Gail Jr climbed on the large sofa in the middle of her Mothers office, watching her typing on her computer. Her Mothers concentration was solely on what she was typing and a surge of jealousy flowed through her, not appreciating being ignored.
When her Mother had chosen to keep her and left Luke with her Father, Gail Jr had thought that they would be doing something fun. She had felt a strange hostile presence at the Church earlier and wanted to go back there, it had felt familiar and caused her excitement when the presence became angry at their approach to it's place. Her Father had ruined their fun, as he sometimes did when she tried to play with the strange presences in their garden; however, she had expected her Mother to have a plan B, knowing how much she liked to play with her Father. What she had not expected was to be brought to this overly large office and have to sit around while her Mother actually worked, she was bored!
Gail felt her frustration at the encounter with her Husband try to take hold again like it had attempted to do after she had left him with Luke; however, she focused hard on her article and continued to type intently. Writing always took her mind off everything else going on around her and it was ways there to ground her, allowing her to push aside her darkness and bring back feelings of how she was before she came back to Trinity.
The last article she had written was a few months ago when she brought child abuse into the spotlight, after decades of this Town burying the warning signs. The board of Directors were not happy with her direct approach to the subject; therefore, she had chosen to keep things light now and pick up her lifestyle section again, at least until their trust in her was restored.
It was not hard to please these people, a pretty smile here and pleasant compliment there, in addition to a month or so of holding back her urges to control the content of the Trinity Guardian and she would have the free reign that she had become accustomed to again. She knew how to play the game and welcomed the distraction from her Husband for the moment.
The sound of Gail Jr banging loudly on the coffee table beside her sofa caught her attention and Gail looked up from her computer momentarily. 'You can't give me a minute?' she asked curtly.
'50 hours!' Gail Jr exclaimed and fell back dramatically on the sofa slapping her palm to her forehead, feigning a faint.
'You can't even count to 50' Gail mock scolded, then got up and moved towards her Daughter slowly.
'Can so! You don't know!' Gail Jr shouted, resenting the comment.
'Oh I do know' Gail advised calmly, then pounced on her Daughter and began tickling her playfully.
'No Momma, no!' Gail Jr squealed in surprise, failing to protect herself from her Mother strategic fingers and trying so hard to overpower her.
'Bored are you? Sick of being stuck doing nothing huh?' Gail laughed, continuing to torture her Daughter and refusing to let up.
Gail Jr screamed at the top of her lungs, unable to control herself and could not stop laughing.
Gail pinned her to the corner of the sofa, then pulled up her top and blew raspberries on her stomach, laughing when her Daughter screamed and giggled happily.
'Well, this is an unconventional way of managin' your staff' a tall man said from the open office door, watching the pair closely.
Gail quickly pulled her Daughters top down and turned towards the unfamiliar voice, not impressed by the interruption. 'Do I know you?' she asked bluntly, standing up and smoothing down her blouse.
'I'm sorry, I presumed you would have been told in the mornin' meetin'' the man advised, then stepped forward and held out his hand. 'I'm David Scholes'
Gail shook his hand courteously, but continued to look at him suspiciously.
'The new joint head of editing' David continued, surprised that she appeared confused by his presence. He had been working for the Trinity Guardian for several years and knew how observant Gail Buck was, her confusion now was uncharacteristic of the woman who he had looked up to.
Gail let go of his hand and took a step back, then forced her demeanour to remain calm. 'Joint head?' she asked, unimpressed by this man's presence and the apparent challenge to her role.
'Well yes, my office is right next to yours so I can keep a close eye on how you do things...The board called me and offered me the promotion an hour ago, they told me to come right in' David smiled pleasantly, spotting her tense and not wanting to cause her any distress.
'An hour ago? Is that right?' Gail laughed in disbelief, sensing her Husbands mark all over this and cursing herself for not anticipating a move from him now that she had been caught outside of his Fathers Church. Did he really believe that she would take this insult quietly? She was more than capable of managing this newspaper alone and she had no intention of being watched by one of his minions.
