“Sure, if you want to look at it that way,” he said instead.
He knew her well enough that he could almost watch her brain whir as she tried to think through all the ramifications. She overthought everything. It was by turns endearing and endlessly frustrating.
Finally she seemed to have sifted through the possibilities and come up with a scenario she could live with. “You’re such a good friend, Chase. You’ve always got my back. You want to help make this easier for me, just like you helped me buy the horse for Louisa. Thank you.”
He opened his mouth to say that wasn’t at all his intention but he could see by the stubborn set of her jaw that she wasn’t ready to hear that yet.
“I’ll talk to Aunt Mary about keeping an eye on the kids on Friday. We can work out the details later. I really do have to go. Thanks again.”
Her tone was clearly dismissive. Left with no real choice, he stepped back so she could close the vehicle door.
She was deliberately misunderstanding him and he didn’t know how to argue with her. After all these years of being her friend and so carefully hiding his feelings, how did he convince her he wanted to be more than that?
He had no idea. He only knew he had to try.
* * *
Faith refused to let herself panic.
I want you to be my date, with everything that goes along with that.
Despite her best efforts, fear seemed to curl around her insides, coating everything with a thin layer of ice.
She couldn’t let things change. End of story. Chase had been her rock for two years, her best friend, the one constant in her crazy, tumultuous life. He had been the first one she had called when she had gone looking for Travis after he didn’t answer his cell and found him unconscious and near death, with severe internal injuries and a shattered spine, next to his overturned ATV.
Chase had been there within five minutes and had taken charge of the scene, had called the medics and the helicopter, had been there at the hospital and had held her after the doctors came out with their solemn faces and their sad eyes.
While she had been numb and broken, Chase had stepped in, organizing all the neighbors to bring in the fall harvest. He had helped her clean up and streamline the Star N operation and sell off all the unnecessary stock to keep their head above water those first few months.
Now the ranch was in the black again—thanks in large part to the crash course in smart ranch practices Chase had given her. She knew perfectly well that without him, there wouldn’t be a Star N right now or The Christmas Ranch. She and her sisters would have had to sell off the land, the cattle, everything to pay their debts.
Travis hadn’t been a very good businessman. At his death, she’d found the ranch was seriously overextended with creditors and had been operating under a system of gross inefficiencies for years.
She winced with the guilt the disloyal thought always stirred in her, but it was nothing less than the truth. If her husband hadn’t died and things had continued on the same course, the ranch would have gone bankrupt within a few years. Through Chase’s extensive help, she had been able to turn things around.
The ranch was doing so much better. The Christmas Ranch—the seasonal attraction started by her uncle and aunt after she and her sisters came to live with them—was finally in the black, too. Hope and her husband, Rafe, had done an amazing job revitalizing it and making it a powerful draw. That success had only been augmented by the wild viral popularity of the charming children’s book Celeste had written and Hope had illustrated featuring the ranch’s starring attraction, Sparkle the Reindeer.
She couldn’t be more proud of her sisters—though she did find it funny that, of the three of them, Faith seemed the one most excited that Celeste and Hope had signed an agreement to allow a production company to make an animated movie out of the first Sparkle book.
Despite a few preproduction problems, the process was currently under way, though the animated movie wouldn’t come out for another year. The buzz around it only heightened interest in The Christmas Ranch and led to increased revenue.
The book had helped push The Christmas Ranch to self-sufficiency. Without that steady drain on the Star N side of the family operation, Faith had been able to plow profits back into the cattle ranch operation.
As she drove past the Saint Nicholas Lodge on the way to the ranch house, she spotted both of her sisters’ vehicles in the parking lot.
After taking up most of the day at the auction, she had a hundred things to do. As she had told Chase, Barrett and Louisa would be home from school soon. When she could swing it, she liked being there to greet them, to ask about their day and help manage their homework and chore responsibilities.
On a whim, though, she pulled into the parking lot and hurriedly texted both of her children as well as Aunt Mary to tell them she was stopping at the lodge for a moment and would be home soon.
The urge to talk to her sisters was suddenly overwhelming. Hope and Celeste weren’t just her sisters, they were her best friends.
She had to park three rows back, which she considered a great sign for a Tuesday afternoon in mid-December.
Tourists from as far away as Boise and Salt Lake City were making the trek here to visit their quaint little Christmas attraction, with its sleigh rides, the reindeer herd, the village—and especially because this was the home of Sparkle.
As far as she was concerned, this was just home.
The familiar scents inside the lodge encircled her the moment she walked inside—cinnamon and vanilla and pine, mixed with old logs and the musty smell of a building that stood empty most of the year.
She heard her younger sisters bickering in the office before she saw them.
“Cry your sad song to someone else,” Celeste was saying. “I told you I wasn’t going to do it again this year and I won’t let you guilt me into it.”
“But you did such a great job last year,” Hope protested.
“Yes I did,” their youngest sister said. “And I swore I wouldn’t ever do it again.”
