A Texas Holiday Miracle (9 page)

“Didn’t I tell you I’m a martyr?”

He got lost in the sparkle of her eyes, and it was the best way to start his day. This was his first step forward. He slid off the bar stool.

“I’ll leave so you can do your shopping.”

“Wait.” She reached for a cabinet door and opened it, pulling out a thermos. “You can take the rest of the coffee.”

“I have a thermos of yours I need to return.”

She handed him the filled thermos. “Now you have two.”

With the thermos in his hand, he knew he should say something, but looking at her his words were all jumbled with the new feelings inside him. He wasn’t ready for any kind of relationship, and he had a feeling she wasn’t, either. He wasn’t even sure if that was what he wanted. The only thing he knew was that he liked her and she was easy to talk to, easy to be with. And right now that was the most valuable thing in his life.

He raised the thermos. “Have fun shopping.”

She followed him to the door. “I ordered Emma a red bicycle with a white basket in front, and they called that it was in so I have to pick it up. I’m not sure how I’m going to hide it from her. I think I can get it into the attic.”

“You can hide it in my house.”

She seemed taken aback for a moment. “Oh. I wasn’t hinting at...”

“I know. But I have lots of room, and it’s the very least I can do for a neighbor.”

“Gabe, it’s... Thank you.”

He tipped his head and walked out, feeling alive and taking baby steps back into a world that didn’t seem so bad after all.

Chapter Nine

All the way to Temple, Lacey resisted the urge to go back. Gabe had seemed to want to talk this morning, which was so unusual for him. But last night had been a breakthrough, and she wanted to be there for him if he needed her.

The moment she thought that, she realized she was getting involved too quickly. Gabe had made it clear on more than one occasion that he’d rather be alone, and she had to respect that, just as she kept telling Emma. But she couldn’t get the vulnerable man she’d held in her arms last night out of her head.

She had an appointment at the bank and she made it just in time. Her father had had a excellent life insurance policy and Lacey wouldn’t have to worry about work for some time. But cleaning house and doing laundry were going to get old quickly. Once Emma didn’t need her so much, Lacey would have to find something to do. In Horseshoe that would probably be difficult. For now, though, her goal was to make the best Christmas possible for Emma.

The appointment went well. She’d put a large sum of money in a trust fund for Emma’s education and she had to sign papers to finalize everything. From there, she went to the mall and shopped. She bought Emma two outfits, another pair of boots, a couple of games and an iPod. The Christmas music piped into the stores put her in the mood for the holiday season. She only hoped that as Christmas drew nearer, Emma would feel the same way.

After leaving the mall, she stopped at a craft store and bought stretchy string to make bracelets for Emma’s friends. Then she bought beads and ribbons, and supplies to make a wreath for the front door. She bought more than she’d planned, but it was Christmas.

Her last stop was the sporting-goods store to pick up the bicycle. She waited at customer service and was shocked when the guy brought out a box.

She looked at the ticket in her hand. “You have the wrong order. I bought a bicycle. It’s red and white.”

The teenage boy with a pimple on his forehead, which she tried not to look at, replied, “This is it. You have to put it together.”

“What?” She had no idea how to put together a bicycle.

“No. I picked one out that was put together. It had a white basket on it.”

The kid shook his head. “That’s the display.”

“Well, that’s the one I want.”

“It’s not for sale,” the kid said in a slow voice as if he was talking to a child. Lacey realized she might be overreacting. Evidently this was normal.

She took a deep breath and tried again. “Can someone in the store put it together? I’d be willing to pay.”

The boy pulled on the earring in his ear as if he was trying to conjure up someone else to talk to her. “There’s a guy here that does that, but he’s pretty booked up. I’m not sure you can get it by Christmas.”

This was getting her nowhere. She had to do a lot of things with tools while decorating for parties, so surely she could put together a bicycle. If not, she’d have to ask someone for help. Maybe even Gabe. But that might be too painful for him.

“Could you please put it in my car?”

The boy sighed with obvious relief. “Yes, ma’am.”

In a matter of minutes she was on her way to Horseshoe with the bicycle in the box. She had almost reached town when she noticed pine trees and the ground beneath them littered with pinecones. Two young girls about twelve were selling bags of them. Pulling over to the side of the road, she waited for the traffic to pass and then she turned around and went back. She bought three bags.

When Lacey arrived home, she carried the craft items and pinecones inside and put them in her bedroom. Then she was off to find Gabe. Her heart hummed a little faster at the thought. A loud sound echoed across her backyard, and she knew Gabe was working on something again.

