Read Online Sunrise Crossing by Jodi Thomas - Free Book Online Page B

worry about him spreading rumors of someone living at her place. She doubted he’d even noticed Tori there. If he had, he would have thought it was none of his business.
    That one trait just might classify him as a friend in her book.

CHAPTER ELEVEN
    G ALEN S TANLEY PULLED the truck he’d rented in Liberal, Kansas, into the motel just outside Crossroads, Texas. The twilight rain was threatening to freeze over. He’d been driving for hours and was ready to stop.
    The trail was cold.
    His body felt every bit of his almost fifty years as he climbed from the huge rig. He could have slept in the back of the cab, but tonight, this close to the town he grew up in, he needed silence and a roof over his head.
    He’d taken this assignment not because it was easy or had much chance of being successful, but because when he’d seen one of the locations he’d be checking out, he knew it was a sign telling him it was time to go back.
    Back to the place he’d run from over thirty years ago. He’d been a traveler ever since.
    As much as he hated to admit it, his gypsy blood sometimes whispered through his veins. He believed in signs and curses. In the past thirty years, he’d cheated death one too many times to not know that it would eventually find him. Maybe this place where it all began would be the place it all ended.
    The loneliness that always weighed on his broad shoulders seemed heavier tonight. Maybe it was the knowledge that there would be no one to come home to. Not before, not now, not ever.
    When he walked into the motel lobby, a sleepy old man in overalls climbed out of his recliner and limped the five feet to the counter. He didn’t look too happy at being pulled from his TV program.
    â€œYou got a room?” Galen didn’t bother to smile.
    â€œSixty a night for truckers. Breakfast is included.”
    Galen nodded and pulled two hundreds from his wallet.
    â€œName?” The old man moved to a computer that looked twenty years old. “And I’ll need ID, address and an email if you got it.”
    â€œGabe,” Galen lied, as always. “Gabe Santorno.” He passed him a driver’s license with that name, along with an address in Denver that was simply a mail drop.
    â€œOne night, Mr. Santorno?”
    â€œNo. Two.” He hadn’t been this close to Crossroads in years. It was time he stopped working long enough to look around.
    The old man chuckled. “You planning to take in the sights, stranger?”
    Gabe raised his head and looked directly at the man. His gaze hardened. Fear flashed in the clerk’s eyes.
    The old man lowered his gaze first. “Just making conversation, mister. Your business is your own.”
    Gabe took the key and rolled his shoulders, forcing himself to relax. “Call me Gabe,” he said in a low tone. “And no, I don’t want to take in the sights. I just want to sleep. Tell the maid to skip my room.” The place didn’t look like it would have turndown service anyway.
    â€œThen have a good night, Gabe.” The clerk was trying to act as if he wasn’t bothered, but he kept his head down. “If you sleep through breakfast, there’s a café in Crossroads a few miles down the road that’s worth eating at. Some say it’s got the best chicken fried steak in the state.”
    â€œThanks. I’ll remember that.” Gabe turned to leave, then added, “Old man, you were smart not to reach for that gun you’ve got beneath the counter.”
    â€œWhat makes you think I’ve got a gun?”
    Gabe smiled. “You’d be a fool not to out here on this lonely stretch of highway, but I mean you no harm. I’m just a trucker passing through.”
    As he walked away, he heard the old guy whisper, “You’re a hell of a lot more than that, Mr. Santorno, but it’s none of my business.”
    Gabe parked the truck on a side lot and walked back to his room