Faith poked her head into the office in time to see Hope pout. She was nearly three months pregnant and only just beginning to show.
“It didn’t turn out so badly,” Hope pointed out. “You ended up with a fabulous husband and a new stepdaughter out of the deal, didn’t you?”
“Seriously? You’re giving the children’s show credit for my marriage to Flynn?”
“Think about it. Would you be married to your hunky contractor right now and deliriously happy if you hadn’t directed the show for me last year—and if his daughter hadn’t begged to participate?”
It was an excellent point, Faith thought with inward amusement that Celeste didn’t appear to share.
“Why can’t you do it?” Celeste demanded.
“We are booked solid with tour groups at the ranch until Christmas Eve. I won’t have a minute to breathe from now until the New Year—and that’s with Rafe making me cut down my hours.”
“You knew you were going to be slammed,” Celeste said, not at all persuaded. “Talk about procrastination. I can’t believe you didn’t find somebody to organize the variety show weeks ago!”
“I had somebody. Linda Keller told me clear back in September she would do it. I thought we were set, but she fell this morning and broke her arm, which leaves me back at square one. The kids are going to be coming to practice a week from today and I’ve got absolutely no one to lead them.”
Hope shifted her attention to Faith with a considering look that struck fear in her heart.
“Oh, no,” she exclaimed. “You can forget that idea right now.”
“Why?” Hope pouted. “You love kids and senior citizens both, plus you sing like a dream. You even used to direct the choir at church, which I say makes you the perfect one to run the Christmas
show.”
She rolled her eyes. Hope knew better than to seriously consider that idea. “Right. Because you know I’ve got absolutely nothing else going on right now.”
“Everyone is busy. That’s the problem. Whose idea was it to put on a show at Christmas, the busiest time of the year?”
“Yours.” Faith and Celeste answered simultaneously.
Hope sighed. “I know. It just seemed natural for The Christmas Ranch to throw a holiday celebration for the senior citizens. Maybe next year we’ll do a Christmas in July kind of thing.”
“Except you’ll be having a baby in July,” Faith pointed out. “And I’ll be even more busy during the summer.”
“You’re right.” She looked glum. “Do you have any suggestions for someone else who might be interested in directing it? I would hate to see the pageant fade out, especially after last year was such a smash success, thanks to CeCe. You wouldn’t believe how many people have stopped me in town during the past year to tell me how much they enjoyed it and hoped we were doing another one.”
“I believe it,” Celeste said. “I’ve had my share of people telling me the same thing. That still doesn’t mean I want to run it again.”
“I wasn’t even involved with the show and I still have people stop me in town to tell me they hope we’re doing it again,” Faith offered.
“That’s because you’re a Nichols,” Hope said.
“Right. Which to some people automatically means I burp tinsel and have eggnog running through my veins.”
Celeste laughed. “You don’t?”
“Nope. Hope inherited all the Christmas spirit from Uncle Claude and Aunt Mary.”
The sister in question made a face. “That may be true, but it still doesn’t give me someone to run the show this year. But never fear. I’ve got a few ideas up my sleeves.”
“I can help,” Celeste said. “I just don’t want to be the one in charge.”
Faith couldn’t let her younger sister be the only generous one in the family. She sighed. “Okay. I’ll help again, too. But only behind the scenes—and only because you’re pregnant and I don’t want you to overdo.”
Hope’s eyes glittered and her smile wobbled. “Oh. You’re both going to make me cry and Rafe tells me I’ve already hit my tear quota for the day. Quick, talk about something else. How did the auction go today?”
At the question, all her angst about Chase flooded back.
She suddenly desperately wanted to confide in her sisters. That was the whole reason she’d stopped at the lodge, she realized, because she yearned to share this startling development with them and obtain their advice.
I want you to be my date, with everything that goes along with that.
What was she going to do?
She wanted to ask them but they both adored Chase and it suddenly seemed wrong to talk about him with Hope and Celeste. If she had to guess, she expected they would probably take his side. They wouldn’t understand how he had just upended everything safe and secure she had come to depend upon.
When she didn’t answer right away, both of her sisters looked at her with concern. “Did something go wrong with the horse you wanted to buy?” Celeste asked. “You weren’t outbid, were you? If you were, I’m sure you’ll be able to find another one.”
She shook her head. “No. We bought the horse for about five percent under what I was expecting to pay and she’s beautiful. Mostly white with black spots and lovely black boot markings on her legs. I can’t wait for Louisa to see her.”
“I want to see her!” Hope said. “You took her to Chase’s pasture?”
“Yes, and a few moments after we unloaded her, Cindy pulled up with Addie. Apparently Carol Johnson had a small stroke this morning and she’s in the hospital in Idaho Falls so Cindy came home to be with her and help her father.”
At the mention of Chase’s ex-wife, both of her sisters’ mouths tightened in almost exactly the same way. There had been no love lost between any of them, especially after Cindy’s affair with the oral surgeon who eventually became her husband.
“So Cindy just dropped off Addie like UPS delivering a surprise package?” Hope asked, disgust clear in her voice.
