Chapter Six
The stranger was still on the park bench the next morning when Sophia, after her best night’s sleep yet, arrived at the Big Falls Diner for her breakfast date with Darryl. She watched the poor soul for a moment. He wasn’t moving, but he wasn’t in the same position he’d been in last night, so she was pretty sure he was alive. Probably just sleeping.
Resolutely, she headed into the Diner.
“Morning, Sophia,” called the cheerful redhead behind the counter. “Pick any table you want, like always. I’ll bring the coffee over.”
“Morning, Rosie,” Sophia replied, then she said, “Can I get a cup to go and one of those big gooey looking danishes?”
“Oh, you’re not staying?” Rosie opened the glass case, popped the biggest, gooiest danish into a paper-lined bag and laid it on the counter. Then she filled a styrofoam cup, added cream and sugar, and snapped a lid on it.
“Yeah, I’m staying. This is for someone else. I’ll be right back.”
Rosie looked puzzled, but Sophia quickly took the bag and the cup back outside, crossed the street and went to the bench. She set the bag and the mug on the bench near the homeless guy, but not near enough so he’d knock the coffee over when he woke, and then she retreated back into the diner.
When she went through the door, the bell jingled again and Rosie stood there smiling at her with the coffee pot in one hand and a fresh mug in the other. “Who is that fella out there?”
“Don’t you know?” Sophia asked.
“No. I mean, I can’t see him with that hood on, but—it is a him, isn’t it?”
“I think so. And I think he slept on that bench.”
“Shoot, we can’t have that. Oh, look, look!”
She was pointing and Sophia turned to see the guy on the bench sitting up, then looking from the gift she’d left, to the area around him. Not spotting anyone, he took the breakfast and hurried away, heading down the sidewalk and out of sight.
“Well, at least he took the danish and coffee,” Sophia said, turning to head to her usual table. She stopped in front of her booth and let her eyes travel the length of the lanky cowboy who was sitting in it already. He rose, nodded toward the spot opposite him. “Mornin’, Sophie.”
“Morning, Darryl.” She slid into the booth. “I didn’t realize you were already here. You should’ve said something.”
“I didn’t want to interrupt your good-deed-doing.”
So he’d seen all that. He didn’t sound exactly complimentary about it. Then Rosie arrived and asked, “What’ll it be?”
“I’d love an egg-white omelet with every veggie you can fit in, and a little bit of cheddar cheese,” she said.
“Perfect. And how about you, handsome?”
He smiled at the compliment. “I’ll have what she’s having,” he said. “Only instead of egg whites, I want the yolks included, and instead of every veggie, make it ham, bacon and sausage, and instead if a little bit of cheddar, I’d like a lot. And some mozzarella.”
Rosie was laughing softly. “You want toast?”
“Yep. Heavy on the butter. Oh, and some home fries on the side.”
“One heart-attack special, coming right up,” Rosie said with a grin as she walked away. She never bothered writing orders down, just remembered them.
“You keep eating like that, you’ll die young,” Sophia said, sipping her coffee and leaning back in the soft, padded seat.
“You’re one to talk. Your habits aren’t exactly healthy.”
She frowned, confused. “What are you talking about? A veggie egg white omelet is–”
“That’s not the unhealthy habit I was referring to.” He glanced toward the door.
“You mean buying breakfast for that homeless guy?”
“Big Falls doesn’t have homeless guys,” he said. “At least, that’s what I’ve heard.”
“I thought the same thing,” she admitted. “But he was sleeping on that bench, and–”
“And you should be more careful. Especially with your situ….” He stopped there. Shrugged.
Sophia tipped her head to one side. “Especially with my situation?” She narrowed her eyes on him. “What is it you think you know about me, Darryl? Did my cousins say something to you?”
He lifted his brows, the picture of innocence. “About what?”
“About me. Come on, cough it up, what do you know?”
He held up both hands, leaning back as far as the seat would allow. “I’m not sure what you’re accusing me of, but I guarantee you, my opinion that women ought to be careful of strangers comes from nothing more than a healthy level of common sense and a lot of years in law enforcement.”
