Jingle-Bell Jam (River's End Ranch Book 32)

by Pamela M. Kelley

  “I hope we will see you again soon,” his father added.

  When the band came back for their second set, they all went to dance again. The first few songs were lively and Bryan whirled her around the dance floor until she was almost dizzy but she loved every minute of it. She liked it even more though when the music slowed and Bryan pulled her close to him. They played several slow songs in a row, to Melanie’s delight. Bryan seemed to be holding her a little tighter than before and she liked it. She breathed in his scent, and sighed happily. The evening had been so much fun that she didn’t want it to end.

  But when they came off the dance floor ,she saw that the room was clearing out and the band was done playing. As they reached the table, everyone was standing and getting ready to leave.

  “I guess it’s that time already,” Bryan said. He sounded as if he didn’t want the night to end, either.

  “It flew by. But I suppose we have to go,” Melanie agreed. They said their goodbyes to the others and got their coats from the coat check.

  “Wait here. I’ll go bring the car around. It should only take a minute.”

  Melanie watched through the front glass door until she saw the lights of his truck pull up. She climbed into the truck and stared at the lights along Main Street as they headed back to the ranch.

  “Did you have fun?” Bryan asked as they drove along.

  “I really did. It was a wonderful night.”

  “There are lots of other fun Christmas events coming up, most of them at the ranch.”

  “My sister told me about that. I’m looking forward to doing as many of them as possible. Cookie decorating and the Christmas Stroll and the hanging of the ornaments. I’ll pass on the snowmobile racing, though.” She laughed at the thought of it.

  “Well, you can cheer me on, then. I almost won it last year.”

  “You did?” Melanie couldn’t keep the surprise out of her voice.

  Bryan laughed. “No, not even close. But I sure had fun.”

  “I told Maddie I’d help out Monday and Tuesday night after work handing out the Christmas bags. I think she’s going to have me checking people in.”

  “I’ll see you there then. I’ll be one of the guys handing out the turkeys and helping some of the older folks carry their bags to their cars.”

  “I hope Maddie is feeling better by then,” Melanie said, wondering how she was doing.

  “I do, too. We usually all go out that Tuesday night after the last bag has been given out. It’s sort of a tradition.”

  “You do? Where do you go?”

  “There’s a Mexican restaurant right on Main Street and we always go for margaritas and appetizers. They have great nachos.”

  “That does sound like fun,” Melanie said.

  A moment later she realized something. “I didn’t remember to check back to see if I needed to up my bid on that painting.”

  “They’ll call you if you won.”

  “Mine was the first bid. Somehow I doubt that it was the highest one,” she said as Bryan pulled up to her cabin.

  “You never know,” he said as they both got out of the truck and and he walked her inside.

  “Thank you for driving and for tonight,” Melanie said.

  Bryan smiled and leaned toward her. Melanie held her breath for a moment and then released it when he dropped a sweet kiss on her forehead and then stepped back. She looked at him quizzically and then saw something in his eyes that gave her hope. She thought of Jaclyn urging her to make sure he knew she was interested. She took a deep breath and then stepped toward him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

  “That was nice, but I think we can do better. You are wearing mistletoe after all,” she said softly as she leaned in and touched her lips to his. She felt him hesitate at first, as she took him by surprise, but then he kissed her back and she melted into him for a long, sweet kiss. Finally, they stopped and just looked at each other.

  “Now, that was fun,” Melanie said.

  “It was, but…” Bryan began.

  Melanie touched a finger to his lips and he smiled and was silent.

  “I know you have a rule about not asking a client out. But what if the client wants to date you?”

  Bryan grinned. “Well, maybe that might be different. But I don’t want to get you in trouble.”

  “You won’t. Mrs. Weston isn’t in charge anymore. Wade is and you know how he and Maddie met.”

  “You make an excellent case. But are you sure?” Bryan looked a little hesitant and Melanie sensed that he was worried that she might change her mind.

  “I’ve never been so sure,” she said.

  “Well, then, I think I need another good night kiss.”

  Chapter 12

  Melanie had a lazy Sunday. She slept in, did laundry and then met her sister Melissa and Jack for a delicious roast beef dinner at their house. After they ate, Jack collapsed in the living room to watch football and the two sisters decided to go for a walk. They ate early, at a little past two, so it was more like a late lunch and the sun was shining even though it was chilly. But it wasn’t windy or snowing so they both agreed that it was ideal weather for a walk around the neighborhood.

  “So, tell me all about last night. Did you have fun? Were there any sparks? Who else did you see there?”

  Melanie filled her in on everything, including the end of the evening and the very special good night kiss. Melissa stopped when she heard the news and stared at her sister.

  “He’s the one, isn’t he? Jaclyn was right. She’s always right. Or rather, the fairies are. But what do you think?”

  Melanie grinned. “I think he really might be the one for me. I’ve never felt this way about anyone. So comfortable with him yet really attracted, too. I think about him all the time and look forward to seeing him.”

  “You’ve got it bad.” Melissa laughed. “That’s how it was with Jack, too, only he was the one that realized it first. It took me a while to catch up. I just knew I really liked being around him.”