'I know this must be strange, but I just assumed you were aware of the plan...These things are always in the pipeline well before they're announced you know' David advised, wondering why she was so shocked.
'You know what? I think your first thought was right Sweetie, Momma should've gone to plan B straight away and not fallen in line so willingly...Silly her for trusting the boys and expecting them to play fair' Gail said to her Daughter as she picked her up, disregarding David and heading for the door.
'Wait! I'm supposed to shadow you and-'
'Shadow me? Of course you are...You go tell 'the board' that I quit, and good luck in controlling me now' Gail interrupted before he had a chance to plead, fully expecting the message to be reported back to it's intended target straight away and walked casually out of the Trinity Guardian Headquarters with her Daughter, choosing take herself out of this equation completely.
Caleb sat in the bright yellow sportscar and watched as the trees sped past the passenger side window, amazed at how fast they were going. He did not recall a time when he was allowed to ride in his old Teachers car, especially alone and it felt exhilarating doing something that he suspected both of his parents would disapprove of.
'How are you finding High School? You could never sit still in my class long enough to excel however it appears you're making some effort now, going by what Matt says anyway' Selena said flatly, not interested in keeping this little devil with her any longer than she absolutely had to and pressing her foot harder on the pedal in an attempt to get him back to School quickly.
Caleb felt the car accelerate even more and smiled, sensing the annoyance radiating off of her. He had made it clear to her before she allowed him to enter her car that he would not misbehave, considering she was doing him a favour by getting him back on time; however, her current discomfort amused him and it was taking all of his effort not to play with her. 'Matt says a lot to you these days don't he?' he asked casually, tapping into some of his darkness to allow him to delve into her subconscious.
Selena gave off a small laugh and shook her head slowly, having been privy to Lucas' mental tortures long before Caleb came along. She applauded the boy's efforts, he was Lucas Buck's Son after all and it was only fitting that he would want to show off some of his talents; however, this was not her first rodeo with the Buck's and she was not so easily fazed by their strangeness as others would be. 'Matt Crower and I are none of your business Caleb Temple, but I won't deny our closeness of late...Anyone with a set eyes can witness our public meetings, we haven't got anything to hide' she responded calmly, not allowing him to get under her skin.
'Is that so?' Caleb asked, not taking his eyes off the scenery outside of the car.
'That's so' Selena answered confidently, taking her foot off the accelerator slightly as a corner neared.
'Alright, so I guess Miss Holt won't mind me tellin' her how kind you were takin' me back to School after you visited her boyfriend on his lunch hour, when he was supposed to be checkin' in with her? I suppose she'd be very understandin' of your non public meetin's in his office durin' his shifts, you know the ones that take place when the Nurses change over and ain't as observant as they may usually be?' Caleb advised forcing an innocent tone, but unable to hide his smug smile.
Selena slammed her foot on the break and the car came to an abrupt halt. 'Listen to me you little demon-' she started viciously, turning towards Caleb and ready to show her authority; however, she stopped when he pointed forward and her eyes closed in frustration after her gaze had followed his finger to see an unimpressed Lucas watching them, while he held his youngest Son up who was standing on the bonnet of his car.
'You little shit' Selena said through gritted teeth and took a deep breath while she waited for Lucas to make his move.
'Don't Daddy' Luke warned, knowing how much trouble his Father was already in for messing with his Mother's work place and shook his head when his Father ignored his warning, letting go of him to begin his approach to the yellow sportscar.
'Uh oh, looks like someone doesn't appreciate your tone towards me' Caleb smirked, watching his Fathers approach and sensing Selena's irritation at not being aware of his presence around the corner before she insulted his Son.
Selena subconsciously pushed up her cleavage as she sat up straight and wound her window down slowly, knowing better than to ignore her sociopathic ex boyfriend.
'Good afternoon Miss Coombs, to what do we owe this pleasure?' Lucas asked coolly, as he leaned down against her open window and shot Caleb a suspicious look. 'He's a little young for your usual type ain't he?'
