Bejewelled

CH 12

Cinda had refused to leave right away, to Gabe’s complete annoyance, but he did have to understand her, give her what she needed at this point, for she had to make funeral arrangements and have her father-in-law Pete buried before she left. It was a long five days with him around.

Thankfully, Gabe stayed with Johnny at his place, and Cinda, once out of the hospital, stayed in her company's apartment with Smokey. She had not really talked with her boss other than to ask for the apartment for a few days to organise the funeral, and had told him it was just too hard to be in her place to do that. She’d steadfastly refused to tell him about her apartment fire.

She knew that he would worry about her, to the point he’d be on her doorstep and she already had one overbearing man watching her like a hawk. Cinda just wanted to deal with one thing at a time right now.

Gabe had offered to go with her, “for support” to the funeral home. She didn’t understand why he even bothered, likely it was his mother pushing him to do so. Cinda had simply shaken her head, “No thank you.” She’d stated flatly, she didn’t need him seeing her all broken down and emotionally distraught. But she had not been able to get out of him driving her from the hospital to her work apartment, which he had insisted on walking around and looking at. Why? She didn’t understand, but just left him to it. It was a simple two-bedroom apartment a few blocks from the company head office. Nothing flashy, but it was well furnished and comfortable.

Jack had been the one to pick her up and take her shopping for new clothes, seeing as she’d lost everything, he'd also been the one to bring her something to wear so she could leave the hospital. His girlfriend had offered up a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt. Cinda didn’t mind Jack as company, to be honest, he was a good man and didn't rush her. Likely used to going shopping with his girlfriend.

She had handled a funeral before, could handle it again, as hard as it may be, she could do it. She had also refused the offer of Lori coming down to support her through her time of need. It was a long drive and coming down for a funeral for someone she didn't know, might be awkward for the woman.

Gabe had obviously told his mum, exactly what was going on because Lori was calling her twice a day to check in on her. Told her that Gabe would be right there to give her anything she needed. Cinda had nearly laughed out loud at that. It was the funniest thing she’d heard in a long time. Had held it in, wasn’t likely to come out sounding happy or grateful, more likely to sound like a shrill banshee, with the way she was feeling.

Everything went as planned, and she asked Gabe to stay away from her on the day of the actual funeral, seeing as he was insisting on attending the funeral, not something she expected or needed for that matter. She’d asked him to stay out of the way and up the back.

She wasn’t alone on the day. All of James’s firehouse were there to support her through this. In fact, she’d not been alone all week, one of the boys had been with her nearly every day and Jack had been the one to go with her to the funeral home, the same one they had used for James' funeral. Jack had been a great help to her. No surprise there Jack and James had grown up together the best of friends.

The day of the funeral they all sat with her up front, Jack right next to her.

Gabe and Johnny were both in attendance and both respected her wishes to stay up the back and out of her way. She had cried, unable to hold it in and had leaned on Jack mostly. He had been James’s best friend forever and so, she knew him well, was comfortable leaning on him and he was comfortable with her needing him to be right there for her.

She stayed with the fire crew for the entire time she was at the wake and though she knew Gabe and Johnny were there, neither one of them approached her at all. They simply stayed away from her. She laid eyes on them only two or three times, and when she was ready to leave, Gabe appeared out of nowhere, seemingly knowing that she was ready to leave.

Jack was a bit annoyed she was leaving the city. He’d offered to put her up at his place, his girlfriend didn’t mind, said she understood, would be happy for her to be there. She’d shaken her head and told him about the work she had upcoming in her home town, so she would be going there in like 6 to 8 weeks anyway, that her boss, William, had already approved for her to leave early for the job. William had, he’d thought it was a very good idea, that some time with her family would be good for her.

Jack knew she’d bought a house with the money from James’s estate up there, had just looked at her, when she’d told him James had told her to use it for a house back in her hometown, frowned and nodded. Like he knew, James had done so. It was completely possible that he did.

It was also completely possible that the man knew everything in James’s letter to her, and with the way he constantly glared at Gabe it was highly likely that he did. It bothered her somewhat, but not enough to ask him if he was bothered. He didn’t bring it up either.

