Merry Cowboy Christmas Read online

  Light flashed bright in her eyes and startled her so badly that she almost dropped the tea.

  “Mama,” she gasped. “You scared the hell out of me.”

  Katy sat down at the table. “Then you’re an angel now, right?”

  Fiona smiled and then laughed. “It’d take more than that much of a fright to make an angel out of me. Couldn’t you sleep, either?”

  “I heard someone out here. Didn’t know if it was you or Jud, but since I wasn’t asleep, I came out to talk,” she answered. “Sit down and tell me the whole story. You’ve lost at least ten pounds from when we saw you at the homecoming in July.”

  Fiona fished a fork from the drawer and set the pie in front of her mother. “I love your pumpkin pie. Sometimes I craved it so bad, especially when they made pumpkin lattes at the coffee shop and the aroma filled the whole place.”

  “You brought one suitcase and one box home. Where are the rest of your things?” Katy asked.

  “That’s all I have left. I was serious when I said I’d taken them to a consignment shop. I didn’t need them and I did need money. I’m glad my room is still the same and I have a closet full of clothing up there. Some of it is a little loose but believe me with this kind of food, I’ll put the weight back on,” Fiona said.

  “Did you go hungry?”

  Fiona carried her pie to the table. “Let’s just say I ate a lot of ramen noodles. It’s amazing what you can do with those things.”

  “I could kick your butt for not calling me. Not wanting to come back to Dry Creek was one thing. Doing without necessities is another,” Katy said.

  “Pride.” Fiona said one word and then shoveled a forkful of pie into her mouth.

  “That’s a dangerous thing.”

  “But it’s stuck in my heart with something stronger than superglue.”

  Katy nodded. “Comes from your grandmother and the Miller side of the family.”

  “Finally I reached the end of my rope and came home.”

  “Well, thank God for the end of the rope. What caused the divorce?”

  Fiona nodded. “He wanted to climb the ladder to the top. I wanted to stay home and cuddle a few nights a week.” Fiona shoveled more pie into her mouth. “I hated all the dinners and parties. I think once Kyle saw Dry Creek after we were engaged, he realized I didn’t have the ‘breeding’ of a high-society corporate wife.”

  “That son of a bitch,” Katy said.

  “I know. I could feel him slipping away and knew deep down we were probably heading for divorce.”

  “What was the final straw?”

  “His old girlfriend came home from Philadelphia to join the firm. Sparks were relit. We were already fighting more than loving, and then he came home one night with his arm around her and told me he was divorcing me. He handed me the prenup, which I’d signed without even reading. After all”—Fiona pushed out of her chair and poured two glasses of sweet tea—“we were in love and the vows said until death parted us.”

  “And?” Katy asked.

  “And it said that I could take out of the house what I’d brought into it, which amounted to my clothes and personal things. My car was in my name, so that was mine for a little while. And I got a ten-thousand-dollar check. The end.” She sighed and sipped at the tea. “I started a checking account, paid for some therapy lessons, rented a cheap apartment, finally found a minimum wage job, and you know the rest.”

  Katy wiped a tear from her eyes. “You went through all that alone. Fiona, I was here. Your sisters were here and we would have done anything for you.”

  “I know, Mama, but…” Fiona paused.

  “That independent streak that you got from your granny is a mile wide.” Katy picked up a paper napkin and wiped at more tears. “Now you’ve made me cry and I don’t cry, so I still may kick your butt.”

  Fiona cut another piece of pie while she was up and topped it off with a layer of whipped cream. “I’ll be round as Santa Claus before I get full again.”

  “You could use a little weight.” Her mother finally smiled.

  “Let’s talk about the store. Why haven’t you hired some help or better yet someone to manage it for you since Granny got so bad?” Fiona asked.

  “I must’ve been waiting on you. I still can’t believe you are here, Fiona.” She reached across the table and laid a hand on her daughter’s arm.

  “Still using the bank in Throckmorton and going down there on Sunday afternoon to make a night deposit?” Fiona asked.