She squinted at him and he looked away. For the first time, she got an odd feeling up her spine. She was not afraid of her ex. But she wouldn’t put it past him to send someone to track her down and report back to him. What did she really know about Darryl Champlain, after all?
“So what brought you to Big Falls, anyway?” she asked.
“Are we back to that again? I thought maybe I could be the one asking questions today.”
“Mm. Yeah, no. I don’t think so.”
He frowned at her. “Your happy-holiday mood seems to have shifted, Sophie.”
“Sophia,” she corrected.
“I hope it wasn’t something I said.”
She focused on sipping her coffee and wondered if she was just being paranoid. But who was she kidding? She’d never been paranoid a day in her life.
He was right about one thing. Women ought to be a careful of strangers.
“I have something for you.”
“You do?” She was surprised. He took out an ordinary white envelope and laid it on the table between them. “What is it?” she asked, reaching to pick it up.
“I don’t know. It’s not from me. It’s from uh…well, he didn’t leave a name, but he looked like an off-duty Saint Nick. He said it was to thank you for the cocoa.”
Her smile was instant and full blown. “It’s from Santa? Where did you see him?”
“He showed up at the Long Branch after hours to leave it for you.”
She frowned. “How odd. I saw him at the park as I was driving home last night. I’m sure he saw me too. He waved. He could’ve given it to me himself, whatever it is.”
“Yeah, he could. Another stranger to be wary of, Sophie.”
“I am not afraid of Santa Claus,” she said. “That man knows things.” She tore the envelope open, eager to see what was inside.
“He said if I was lucky, you’d want to share. I gotta admit, I’m dying of curiosity here,” Darryl said.
She pulled out the contents, two rectangles, obviously tickets of some kind. Her eyes sped over the green and red, holly and berry background to read the words typed across the front, and then she looked past the tickets at Darryl’s eager eyes. “Tickets to the Haggerty House Holiday Hootenanny.”
“The what now?” he asked.
Feeling a little bit nervous, she read the small print out loud. “‘A Christmas ball, country style. Put on your best duds and join us for a prime rib dinner, drinks, dancing, and door prizes. Seven to midnight.’”
Rosie brought their breakfasts, saw the tickets, and beamed. “Oh, you’re going to the Haggerty House Holiday Ball?”
“Holiday Hootenanny, you mean,” Darry corrected her with a wink that made her beam brighter.
“I haven’t decided yet,” Sophia said. “Have you ever been, Rosie?”
“No, darlin’, but it is the event of the season. Everyone who’s ever been has raved. You have to go. How did you get tickets? It’s usually sold out before Halloween.”
“Friends in high places.” North Pole high, she thought.
Rosie left again, and they sat there with their breakfasts in front of them, delicious smells wafting up and making her mouth water. She looked at Darryl, meeting his eyes for the first time since she’d opened that envelope. “It’s tonight,” she said softly.
>
“We um…both have to work tonight.”
“Well, I do have some pull with our employers.” She was trying to read his level of interest. Was he hoping she’d ask, or dreading it? “Is this the kind of thing you’d maybe…enjoy?”
“Are you asking me to the ball, Cinderella?”
“I guess I am.”
He smiled, a slow, sexy smile that sent a chill right up her spine. “As a rule, I avoid all things Christmassy. But we did agree to spend the holidays together, didn’t we?”
“We did. I’ve thought about a thousand times that the only good thing about my former relationship with Skyler was that I had someone to do Christmas with.”
He nodded. “I know that feeling. Being single at holiday time seems to make everyone you know throw a pity party.”
“And try to fix you up while you attend,” she said.
He nodded hard. “With people who are so far off the mark—”
“You start to wonder if your friends know you at all—”
“Or if they just latched onto the first single person they ran into,” he said. Then he grinned. “At least we got to pick our own holiday pity dates.”
She laughed softly. “We did, didn’t we?”
He reached across the table and took her hand. “I would be honored to escort you to the Haggerty House Holiday Hoedown.”
“Hootenanny,” she corrected.