She peeked out her kitchen window and couldn’t believe her eyes. Gabe was at the top of the dead oak tree in his yard sawing limbs off with a chain saw. Oh, good heavens! The man was going to hurt himself. She hurried outside.

Gabe’s yard was littered with dead branches. The sound of the saw was deafening. There was no way to get his attention. But just then the sound stopped. Gabe placed the saw in the crook of a branch and made his way down the tree.

His dark hair was tousled, and sweat soaked his T-shirt. She thought he’d never looked so handsome because that blank look in his eyes was gone. There was actually a light there now. A burning light that bode well for the future.

He removed his gloves. “You’re back.”

“And you’re cutting down a tree all by yourself.”

He looked at the mess in the yard. “Yep. Should keep me busy for a few days.”

“Is that your goal? To always stay busy?”

He inclined his head. “Just about. How was the shopping?”

“Did you know that a bicycle comes in a box? And you have to put it together like a puzzle?”

A slight grin touched his mouth. It was the most beautiful sight she’d ever seen. It released the sad grieving man and made him irresistible.

“Yes. That’s how they come.”

“Well, I wish someone had told me that.”

He stuffed his gloves into his back pocket. “Would it have stopped you from buying the bicycle?”

“Probably not.”

“I’ll help you. It’s not hard if you follow the directions.” He eyed her briefly and blood rushed to her face. “I have a feeling you don’t follow directions too often.”

She frowned. “Why do you say that?”

“The burned food, for one thing.”

“Okay, you have a point.” She glanced toward her house. “Can I please put the bicycle in your house? I have to pick up Emma in a few minutes, and she gets all paranoid if I’m not there exactly on time.”

Lacey wound up putting all of the gifts in his spare bedroom, which was empty. The whole house was just about empty.

Gabe stared at the pile of gifts. “That’s a lot for one child.”

“Did you not buy a lot for Zack at Christmas?”

She thought he would shut down immediately, but he didn’t. “Dana, my ex, would go overboard every year, even though we would say each time we would cut back. We never did and now I’m glad we didn’t. Zack had the best Christmases.” He looked away as he said the last word.

She wanted to hug him. She didn’t know why she always had that feeling when she was around him. Maybe because a man who was hurting as much as he was needed lots of hugs.

He quickly recovered. “You’d better go or you’ll be late.”

“Oh, yes, and thanks.” She ran for her car, once again feeling as though she didn’t want to leave him. But Gabe was doing fine and didn’t need her fussing over him.

* * *

G
ABE
GRABBED
A
bottle of water out of his refrigerator and headed for his deck. He actually had bottled water because he’d gone shopping that morning after Lacey had left. He’d bought food, too, and a coffeemaker.

He stared at the mess in his yard. It would take him about a week to get it all cleaned up, and then he’d have a lot of firewood. He thought of stopping to put the bike together, but he’d rather do that with Lacey because he felt she would want to be a part of it. And she might get upset with him if he did it on his own.

Lacey was like a breath of fresh air in a world that had become dark and stale to him. For months he hadn’t even known she was there. Hadn’t wanted to know. He’d even cringed whenever he’d seen her and the kid outside. She’d invaded his privacy more than once, and her audacity had angered him. That same audacity had sparked a flame inside him that lit the fuse of his emotions—emotions he’d thought had died with Zack.

All day he’d been waiting for her to come home. He didn’t know why. He just liked being with her. She made the loneliness bearable. And that was saying a lot.

He heard a sound and realized it was his cell phone. Where was it? He followed the sound into the kitchen and saw it on the counter. It was his sister. Most of the time he just ignored it, but today he clicked on.

“Hi, sis.”

“You answered.”

“Sorry about the other times.” He sat at the kitchen table. “I just wasn’t in the mood to talk.”

“I worry about you.”

“I know, but I told you I needed my space.”

“So what’s different now?”

He told her about Pepper and Lacey and Emma.

“That’s Jack Carroll’s family?”

“Yes. Emma was very fond of Pepper.”

“I’m glad they were there for you, but if you had called I would’ve been there.”

“Kate, don’t mother me. You have seven sons for that.”

“Like any of them listen to me.”

“Oh, they listen.”

Kate chuckled. “So tell me about this Lacey. Is she raising the little girl?”

“Yes.” The question was an awakening moment. He knew nothing about Lacey’s personal life other than she was raising her sister.

“How old is she?”

“Kate, stop with the inquisition. I know very little about her because I value my privacy.”

“Oh, please don’t start that again.”

“And that’s the reason I don’t answer my phone most of the time. You treat me like one of your sons.”

“Okay, I get it. But please come out to the ranch for supper one night. We’d all love to see you.”