  Katy nodded. “You remembered?”

  “Sure I did. We always loved going there with you when we were kids. We got ice cream and you took us to the park.” Fiona smiled. “Memories kept me going, Mama.”

  Katy pulled her hand back and shook her head slowly.

  Fiona patted her on the shoulder. “Everything works out like it should. I’ll do whatever I can to help. I should have come back a year ago so I could have spent more time with Granny before things got like this.”

  “Things do work out and at the right time for the most part,” Katy said stoically. “Now let’s go to bed and get some sleep.”

  “I’m going to finish this pie and then put things away. You go on and I’ll see you at breakfast. Pancakes and sausage?” Fiona asked.

  “Sausage gravy, biscuits, and bacon and eggs,” Katy declared.

  “Yum!” Fiona smiled.

  “Good night, sweetheart. I’ll see you at six-thirty in the kitchen. You can make the biscuits. You always could make them just like Mama.”

  Fiona nodded and kept eating the pie. When her plate was scraped clean, she seriously contemplated another small slice. But then the turkey looked good and the only thing better than pumpkin pie was a turkey sandwich with a thin layer of leftover dressing between the layers of meat.

  Everything in the world could turn around on a dime. Jud didn’t remember who said that. It could have been someone famous, infamous, or even one of his grandparents, but it came to his mind that night as he stretched out on his bed. The room was spacious with a queen-sized bed, a nice reclining chair, a small desk, and a big closet. It beat the hell out of living in a thirteen-foot cramped travel trailer.

  The snow had finally quit falling and now a cradle moon surrounded by stars hung in the sky outside his window. It was the same as it had been last night and would be tomorrow night if it didn’t snow or rain. It took a while for the moon to go from full bright to nothing more than a sliver and then make its way back to a big round lover’s moon. But then most things took a while. Like getting used to a different bed or getting to know the squeaks and sounds of an old house. Or hearing another person on the second floor of Audrey’s Place. The sounds were faint but that was definitely Fiona in the shower; then the door hinges whined and she padded across the floor to her bedroom across the landing from his.

  A vision of her naked in the shower tightened his chest and jacked up his pulse. He quickly adjusted the picture in his mind to include a towel wrapped around her body, but that didn’t help a hell of a lot. That vision was even sexier than the first one when he slowly let himself pull the towel away and bring her close to his chest, wet red hair flowing down her back, that tiny waist beneath his fingertips.

  “God almighty!” He groaned as he jumped out of bed and paced from one end of the floor to the other. Just because they had bedrooms on the same floor did not mean he could go lusting after her. Katy would send him packing out to the trailer or shoot him graveyard dead if she knew what he’d been thinking.

  He fought insomnia for half an hour before peeking out the door and tiptoeing down to the kitchen. If he couldn’t sleep, then he might as well make himself a turkey sandwich. A full stomach always made him sleepy.

  “So you couldn’t sleep, either?” Jud asked Fiona when he found her in the kitchen. “You want a turkey sandwich with me?” He stepped into the light and started for the cabinet. “Where’s the leftover gravy?”

  “What do you need that for?” she asked.

>   “I make a mean leftover sandwich. A piece of bread with mayonnaise of course—your mama has a loaf that she made at the same time she did the hot rolls. Then a layer of turkey, a layer of leftover dressing, a spoonful of gravy that I’ll heat up in the microwave beforehand, and another layer of turkey. I’ll be glad to make you one. If you don’t like it, I’ll eat yours and mine.” He reached into the cabinet for a small bowl to heat the gravy.

  “Dressing is in the red plastic container on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator and, yes, I will try your famous sandwich,” Fiona said.

  He nuked the gravy and then made two sandwiches, cutting each of them diagonally before putting them on the same plate. “No use in dirtying up extra dishes. Do you cook?”

  “No one grew up in this house without learning their way around the kitchen. Is this your only specialty or do you make other things as well?” she asked.

