Belonging to Her Mountain Read online

  “That sounds good. I’ll put you on the schedule for Saturday and Sunday for now. Let me know when you’re available during the week.”

  She talked with him for a few more minutes, and then he took her to the back to show her around and to make her a name badge. Tammy hoped she was making the right decision by quitting her current job without a second job already lined up.

  “So? It looks like you’ve got the job by the look on your face,” Randi said when she got outside.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You look equal parts relieved and worried.”

  “I guess that about sums it up,” Tammy said.

  “Having second thoughts about quitting?”

  “Not about quitting but about quitting without a good job to back me up.”

  “It will be okay. I’m here if you get over your head. We’ll work it out.”

  “They’re really desperate. That worries me, too.”

  “I’m sure most people don’t want to work in a truck stop, Tammy.”

  “Me included, but I think it’s the best decision.”

  “How about a late lunch at the diner since we’re out again anyway?” Randi asked.

  “Sounds good to me.”

  “We need to talk through your finances and see how much you’re actually going to need to make ends meet,” Randi said.

  “Somehow I think four dollars an hour plus tips isn’t going to cut it,” she said.

  “You’re probably right. Let’s eat, then look at what you’ve got.”

  * * * *

  “What do you mean you’re giving me notice?” Mr. Bigsby asked when she handed him her notice the next morning. “You can’t quit.”

  “I’m giving you two weeks’ notice. Next Friday will be my last day,” Tammy said.

  “Where are you going?” he demanded.

  “That doesn’t matter,” she said.

  “The hell it doesn’t. I deserve to know where you’re going,” he said.

  “I’m going to work at the diner at the truck stop outside of town.”

  “You’re kidding me. You’d work for less than minimum wage at a damn truck stop instead of here where you get a nice salary and a decent place to work?”

  “You yell at me all the time, Mr. Bigsby. I’m tired of it. I don’t seem to do anything like you want it to be done, so I’d think you’d be happy I’m quitting,” she said.

  “I don’t yell at you all the time,” he argued.

  “You yelled at me this morning about your coffee. I had it brewing fifteen minutes before I was supposed to even be here, and you still yelled at me about it not being ready for you. You yell at me all the time about everything.”

  “I still think you’re wrong. I don’t yell at you all the time. You’re too sensitive,” he said.

  “If I were all that sensitive, I would have quit the first time you called me an incompetent twit.”

  “Does this have anything to do with last Friday?”

  “No. Though yelling at me for staying to finish a brief you said had to be completed before I left, then yelling at me because I hadn’t left yet didn’t help the matter. It was just one in a long list of reasons, Mr. Bigsby.”

  Tammy stood and turned to walk out of her boss’s office.

  “You’ll be begging me for your old job back after one week. I guarantee it,” he said.

  Tammy ignored him and returned to her desk to work. She had plenty to keep her busy until time for lunch. Normally she sat outside at the park down the block, but it was much too cold for that now. In fact, there was a chance of snow later that afternoon. Today, she’d have to eat in the break room. She hated having to stick around, but she also didn’t want to go to the diner alone.

  Thinking about the diner reminded her that she had a lunch date with the guys the next day. What would they think about her quitting her job to work at a truck stop? They’d probably decide she was crazy and think twice about dating someone as kooky as her. The idea that she could lose their friendship worried her. She was already a little attached to them, and the thought of losing that hurt.

  If they don’t like me working at the truck stop, then they aren’t for me anyway.

  When Tuesday lunchtime came around, Tammy was a nervous wreck. Maybe she shouldn’t say anything to them about it. If they asked her how work was going, though, she’d have to tell them. It wasn’t fair to keep things from them when they were dating. She smiled. Dating. She hadn’t really dated in nearly a year. It felt good to have someone in her life, and right then, she had two someones.

  “Hey, babe,” Gabriel said when she walked inside the diner. “You look great. Cold, but great.”

  “It’s definitely cold out there,” she said.

  “Come on. Baldwin has a table saved for us in back. How are you doing?” Gabriel asked, placing a quick kiss on her cheek.

  “I’m good. What about you?”

  “Great now that you’re here,” he said.

  Once again Tammy felt her cheeks heat with a blush. They tended to cause that to happen to her a lot.

  “Hey there, honey. You look nice.” Baldwin stood as she walked up to the table.

  “Red nose and all,” Gabriel added as he pulled out her chair.

  Tammy sat, then scooted her chair up to the table. “Thanks. I’m sure my cheeks are just as red.”

  “Thank goodness we didn’t get all the snow they predicted for last night. The four inches we did get is bad enough,” Baldwin said.

  “So how is work going?” Gabriel asked.

  “Um, well. Can we wait until after we’ve ordered? It’s a little complicated.”

  “Sure, babe. It sounds serious,” Gabriel said.

  “I guess it kind of is,” she said.

  The waitress arrived and took both their drink and meal orders. They all settled for hamburgers with fries.

  “So, what’s going on, hon?” Baldwin asked.

