Page 3 of Her Cowboy Santa
I flew down to spend a weekend with them and two days turned into a summer then the rest of our lives. I don’t have much in the way of biological family other than my two brothers, but these two guys are alright.
“Have you heard from Ford?” I ask as we head out onto the back deck, so I can fire up the grill. There’s a light dusting of snow already on the grill cover.
Hunter blows a breath then shakes his head. Ford rarely talks to us anymore. Not since his time in the military. He’s been hiding in a cabin since his discharge. He’s even more of a recluse than Hunter, and that’s already a pretty high bar.
He shoves his hands in his pockets. Minutes pass with neither of us speaking. “You should do something with your jams.”
“I already tried to find a baker,” I tell him. I want to sell my jams, but they’re best paired with fresh rolls and biscuits. If I can get a good baker, then I can take advantage of all that traffic that comes through the Kringle Christmas Tree Ranch. I’d be able to launch my line of jams and be profitable from day one.
“I could do it,” Hunter volunteers. He’s as much of a disaster in the kitchen as I am. Neither of us can cook to save our lives. Now, the grill is a different story. I can grill with the best of them.
I crack a smile, the first one I’ve had all day. Feels foreign on my face. “I’m not that desperate yet.”
Dinner with Hunter passes easily enough. We barely talk. We don’t have to, and I appreciate the silence he lets hang between us. It’s late by the time he finally leaves, but at least, he can call Emma May and say he checked in on me.
The next morning, I’ve already been up and working on my farm for close to two hours when I get a call from Mary.
I frown at my screen. It’s unusual for Mary to call me twice in as many days. She might want me there, but she’s never been a nag. I answer on the second ring, wanting to know what’s going on.
“I have a problem,” she announces before I can even greet her.
My ears instantly prick up. In all of her years, Mary has never once announced a problem to me. “What can I do to help?”
“I hired a baker from Asheville to come work here.”
She mentioned in a previous conversation that she was looking for a baker. Maybe I need to put her in charge of my search. I might have more luck that way. “Is she any good?”
“She’s still in Asheville, and her car broke down. She’s a single mom with a baby, and she’s stranded out there alone. I really need her in time for the holiday rush. I know it’s a lot to ask, but?—”
“Don’t worry,” I tell her, already heading inside. I open my laptop and manage to snag two airplane tickets to Montana. It’s over thirty hours by car ride. If Mary says she needs the baker now, then I’ll do whatever it takes to get her there. “Send me a pin of where she is. I’ll get her and have her safely delivered to the Naughty List Ranch.”
Mary breathes out an audible sigh of relief. “Thank you.”
“Send me that pin,” I say, before telling her I love her and ending the call. I glance at Rudy, who’s staring at me with his head cocked. “Looks like we’re going home for the holidays after all.”
Chapter 2
Callie
Snow flurries swirl in the air as I clutch Danny closer to my chest. Danny is my eight-month-old baby. Despite already traveling for three hours, I still have two days of driving ahead of me.
I’ve been hired as the new baker at the Naughty List Ranch in Silver Bell Hollow, Montana. It’s thousands of miles from Asheville where I live, but I’m good with that. I’m looking forward to the fresh start.
Besides, Mary Maas offered good pay and excellent health benefits. Danny has Down syndrome. He’s the sweetest baby, and I wouldn’t change him for the world. He’s already an amazing person. But he’s going to need years of physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy. I want him to have access to every resource he could need, so yeah, the health benefits were the deciding factor.
Once I’ve settled Danny, I get into the driver’s seat. I blink gritty eyes and will away the exhaustion that’s been plaguing me for months. There was something about Mary when we had the video interview. She’s never even tried my baked goods and yet she offered me a job on the spot.
When I asked her how soon I could start, she said, “As soon as you can pack your car.”
I didn’t tell her that it would take me all of two hours to pack. The medical bills with Danny’s birth were crazy high to manage on my own. I’ve sold everything of value that I owned, even down to the wedding and engagement rings that Danny’s father gave to me.
Cornelius Winthrop the Third is at the top of his class at law school and has all the right connections along with a perfect pedigree. But he’s also a chronic gambler that believes his next big win is just around the corner. His wealthy parents keep bailing him out of trouble, so he never learns his lesson. Not that it matters to me.
The moment that Corey with his perfectly arched eyebrows, flawless manicure, and obsession with bespoke Italian suits learned that his son had trisomy 21, he was out the door. He made it clear he had no interest in fathering a child with Down syndrome. I had no interest in a man that couldn’t love his own child.
I didn’t want anything from Corey, so I left our marriage with exactly what I brought into it. Nothing. I’ve never regretted my decision to divorce Corey and have Danny. Even on the hardest days, all I have to do is look at Danny to remember why I keep going. He’s the song in my heart, the reason it keeps beating.
I turn the key in the ignition and send up a silent prayer the car starts. I don’t know how I know it, but I know that if I can get to Silver Bell Hollow, then everything is going to be all right. It sounds crazy, and I can’t explain why. I only know that it’s important Danny and I go.
