Page 23 of Rocky Mountain Cowboy Christmas
She busied herself with taking the angel from the packaging. By the time she set it gently on the counter, she’d regained most of her self-possession and was scolding herself for getting so giddy over such a silly thing. She needed to get ahold of her scattered emotions, throw a bucket of water on the smoldering fire Steve had just lit inside her belly, show them the new pieces, and get the heck off the ranch before she did something stupid.
“This is for the special order,” she said, clearing her throat when the words came out huskier than she’d planned.
“Yeah, I took that one,” Steve said, pulling out the rest of the smaller boxes and stacking them on the counter for Camille to unpack. Although he sounded perfectly normal, his gaze seemed a bit warmer than usual, making her wonder if the moment maybehadn’tbeen as one-sided as she’d first thought. “Iris Peebles bought the first one, too. They’re Christmas gifts for her daughters.”
One by one, Camille unwrapped each of the seven pieces, until they were all standing on the counter. Steve and Will examined each carefully, and Camille waited for their verdicts, trying to hide her anxiety. It was always nerve-racking when people viewed her work, but she realized that she was especially on edge when Steve was the one about to give his opinion. As much as she tried to tell herself that it was just one person’s viewpoint and that it didn’t matter, deep down it reallydidmatter to her. It mattered a lot, and she was a little worried about why that was.
“These are incredible,” Steve said, not looking away from the sculpture he was examining closely—a simple abstract of Mary holding baby Jesus. “How you take old bits of metal and make them so beautiful is beyond me.”
Relieved warmth flooded through her, and the words she’d been holding back escaped in a rush. “Thank you. I added a candleholder to the back of that one, so the flame would give a sort of halo effect, but I worried that it might be too gimmicky. What do you think?”
He eyed the bracket for the candle before turning the piece around. “I don’t think that’s gimmicky at all. People will love it.”
“This one’s my favorite,” Will said, holding up a longhorn steer with a string of multicolored lights tangled around his stocky metal body.
“Oh!” That reminded her. She dug through the steer’s box and pulled out a battery. “This goes in the spot underneath.” Will flipped over the sculpture and inserted the battery. The lights immediately started to glow. “I’m starting to add electrical elements to some of the pieces.”
Steve cleared his throat. “Electrical elements? You’re being careful, I hope.”
“Of course.” She waved off his concern. “I’m not doing any wiring. The lights and the connection to the battery are pretty simple, self-contained elements. I promise that nothing I do could electrocute me.” She paused and then added, “I’m much more likely to injure myself while welding than by messing with electricity.”
“That’s not reassuring.” Steve’s voice had a slight growl to it that Camille found oddly attractive.
Something devilish pushed her to goad him, just a little. Putting on a thoughtful expression, she pressed a finger to her lips as if contemplating a developing idea. It also worked to hold back the smile that wanted to sneak out. “Now that I think about it, fire’s really more my element than electricity. Maybe my pieces need more pyrotechnics. I could make a nativity scene that sets off tiny fireworks when the fuse is lit.”
“Yes!” Maya joined them in time to catch the last of her teasing suggestion. Glancing around, Camille noticed that the customers had left, so she and Steve’s family were the only ones currently in the store. “Dothat.”
“No,” Steve said. “Please don’t do that. The last thing we need around here is more pyrotechnics.”
Camille pretended to ignore him and looked at Maya, giving her a subtle wink. “I could do a whole Fourth of July series. Maybe I could ask Zoe how to maximize the dramatic effect of my explosions.”
When Maya started to giggle, Steve’s expression relaxed. “Very funny.”
“Ooh!” Maya spotted the steer. “You added lights! I like that one the best.”
“That’s because you like flashy things.” The voice was young but had a rough, scratchy edge to it. When Camille turned toward the newcomer, she blinked in surprise. It was like traveling back in time to when she was nine and Steve was thirteen. The kid standing behind Maya, his gaze running over each sculpture, looked just like a young Steve…only crankier. He had to be Micah, the artist. Camille marveled for a moment that Steve had raised these four kids by himself since his wife’s death. The idea of being solely responsible for four children was terrifying to Camille. Sometimes, just knowing that it was up to her to keep her cat alive and happy was overwhelming.
“Yeah, I do,” Maya responded, not sounding at all offended. “I’d probably like the exploding one the best, if Camille made it.”
“Well, I hope she’snotgoing to make anything involving explosions, fire, or pyrotechnics,” Steve grumbled. “It’s exciting enough around here.”
As if on cue, Zoe came into the store and headed straight for the counter, her face lighting up when she saw Camille and the new batch of sculptures. “You brought more! I love our horse, but I only saw the pictures Will took of the rest of the ones you dropped off last week. They all sold in one day.”
“You made a Maybelle!” Maya had finally torn her gaze off the lit-up steer to look at the other pieces.
Camille picked a bit of fuzz off the goat’s metal ear, still a little shocked and hugely pleased that Steve had kept one of her sculptures. “I didn’t realize I was at the time, but you’re right. It looks just like Maybelle, doesn’t it? I thought people might want more animals for their nativity sets, but I made them ranch animals to fit…” She swept a hand out, indicating the shop and the whole ranch.
“No more horses?” Micah asked, sounding disappointed. His frown hadn’t lightened since he’d come into the shop, and Camille was starting to think that was just his usual expression.
“There was, but it didn’t turn out how I’d hoped.”
Micah looked away from the angel he was examining to eye her closely. “What was wrong with it?”
“It was supposed to be Buttercup, but she ended up looking like a beast from he…ck.” She changed midword, not sure if she was supposed to sayhellaround kids. Was it an official swear word? Steve’s children seemed so well-behaved that she was a little worried her bad habits would wear off on them if she was around too much. “The two kids riding her look like evil, possibly flesh-eating elves.”
“Flesh-eating elves?” As she repeated Camille’s words, Maya’s eyes widened with glee, and Camille shot a guilty glance toward Steve. Instead of appearing disapproving of her bad influence, though, Steve looked amused.
“Was it really that bad?” Micah asked skeptically in his rusty-sounding voice.
