It took a little effort to tuck the soft length of her coat inside. “Better make sure I don’t shut the door on Celeste’s coat,” he joked. “She would probably never forgive me.”
He went around and climbed inside, then turned his pickup truck around and started heading toward the canyon road that would take them to Pine Gulch and the party.
“My family. Ugh. You’d think I never went to a Christmas party before, the way they carry on.” Faith didn’t look at him as she fiddled with the air vent. “I don’t know what’s gotten into them all. I mean, we went together last year to the exact same party and nobody gave it a second thought.”
A wise man would probably keep his mouth shut, just go with the flow.
Maybe he was tired of keeping his mouth shut.
“If I had to guess,” he said, after giving her a long look, “they’re making a fuss because they know this is different, that we’re finally going out on a real date.”
Chapter Four
At his words, tension seemed to clamp around her spine with icy fingers.
We’re finally going out on a real date.
She had really been hoping he had forgotten all that nonsense by now and they could go to the party as they always had done things, as dear friends.
She didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t stop thinking about that moment when she had started down the stairs and had seen him standing there, looking tall and rugged and gorgeous, freshly shaved and wearing a dark Western-cut suit and tie.
He had looked like he should be going to a country music awards show with a beautiful starlet on his arm or something, not the silly local stockgrowers association party with her.
She had barely been able to think straight and literally had felt so weak-kneed she considered it a minor miracle that she hadn’t stumbled down the stairs right at his feet.
Then he had spotted her and the heat in his eyes had sent an entire flock of butterflies swarming through her insides.
“Every time I bring up that this is a date, you go silent as dirt,” he murmured. “Why is that?”
She drew in a breath. “I don’t know what to say.”
He shot her a quick look across the bench seat of his truck. “Is the idea of dating me so incomprehensible?”
“Not incomprehensible. Just...disconcerting,” she answered honestly.
“Why?” he pressed.
How was she supposed to answer that? He was her best friend and knew all her weaknesses and faults. Surely he knew she was a giant coward at heart, that she didn’t want these new and terrifying feelings.
She had no idea how to answer him so she opted to change the subject. “I haven’t had a chance to ask you. How’s Louisa’s new horse?”
He shifted his gaze from the road, this time to give her a long look. She thought for a moment he would call her on it and press for an answer. To her relief, he turned back to the road and, after a long pause, finally answered her.
“Settling in, I guess. She seems to have really taken to Tor—and vice versa.”
“I hope they won’t be too upset at being separated when we send the new horse to Seth Dalton’s after Christmas.”
“I’m sure they’ll survive. If not, we can always arrange visitation.”
That word inevitably reminded her of his ex-wife.
“How is Cindy’s mother doing?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Fine, from what I hear. She’s probably going to be in the hospital another week.”
“Does that mean the cruise is off?”
“Cindy insists they don’t want to cancel the cruise unless it’s absolutely necessary. I’m still planning my Christmas celebration with Addie on December 20.”
“It’s just another day on the calendar,” she said.
“Don’t let Hope hear you say that or she might ban you from The Christmas Ranch,” he joked.
They spoke of the upcoming children’s Christmas show and the crowds at the ranch and the progress of her sisters’ movie for the remainder of the short drive to the reception hall where the annual dinner and party was always held.
He found a parking space not far from the building and climbed out to walk around the vehicle to her side. While she waited for him to open her door, Faith took a deep breath.
She could do this. Tonight was no different from dozens of other social events they had attended together. Weddings, birthday parties, Fourth of July barbecues. Things had never been awkward between them until now.
We’re finally going out on a real date.
When she thought of those words, little starbursts of panic flared inside her.
She couldn’t give in. Chase was her dear friend and she cared about him deeply. As long as she kept that in mind, everything would be just fine.
She wasn’t certain she completely believed that but she refused to consider the alternative right now.
The party was in full swing when they arrived. The reception hall had been decorated with an abundance of twinkling fairy lights strung end to end and Christmas trees stood in each corner. Delectable smells wafted out of the kitchen and her stomach growled, almost in time to the band playing a bluegrass version of “Good King Wenceslas.” A few couples were even dancing and she watched them with no small amount of envy. She missed dancing.
“You’d better give me Celeste’s New York City coat so I can hang it up,” Chase said from beside her.
She gave him a rueful smile. “I’m a little afraid to let it out of my sight but I guess I can’t wear it all night.”
“No, you can’t. Go on inside. I’ll hang this and be there in a moment.”
She nodded and stepped into the reception room. Her good friend Jennie Dalton—Seth Dalton’s wife and principal of the elementary school—stood just inside. Jennie was talking with Ashley Hartford, who taught kindergarten at the elementary school.
While their husbands were lost in conversation, the two women were speaking with a young, lovely woman she didn’t recognize—which was odd, since she knew just about everyone who came to these events.
Jennie held out a hand when she spotted her. “Hello, my dear. You look gorgeous, as always.”
