Page 20 of Her Cowboy Santa
I chuckle and help him to his feet. “You were impressive.”
He scoffs. “Don’t patronize me. My butt is numb from all those falls, and I have a date with a heating pad tonight.”
I giggle. “It’s a nice butt if it helps.”
“Right back at you.” His gaze rakes over my figure. “Christopher said he and Mary would be late at the market. I figure we’ll pick up our boys and maybe catch a movie in the living room. See where the night goes.”
I’d like for the night to go straight to my bedroom, but I nod like his idea is a great plan, even if it does involve more clothes than I had hoped.
“Messed up another one. Oh, well,” Nate says as he pops a piece of unbuttered popcorn into his mouth.
I chuckle. “You have to be gentle when stringing them.”
When we arrived back at the ranch, I set up a Christmas movie to stream on the TV. Nate disappeared for a few minutes only to return with string, fresh popcorn, and cranberries.
“I am,” he protests as Danny squeals as if agreeing with his new buddy. He’s between us in his seat. We’re carefully keeping the popcorn and cranberries away from both Danny and Rudy.
Nate has half his attention on his dog. Technically, he could eat the plain, whole grain popcorn because it has no seasoning or butter. But Nate is worried he’ll get into the kernels which would hurt his tummy.
He gets the next pieces on without too much struggle then smuggles him half a treat from his pocket. As careful as he is with Rudy’s diet, he clearly loves spoiling his boy.
I can’t help wondering what he would be doing if he were at home in Courage County right now. “You mentioned you haven’t been back to the Naughty List in a couple of years. How do you celebrate Christmas when you’re not here?”
“Well, lately, I’ve been ducking everyone and celebrating alone,” he admits in a quiet tone.
I don’t ask any questions, sensing there’s a story. I don’t want to push him to share anything he’s not ready to tell me.
He blows out a breath. “It’s kind of embarrassing. But I wanted the whole wife and kids thing. You know, the picket fence and the farm that gets passed from generation to generation.”
“That’s not anything to be embarrassed about.” I don’t tell him that since I’ve met him, I think more and more about what I want my life to look like. I’ve been in survival mode for a long time, and Nate makes me want to dream again.
“No, that’s not the embarrassing thing. I met a woman online. I was head over heels. Just crazy about her. We often chatted at odd times and never on weekends. She was a doctor. Whenever she couldn’t contact me, she’d just tell me she was on shift, and I was dumb enough to believe it.”
“We trust the ones we love,” I remind him even as my heart clenches. I have a feeling I know where this is going.
“Yeah, well, Christmas Eve, she comes to my place with no advance warning. Just shows up at my door. Told me she managed to get the holidays off even though she thought she’d have to work through them at the hospital. I thought it was perfect. I thought she was perfect, so I proposed. Right there on the spot.”
He sighs. “The next morning, my family is at my ranch. Everyone is welcoming her, and Emma May wants to help plan the wedding. Gifts are being opened. Music is playing. It was everything I’d dreamed of since I was a kid.”
He’s quiet for a long time, his hands still on the string he’s threading. It’s obvious that his mind is back there on that morning. Finally, he starts again, “There was a knock at the door. Her husband came to pick her up. He was angry with her for walking out on him. But especially because she’d walked out on their five kids at Christmas.”
I reach for his hand and give it a gentle squeeze. “You didn’t know.”
“Guess I’ve been hiding out ever since then. Well, until I met you and the little elf.” One side of his mouth tips up in a grin.
Danny squeals in delight, and we both focus on him for a moment. He’s giggling because Rudy is licking his feet and tickling him with his tongue.
“I think they’re going to be good friends,” I tell him in a soft tone.
“Me, too,” he answers before we go back to threading our popcorn and cranberries. Outside, snowflakes swirl in the night air, illuminated underneath the full moon. Inside, the movie continues to play and every so often, Nate pauses to stoke the fire. Danny happily babbles at Rudy who loves finding new ways to make his tiny friend laugh.
This is not the life I pictured when I accepted the job in Silver Bell Hollow. It’s better than anything I could have imagined.
It’s late when Mary and Christopher come stumbling back into the ranch. Her cheeks are flushed like she’s been drinking the spiked apple cider around here that I’ve heard rumor Christopher makes. Or maybe it’s the way he has his hands all over her.
They stop and straighten when they see us.
“We thought you kids had gone to bed,” Christopher says as Mary pats her wild hair into place. She leans over to pluck a twig from his beard. It’s sweet the way they can’t keep their hands off of each other, like they’re a couple of teenagers madly in love.
