by Liz Isaacson
“Oh yeah?” Dylan drawled. “Define ‘affordable’.”
“You work for the city, right?”
Dylan cocked his head. “Yeah.”
“I think you came out last fall when my furnace was on the fritz.”
“Sounds like something a heating and air conditioning company would do,” Dylan said. “I work with the Electric Company.”
“No, it was you. The power to the entire unit was down. You fixed it.” Roman beamed at him like Dylan had accomplished world peace.
“All right,” Dylan said. “How much?”
“This ring is normally thirty-five hundred dollars—”
Dylan sputtered and choked, heat rushing to his face.
“But,” Roman said quickly. “It’s seventy percent off for our holiday sale. That makes it….” He pulled a handheld calculator toward him and started beating on the buttons to calculate the price.
“One thousand fifty dollars,” Roman concluded. “And I can give you an addition ten percent for being a city employee, which makes it—” Tap, tap, tap, punch.
“Nine hundred forty-five dollars.”
“And tax,” Dylan said. Which would be the ten percent back on.
“Plus tax.” Roman started typing again, and Dylan picked up the ring. He liked it a whole lot, just like he liked Cami a whole lot.
He shook his head. He wasn’t buying a diamond ring for a woman he liked a whole lot.
He was buying a diamond ring for the woman he loved.
“I’ll take it,” Dylan said, placing it delicately back in the silk of the box. He simultaneously felt like throwing up and throwing a party.
Now all he needed to do was figure out if Cami would say yes when he asked her to marry him, and at the moment, his gut was telling him that if he showed up with a diamond, she’d freak out and retreat.
But that was okay. He tucked the bag with the ring in it into his glove box. He could wait.
Chapter Sixteen
Cami drove past two Christmas tree stalls on the way to Rivers Merge. An idea occurred to her that she should get a tree on the way home and get her place ready for the holidays. She usually put her tree up the day after Thanksgiving, and she shouldn’t even be working today. But she had a lot of work to do, and there wouldn’t be anyone else at the site today.
She thought through the tradition she’d established for herself after she moved out of her parent’s house when she was only nineteen. Gold and red balls. White lights. A real tree so the air became scented with pine. And she decided she’d definitely get a tree on the way home and then dig through her attic until she found her Christmas decor.
She pulled into the construction parking lot behind the trailer and exhaled as she got out of Penny-the-Plumbing-Van.
“See you later, girl.” Cami tapped the window of the van and headed around the trailer to get the reports on the phase one homes. She’d been at the build site every day, six days a week, for the past six weeks, doing the rough plumbing home by home, with the roofers following behind her, and Dylan coming in right after them to do his wiring.
After she got all the bones in place, she didn’t have to come back to the home until the finishing work needed to be completed. Then she and Dylan would switch positions, and he’d go through the home before, doing the finishing electrical work like installing switches, doorbells, outlets, and connecting all the appliances to power.
She’d install the sinks, toilets, and faucets and from there, it was mirror work and carpet installation, final clean up, and then families would be living in the shell of a home Cami had put pipes in when it was just a concrete slab.
She still had two homes to get plumbed before next weekend, and she had eight working days to do it. That was an insane amount of work—it usually took her a full week of ten-hour days to get a house plumbed, and the roofing crew had been breathing down her neck since the build began.
Her back and neck already ached at the thought of smashing a twelve-day job into only eight days, but she’d already talked to Gerald about it. He’d said they could roof the last house while she was in it if that would keep everyone on schedule.
She’d agreed, and so had the Snell’s, the family owned and operated roofing company that sat on the edge of town, along the highway leading to Amarillo.
As soon as she opened the door to the trailer, she knew something was different. Like a scent on the air, the vibe in the room hit her like a punch. She froze, glancing around the room to take in who was there, and why, and what had happened.
Dylan rose from Gerald’s desk, a to-go cup of coffee in his hand. “I knew you’d be in today.” He grinned at her and extended the cup toward her though she was several paces away.
“I have two houses to plumb still,” she said, knowing he’d slow her down if he stayed. But she didn’t want to be rude, and she did love the coffee from the pancake house. So she crossed the trailer and took it from him. “Thanks.”
“I’m not staying,” he said, getting to his feet. “I did a little shopping this morning, and my mother wants to do family pictures now.”
“Sounds fun.”
“Oh, it’s so not,” he said. “My sisters get their kids all worked up before we even get there, and everyone leaves crying. Well, except for me. Last year, even the photographer was crying by the end, but I think that was out of relief that it was over.”
Cami laughed. “Family pictures with your crew would be comical.” She took a sip of her coffee. “I was just going to log in and get to work.”
“What are you doing later?” He stood and took her into his arms, making her feel warm and a smile come to her face.
“I’m going to buy a Christmas tree on the way home. Get it set up.” She gazed up at him, wondering if it was time to start a new tradition. “You want to help me?”
He blinked and softness entered those blue eyes. “Yeah,” he said slowly. “I’d love that.” He leaned down and kissed her, and Cami kept it slow and heated, passionate yet unrushed.