  “I think I knew first. Bryan’s been the hesitant one. But he also got dumped not too long ago and I think has been feeling low about that.”

  “Afraid of being rejected again,” Melissa said. “That makes sense.”

  “And he has that silly rule about not dating a client.” Melanie grinned. “I pointed out to him that it would be different if the client wanted to date him.”

  Melissa laughed. “You actually said that?”

  “I did! And then I kissed him. And I think he liked it.”

  “Good! I’m really happy for you.”

  “Thanks. Enough about me. Let’s talk about you. How is your book doing?”

  “Surprisingly well! My print copies arrived yesterday so they’ll be going in the store on Monday and my ebook sales are much better than I thought they would be at this point. I have ten reviews already! And I don’t even know these people. So it’s complete strangers reading my book.”

  “Wow. I’m not at all surprised, though, that it’s doing well. Are you working on another one?”

  “Yes, and I’m almost done with it. I should finish it by the end of the week and then off it goes to the editor.”

  “That’s so fast. It took you a lot longer with the first one, didn’t it?”

  “It did. But now I know what I’m doing and I have myself on a schedule. I get up an hour earlier than I used to and I write every morning for three hours before I go into the store. It’s just the right amount of time and I do it every day, so the words add up fast.”

  “That’s great! I look forward to reading this one too.” It started to snow suddenly, so they decided to head back. And as glad as Melanie was to be driving a car that was good in snow, she still wasn’t eager to go far.

  “I’m going to head home, in case this decides to turn into something.”

  Melanie went into work early Monday morning. Mondays were always busy at the gym. She was in a good mood and looking forward to seeing Bryan after work a
t the food pantry. She hadn’t heard from him on Sunday but didn’t really expect to as he’d told her he’d see her on Monday. Still, she found herself wondering what he was up to. Her sister was right. She had it bad. She was too busy to think about much of anything, though, as she had training sessions all morning and then her weekly meeting with Wade in the afternoon.

  She finally had a break at noon and was just about to eat the salad she’d brought for lunch when Natalie called to let her know she had a delivery at the front desk. She wasn’t expecting anything so was curious as she walked out front. She stopped short when she saw the gorgeous flower arrangement on the counter.

  “Those are for me?” She looked at Natalie in confusion. Surely they were for someone else.

  Natalie nodded. “It’s your name on the envelope. They just came from the new floral shop that opened up. Pushing Daisies.”

  “Oh. Melissa mentioned that was going to be opening soon. It’s just a few doors down from the gift shop.” She stepped closer to take a better look. They had done a beautiful job. The square-cut class vase held an explosion of roses—vivid pinks, reds and delicate white sprays of baby’s breath. She checked the name on the card to make sure it was really for her, and apparently it was. She pulled the small card out of the envelope and smiled as she read it. “Thinking of you. Hoping your night was as wonderful as mine was. Happy Monday. Bryan.”

  “They’re really lovely,” Natalie said.

  “They are, aren’t they?” Melanie agreed as she picked up the arrangement and brought it into her office. She set it on the corner of her desk. It made her room smell fantastic. She called Bryan to thank him and got his voice message. She knew he was busy so she left a quick message thanking him and said she’d see him later. For the rest of the afternoon, every time she looked up and saw his flowers, she smiled.

  Wade tapped on her door, which she’d left ajar, at a few minutes past two.

  “Come on in,” she said.

  He came in and settled in the chair across from her desk. He sniffed the air and looked around until he saw the flowers.

  “Smells good in here. I see you have an admirer.”

  “Bryan sent them. I guess that means we’re dating. I hope that won’t be a problem?” Melanie decided to just put it out there so there hopefully wouldn’t be any issues.

  Wade laughed. “Why would there be? Bryan’s a great guy. I approve…not that you need my approval.”

  “So, there’s no rule about not dating clients?”

  Wade sighed. “I know that’s what my mother would like. I struggled with it before I started dating Maddie. Especially now that we are in charge, I don’t plan to enforce that particular rule. I’d have to apply it to myself to be fair, and I have no intention of getting a divorce.”

  Melanie laughed. “I was hoping you’d say something like that. How is Maddie feeling, by the way?”

  Wade’s light-hearted tone changed. “She’s not good, actually. We ended up at the ER yesterday and they’ve put her on total bed rest for the next few months. They consider this a high risk pregnancy now.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “We’ll manage, but she won’t be back to work for a while. A long while. Fortunately, we are well staffed in the spa now and have people who can step up and cover for her.”

  “That’s good.”

  “So, I don’t think we have a whole lot to discuss today. Everything seems to be going well. I saw that we picked up a bunch of new reviews, all four and five stars on the MyTown site.”

  “We did. We had a good response to the email I sent out asking people to please help by leaving a review. We still have those really negative ones. I think I know who may be behind it.” She told Wade her theory about Amy and the fact that her fiancé, Troy, ran the biggest health club in town.

  Wade frowned. “It’s not my intention to harm any other businesses. I see Idaho Fitness catering to a very different audience, the low monthly fee, no frills, bargain shoppers. We’re more expensive but offer more amenities.”