Selena tried to think of any plausible reason which would not cause a backlash from Lucas for having his eldest Son in her car alone without his authority; however, her mind went blank and her heart began to race as his look became impatient.
'Whatever that means-' Caleb chimed in before his Father became too angry and took the attention off of Selena. '-Miss Coombs found me walkin' back to School and kindly offered to drive me the rest of the way...I assume you'd rather me accept a ride from her than allow Mom to get a call about me skippin' class?'
Lucas narrowed his eyes at Caleb for a moment, instantly sensing the lie and his suspicion of the pair grew. 'So, she just happened upon you in your time of need? She wasn't showin' you her skills in this fine motor or tryin' to teach you anythin' which ain't in your textbooks, much to her usual tactics?' he retorted cruelly, unable to hold back the digs.
'I would never-' Selena started defensively.
'Take a boy's innocence? How about a man's? I hear Harvard ain't as sure shootin' as he used to be, a man can only wonder if that's down to his choice is company of late' Lucas interjected, knowing she was trying to get her claws into Matt Crower no matter how hard she tried to appear honourable with her intensions.
Selena was about to challenge the comments, then took in a deep breath and remembered what Gail had drilled into her about the Buck boys previously. 'Caleb honey...get out of my car' she ordered calmly, choosing to take the high road.
Caleb was about to protest when Selena leaned over him, roughly unclipped his seatbelt then opened the car door and shoved him out. 'Oh no you didn't' he laughed in disbelief from the ground, then sensed her anger and rolled out of the way of the wheel when the engine came on abruptly and she slammed her foot on the accelerator to escape.
'Guess she did' Luke said coolly as he strolled up to his Father and Brother, glancing over his shoulder at the car speeding away due to Miss Coombs wisely choosing to take herself out of the equation here.
'See what happens when you choose to trust a ride from a crazy lady?' Lucas asked Caleb smugly, holding down his hand to help him up off the ground.
'She only turned crazy when you started to insult her Bo' Caleb responded sarcastically, begrudgingly accepting his Fathers hand up.
'He ain't her Bo yet Son and I didn't insult that wet rag of a man-' Lucas started in his defence.
'Yet' Luke interrupted knowingly, smiling devilishly when his Father shot him a look of warning for butting in.
'He ain't wrong, you can't go two minutes without pickin' at Doctor Matt. No wonder she fled from you' Caleb added.
'Me? It ain't got nothin' to do with the underage teenage boy who managed to worm his way into her vehicle' Lucas laughed in disbelief of Caleb's oblivion of Selena's dislike of him.
'At least he didn't start Momma' Luke said in Caleb's defence, reaching for his older Brother and smiling when he picked him up.
'What? Why would you start her? Things have been goin' fine!' Caleb snapped in irritation, not believing his Father's incessant need to prod the bear.
'Oh I'm sure the 'bear' will love how you see her' Lucas advised, refusing to acknowledge that he had done anything wrong with Gail and truly believing he had her best interests at heart, arranging for someone to watch her at work to keep her out of trouble.
'You're delusional if you think that plan has worked...20 bucks on her eliminatin' the watcher before the end of the day' Caleb bet, not believing his Fathers play when he read his thoughts.
'Nope' Luke interjected and stared at his Father's car expectantly, then sighed when Ben called out already knowing what the news would be.
Lucas glanced at Luke suspiciously, then headed back towards his car and took the radio from Ben. He forced his demeanour to remain unchanged as the man on the other end told him of his Wife's decision to quit her job without his authorisation and he stared at Luke with exasperation.
Caleb caught the last part of the conversation and shook his head. 'She's pissed at him now ain't she' he asked quietly.
'Yep' Luke responded, already having been warned by his Sisters voice in his head to steer clear of their Mother for as long as he could and let out a long sigh when he sensed the rage within his Father rise, knowing that both of his parent's were past the point of listening to any common sense.
-To be continued-