Page 77 of The Cowboy's Christmas
“Former hired hand.”
“Yes. That one. You doing okay?” He moved into the room before she answered and sat in his chair. “Because I gotta tell you, Vannie, I feel like I might have given you bum advice.”
“No. You gave me good advice.” She straightened an angel that had been facing the inside of the tree, then dropped her hands to her sides. “I lied to him.”
“You what?” Deke’s flat tone belied the shock on his face.
“I told him that I couldn’t afford to fall in love with him so that he could leave without feeling bad. Total lie. I had already figured out that he wasn’t a rebound guy. But he needed to be free to leave because of who he is and how he grew up.”
If he hadn’t needed that freedom, then he wouldn’t have fought her so hard when she’d showed him that she thought they might be able to find something together.
“What else did you tell him?”
“That I needed time. We both did. That’s true.” She shifted another bauble so that the light caught it.
“I tried to call him.”
Savannah’s heart jumped as she turned. “You what?”
“At the Neary Ranch. Jim Neary said Quinn wasn’t there, but they expected him back for Christmas.”
“He didn’t go home.”
“Apparently not.”
And he hadn’t told her where he was. Why should he?
“You know,” she said slowly, “maybe this is for the best. I mean, having him here helped me move on, helped me face Christmas. It might have helped him confirm that yeah, he really isn’t a roots guy.”
“Maybe so,” Deke agreed, but he didn’t sound convinced.
Jessa raced into the room, followed closely by her sister. “Santa is here!”
Savannah automatically shook her head. “Santa doesn’t come until tonight, after little girls are in bed and asleep.”
“Come see.” Jessa tugged at Savannah’s hand, and she followed the girls into the kitchen, where, sure enough, she could see lights cutting through the foggy air as the rig approached.
UPS?
She hadn’t ordered anything and the gifts from her parents were already there.
It wasn’t until she leaned closer to the glass, shielding her eyes against the glare of the headlight that suddenly cut out that she recognized the vehicle.
A boxy old Ford with a crumpled front quarter panel, compliments of Deke’s flatbed.
“Deke!”
“What?” her uncle answered, a note of concern in his voice as he came into the room.
“Could you watch the girls for a second? It appears that our hired hand forgot something.”
“Jeff?”
Savannah shook her head, her heart hitting her ribs so hard that she put a hand to her chest. Quinn was back.
“I’ll be,” Deke said, bending low to look out the window. “That hired hand. You better get out there and see what it is he forgot,” he said in a meaningful tone.
“We wanna see Quinn,” Sophie said, not fooled for one minute by adult code.