  “I can make a delicious bologna sandwich and a fair grilled cheese.”

  She bit into the sandwich. “Sweet Jesus! The gravy adds a whole new dimension. I might even like this better than served hot for dinner.”

  “Me too.” Jud nodded. “Fiona, if you’re uncomfortable with me being in the house or if you want time with your mama without a third wheel being around, I can move into the travel trailer.”

  “Don’t be so nice. We’ll share a house but we won’t share stories and start bonding like my sisters did with your cousins.”

  He chuckled and bit into his sandwich. “Well, I’m sure glad we cleared that up.”

  He glanced across the table at her and Lord have mercy, in his mind she was wearing nothing but a towel. He blinked twice to delete the picture and focused on the sandwich. What he needed was a Saturday night in a country music bar with loud music, women coming on to him, and lots of beers. That would take care of his overactive imagination for sure.

  They finished their sandwiches and he put the plate in the dishwasher before heading up to bed with her right behind him.

  “I’m going to watch television but I’ll keep it turned down,” she said.

  “Honey, don’t worry about noise on my account. A freight train coming right down the middle of my bed couldn’t wake me when I’m asleep.”

  Chapter Four

  Katy had filled a pretty crock bowl with gravy and set it and a basket of piping hot biscuits on the table beside a platter of scrambled eggs and bacon.

  Fiona poured two mugs of coffee and carried them to the breakfast table. “Do you think Jud overslept?”

  “He’s been gone for more than an hour. Left a note on the cabinet to say he’s eating over at Toby and Lizzy’s this morning,” Katy answered.

  A jab of disappointment stuck Fiona in the chest. She’d liked the banter the night before, loved sharing leftovers with him and talking to someone who expected nothing from her. She didn’t have to be anyone but herself: no airs, no changing from who she was to who she could or should be—in essence, no bullshit.

  Katy shoveled half the eggs and bacon onto her plate and passed the rest to Fiona. “You ready to go to work this morning?”

  “Sure. Do you mind if I borrow your car when I need it?”

  “Of course you can use the car. The first store task I’m turning over to you is the bookkeeping.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Fiona grinned.

  The sun was bright against a sparkling white blanket covering the north part of Throckmorton County that morning when Fiona and Katy left Audrey’s Place and headed into town. Christmas carols played on the radio and everything was good until Fiona remembered that she’d sold her laptop. How in the devil was she supposed to do anything in bookkeeping without a computer?

  “Well, shit!”

  “What?” Katy asked.

  “I don’t have a computer. I know you’ve always kept books by hand but I’m used to spreadsheets and a computer program.”

  “That can be fixed. Go down to Lizzy’s store and tell her to get on hers and order you one. It can be here in two or three days, depending on the weather.”

  “Mama, I have less than three dollars in my purse,” she said honestly.

  “It’s a business expense for the store. Or if you want it for your own use as well as the business, I’ll pay for it and you can pay me back. Divide the payment into six and take that out of your weekly paycheck.”

  “It can be for the store,” Fiona said quickly.

  Katy pulled into her normal parking spot at the back of the store. “Bless your heart. And I mean that in a good way because when it comes to taking care of the business stuff, I’m six months behind, so get ready to pull your hair out. That new computer will damn sure pay for itself, I’m sure. I just don’t know how to do that stuff and I’m too busy with your grandmother to learn.”

  “I would have worked for room and board,” Fiona said softly.

  “You are not the prodigal son. You are my daughter and we always paid you girls when you worked for us, remember?”

  By noon, Katy had explained the basic delivery schedule and the payment agreement with each vendor, and Fiona had filled six pages of her notebook. “Any questions?” Katy asked.

  “Just a couple of logistics things. If we moved the prepackaged pastries up to this end cut right here”—Fiona pointed to the first one inside the door—“then it would be an impulse buy. Folks coming in for coffee would see them and pick them up quicker than if they have to walk to the back of the store to find them. We could switch them out with the cleaning supplies and toiletries. People coming in to get those things are in an emergency situation if they’re buying them in a convenience store.”