“Mm.” He broke their connection and tucked her close to his heartbeat. Cami stayed there, her own pulse rapid firing in a strange, new way. She wondered if she was falling in love with Dylan—or if she was already there.
“So I’ll come by later,” he said. “I think I’m going to see what’s for sale after pictures.”
“Houses?”
“Yeah.”
“Up here.”
He shook his head. “Nah. I’m going to go with something a little bit more…established.”
Cami watched him walk out, her heart doing that skipping again.
Later, she told herself. She’d have to figure out how she felt about Dylan later. Right now, she had a lot of plumbing work to do.
Hours later, with aching fingers and loud complaints from her back, she pulled into a Christmas tree lot. There were many more cars here now, especially now that it was almost dark.
She joined the throng of people wandering around looking at trees, thinking she needed to get one she could get into the van by herself. Well, someone would help her get it into the van, but she’d need to get it into her house.
She found a nice seven-foot-tall tree, with little spindly branches at the top. They wouldn’t hold a star, but she never put one on her tree anyway.
Sure enough, a teenage worker helped her get the tree into the van, and she headed home. When she turned the corner onto her street, Dylan’s big white truck sat out front, and a huge smile sprang to her face.
So maybe she liked him a whole lot. She still wasn’t sure if she was in love with him.
She parked Penny in the driveway and got out, crossing the lawn and meeting Dylan on the sidewalk. “How long have you been here?”
“Twenty minutes or so.”
“I don’t have any food here.” She slipped her arms around his waist and grinned up at him.
“You’re here,” he said, and somehow those were the two nicest words Cami had ever heard. “We can order something.
Did you get a tree?”
“Yeah, Penny’s got her.” They moved over to the van, where Cami opened both of the back doors to reveal the tree. “Let’s get it inside.”
Dylan did most of the heavy lifting, but Cami helped a little, especially getting the wider bottom of the tree through the narrow door. She scurried around to move the recliner out of the way and then she pushed the couch down while Dylan balanced the tree in the doorway.
“I want it over here by the fireplace,” she said, and he muscled the tree where she wanted it, twisting the screw into the trunk to keep it straight and upright.
She stood by the front door, and he joined her. “Looks great there.”
“I have to get up into the attic to get all the ornaments.” Her stomach growled and Dylan looked down at it.
“Let’s eat first, okay? I don’t want you on any ladders until then.”
“I could eat,” she said. “Pizza?”
“I never say no to pizza.”
She pulled out her phone and ordered a meat-lovers pizza, as well as an order of penne pasta and a side salad. After she hung up, she asked, “Did you find any houses?”
“Yeah, you wanna see?”
“Of course.” She smiled at him, and he pulled out his phone.
“Okay, I saved a few. My dad says I need a realtor, so I’ll probably call one next week.” He went out on the front steps and sat on the top one while he swiped and tapped. “I like this one.”
She sat next to him and took the phone from him. The first picture showed an older home that looked like it had been recently painted red. The front door was black, and two tall plants stood sentinel on either side.
“That one’s three bedrooms,” he said. “And it has a shed in the backyard.”
“A shed?” She glanced at him. “What do you need a shed for?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “It sounds very manly.”
Cami tipped her head back and laughed. “It looks like it has some good upgrades,” she said, swiping to see the new floors in the kitchen and the granite countertops in the bathrooms. “Two bathrooms too.”
“Mm hm.” He peered over her shoulder. “I liked it. But it’s way down on the south edge of town, and there are tons of bugs down there.”
“This is Texas,” she said, handing the phone back to him. “There are bugs everywhere.”
“But more down there,” he said, swiping. “They put in that stupid fountain and apparently it attracts a lot of mosquitoes. There’s this one too. It’s only a couple of blocks from here.”
She took the phone from him again, her eyes catching on his for a few extra seconds. The thought of having him only a block or two from her all the time wonderful and sweet. When she looked at the house, she did a double-take.
“This is the Blaiser’s place, and it’s been abandoned for two years.”
“How do you know that?” he asked.
“Carole Anne told me all about it one morning on our way to kick-boxing. We drive by it every day.”’
“Well, it’s real cheap, and I figure I can fix it up.”
“You figure you can?” She looked at him, her smile hopefully fun and flirtatious.
“You don’t think I can fix up a house?”
“I have no idea what you can do, Dylan.”
He snatched his phone from her, a devilish twinkle in his eye. “I think you have some idea, sweetheart.” He wrapped both of his arms around her then, and she giggled and squirmed like she wanted to get away.
But she didn’t. She wanted to stay in the safe circle of this man’s arms for a long time. So she stilled, and his laughter died away too. Their eyes met, and he said, “I love you, Cami,” in the most serious voice she’d ever heard him use.
“I—”
“Hey, you two.”
Cami glanced out toward the front yard and saw Carole Anne and Levi standing there, hand-in-hand.
“Oh, hey.” She straightened and ran her fingers through her hair. She wondered how she would’ve finished that sentence. Could she tell Dylan she loved him when she wasn’t sure?
Help me figure out how I feel, she prayed as she stood and went down the steps to give her friend a hug.