  “That’s how I see it, too. I have an idea that may or may not work, but I wanted to run it by you first.” Melanie shared her thoughts with Wade and waited for his feedback.

  “Go ahead and give it a try. It’s worth a shot. As you said, we’re different markets so if we can help rather than hurt our competitors, I’d rather do that.”

  “I was hoping you’d say that.”

  Melanie had noticed that Amy’s trial month was up on Thursday and that she had a session booked with Melanie. She had no idea if her crazy idea would work, but was curious to see if it might help.

  Chapter 13

  Melanie left the gym at three thirty to get to the food pantry by a quarter to four. They were to start handing out the turkeys and bags of food at four. Jess was there when she arrived, and Bryan and Cameron arrived a few minutes later. There were a few other volunteers there, too, that Melanie didn’t know, along with a few youth who helped bring out the boxes of refrigerated items—the blocks of cheese, butter and cans of whipped cream they would add to each bag that went out. They also set up a table of assorted pies so each family could choose which flavor they wanted to add to their bag.

  Bryan walked over to say hello while Cameron stopped to chat for a minute with Jess.

  “Hope your week is getting off to a good start?” he asked as he reached her.

  “A wonderful start. Thank you so much for the flowers, they’re beautiful!” She went to give him a hug, but he found her lips instead and gave her a warm welcome kiss that took her by surprise.”

  “Oh. That was nice!”

  “I thought so,” Bryan said with a grin. “I’m glad you liked the flowers. I think I have to head outside for turkey duty now.” He wandered off while Cameron came her way and explained that Jess wanted the two of them to check people in as they came to pick up their food.

  “They’ll check in with us, then pick out their pies and head outside to get their turkeys on the way to their cars.”

  They spent the next two hours checking in a steady line of people. When they were almost done, there was a brief lull and they finally had a chance to chat a little.

  “I was so sorry to miss the event the other night. My parents said they had a great time and I know Bryan did. I haven’t seen him look this happy in a long time.” She smiled but then looked more serious as she said, “He’s really special to me and he was really hurt when Amy ended things. I don’t want to see him go through that again.”

  Melanie nodded. “I think he’s really special, too.”

  Cameron relaxed a little. “Yeah, I think you do. My parents liked you a lot, too, by the way. I thought that was a good sign. They never really warmed up to Amy.”

  They got busy again as the last few families of the day came in at once.

  When they finished, she went out for burgers with Bryan and they chatted for hours about anything and everything. They never seemed to run out of things to talk about. The next day they went through the same routine and when they gave out the last Christmas bag and turkey, they cleaned up and then everyone went to the Mexican restaurant on Main Street that Bryan had mentioned. Jake met them there and Wade, too. He’d come earlier to help give out turkeys with Bryan.

  They ordered margaritas and several platters of nachos and chicken wings.

  “Maddie was sorry that she couldn’t be here with everyone,” Wade said as he raised his margarita. “But I told her we’d raise a glass in her honor. To Maddie.”

  “To Maddie,” everyone said. Melanie took a sip of her drink. Margaritas always made her think of being on vacation and she couldn’t imagine anything else going better with Mexican food.

  “I feel so fortunate,” she said to Bryan softly.

  “What do you mean?” he asked.

  “I have so much. A job I love, and my sister and I both have trust funds. Our parents left us well off when they died unexpectedly. I’d gladly give it all back to have more time wi
th them, though. I guess I’m just feeling emotional, being the time of year and all. And seeing all these people who are struggling, who are having a run of really bad luck—I guess I maybe feel a little guilty or something.”

  Bryan took her hand and squeezed it. “You have nothing to feel guilty about. You are lucky, but you’re also doing something to help. That’s all that matters.”

  She smiled. “I hope so.”

  After they finished their drinks and food, Bryan and Melanie walked out together and stood by Melanie’s car for a while, chatting and occasionally kissing, while Bryan had his arms around her to keep her warm. Finally, the cold got to them and Melanie shivered so hard that Bryan laughed.

  “We should probably head home. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  Bryan hummed to himself as he pulled up to Jaclyn’s house the next day around eleven. Her kitchen hutch and shelves that he’d built were ready to be installed. Jaclyn heard his truck coming and had the door open for him. He carried everything in and secured it all in place.

  “What do you think?” he asked once everything was positioned the way he wanted it.

  Jaclyn clapped her hands together with delight, startling two rabbits that were dozing by the heater vent in the corner.

  “It’s simply beautiful. Perfect. Just what I imagined. You are a magician!”

  “I’m glad you like it.”

  Jaclyn handed him a check written in her shaky, delicate handwriting.

  “Check the amount, make sure it’s enough,” she instructed him.

  He glanced at the check. It was the exact amount on the invoice.

  “It’s perfect, thanks.” He stuck the check in his pocket and turned to leave, but Jaclyn wasn’t done with him yet.

  “Stay for a cup of tea? I just took a fresh batch of cookies out of the oven. I’m curious to see if you like this combination as much as Melanie did. I took some into the gym recently.”

  Bryan grinned. “You don’t have to ask me twice.”

  “Have a seat, then. Get comfortable.”