  “My boss is really an ass. He yells at me all the time and is never happy with my work no matter how hard I try. I’ve been listening to him fuss at me for over six years and I’m tired of it, but what has really sealed it is that he’s gotten into something that I think is shady. He’s been buying things left and right and has me leave early every Friday now.”

  “You’re right. He’s an ass if he yells at you even once. You don’t need to work for someone like that.” Baldwin reached over and squeezed her hand. Gabriel took the other one in his.

  “You’re planning on quitting, babe?” he asked.

  “I gave him my notice yesterday. He wasn’t very happy about it. My last day will be next Friday,” she told them.

  “What kind of shady business are you talking about?” Baldwin asked.

  “Last Friday he asked me to finish a report for him before I left for the day. Normally I leave between three and four on Fridays, but I was still there at four thirty finishing up the report, and these two men unlocked the door and walked in like they owned the place. They looked like they belonged to some kind of gang. They had tattoos all over them and were dirty looking.”

  Tammy stopped and drew in a deep breath. Relief that they hadn’t immediately chastised her about quitting her job helped to melt the tight knot that had built up in her throat as she’d spoken.

  “When the door closed behind them, Mr. Bigsby walked out of his office with a big smile on his face, but then he saw me and started yelling at me for still being there and told me to get out. I couldn’t leave fast enough. Those men gave me the creeps. Then I saw them the other night when we went to the movies, and I’m sure they saw me, too. I don’t want to work there if he’s going to have men like that coming in.”

  “Why didn’t you say anything, hon?” Baldwin asked.

  “I didn’t want to ruin the good time we were having. Besides, there was nothing you could do about them being there. Honestly, I couldn’t figure out why they were there. I don’t see them as the kind of men who go out to the movies, you know?”

&nb
sp; “What are your plans?” Baldwin asked.

  “I start Saturday at the diner in the truck stop outside of town. Then once my notice is up at my current job, I’ll start working more. He said that if I handle the job well, he’ll look at giving me more hours in the truck stop,” Tammy said.

  “I hate for you to work out there. It’s not the safest of places either,” Gabriel said.

  “I think it’s better than continuing with Bigsby and being a part of whatever he’s into. Besides, there will be more people there. The manager assured me that there were always at least five people in the truck stop and diner at any given time. Then there are the truckers who are regulars. He said they’re pretty protective of the employees at the truck stop.” Tammy leaned back as the waitress brought out their meals.

  “So, you start this Saturday,” Gabriel said. “What are your hours?”

  “Six a.m. till four,” she said.

  “That’s not so bad. Do you work Sunday the same hours?” Baldwin asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Well, makes seeing you challenging, but I think we can work around it,” Gabriel said.

  “You’re okay with me quitting my job and going to work at a truck stop?”

  “You have to do what you feel is best, hon. Do we want you working there? No. But it’s your decision. We’ll support you and figure out the rest,” Baldwin said.

  “Thank you for understanding. I was so worried that you’d be angry with me.”

  “Impossible. We care about you, babe. If you’re not comfortable working for the asshole anymore, then you don’t need to work there. End of story,” Gabriel said.

  They spent the rest of her lunch hour eating and talking about general things. Tammy felt so much better about her decision having them agree with her. She was surprised at how much she’d wanted their acceptance and maybe their approval of what she’d done.

  They insisted on driving her back to her building so that she didn’t have to make the cold walk back. They each kissed her before letting her go inside.

  “We’ll talk to you later about the weekend, babe,” Gabriel told her.

  Tammy returned to her desk and got back to work. She hated the tension singing down her spine and curling in her gut like a nest of snakes. She couldn’t get out fast enough at quitting time. The one good part of the afternoon was that her boss didn’t bother her the entire time. She called out that she was leaving at five and received a brisk “lock up on your way out,” and that was all.

  Relief uncoiled the snakes as soon as she stepped out of the building. Not even the fact that it was snowing again could ruin her good mood. She carefully drove through the slick streets toward the apartment building where she lived. Just before she turned into the parking lot she looked in her rearview mirror, and she swore she saw the two men from the office following behind her in a brown van. Then she was in the parking lot and they kept driving. Was it them, or had her overactive mind imagined it was?

  Chapter Ten

  Tammy brushed back a strand of hair that had worked its way free of her ponytail. She’d been on her feet since six a.m. and still had four hours left. The breakfast crowd had lasted until nearly eleven, and then the lunch crowd showed up and she was rushing around once more. Her current job as a secretary hadn’t prepared her to be on her feet for ten hours. She was going to need to invest in better shoes.

  She’d talked to the guys the night before. They planned to pick her up at six and take her to eat. While she desperately wanted to see them, she was exhausted and wasn’t sure that it was a good idea. She would have to be at work at six the next morning.

  She hurried over to a new customer and asked what she could get him to drink. He looked like a businessman more than one of the regular kinds of people she would expect to see at a truck stop.

  “Coffee and maybe a piece of whatever pie you have,” he said.

  “We’ve got apple and peach left,” she said.

  “I’ll go with apple.”

  Tammy brought his pie out with a cup of coffee. She started to turn to leave, but he reached out and snagged her wrist.

  “You work for Bigsby and Sessions, right?” he asked.