“I’m not making any promises, but I’ll think about it.”

“I just want you to be happy again.”

Gabe didn’t know if that was possible. “Bye, sis.”

He walked out to his deck, his head filled with thoughts of Lacey. Taking a seat, he knew he was having a surreal moment, which wasn’t unusual. He had those daily. This was different, though. He’d leaned on someone for the first time in his life, and he knew little about her except that she was kind, compassionate, understanding and selfless. She wasn’t like anyone he’d ever known. And he was thinking too much about her. He drank the last of his water and went back to work, but thoughts of Lacey lingered.

* * *

W
HEN
L
ACEY
ARRIVED
at school Emma wasn’t there waiting. Lacey got out and looked around. A moment of panic ran through her until she saw a group of kids. She started over and Emma broke away and ran toward her.

The first thing Lacey noticed was the fear on Emma’s face. Second, the headband and bow Lacey had made were gone from Emma’s hair.

Lacey hugged her and asked, “Did school let out early?”

Emma shrugged. “We had a program and when it was over, they said we could go home. And you weren’t here.” Her bottom lip trembled.

“I didn’t know you were getting out early.”

Emma had been very afraid Lacey was going to leave her. Lacey had done everything to reassure her that she wasn’t, but Emma’s fears were very real.

“I will always be here, sweetie. Please remember that.”

Emma hiccupped. “’Kay.”

“What happened to your bow?” Lacey asked as they got into the car.

“I gave it to Bailey.”

“Why?”

“She gave me something, so I gave her something. You can make me another and she liked my bow.”

“Sweetie, I don’t want you giving away your stuff.”

“But...” Lacey looked in the rearview mirror and saw Emma’s bottom lip tremble again.

Oh, good heavens. Lacey had wanted Emma to make friends and now Lacey was spoiling it. She couldn’t have it both ways.

“It’s okay, sweetie. I’ll make you another. Now let’s go to the bakery and get a snack.”

The scent in the bakery was decadent. Lacey could gain five pounds just from the smell.

“Hey, cutie,” Angie’s sister, AnaMarie, said from behind the counter. “I missed you yesterday.”

It was an opening line for Emma to talk about Pepper. AnaMarie listened avidly as she prepared Emma’s cherry kolach and hot chocolate.

“Sweetie, I’m going to speak to Angie for second. I’ll be right back.” Lacey went down the hall to Angie’s office. Angie was an accountant. She did just about everyone’s taxes in Horseshoe, and she did the bakery’s books.

Lacey tapped on the door frame. “Are you busy?

Angie glanced up. “Well, look at you. All dressed up. What’s the occasion?”

Lacey took the chair across from Angie. “I had to go into Temple today, so I made an effort with my appearance. I’ll be back in jeans tomorrow.”

Angie leaned back in her chair. “Cooking lessons and dressing up. I get the feeling it’s for someone special.”

“I wish.” Lacey couldn’t believe she squirmed in her chair like a teenager. “I have to admit, though, the sandwiches were for my next-door neighbor.”

“You mean Gabe Garrison?”

“Yes. I just wanted to lift his spirits a little. I’m hopeless in the kitchen, so I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“It’s so sad about his little boy.”

“Mmm. And he had to put his son’s dog to sleep.”

“Oh, no. We’ve all tried to reach out to him, but he’s made it very clear he values his privacy. Hardy knows him and so does Wyatt. He attended Horseshoe schools. He’s a couple years younger, I think. I vaguely remember him. Very handsome with a brilliant future ahead of him.”

“My dad had mentioned he was from here.”

“Is Gabe doing okay?”

“It’s hard to tell, but I think he’s getting better. At least he’s friendlier. And that brings me to my next question.”

Angie smiled. “I can almost guess.”

“I want to cook a really good meal. Believe me, the man could use it. So can you tell me how to do a roast the simple way?”

Angie pulled a pad and pencil forward. “I’ll write it down step by step.”

The front door opened and Peyton Carson, her two-year-old son, J.W., her daughter, Jody, and Erin came in. Jody and Erin were inseparable and best friends.

“One daughter delivered safe and sound,” Peyton said. Peyton was a beautiful blonde who caught everyone’s eye.

“Hi, Mama.” Erin kissed her mother.

J.W. ran through to the kitchen. “Jody, get him,” Peyton said to her daughter. Looking over Angie’s shoulder, she asked, “What are you doing?”

“Writing out a recipe for Lacey.”

Peyton held up two fingers. “I have two words for you. Crock-Pot. Or is that one word?” She shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. You just throw everything in there and let it cook. Simple. Wyatt actually thinks I’m a good cook and I’m never telling him differently.”