“Gesundheit,” he replied.
They both laughed. She said, “I don’t think I brought anything suitable for a ball.”
“Me either. I guess we’d better shop.”
“I know right where to shop, too,” she said. “The closet of one Edain Brand Armstrong, former super model and now my very own cousin-in-law.”
“I believe I will err on the side of the menswear shop in town. They’ve gotta have something.”
“I don’t know. It’s short notice.”
“Have a little faith. I could make a feedbag look good.” He sent her a playful wink, and then tucked into his breakfast.
Sophie started in on hers too, and it was delicious, and cooling too fast. Then again, she’d kind of forgotten about her food, so lost in conversation with him. And then, in between bites of omelette and sips of coffee, he paused to say, “What do you know about this jolly old bearded man, by the way?”
She finished chewing, took a drink of water. “He plays Santa in the park. Vidalia says he’s been doing it for years. Why do you ask?”
He shrugged. “Just my nature. Stranger, befriends the new girl in town, gives her tickets to a big event. Sets my antennae to quivering a little.”
She set her fork down carefully, took a deep breath, met his eyes. “Look, Darryl, I know we both said we’re not interested in anything complicated, so this probably goes without saying, but…don’t get all protective, okay?”
He blinked, for the first time apparently speechless. “I don’t…I mean…why not?”
“Because it feels kind of controlling. A little bit demeaning, too.”
He leaned back in his seat. “You’re gonna have to explain that one.”
“Well, it kind of suggests you don’t think I’m capable of taking care of myself. That the big, strong man has to watch out for the naive little woman, so she doesn’t bungle her way into an early grave.” It had also been one of the early warning signs that Skyler was not what she’d thought he was—little subtle efforts to control her under the guise of caring. But she wasn’t going to bring that up.
He listened, to his credit, nodding slowly. “I guess I can see how it might appear that way from your perspective.”
“But…?” she asked, correctly interpreting the open ended nature of his statement.
“But, I hope you’ll cut me a little slack. I was a soldier, and then a cop, and then a secret service agent. Protecting people—not naive people or smaller-sized people or female people, just people—is what I do. It’s what I’ve always done.”
She tipped her head to one side, considering his words, weighing them. “That’s a really good point, actually.”
“I thought so myself.”
She nodded. “Okay, I’ll cut you some slack.”
“And I’ll try not to act like your personal bodyguard,” he added.
“Deal,” she said. And then she smiled. “That was great, wasn’t it? Just talking it out like that? Being honest with each other and listening to the other person’s point of view?”
“It was.”
“I never had that before. With a guy I was…you know, seeing. Skyler was always hiding himself from me.” She met his eyes. “He was an addict. I think he was an addict before we even met, and I hate myself for not seeing it. Sometimes I wonder if that was the only reason he ever asked me out. I was a doctor. He needed access to opiates.”
“If that was the only reason he ever asked you out,” he said, clasping both her hands across the table, “then he was a blind, ignorant, stupid man.”
She lowered her head, as warm pleasure spread across her cheeks. “I’m not gonna argue with you on that.”
He smiled, and their eyes met and held. It was a moment of shared understanding. The more time she spent with this man, the better she liked him. And then he said, “You’re a doctor?” as if that part of her sentence had only just penetrated his brain. “Then what the hell are you doing, slinging drinks at the Long Branch?”
She thought about the ugly tale, and didn’t want to pollute this pleasant morning with it. “Let’s save that for another conversation, okay?”
“Sure. Okay.”
Their plates were empty, their mugs drained. “I hate to break this up, but I have an order to pick up for the saloon, and a dress to borrow. Plus, I need to have that talk with my cousins about giving us the night off.”
“I’ll talk to them with you.”
“I’ve got this,” she said. “It’s not a problem.” He started to object and she held up a finger. “I’ve got this.”
“Okay. You’ve got this.” He smiled, and she gathered up her things and headed for the door.
She felt his eyes on her all the way. And maybe she even added a little swing to her hips that wouldn’t have been there otherwise. Maybe.
Oklahoma Christmas Blues Page 10