Faith made a face, wishing she didn’t feel like a frazzled, overburdened rancher and single mother.
She held a hand out to the woman she didn’t know. “Hi. I’m Faith Dustin.”
The woman had pretty features and a sweet smile. “Hello. I’m Ella Baker. You may know my father, Curt.”
“Yes, of course. Hello. Lovely to meet you.”
Curt Baker had a ranch on the other side of town. She didn’t know him well but she had heard he had a daughter he didn’t know well who had spent most of her life living with her mother back East somewhere. From what she understood, his daughter had returned to help him through a health scare.
“Your dad is looking well.”
Ella glanced at her father with a troubled look, then forced a smile. “He’s doing better, I suppose.”
“Ella is a music therapist and she just agreed to take the job of music teacher at the school for the rest of the school year,” Jennie said, looking thrilled at the prospect.
“That’s a long time coming.”
“Right. We’ve had the funding for it but haven’t been able to find someone suitable since Linda Keller retired two years ago. We’ve been relying on parent volunteers, who have been wonderful, but can only take the program so far. I’m a firm believer that children learn better when we can incorporate the arts in the classroom.”
“I completely agree,” Faith said, then was suddenly struck by a small moment of brilliance. “Hey, I’ve got a terrific way for you to get to know some of the young people in the community.”
“Oh?”
“My family runs The Christ
mas Ranch. You may have seen signs for it around town.”
“Absolutely. I haven’t had time to stop yet but it looks utterly delightful.”
“It is.” She didn’t bother telling the woman she had very little to do with the actual operations of The Christmas Ranch. It was always too complicated explaining that she ran the cattle side of things—hence her presence at this particular holiday party.
“Last year we started a new tradition of offering a children’s Christmas variety show and dinner for the senior citizens in town. It’s nothing grand, more for fun than anything else. The children only practice for the week leading up to the show, since everyone is so busy this time of year. Linda Keller, the woman who retired a few years ago from the school district, had offered to help us this year but apparently she just broke her arm.”
“That’s as good an excuse as any,” Ashley said.
“I suppose. The point is my sisters are desperate for someone to help them organize the show. I don’t suppose there’s any chance you might be interested.”
It seemed a nervy thing to ask a woman she had only met five minutes earlier. To Faith’s relief, Ella Baker didn’t seem offended.
“That sounds like a blast,” Ella exclaimed. “I’ve been looking for something to keep me busy until the New Year when I start at the school part-time.”
Hope was going to owe her big-time—so much that Faith might even claim naming rights over the new baby.
“Great! You’ll have fun, I promise. The kids are so cute and we’ve got some real talent.”
“This is true,” Ashley said. “Especially Faith’s niece, Olivia. She sings like an angel. Last year the show was so wonderful.”
“The senior citizens in the area really ate it up,” Jennie affirmed. “My dad couldn’t stop talking about it. The Nichols family has started a wonderful thing for the community.”
“This sounds like a great thing. I’m excited you asked me.”
“If you give me your contact info, I can forward it to my sister Hope. She’s really the one in charge.”
“Your name is Faith and you have a sister named Hope. Let me guess, do you have another one named Charity?”
“That would be logical, wouldn’t it? But my parents never did what was expected. They named our youngest sister Celeste.”
“Celeste is the children’s librarian in town and she’s also an author,” Ashley said. “And Hope is an illustrator.”
“Oh! Of course! Celeste and Hope Nichols. They wrote ‘Sparkle and the Magic Snowball’! The kids at the developmental skills center where I used to work loved that story. They even wrote a song about Sparkle.”
Faith smiled. “You’ll have to share it with Celeste and Hope. They’ll be thrilled.”
She and Ella were sending contact information to each other’s phones when she felt a subtle ripple in the air and a moment later Chase joined them.
Speaking with the women had begun to push out some of the butterflies inside her but they suddenly returned in full force.
“Sorry I was gone so long. I got cornered by Pete Jeppeson at the coatrack and just barely managed to get away.”
“No worries. I’ve been meeting someone who is about to make my sisters very, very happy. Chase Brannon, this is Ella Baker. She’s Curt’s daughter and she’s a music therapist who has just agreed to help out with the second annual Christmas Ranch holiday show.”
Chase gave Ella a warm smile. “That’s very kind of you—not to mention extremely brave.”
The woman returned his smile and Faith didn’t miss the sudden appreciative light in her eyes, along with a slightly regretful look, the sort a woman might wear while shopping when someone else in line at the checkout just ahead of her picks out the exact one-of-a-kind piece of jewelry she would have chosen for herself.
“Brave or crazy,” Ella said. “I’m not sure which yet.”
“You said it. I didn’t,” Chase said.
Both of them laughed and as she saw them together, a strange thought lodged in her brain.
The two of them could be perfect for each other.
She didn’t want to admit it but Ella Baker seemed on the surface just the sort of woman Chase needed. She had only just met the woman but she trusted her instincts. Ella seemed smart and pretty, funny and kind.