“What about school?” ever-practical Celeste asked. “Surely she’s not out for Christmas break yet.”
“No. She’s going to do her homework from here.” She paused, remembering the one other complication. “I haven’t asked Mary yet if she’s available but in case she’s not, would either of you like a couple of extra kids on Friday night? Three, actually—my two and Addie. Chase and I have a...a thing and it might run late.”
“Oh, I wish I could,” Hope exclaimed. “Rafe and I promised Joey we would take him to Boise to see his mom. We’re staying overnight and doing some shopping while we’re there.”
“How is Cami doing?” Faith asked. “She’s been out of prison, what, three months now?”
“Ten weeks. She’s doing so well. Much better than Rafe expected, really. The court-ordered drug rehab she had in prison worked in her case and the halfway house is really helping her get back on her feet. Another six months and she’s hoping she can have her own place and be ready to take Joey back. Maybe even by the time the baby comes.”
Hope tried to smile but it didn’t quite reach her eyes and Faith couldn’t resist giving her sister’s hand a squeeze. Celeste did the same to the other hand. Hope and her husband had cared for Rafe’s nephew Joey since before their marriage after his sister’s conviction on drug and robbery charges. They loved him and would both be sad to see him go.
Joey seemed like a different kid than he’d been when he first showed up at The Christmas Ranch with Rafe, two years earlier, sullen and confused and angry...
“We’re trying to convince her to come back to Pine Gulch,” Hope said, trying to smile. “It might help her stay out of trouble, and that way we can remain part of Joey’s life. So far it’s an uphill battle, as she feels like this is where all her troubles started.”
Her sister’s turmoil was a sharp reminder to Faith. Hope might be losing the boy she considered a son, and Celeste’s stepdaughter, Olivia, still struggled to recover from both physical injuries and the emotional trauma of witnessing her mother’s murder at the hands of her mentally ill and suicidal boyfriend.
In contrast, the problem of trying to figure out what to do with Chase seemed much more manageable.
“Anyway,” Hope said, “that’s why I won’t be around Friday to help you with the kids. Sorry again.”
“Don’t give it another thought. That’s exactly where you need to be.”
“The kids are more than welcome at our place,” Celeste said. “Flynn and Olivia are having a movie marathon and watching Miracle on 34th Street and White Christmas. I’ll be writing during most of it, but hope to sneak in and watch the dancing in White Christmas.”
She used to love those movies, Faith remembered. When she was young, her parents had a handful of very old, very worn VCR tapes of several holiday classics and would drag them from place to place, sometimes even showing them at social events for people in whatever small village they had set their latest medical clinic in at the time.
She probably had been just as baffled as the villagers at the world shown in the movies, which seemed so completely foreign to her own life experience, with the handsomely dressed people and the luxurious train rides and the children surrounded by toys she could only imagine.
“That sounds like the perfect evening,” she said now. “Maybe I’ll join the movie night instead of going to a boring Christmas party with Chase. I can bring the popcorn.”
“You can’t skip the stockgrowers’ party,” Celeste said. “It’s the big social event of the year, isn’t it? Jenna McRaven always caters that gala so you know the food will be fantastic, plus you’ll be going with Chase. How ca
n any party be boring with him around?”
Again, she wanted to blurt out to her sisters how strangely he was acting. She even opened her mouth to do it but before she could force the words out, she heard familiar young voices outside in the hallway just an instant before Barrett and Louisa poked their heads in, followed in short order by Celeste’s stepdaughter, Olivia, and Joey. Liv went straight to Celeste while Joey practically jumped into Hope’s outstretched arms.
It warmed her heart so much to see her sisters being such loving mother figures to children who needed them desperately.
“Joey and Olivia were coming to the house to hang out when I got your text,” Louisa said. “We saw all your cars so decided to stop here to say hi before we walk up to the house from the bus stop.”
“I’m so glad you did,” Faith said.
She hugged them both, her heart aching with love. “Good day?” she asked.
Louisa nodded. “Pretty good. I had a substitute for science and she was way nicer than Mr. Lewis.”
“Guess who got a hundred-ten percent on his math test?” Barrett said with a huge grin “Go on. Guess.”
She made a big show of looking confused and glancing in the other boy’s direction. “You did, Joey? Good job, kid!”
Rafe’s nephew giggled. “I only got a hundred percent. I missed the extra credit but Barrett didn’t.”
Her son preened. “I was the only one in the class who got it right.”
“I’m proud of both of you. What a smart family we have!”
Except for her, the one who couldn’t figure out how to protect the friendship that meant the world to her.
Chapter Three
As he drove up to the Star N ranch house four days after the auction, Chase couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so on edge. He wasn’t nervous—or at least he would never admit to it. He was just unsettled.
So many things seemed to hinge on this night. How was he supposed to make Faith ever view him as more than just her neighbor and best friend? She had to see him for himself, a man who had spent nearly half his life waiting for her.
The Holiday Gift Page 3