Cinda spent most of the drive from the company apartment where she had to pick up smokey, to their hometown, a drive of 6 hours on the phone with her boss, William Tyrell. He’d made a brief appearance at the work apartment before the funeral, had hugged her passed on his condolences and then excused himself. He didn’t handle grief. She knew that, was still dealing with the loss of Catherine, as she was for that matter. She didn’t blame him for not wanting to stick around, had been a little surprised he’d made an appearance, he didn’t need to.

She had the company phone in one of the saddle bags on her bike, had retrieved it earlier in the week to make any calls. Finally explained on her way back to her hometown about the apartment fire as well, and that she had lost everything, but that she was alright.

William had sounded genuinely horrified, rounded on her for not telling, yelled quite a bit about that in fact. Got looked at by Gabe with a raised eyebrow as he drove the car, he too could hear the man yelling at her through the phone, she guessed, though he’d said nothing.

Cinda had changed the subject and explained that luckily, she’d not unpacked her bike's saddle bags due to the distressful circumstances of the night, so the camera and the shots of the house she had taken were all still intact.

Not that he was the least bit worried about them, they were replaceable, she was not, he had informed her. Cinda had again reassured him she was okay on several occasions.

He’d asked her how she was getting home and told her he didn’t think she was in any fit state to ride her bike, and she’d muttered down the line about Gabriel having been sent to collect her by her foster mother, not that she thought she needed that, but also that she had no choice in the matter at this point in time.

William had chuckled softly at her tone on the subject, but then had asked her how he could do that? unless he had something on her, and she sighed, told him it was a long story and that she would relay it to him another time, but assured him it wouldn’t reflect upon his company in anyway. He’d not care about that at all apparently.

Just seemed to think it was more funny than anything. Stated she was only young and well, youngsters do get in trouble with the law sometimes. Told her to do what the law man said.

He offered her time off with pay for the next month if she felt she needed it, Cinda thanked him and said she would definitely take some time off. Though how much alone time she could handle she didn’t know, and would advise him of her return to work once she was ready to get back to things.

William told her that if she needed anything at all to just call him and ask, he would see to it that it was done, anything, no matter how small or insignificant it seemed. Again, Cinda thanked him and assured him she would call on him if she needed anything.

She had seen Gabe look at her upon hearing that statement but ignored it. Yes, she had friends that he didn’t know about, and William, though he was her boss, had taken a real liking to her.

Told her she reminded him of his granddaughter and so sometimes, couldn’t help himself in wanting to help her out. He’d laughed it off, but it was true, for the most part he did treat her like a family member sometimes, always seemed to understand if she needed a day off, or was having a difficult time in her life, and needed more than a few days.

They had gotten down to discussing the house in question and that conversation had gone on for well over an hour, when she’d hung up finally and saw Gabe look at her. Cinda knew he was curious as to what she did for a living, she had a business degree but what she did with it. It was likely he didn’t know; he’d just gotten a glimpse into her world and was clearly curious, she had used the name of the house and he knew it well.

“People died in that house, that’s why it's empty, you know.” He commented casually.

“I know that, so does William. There was full disclosure on the property. He hasn’t bought it yet, but I don’t see why he won’t, it has great potential, and he trusts my judgement.”

“Does that mean you’ll be in town a while? Working on the project yourself?”

He had tried to make it sound like a casual question, but she caught the underlying meaning. He wanted to know just how long he had to put up with her in his town. Well, she hadn’t told anyone yet, but she had bought a house into which she intended to move into.

It hadn’t been her idea, and she cut her line of thought off right there.

Cinda turned and looked out the window. Now wasn’t the time to tell him either. She would leave it for now, but answered his question “Yes, I usually oversee the entire project, that is my job.”

He said nothing at all, and silence returned to the car. Cinda wondered just how he actually felt about it, but wasn’t going to ask him, she didn’t truly care at this moment in time. They could have it out at a later date when she was more in a fighting mood. He had actually been more respectful in the past 5 days, than he had been in the past 8 years.

She also knew it was only because of what had just happened in her life, and that at some point everything would revert back to normal. A few days of being in his own domain and things would be back to complicated and their relationship would once again become difficult to deal with. It was currently just uncomfortable.

But difficult, that was their normal. A cease fire seemed to have been mutually agreed upon without either of them even stating there needed to be one. Both just knew it was needed, she guessed.