Page 35 of Merry Christmas, Cowboy

“Your turn.”

Garrett had to think fast. Cody was much better at this game than he was. “What if candy canes were really walking sticks for elves?”

Cody thought about that one and made a puzzled face. “Huh?”

“No?”

Cody shook his head. “Elves aren’tthatsmall, Uncle Garrett.”

Of course, why didn’t he know that? “Right, right. I guess I forgot.”

“You can go again,” Cody said.

“No, no. You go. You’re better at it than I am.”

“What if… candy canes were walking sticks for mice?”

Nowthatmade more sense. “Good one. You fixed it.”

Cody’s triumphant smile made Garrett’s lips twitch.

A few minutes later the oven timer dinged. “Hey, the cookies are ready.”

“Yippee. Now we can decorate them.”

“That’s the plan.” Garrett picked up a potholder and took the cookies out of the oven. They weren’t awful, in fact some of them actually held their shape. “Well now, look at these.”

Cody peered at them with little boy enthusiasm. “Are they supposed to be lopsided?”

“Well, no. But there’re some pretty good ones too.”

“We’ll only take the good ones to Miss Russell.”

“And we can eat the mess-ups.”

Cody nodded, his eyes filled with joy. “Oh boy.”

*

Nicole snuggled inher cozy gray sweats, her feet in fluffy pink slippers as she sat on her sofa, reading a novel. The Christmas tree lights filled the room with a magical glow. It was peaceful, quiet, and she was totally wrapped up in the story she was reading on her tablet. Mystery novels kept her entertained, and as much as she tried, she could never figure out the ending. For a mystery writer that was a good thing, and for a reader, it kept her coming back for more.

Her cell phone chimed and she jumped. Her concentration broken, she lifted the phone to find a text from Garrett.

“Cody and I would like to stop by tonight, for a little while. Are you free?”

Nicole nibbled on her lower lip. Was she free? As a bird. And her curiosity got the best of her. What was up with the two of them and why did they want to stop over? Could be nothing. Could be something.

For heaven’s sake, she’d been avoiding Garrett the past few days, trying to put some space and time between them. This morning, she’d woken up thinking she was acting foolish. So, she made a mistake about the flowers. Big deal. She didn’t need to go into hiding about it. This wasn’t high school. And time was running out. She still had more work to do at Cottonwood Ranch. She had to face Garrett again, the sooner the better. So, she punched in her reply. “Sure, come over. Give me half an hour.”

A thumbs-up emoji was her reply. She rose from the sofa to set about getting dressed. She opted for a pair of denim jeans and a super-warm beige knit sweater. She took her hair out of the ponytail and fluffed it up a bit. Then she straightened out her house, folding throw blankets, gathering up her mail and putting it away, and cleaning up the dishes in the sink. After a bit of reflection, she grabbed the flower vase sitting on the kitchen counter and set them on her bedroom dresser to avoid any awkward moments between her and Garrett.

She was walking out of the bedroom when the knock came to her apartment door. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door. “Hi,” she said, making eye contact with tall handsome Garrett first. He was hard to miss with his eyes on her, deep, blue and mesmerizing. She pulled her gaze away to give little Cody her attention. “Hi, Cody.”

“Hi, Miss Russell.” He gave her a big smile.

“Well, both of you, please come in.”

“Thanks,” Garrett said, ushering Cody in first. “We brought you something,” Garrett said as they stepped into her apartment.

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