Page 43 of The Holiday Gift

“That’s a good idea, at least for the first few days. I’ve got one here. I should have thought of that.”

She headed to another corner of the barn and returned a moment later with the large lamp and they spent a few moments hanging it from the top beam of the stall.

“Perfect. That should do the trick.”

While the wind howled outside, they stood for a while watching the dog and her pups beneath the glow of the heat lamp. He wasn’t in a big hurry to leave this quiet little scene and he sensed Faith wasn’t either.

“Seems like just a minute ago that she was a pup herself,” she said in a soft voice. “I guess it’s been a while, though. Three years. She was in the last litter we had out of Lillybelle, so she would have been born just a few months before Travis...”

Her voice broke off and she gazed down at the puppies with her mouth trembling a little.

“Life rolls on,” he said quietly.

“Like it or not, I guess,” she answered after a moment. “Thanks for your help tonight, first with Barrett’s homework and then with storm preparation. You’re too good to us.”

“You know I’m always happy to help.”

“You shouldn’t be,” she whispered.

He frowned. “Shouldn’t be what?”

She kept her attention fixed on the wriggling puppies. “Celeste gave me a lecture the other night. She told me I’m not being fair to you. She said I take you for granted.”

“We’re friends. Friends help each other. You feed me every Sunday and usually more often than that. Addie practically lives over here when I have visitation and also ranch work I can’t avoid. And you bought my groceries the other day, right?”

“Don’t forget to take them home when you go.” She released a heavy sigh. “We both know the ledger will never be balanced, no matter how many groceries I buy for you. The Star N wouldn’t have survived without you. I don’t know why you are so generous with your time and energy on our behalf but I hope you know how very grateful we are. How very gratefulIam. Thank you. And I hope you know how...how much we all love you.”

He looked down at her, wondering at the murky subtext he couldn’t quite read here.

“I’m happy to help out,” he answered again.

She swallowed hard, avoiding his gaze. “I guess what I wanted to tell you is that things are better now. The Star N is back in the black, thanks in large part to you and to The Christmas Ranch finally being self-sustaining. I’ll never been an expert at ranching but I kind of feel like I know a little more what I’m doing now. If you...want to ease away a bit so you can focus more on your own ranch, I would completely understand. Don’t worry. We’ll be fine.”

It took about two seconds for him to go from confusion to being seriously annoyed.

“So you’re basically telling me you don’t want me hanging around anymore.”

She looked instantly horrified. “No! That’s not what I’m saying at all. I just...don’t want you to feel obligated to do as much as you have for us. For me. I needed help and would have been lost without you the last two years but you can’t prop us up forever. At some point, I have to stand on my own.”

“Would you be saying this if I hadn’t kissed you the other night?”

Her eyes widened and she looked startled that he had brought the kiss up when they both had been so carefully avoiding the subject.

Finally she sighed. “I don’t know,” she said, her voice low again and her gaze fixed on the five little border collie puppies. “It feels like everything has changed.”

She sounded so miserable, he wanted to pull her into his arms and tell her he was sorry, that he would do his best to make sure things returned to the way they were a week ago.

“Life has a way of doing that, whether we always like it or not,” he said, knowing full well he wouldn’t go back, even if he could. “Nobody escapes it. The trick is figuring out how to roll with the changes.”

She was silent for a long time and he would have given anything to know what she was thinking.

When she spoke, her voice was low. “I can’t stop thinking about that kiss.”

Chapter 10

At first he wasn’t sure he heard her correctly or if his own subconscious had conjured the words out of nowhere.

But then he looked at her and her eyes were solemn, intense and more than a little nervous.

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