Page 14 of Blame it on the Mistletoe
“Town’s saying two. First when you offered to show her your pistol, then today when you tried to impress her with your sirens.”
“What’s so wrong with a guy trying to be neighborly?” Noah argued. “I thought people in small towns got off on stuff like helping frail old ladies cross the street or rescuing kittens from trees.”
“Let’s be clear. There is nothing frail or old about Faith Loren. And even if you find her up a tree, don’t fall for it. She’s a full-grown cat with claws and isn’t afraid to use them.”
“I didn’t even get the chance to be charming.”
Cody smiled. “Don’t take it personally, bro. She’s had enough bad luck with men to make her wary of anyone walking around waving a pistol.”
“You think you could have warned me about her issue with law enforcement before I dropped her kid off in my fancy cop car.”
“Pax is her kid brother not her kid,” Cody said, then took a second look at him. “Please tell me you didn’t refer to her as his mom?”
“It was a logical assumption.” One she hadn’t bothered to correct. Probably because she’d rather have another reason to add to her TABLE FORONElist.
Noah had to smile because he knew, without a doubt, Faith kept a long, detailed list of all the reasons she didn’t date. She probably toted it around in that enormous backpack of hers, wanting to have it on hand to add new reasons as she encountered them—like a guy letting her kid brother run around town with a toy gun that, if Noah was being honest, might cause a less experienced officer to look twice.
“For Pax to be hers, she would have had to have been, I’m guessing, like fourteen or fifteen when she had him.” Cody held up a hand. “And before you remind me of how we were at that age, you knew Faith when she was in high school.”
“Yeah, kind of blew that, too,” Noah admitted.
“And you wonder that you’re single.”
Noah didn’t have to wonder. He knew exactly why he was single. His last three girlfriends had made that perfectly clear. He worked long hours. Worked at home. Pretty much worked himself out of every good relationship he’d ever had. Even with his family.
But why was she single?
Faith was intelligent, down-to-earth, and didn’t have a problem standing her ground. Not to mention insanely beautiful. Like a blow-your-mind, lingerie-model-meets-girl-next-door kind of beautiful—although Noah didn’t remember ever having a neighbor who looked like her.
Honestly though, it was the way she presented herself, with an inner confidence that showed how comfortable she was in her own skin, that drew him in. Talk about a turn-on.
She was also the most suspicious and closed-off person he’d ever met outside of his profession. Most days were a revolving door of liars, cheaters, and the unforgivable. People stuck in a bad situation who’d made the wrong choice. And for the citizens who didn’t try to evade Noah when he flashed his badge, he was usually meeting them on one of the worst days of their lives.
In his experience, there were only a handful of reasons for someone like Faith to be as wary as she was. And none of them settled well with Noah. Her fierce independence didn’t seem like a statement as much as a necessity for survival. Which he respected even more.
“What’s the deal with Faith and her brother?” he asked, wrapping the strand around a hook and trying hard to sound casual.
Clearly, he’d failed because Cody’s expression loosely translated intoLet me guess. Asking for a friend?Noah flipped him a finger, which needed no translation at all.
“Faith isn’t really a sharer,” Cody said as if Noah didn’t already know. “But from bits of town gossip and talking with Shelby, I’ve pieced together that their mom decided she wasn’t cut out for parenthood, packed up her bags, and left town. Faith moved home and adopted Pax.”
“How long ago was that?”
“Eight years.”
Noah let out a low whistle. “Man, she was young. That’s a lot to take on.”
“So she’s too young to be his guardian but not too young to be his mom?” Cody asked while climbing up the ladder so he could string lights across the top of the barn door. “How does that math work?”
“What I meant is, being a teen mom’s hard enough.” Noah handed Cody a new strand of lights. “Being a teenager with a toddler dropped in your lap would make for one heck of a steep learning curve.”
“I know how hard it was to step in as JT’s dad. And he was ten,” Cody said, and Noah knew his brother would give anything to get those missed years with his son back. “Plus, I had Shelby to help me through it.”
Cody and his wife had had a rough start to their relationship. College sweethearts who placed their trust in the wrong friend and ended up losing a decade together. In fact, if Silas hadn’t added a stipulation to his will, which required a Tucker to sleep at the ranch for a year straight, Cody still might not even know he had a son. Not that Noah was giving his dad credit for doing anything right by Noah and his brothers, but JT had been a blessing. That amazing kid had given the three brothers, whose only connection had been surviving their childhood, something new to bond over.
The love and healing that came with the next generation.
Who knew, maybe Shelby was right? Maybe Silas’s intentions had been pure. Maybe he really had looked at his passing as a way to bring his sons home to heal and make new memories. Or maybe it was his final attempt to control their lives. Either way, Cody and Shelby had found their way back together and anyone looking at JT could see how much love and support the kid was surrounded with.
