Page 28 of Christmas with the Cowgirl
Normally he’d be heading to Iowa, if not already there, but his parents had decided to take that Caribbean cruise he’d gifted them for their anniversary now, to give them a break from an already wicked winter they were facing.He kept hoping they’d take him up on his offer to move them here to L.A., where three feet of snow is never an issue, but they—
He stopped mid-thought.Would he still?There was so much more to being here than just the warmer weather, and not all of it was good.As his mother had often said, warmer isn’t always nicer.She adored the fall and winter in Iowa, often saying if it weren’t for the obvious change in seasons, you could well lose track of the time passing, which she did not consider a good thing.
A small smile curved his mouth.His mother was a very wise woman.And that wisdom had often helped keep his head straight in a place where madness frequently reigned.They should be in the Caymans about now, and he hoped they were having a great time.Still, what had always been a traditional family holiday for the Flints was feeling kind of empty this year.
Because your mind is still back in Last Stand.
He sighed.Maybe he should have taken his sister up on her suggestion he join them this year.But the bedlam that came with her family of four seemed like more than he could deal with at the moment.Somehow it always made him feel old, although he was indeed older than Marcy by eight years.But it was her family that made him feel that way, probably because he’d never even been close to finding that kind of happy chaos himself.
And he was beginning to think he never would.
Chapter Fifteen
“Heard from Miles?”
Riley blinked.She’d been watching the crews put up the Christmas lights along Main Street, wondering how on earth they’d gotten to December already.But now she stared across the small Java Time table at Nic.
“What?”she asked.
“Just wondering.Jackson hasn’t heard from him since he was here for Jeremy’s birthday, and it’s been two weeks.”
“Why would I have heard from him?”Riley asked, puzzled.
“I thought you two kind of hit it off,” Nic said, pausing in sipping her latte to focus on Riley.
“He seems like a nice guy,” she said carefully.
Nic laughed.“I didn’t think you’d slotted him into the ‘nice guy’ category.Smart, honest, successful, loyal, and oh yeah, downright sexy, now that’s where I figured you’d put him.”
Riley grimaced.Because Nic was right on every one of those.Especially that last one.But that was territory she could not walk.
“You forgot the one that says I’m too old for him,” she said dryly.
Nic grinned and tilted her cup as if in salute.“See, I knew you’d been thinking about it.Why else would you be worried about that?”
“You,” Riley said with a sour expression, “are a troublemaker, Nicole Baylor.Just like you were when you were five and I used to babysit you.”
Nic just kept smiling.“Jackson invited him back this week.He thinks Miles needs a longer break from the crazy.And since Tucker’s living at Emily’s place now, my old place is empty, and he can stay as long as he likes.Jeremy’s going to work on him staying through Christmas.He’s Miles’s soft spot.”
“Jeremy Thorpe is a lot of people’s soft spot,” she said.She knew it was a dodge, but it was also completely true.
“Including you?”
“Absolutely.”
“Good, because he quite likes you, too.”
“He’s a sweetheart.”
“So,” Nic said pointedly, “is Miles.”
Riley tried for distraction.“Well, compared to Swiffer…”
Nic laughed.“Yes, compared to him a grizzly would be a sweetheart.But it only makes Miles more of one.”She took another sip of her latte.“You know, Miles wanted to buy Swiffer out, after the first season, because he was such a pain in the backside.”
“He did?”
“Yes.He didn’t have quite the financials he does now, so he couldn’t, but he wanted to.Then when he could have, Swiffer refused becauseStonewallwas a huge hit.”
