I followed her down the hallway and into a small room that held a table and a few chairs, a couple of couches, and a counter along the back wall held a small kitchen area including a fridge and microwave.
“Take a seat,” she said. “How do you take your coffee?”
“Black, no sugar.”
She nodded and turned to the machine to get it going. I didn’t say anything until she’d made both our drinks and came over to sit opposite me at the table.
“I’ve known Gabs since we were fourteen years old. She’s more than my best friend. I consider her a sister. She’s always told me everything going on in her life, until now. She seems to have it in her head that now that I have a husband and baby, I don’t have time for her.” She winced and cleared her throat. “You two seemed close at the hospital, but she told me she broke things off with you. So, why are you here now, and what the hell happened?”
Taking a sip of my coffee, I kept my gaze on Silk, trying to decide how much to tell her. Gabs had to work with this woman, I didn’t want to risk making things difficult for her here.
“Why not ask her?”
“I tried. She’s being very evasive. She’s also about to collapse from working herself to the bone, so I want to know what’s going on so that maybe I can help her before she crashes. I’m assuming you want the same thing. Or did you really come in just to see Donny?”
I set my mug down, deciding to go all-in and be completely honest with this woman. It seemed everyone put Gabs second, even Silk, her best friend. I needed to be the one person who would put her first, no matter the cost.
“I didn’t even realize Donny was working here before I saw him just now. I came in hoping to catch Gabs since I can’t seem to get hold of her any other way. Look, Silk, I don’t want to make things harder for Gabs by telling you stuff she doesn’t want you to know. What do you know about her and me?”
She sat back, crossing her arms over her chest. “I know you met at The Barn about two months ago. She mentioned something about her helping you pull a calf. And I know that even with all the shit going on with her folks, she lit up when you came back into that hospital room. She needed you there. So, what happened?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. Figuring she didn’t know the full story of the night we’d first met, I left that whole part of things alone and focused on the current situation. “I took her away from the hospital for a day. She was burning herself out, so I got hold of her brother to come sit with her folks, so she’d come with me to a hotel. I made sure she got a shower, food, and some sleep.”
I cleared my throat as heat flashed over my cheeks.
Silk chuckled. “I can imagine how she showed her gratitude after she woke up. I don’t need details. How’d it go wrong?”
“Her dad took a turn while she was away from the hospital. Her brother called to tell her, and she told me I was a distraction she couldn’t afford and left. Wouldn’t even let me take her back to the hospital.”
Silk leaned forward, her palms around her mug. “Do you know who, or what, Whiskey is?”
I raised my eyebrow at her, shocked. “If you’ve been Gabs’ best friend since you were teens, how in the hell can you not know the name of her favorite of her landlord’s horses?”
“Aw, fuck. I knew it was familiar. Dammit. No wonder she got pissed off at me. I do know, I just forgot. I do have an eight-month-old son that steals my sanity most days. What happened with the horse?”
I paused to stare her directly in the eyes. “You better be as good a friend to her as you say you are. She’ll never forgive me if she finds out I told you all this and you use it to hurt her.”
Donny clapped me on the shoulder, and I jumped in surprise. I’d been so focused on Silk, I hadn’t noticed him enter through the door behind me.
“Normally, the two of them are inseparable. You can trust Silk with anything you have on Gabs. Honestly, all three of us are worried about her.”
He grabbed himself a can of soda before joining us at the table.
“She came to The Barn two months ago to drown her sorrows. Her landlord’s son had made a pass at her. When she didn’t fall at his feet, he banned her from the barn.”
Silk sucked in a breath. “That would have devastated her. Oh, hell, I can’t believe she didn’t come to me with this shit.”
Donny chipped in, “The fact she went to The Barn and not Styx means she didn’t want any of us knowing about it.”
“After she left me at the hotel,” I said, “I didn’t hear from her until last week. She’d gone home and Whiskey was waiting for her. She’d been badly neglected, so Gabs followed her back to the barn and after she tended to the horses, she called me for advice. Or to vent, I guess. I was at my folks’ place out on the other side of Houston so couldn’t go to her. We’ve had a few texts since then and as far as I can tell, she’s now the only one looking after those horses.”
Silk sat straighter. “So, she’s looking after her folks, the horses, and working here?”
Donny cursed under his breath as I nodded. “That about sums it up.”
The other tattooist came in. Tall and lean, he was covered in ink. Even his bald head had tattoos on it.
Silk looked over to him. “Hey, SeVen, shop empty?”
“Yeah, flipped the doorbell on in case anyone comes in. This about Gabs?”
Silk nodded to an empty spot at the table. “Yep, take a seat. We’re about to get down to making some plans on how to prevent our girl from burning herself out completely.”
He joined us at the table, and we spent the rest of the afternoon throwing around ideas between the three of them leaving to attend to clients. Not that we decided on much. Ultimately, Gabs needed to allow us in for us to help her.
There was one thing I could do without her direct help. It might be overstepping again, but hell, someone needed to do something before she ended up in hospital herself.