'll pick you up." "No, I--" "Gabriela, please. I want to help you." "I have to go now. I'll take care of it." She hung up before he could tell her anything else. Before she had to hear more recrimination in his voice. Her father had wanted her to marry Chad and unite their adjoining ranches. But she'd had other dreams, even before-- Eli.Outcast Eli Wolverton had been her dark secret. Her one true love. Or so she'd believed until he'd abandoned her. Vanished under a cloud of suspiBrashear, Jean is the author of 'Return To West Texas ', published 2007 under ISBN 9780373714131 and ISBN 0373714130.