  “Um, well, for now. I won’t be working there after next Friday,” she said.

  “Why are you quitting?” he asked.

  “Um, I don’t really want to talk about it. Who are you?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.

  “I’m Special Agent Bruce Wilson. I’d like to talk to you after your shift about your bosses,” he said, flashing his badge with his photo on it.

  “What about them?” she asked.

  “Have you noticed anything different about them lately? The way they act?”

  “Look, I have to work. I can’t talk to you right now,” she said, looking around at her customers. “I need this job.”

  Tammy hurried away and grabbed a coffee carafe to refill mugs and make sure her other customers didn’t need anything else. The agent remained in the diner until her quitting time. She could feel his eyes on her everywhere she went as she worked. It was unnerving and a little creepy.

  When she hung up her apron and clocked out, she found him standing outside the truck stop, waiting on her.

  “Let’s talk in my car,” he said.

  “Look, I don’t know you from Adam’s housecat. I’m not sitting in your car. What do you want to know?” she demanded.

  “Have your bosses shown any change in how they act? Spending more? After-hours meetings? That sort of thing.”

  “Mr. Bigsby has been acting odd for a few months now. He’s definitely spending more money, but Mr. Sessions rarely works these days. He’s getting ready to retire and only takes care of his current clients,” she said.

  “Have you noticed that Bigsby has new clients that aren’t his normal type of clients?” he asked.

  “He normally has me leave early on Fridays. I’ve thought he probably was meeting with someone after I left, but I’ve never been able to confirm that. Not until last Friday, that is,” she said.

  Tammy told him all about the strange men she’d seen at his office as well as having seen them at the movies. She described them the best she could remember. She didn’t say anything about thinking that they’d followed her home. The more she’d thought about it, the more she’d talked herself into believing she was mistaken.

  “Can you get into his office when he’s not there?” he asked.

  “I doubt it. He’s almost always there when I am,” she said.

  “What about lunch? Surely he doesn’t eat at his desk,” Special Agent Wilson said.

  “No. He does go to lunch most days. But I’m not comfortable sneaking around his office.”

  “We believe he’s working with a gang out of Billings to launder their drug money. It’s imperative that we get more information on him so that we can take them down. If he’s working with them, we can make a case against them by using him.”

  “Look. I would like to help, but I don’t think I can do that. If he catches me, there’s no telling what he’ll do. What if he sics those men after me? They make me feel dirty just remembering them.”

  “We can keep you safe,” Agent Wilson said.

  Right. They’ll get their information and I’ll be stuck to deal with the aftermath without that protection he’s promising.

  “I’m not stupid. You can’t keep me safe. Are you going to follow me everywhere I go? Sit outside my apartment all night?” When he didn’t say anything, she sighed. “I didn’t think so.”

  “Just keep your eyes and ears open next week and call me if you have anything.” He handed her his card. “Day or night. That number is to my cell phone.”

  “Fine. If I learn anything, I’ll call you.” Tammy pulled out her keys. “I need to go. I have a date tonight.”

  “With two men. Yeah, I know,” he said.

  “Have you been following me?” she demanded.

  Why haven’t I noticed him following me? I thought I was pretty darn
observant. Evidently not.

  “I’ve been trying to figure out if you were involved, and when you started working here, I figured you weren’t. You wouldn’t need to come to a place like this if you were mixed up with them,” he said.

  “I can attest that my salary isn’t all that great, but it’s going to take two jobs to replace my current salary, so I’m definitely not a part of whatever is going on.”

  “Watch your back, Tammy, and call me if you learn anything.”

  Agent Wilson turned, walked over to a dull blue sedan, and climbed inside. Tammy couldn’t shake the feeling of dread he’d instilled when she’d been so much more relaxed knowing she wasn’t going to be working for Bigsby for much longer. Now she’d need that relaxing shower even more before the guys picked her up.

  I just hope they don’t want to go somewhere afterward to dance or something. I’m too tired to handle the bar scene tonight.

  Then there was the whole Agent Wilson issue. Should she tell them or what?

  * * * *

  “Hey, babe. You look tired,” Gabriel said when she opened the door at six that evening.

  “I appreciate how hard waitresses have to work now,” she said with a weak smile.

  “Poor baby. Well, you’ll be happy to know that we’re feeding you tonight and treating you to the hot tub. I’m sure your legs and feet will enjoy that.”

  “It sounds perfect. I’d better go grab my swimsuit,” she said.

  “You don’t have to wear one, Tammy,” he said.

  “Um, okay, then I guess I’m ready to go.”

  Tammy grabbed her keys and bag, then locked up behind her. Randi had already left for the night after peppering her with questions about her first day at the diner. Truthfully, she’d enjoyed it a little. She liked meeting new people and the interaction she’d had with them. She just needed to build up her endurance. She had no doubt it would come after a few weekends.

  When Gabriel pulled the truck into their drive, Tammy instantly felt a little less tense. She truly liked spending time with Gabriel and Baldwin. They were so attentive and sweet to her. She had no doubt the meal would be delicious, and the hot tub would go a long way to soothing her aching legs and feet.