Page 6 of A Tiny House Christmas

She laughed despite it all and returned it to him. “You keep it. I’ll destroy it.” She knew what a pretty penny the McNaughtons had paid for that hat. All the men in the wedding party had new felt hats as beautiful as this one.

He held her hand, balancing her as she stepped into a pair of his old boots. Smooth soles, indented with the impression of his toes. He then helped her into Cavalcade’s saddle before launching himself onto the back of saddle-less Becky while clutching the wedding gown under his arm. He settled himself in the curve of the mare’s back, reins in hand.

Karlene swallowed, taking in Joey’s wide shoulders, the gentle roll of his biceps pushing against the tuxedo jacket’s sleeves, the flatness of his stomach, the thickness of his quads. She loved everything about his appearance, from his slightly too long curly black hair to those pale blue eyes that felt like they were some kind of crazy gift from the universe. The man was a model cowboy, the kind of man she’d been determined to find in Thomas.

The kind of man she’d thought for one fleeting moment that she might have…

She cleared her throat. “Thanks, Joey.”

“If anyone comes looking for you…?”

“Tell them you don’t know,” she said. She glanced at the dress. “You can burn that.”

He rolled the gown into a lacy ball, jamming it under him like a stolen cushion from someone’s great-grandmother.

When he looked up at her, it was with familiar concern for that tagalong kid she’d always been. But then his gaze turned into something softer, something unidentifiable that made her shift toward him without thinking until she slipped in the saddle, catching herself.

“Be safe,” he said. “Stay on the trail. Don’t get lost and get to the cabin before nightfall. It’s going to be a cold night.” He frowned up at the sky as though expecting snowflakes to fall.

“I won’t get lost,” she said darkly. “And I won’t freeze. This is Texas.”

He narrowed his eyes, both of them well aware of the crazy weather the state could throw at them at this time of the year.

“And if you need anything…”

She opened her mouth to finish his patent joke that she should call someone else, even though he was the only person she could always count on.

But he beat her to the punchline, changing it with a serious and somber, “You call me.”

CHAPTER 2

Karlene angled Cavalcade higher into the hills, racing against the approaching night. Her heart lifted as the cabin’s faint outline, surrounded by oaks at the crest of a hill, became visible. The fifty-year-old, open-windowed log cabin was one of her favorite spots.

As she slid off the horse a couple of snowflakes, tiny and cold, fell from the sky. Not enough to stick to anything, but enough to warn her not to waste time in building a fire.

The cabin had a fireplace and there was plenty of fallen dry wood beneath the oaks that she could collect with the flashlight from Joey’s star bag. Often, when she and Joey came up here, they’d forego the cabin and sleep under the stars. They’d survive the weekend on whatever Joey had stocked in his aptly named under-the-stars bag which they now referred to as the star bag.

Tonight, though, she wanted that roof and four walls around her to reflect back whatever heat she could create in the cabin’s fireplace.

When she and Joey slept outside, they’d stretch out beside each other, the stars twinkling above as they’d talk about ranch life and the constellations, the weather and things they’d heard on the radio. No topic was off limits and she’d often forgetthe six-year age gap between them. Over the years, she’d never once considered coming here alone, but tonight she appreciated having the spot all to herself.

After ensuring Cavalcade was okay in his spot under the trees, Karlene grabbed the star bag and went about collecting wood in the enveloping night, her almost-wedding already feeling like a different lifetime.

As she dropped her first load of wood in the fireplace, a pair of squirrels zipped out from the chimney and past her boots, startling her.

“Oh, no.” She slipped to her knees, sending the flashlight beam up the chimney. Wasn’t it too late in the season for a nest? As she shone her light across the brick, she spotted something nestlike as the squirrel duo stood behind her, scolding loudly. She backed away from the fireplace, hands raised. “Sorry, sorry.”

The parent squirrels moved in jittery leaps toward the hearth, their dark eyes on her. Then, quick as the night, they were back up the chimney and Karlene was without fire.

She sighed and laid out her bedroll in a corner, climbing halfway into her own little nest of bedding while digging for snacks in Joey’s bag. Tomorrow would be better. Tomorrow all of this would be in the past.

She checked her watch, then turned off her flashlight, snuggling into the bedding. Right now she was supposed to be at the Sweetheart Creek Community Barn enjoying her wedding reception and filling up on succulent Wagyu beef.

She was supposed to be dancing with her new husband.

She was supposed to be changing out of her dress and heading to the city to stay in a hotel.

She was supposed to be getting on a plane at dawn for their whirlwind three-day, placeholder honeymoon, the real one to happen after calving and the Dragons hockey season had ended.

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