Jacob's Ladder: Gabe (Jacob's Ladder #1)

I laughed. “Considering I’ve only been gone for forty-eight hours, I’m not quite sure how I could have fallen in love with a hillbilly.”

“You never know—they move fast.”

“How the hell would you know? Past experience?”

“Just an observation.”

“Whatever.” A knock came on the Jeep’s window, causing my phone to fly out of my hand and onto the passenger seat. When I glanced over, Rae was grinning at me. After I rolled down the window, I said, “Hey.”

“Hey. Listen, I was thinking instead of coming over here, you should just come to the shop to pick me and Linc up. Dad lives closer to the shop than here.”

“Okay. I’ll see you at the shop.”

She smiled. “Okay.” Jerking her chin, she added, “Now get the hell out of here so I can go to work.”

“I’m on it.”

After she waved and headed back to her car, I leaned over and picked up my phone. I knew there wasn’t a chance in hell that Eli had hung up. The minute he heard a female voice, he would be hanging on to every word he possibly could. “Hey. I’m back.”

“Was that Earlene?” he asked teasingly as I cranked the Jeep up.

“No, smartass. Her name is Rae.”

“Sounds like you guys are having dinner tonight.”

“We are, at her father’s house,” I replied as I backed out of Rae’s driveway.

“Mmhmm.”

I laughed. “Like that’s all you have to say. I mean, don’t hurt yourself holding back.”

“It’s just that you said it would be impossible to have fallen in love with a hillbilly girl in two days, yet here you are having dinner with a woman. Not only that, you’re having dinner with her family. Do we need Selma to prepare a press release on your impending nuptials?”

“Har fucking har.”

“Hey, you told me not to hold back. I mean, you’re already eating dinner with her parents—what am I supposed to think?”

“It’s not like that with Rae.”

“Then enlighten me.”

I sucked in a deep breath before unloading the soap opera of what had transpired.

“Holy shit,” Eli remarked when I finished.

“Yeah. Pretty much.”

“I can’t believe you found your muse in the backwoods.”

“It surprised the hell out of me as well, but I’m not going to question it.”

“I wouldn’t either.” After pausing for a moment, Eli asked, “So she’s beautiful, huh?”

“Gorgeous, but not like the fake women I usually go after. She’s real.”

“She’s real or her tits are real?”

Groaning, I replied, “Once again, it’s not like that with her.”

“It’s not like that because she won’t let it be like that,” Eli countered, amusement vibrating in his voice. It was times like these I lamented having a twin brother who knew exactly how my brain worked.

“Yeah, it’s true that she shot me down, but I’m glad she did.”

“Seriously?”

“If we had fucked, who knows what would have happened to my songwriting mojo? I might still be blocked.”

“That’s one way to look at it, and a very mature way, I might add.”

I snickered. “I’m not sure I would trust your judgment on what’s mature.”

Eli laughed. “Whatever. So you really think you have another song brewing?”

“Yep. I’m pulling into the hotel now. Just as soon as I can get to my pen and journal, I’m at it again. Once I get to a stopping point, I’ll text you about doing a Google Hangout with Abby.”

“Sounds good. I’ll call her and let her know what’s going on.”

“Thanks, man. I probably need to text Jake and tell him I’ll be commandeering his Jeep for a little while longer.”

“I don’t think he’ll mind, especially if you’re finally getting the words you need. When do you think you’ll be back?”

“I’m not leaving here until I have enough to fill the album—or until my mojo runs out.”

“I’ll be interested to see what you come up with, but more than the songs, I’m interested to see how things pan out with Rae.”

“You mean you’ll be interested to see if we finally bang.”

“Actually, I was thinking more long-term than that.” Really, Eli?

“Like a relationship?”

“Bingo.”

“Get real, bro.”

“You’re the one who needs to get real, not me.”

“It’s not happening.”

“We’ll see.”

Scowling at the phone, I replied, “If you don’t have anything else to do but give me shit about Rae, I’ll let you go. Unlike someone else I know, I have work to do.”

Eli chuckled. “Whatever, man. Call me when you’re done penning our next CMA winner.”

“I don’t know about that, but I’ll let you know when the next song is done.

“You do that—oh, and tell Rae hello for me.”

“I will.”

“And thanks for putting up with my knuckleheaded brother.”

I laughed. “Goodbye, Eli.”

“Bye, Gabe.”





I’d just set down the last bag of groceries when the doorbell rang. Instantly, a giddy yet anxious feeling swept over me because I knew it was Gabe. After breakfast the previous morning, he’d come with us to Dad and Stella’s. When I’d first asked him, I hadn’t thought he would really do it. I mean, it was one thing to hang out with me and Linc, but my dad and sisters as well?

He seemed to have a great time, though, and I don’t even know how long we spent talking around Dad’s dining room table. After Gabe brought Linc and me home, we sat on the couch in front of the fire talking until Linc passed out around nine, and then Gabe ended up leaving sometime after eleven.

It had never felt so easy talking to a man, which surprised me given his life was so completely different than mine. There was no awkwardness between us. I never felt like I had to be something I wasn’t because Gabe appeared to appreciate me exactly as I was. He was also one of the few men I’d ever been around who was as actively interested in hearing about my life as he was about telling me about his. In fact, he seemed to shy away from talking a lot about life on the road and in the band, focusing more on talking about his family and his friends.

After the late night, Gabe had texted me in the morning to say he was sleeping in after spending most of the night working on songs. I had no clue about the how and why. We hadn’t spent time talking about anything particularly deep and meaningful, and it still felt so surreal that I could have any impact on his writer’s block—especially for a songwriter as prolific as Gabe Renard. Candy had told me how many albums Jacob’s Ladder had out, so I knew if he was their main songwriter, he must’ve written over a hundred songs.