Page 52 of Christmas with the Cowgirl
He thought he saw a trace of sadness shadow her eyes for a moment.“What’s wrong?”
She sighed.“This isn’t generally known, but this will be Minna’s last year doing this.She always starts the process by flipping the switch for the tree, but…she’s decided doing it for fifty years is enough.And she’s getting more frail.She says every year past one hundred is worth about twenty.”
“My late great-grandmother told me on her ninety-fifth birthday that the best way to shake the desire to live forever is to get close to doing it.”
Riley’s smile came back.“I think I’d have liked her.”
“I know she’d have liked you.”The words hung there awkwardly for a minute.And he still didn’t have an answer to his request.His nerve snapped and he did something he rarely did, rushed to fill the silence.“She respected anyone who worked hard and upheld their values.”
She seemed to study him before saying, “So, can you guess who Minna’s handing off the Christmas duties to?”
He thought for a moment, then went with the only name that came to mind.“Maggie Rafferty?”
The wide, approving smile she gave him told him he’d been right.“Good call, Mr.Flint.You might make a Last Stander yet.”
He couldn’t describe the feelings that rose in him at those words.
“We’d better get moving,” she said briskly, “if we’re going to get everything done before we head for town.”
His heart slammed in his chest.We?“Yes, boss,” he said, grinning with sudden delight.
“I’ll drive,” she added, “since I know where best to park.”
“Yes, boss,” he repeated, and she rolled her eyes at him.Which made him grin even wider.
Her other words played back in his head.You might make a Last Stander yet.
He hoped so.Oh, yes, he hoped so.
And in that moment, what that would mean for the rest of his existence, for his work, didn’t matter one little bit.
Because he wanted this woman in his life.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Riley had beencoming to this annual event since she was a baby.The earliest time she truly remembered was when she was about four, the first time she’d put all of it together in her mind, and knew going to that place in front of the library—a place she already knew well at four—meant the big tree beside it was going to explode into beautiful lights of all colors.
She remembered sitting on her dad’s shoulders, looking out over the sea of people singing Christmas songs, waiting for that moment when the towering shadow that was the tree became a brilliantly lit symbol of the season.The details shifted a little depending on various things, but overall the ceremony never really changed much, which was one of the things she loved about it.
They’d spent an hour watching the parade, being jostled by the crowd, and she told herself that was why he hung on to her hand, so they wouldn’t get separated and lost in the throng.She’d explained each float, lingering especially on the one Ariel Rafferty had designed to promoteThey Also Serveand the dogs they helped.That she got the reticent and reserved Chance Rafferty to ride on the thing with her, with the dog who had brought them together between them, was a small miracle.It gave Riley a warm feeling that suited the occasion.
And loved the surprise on Miles’s face when he realized his friend Tucker was leading the group of rodeo riders that followed them.
“At least he’s on a horse, not a bull,” she teased, and loved the laugh that got her.It must be the mood of the season that had her so…revved up.
When the parade ended, they headed back to her SUV to move it closer to the library and the tree lighting.All too aware of the man in the passenger seat, she parked next to the small maintenance building in the city park that took up the block between the square and the elementary and middle schools.It was a spot most people didn’t think about in the Christmas rush and so had always been empty since she’d had the thought of using it for this.It put them only a half a block away, and the moment she opened the driver’s door the sound of singing washed over her.
Curious, she watched Miles as he got out.She saw his head snap around and then he went still as a powerful, beautiful male voice hit the chorus of a familiar Christmas carol.
“Is that…live?”he asked, still fixated on the sound, not even looking at her.She liked that, for some reason.Like it was proof he knew what was important, which was silly because he certainly didn’t get where he was by not already realizing that.
“Yes,” she said.“That’s Kane.”
He did look at her then.“The other Highwater brother?The one who was missing all those years?Nic told me about him.”
She nodded as she came around the front of the SUV to stand beside him.“And while now he’s a big success, after he first got home, he wouldn’t perform in public at all, let alone at something where the whole town turns out.But Minna handled that.She got word that he wasn’t comfortable singing in public back then, so she ordered him to do it.”
“Ordered?”he asked as they started walking toward the crowd.