Exactly the sort of woman Chase deserved.
He said he was ready to date again and here was a perfect candidate. Wouldn’t a truehearted friend do everything in her power to push the two of them together—at least give Chase the chance to get to know the other woman?
She hated the very idea of it, but she wanted Chase to be happy. “Will you both excuse me for a moment? I just spotted Jenna McRaven and remembered I need to talk to her about a slight change in the menu for the dinner next week.”
She aimed a bright smile at them. “You two should dance or something. Go ahead! I won’t be long.”
She caught a glimpse of Ella’s startled features and the beginnings of a thundercloud forming on Chase’s but she hurried away before he could respond.
He would thank her later, she told herself, especially if Ella turned out to be absolutely perfect for him.
He only needed to spend a little time with her to realize the lovely young woman who had put her life on hold to help her ailing father was a much better option than a prickly widow who didn’t have anything left in her heart to give him.
* * *
She found Jenna in the kitchen, up to her eyeballs in appetizers.
This was the absolute worst time to bug her about a catering job, when she was busy at a different one. Faith couldn’t bother her with a small change in salad dressing—especially when she was only using this as an excuse to leave Chase alone with Ella Baker. She would call Jenna later and tell her about the change at a better time.
“Hi, Faith! Don’t you look beautiful tonight!”
She almost gave an inelegant snort. Jenna’s blond curls were piled on her head in an adorable messy bun and her cheeks looked rosy from the heat of the kitchen and probably from the exertion of preparing a meal for so many people, while Faith had split ends and hands desperately in need of a manicure.
“I was just going to say the same to you,” she said. “Seriously, you’re the only person I know who can be neck-deep in making canapés and still manage to look like a model.”
Jenna rolled her eyes as she continued setting out appetizers on the tray. “You’re sweet but delusional. Did you need something?”
Faith glanced through the open doorway, where she could see Chase bending down to listen more closely to something Ella was saying. The sight made her stomach hurt—but maybe that was just hunger.
“Not at all. I was just wondering if you need any help back here.”
Jenna looked startled at her question but not ungrateful. “That’s very sweet but I’m being paid to hang out here in the kitchen. You’re not. You should be out there enjoying the party.”
“I can hear the music from here, plus helping you out in the kitchen would give me the chance to talk to a dear friend I don’t see often enough. Need me to carry out a tray or two?”
Jenna blew out a breath. “I should say no. You’re a guest at the party. I hate to admit it, but I could really use some help for a minute. It’s a two-person job but my assistant has the flu so I’m a little frantic here. Carson will be here to help me as soon as he can, but his flight from San Francisco was delayed because of weather so he’s running about an hour behind.”
Faith found it unbearably sweet that Jenna’s billionaire husband—who commuted back and forth between Silicon Valley and Pine Gulch—was ready to help the wife he adored with a catering job. “I can help you until he gets here. No problem.”
Jenna lifted her head from her task long enough to frown. “Didn’t I se
e you come in with Chase when I was out replenishing the Parmesan smashed potatoes? I can’t let you just ditch him.”
She glanced at the door where he was now smiling at something Ella said.
“We drove here together, yes,” she answered. “But I’m hoping he’ll be dancing with Curt Baker’s daughter in a moment.”
“Oh. Ella. Jolie just started taking piano lessons from her. She’s a delight.”
“I think she would be great for Chase so I’m trying to give them a chance to get to know each other. Let nature take its course and all.”
Jenna’s busy hands paused in her work and she gave Faith a careful look. “You might want to ask Chase his opinion on that idea,” she said mildly.
“I don’t need to ask him. He’s my best friend. I know what he needs probably better than he knows himself.”
Jenna opened her mouth to answer, then appeared to think better of it.
She was right, Faith told herself. Chase would thank her later; she was almost certain of it.
Chapter Five
Faith was trying to ditch him.
He knew exactly what she was doing as she moved in and out of the kitchen carrying trays of food for Jenna McRaven’s catering company. It wasn’t completely unusual for her to help out behind the scenes, but he knew in this case she was just looking for an excuse to avoid him.
He curled his hands into fists, trying to decide if he was more annoyed or hurt. Either way, he still wanted to punch something.
The woman beside him hummed along with the bluegrass version of “Silver Bells.” Ella Baker had a pretty voice and kind eyes. He felt like a jerk for ignoring her while he glowered after Faith, even though Ella wasn’t the date he had walked in with.
“What were you doing before you came back to Pine Gulch to stay with your father?” he asked.
“I was the music instructor at a residential school for developmentally delayed children in Upstate New York, the same town where you can find the boarding school I attended myself from the age of eight, actually.”
Boarding school? What was the story there? He wouldn’t have taken Curt Baker as the sort of guy to send his kid to boarding school to be raised by someone else most of the year. He couldn’t imagine it—it was hard enough packing Addie off to live with her mother half the time.
The Holiday Gift Page 5