“Everything go through okay with the loan?” Levi asked, and Cami nodded.
“Yep, all good. I probably won’t purchase the business until the new year. That’s what their offer was.” She grinned at him. “But thank you for all your help on it.” She turned back as Dylan came down the last couple of steps. “You guys know Dylan Walker.”
“Of course.” Levi shook his hand. “Well, we won’t keep you.”
“Oh, we’re just decorating my tree,” Cami said like it was no big deal. “Waiting for dinner to come.”
As if summoned by her words, a car pulled into her driveway and the pizza delivery driver got out. Carole Anne and Levi went next door while Dylan paid, and by the time Cami was alone with Dylan again, way too much time had passed to return to that conversation on the front porch.
The one from the sleigh last week about having a family flooded her mind, and she realized with a jolt that Dylan was very, very serious about her.
She waited for the fear to come, but it didn’t, and a small smile touched Cami’s lips.
“What are you smiling at?” he asked as he set her salad in front of her.
“Nothing,” she said. “Nothing at all. Thanks.”
They ate, and the conversation went back to easy things. The Christmas parade and how the vehicles were coming along. His family pictures from earlier that day—and Cami didn’t think she’d ever laughed as hard as she did at the things he said about his oldest sister and how yes, all of her kids had already cried before the photographer had even shown up.
He got up on the ladder and got the Christmas ornaments out of the attic, and she played holiday music while they dressed the tree up with lights and colored balls.
And when Cami stood next to Dylan, his arm around her shoulders, as they gazed at the lit tree, she couldn’t remember a happier time in her life.
Thank you, she thought, the simplest but most sincere prayer she had to offer.
Chapter Seventeen
“And I bought her a ring,” Dylan said to Mint Brownie. He’d been talking to the horse for a solid half-hour. Everything about the sleigh talks he and Cami had, about the tree trimming experience from the other night, and then the trip to the jeweler.
“I’m in love with her.” And he’d said it out loud to her. She’d looked like he’d just punched her with a brick, and she’d started to say something back to him.
That single “I—” had been haunting him for days, and while he’d never had a problem with Carole Anne or Levi, he wanted to ask them why. Why had they had to show up at that exact moment?
But he knew better than most that asking why was never a good idea.
Cami had retreated the teensiest little bit that night, but she’d sat beside him at church, as usual. Monday, she’d been silent, but Dylan couldn’t blame her. She had a ton of work to do at Rivers Merge, and so did he.
With the Christmas parade only three days away, he also had all the last-minute checks to make on every single float. Oh, and one he hadn’t even completely finished yet.
But he’d get it done, just like he always did. He was just a little busier this year because of the new build. But if there was one thing he’d learned over the years, it was that the work always got done.
That was what he’d told Bill and Patricia whenever they asked about the workshop. I’ll get it done.
But it was a huge pain in the neck, and he still hadn’t gotten all of the lights on the conveyor belt in the workshop to shine at the same time.
“How’s he doing?”
Dylan glanced at Pete, glad he hadn’t been confessing anything to Mint Brownie for the man to hear.
“Just great,” he said, his focus switching from the horse to the veteran out in the arena. Jake rode a horse named Strawberry Shortcake, and
he directed the red beast with only one hand.
“How are you?” Pete asked. “You don’t stay for dinner anymore.”
“Yeah,” Dylan said, not wanting to get too far into his reasons for leaving as soon as he could on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He used to stay out at the ranch for a long time, even after the sessions ended. “I’m seeing Cami Cruz.” He flashed Pete a smile. “So I head back to town right after I’m done here.”
“I don’t know Cami Cruz,” he said, leaning his weight into the fence and continuing to watch Jake.
“She’s the plumber for Rogers,” Dylan said. “She’s going to buy the whole operation come January.” He couldn’t help the pride that snuck into his voice. He cleared his throat, and asked, “Are you bringing the family in to the parade this weekend?”
“That’s this weekend?”
“This weekend kicks it off,” Dylan said. “And it runs next weekend, and then every night during the Twelve Days of Christmas.”
Pete sighed. “I can’t believe it’s Christmas already. Where did this year go?”
“Not sure,” Dylan said, feeling the way time passed through his fingers like smoke.
“Guess I better take the kids. They love the parade. And I need to get them some presents too, though Chelsea probably already has a bunch.” He chuckled and Dylan smiled with him.
He hadn’t thought much about presents yet either, as it was barely December and he didn’t have a whole lot of people to buy for anyway.
“All right.” Pete knocked on the wood. “You’ll close up when he’s done?”
“Sure thing.” Dylan watched Pete walk away, his admiration for the man rising. He ran a good thing here and he managed to spend time with his family too, something that gave Dylan hope for him and Cami.
Dylan swung onto Mint Brownie and took the horse out into the arena with Jake and Shortcake. He hadn’t ridden for a couple of weeks, and he moved Brownie through a few walking sequences, mostly to get his brain to stop circling Cami.
But she was always there, in his mind. He wanted to drive to her place after he brushed down both horses and made sure all the stalls in the stable were closed. But he pulled into his covered parking spot instead and sat in his truck.