  “Then that’s your next job. Anything else you might want to suggest?” Katy grinned.

  “Are we still getting a couple dozen doughnuts from the shop in Throckmorton as he drives through on his way north each day?”

  “Most days but it’s a long holiday weekend,” Katy said. “We still keep them under the glass dome just like your grandmother did when she ran the store. Why?”

  “I wanted one.” Fiona smiled. “I guess I’ll wait until Monday.”

  “While you work on that switch you have in mind, I’m going to put on a pot of coffee. Even if it’s a holiday, the old guys could come in for a gab session after they get chores done. Cows have to be fed and taken care of every day of the year,” Katy said.

  “Where’s a dust rag? I’ll clean as I go.”

  Katy set about making coffee in the two big pots at the back of the store. “In the back room right along with the spray cleaner. And thanks, kiddo. It’s been at least two weeks since I’ve had time to dust the shelves.”

  Fiona found what she needed and set about her job. She’d barely gotten a good start when Jud swaggered into the store and went straight for the coffee machine. The smell of hay, aftershave, and some kind of manly soap all trailed after him. She gripped the cleaning rag and reminded herself to keep working or she would have fallen right in behind him like a little puppy.

  “Where’s the doughnuts?” he asked.

  “Holiday,” Fiona said.

  “Well, rats. I had my mind set on a couple of those maple iced ones.” He carried the coffee to a yellow-topped chrome table at the back of the store and pulled out a chair.

  “So did I,” she said. “We’ve got packaged pastries. Want one of those?”

  “No, it wouldn’t be the same. What are you doing?”

  “Moving some stuff and doing some cleaning.”

  “Which is desperately needed.” Katy pushed back a floral curtain covering the doorway into the back room. “I called Lizzy from the phone back there. She says she’ll bring down her laptop. It’s already got a bookkeeping program on it and she hates to do anything with it, so she’s going to make a deal with us. We can have the computer if you’ll do her bookkeeping and her taxes this year. Can I tell her that it’s a deal?”

  “Sure, but I would do all that for free.”

  “Not without a computer. Hey, Jud. No doughnuts today
but I’ll order half a dozen extra maple ones on Monday,” Katy said.

  “Better make that a dozen.” Jud flashed a grin. “Fiona might eat that many before I can get morning chores done.”

  “Well, would you look what the cat has done dragged in?” Herman Hudson stopped right inside the door and opened his arms.

  Fiona walked right into them. Herman was the same age as her grandmother and had always been a friend of the family. He hugged her tightly with arms as big as hams and they matched his round belly and big square face.

  “You are a sight for sore eyes, girl. How long are you home for this time?” Herman let her go and started for the coffeemaker. “Where’s the doughnuts?”

  “Don’t get any today. Holiday, remember?” Fiona said. “But right here is a whole bunch of prepackaged things.”

  Herman turned around and came back, picked out a variety of things, and carried them to the table. “Put them on a ticket, along with mine and Jud’s coffee. You didn’t answer my question.”

  “I don’t know but I’m going to stick around and help Mama run the store. She’s got a lot going on and needs some help,” Fiona said.

  “That’s good news. Real good news,” Herman said.

  Was it? Would she finally put down roots or would she still feel like she was misplaced after a few weeks or even months?

  After a buffet supper of more leftovers at Audrey’s Place, the guys retired to the living room to talk cattle, ranches, hay, and four-wheelers. The four women and the baby sat around the dining room table and talked about putting up the Christmas tree the next weekend.

  “Promise me you’ll stay for Christmas,” Allie said.

  “I wouldn’t miss the holidays for anything, not even Florida in the winter. Besides, it’s Audrey’s first Christmas,” Fiona said from the rocking chair in the corner where she was humming to Audrey.

  “If you’d told me a week ago that Fiona would be home to stay indefinitely, I would have thought you were crazy,” Lizzy said.