by Mary Leo
“He’s going to be fine. Nothing to worry about. His doctors say this is easy to control. I’m sure a woman like you has more important things on her mind than my son.”
Bella reached out across the table and laid her hand on top of Jaycee’s. “Nothing is more important than a sick child.”
Jaycee’s eyes watered as she took a ragged breath. “Georgie has asthma and every now and then he gets a bad attack. This last one landed him in the hospital. Georgie loves animals, but he’s really allergic to the dander. It’s so hard to keep him away. He knows he can’t go near horses, but sometimes he can’t help himself, and I don’t always have the heart to stop him. He’s so little and helpless. His doctor told me he’d be fine with minimum exposure, but apparently it was enough to keep him in here for a few days.”
“I’m so sorry. It must be scary for you to see him suffer like this.”
“He’ll be better once we move. There’s a sweet little bungalow in town that we heard might be up for sale in a few months. It’s on Main Street, within walking distance to everything. We’re hoping to put an offer on it as soon as it goes on the market. Fred and me have been saving to buy our own house for the past couple of years, one without an old stable behind it. That’s why Georgie wants a horse. He thinks because we have a stable in back of the house we rent, there should be horses living inside of it. He doesn’t understand that those horses would make him sick.”
Jaycee took a sip of her coffee, gazed around at the people milling about, smiled at a nurse, nodded toward another then looked back at Bella. She seemed so composed, so at ease with her life. She was nothing like Bella who was always tense, always worried about closing the next big deal. Even when she was alone in her condo at night, she was working. Bella couldn’t think of a time when she wasn’t putting a new deal together or making new contacts. Quiet moments didn’t exist in Bella’s life and she wasn’t sure she could handle them if they did.
“You’re so calm about all of this. I’d be going nuts twenty-four/seven.”
Jaycee shrugged. “I’m used to it. I have asthma.”
“What?”
“Yeah, it runs in my family. I had it when we were kids.”
“I never noticed.”
“I was good at hiding it. My symptoms didn’t get worse until after you left. I think not having my best friend around to laugh with got me down and made me more susceptible to my allergies.”
Jaycee quickly began to chuckle, as if what she’d said had been teasing instead of what was likely the truth.
Bella was stunned. She had been so distraught over leaving and how it was affecting her, she never thought how it affected her friends. She never gave their feelings a second thought. All her angst and torment over leaving had been about her and what she was going through and never did she think about what the separation had done to Jaycee or Dusty...or Travis.
Jaycee continued. “That’s the thing about divorce. All the kids suffer no matter who moves away. You may have moved on from us, but we never moved on from you.”
“And all this time, I assumed...” Bella leaned back in her chair. “It doesn’t matter what I assumed. You were hurting as much as I was.”
Jaycee’s face went serious, creases formed on her forehead and her eyes were moist with emotion.
“Maybe more. You went off to a big city while I stayed right here surrounded by our memories. One day we were hanging out in the school yard and the next day I was alone. You had distractions. I had the same school and no best friend. You and Travis were my only friends. If it wasn’t for him, I don’t know how I would have made it through. Yeah, he’s a little hokey, but he’s got a heart as big as this whole state. And he loves kids. He’ll probably have a whole house-full like the rest of the Grangers.”
Bella didn’t have time in her busy schedule for anyone or anything. She couldn’t even take care of a goldfish, let alone a child. It could never work out with Travis, she knew that now.
Still, whenever she thought about their lovemaking, she had to take a deep breath to calm the thrill that shot through her.
“So tell me, has Travis dated anyone seriously?”
“Not really. He dates a lot of girls, but they never last long. He only has one love and that’s you. Everybody knows it.”
“We’re not right for each other. We live in two different worlds.”
She smiled. “Temporarily, but if you love each other, it all seems to work out.”
“I don’t love...Travis.” His name caught in her throat.
“See, that right there. That little hitch when you say his name. That’s love, pure and simple.”
Whether or not she loved Travis didn’t matter now. She simply wanted to assure herself that he’d be fine without her, just as she knew she’d be fine without him. Still, she had one more question that had always plagued her when she was a teen.
“Did you two ever date?”
Jaycee cringed, then shivered as if the whole idea of dating Travis was somehow revolting. “We tried one summer when we were around sixteen, but it didn’t go past the first awkward kiss. Travis and me are more like brother and sister. It ended up being too weird. Even when we kissed, and you know those Granger boys are the best kissers in Idaho, I couldn’t stop giggling.”
Bella’s eyebrows went up and the two women chuckled.
Jaycee continued, thankfully she didn’t seem to notice the blush now heating up Bella’s face. “Anyway, it was way too strange. Both of us finally agreed to be friends, and it was the best decision we ever made. Besides, even back then, I knew he was in love with you and he’d wait forever for you to come back to Briggs.”
Bella refused to believe that could possibly be true. She took a few sips of her yummy coffee, put the cup back down on the table and looked at Jaycee to see if she was telling a fat one. She could always see right through her. “Travis couldn’t possibly be carrying a torch for that many years. I think he’s in love with the idea of me as a kid, but the grown-up me is someone he can’t relate to.”
Jaycee leaned in across the table, lowered her chin and whispered, “You’ve kissed him, haven’t you?”
Bella didn’t want to admit anything about the tryst so she avoided looking directly at Jaycee. “Me? Whatever gave you that impression?”
“Some things never change. You’re lobster-red, plus you won’t look at me. A sure sign you’re hiding the truth. Come on. Give.”
Bella leaned in, feeling as if they were back in grade school sharing a secret. “Okay, yes, we kissed.”
Bella’s phone beeped with a text message and she discreetly pulled it out of her purse. It was Mr. Footloose telling her she had a deal. The piano was back in the lobby, unscathed.
She excused herself with Jaycee and texted back that she’d be there to sign the paperwork in twenty minutes. He agreed to wait.
When she looked back up, Jaycee asked, “Did you sleep with him?”
The question caught her by surprise. Bella was never the kind of woman to kiss and tell. It wasn’t in her nature. She really frowned on people who did that. Spilling the details of a love affair with someone else was definitely not part of her makeup. “Yes, and it was everything I always dreamed it would be, but now everything is complicated.”
“And that means you’re not staying.” Jaycee pushed her cup away and folded her arms across her chest. “I thought maybe... It doesn’t matter.”
Her reaction made Bella smile. “Of course you and I will still be best friends. That’s a given. Maybe you and your family can come to Chicago someday for a visit. I’ll show you all the sights. It’s a great city. You’ll love it.”
Jaycee uncrossed her arms and some of the tension drained from her face. “What about Travis? He’s a cowboy. Cowboys and big cities don’t mix.”
“Just because I slept with
Travis doesn’t mean I’m now glued to his side.” Bella sat back thinking her time with Travis was simply another encounter with a man, albeit an amazing, magnificent, exciting man, an encounter nonetheless. “It was just sex. Nothing more.”
Though she knew their lovemaking was so much more, she couldn’t say it out loud or she’d have to honestly consider staying. And that was completely out of the question.
Jaycee sat back in her chair and mimicked Bella’s pose. “If that’s how you need to rationalize it, go right ahead. It’s your life, honey. Still, I think you should know he stopped by earlier today to visit with Georgie. While he was here, he spilled that you’re leaving tonight. That you sold all the furniture inside the inn, even your dad’s piano. The look on his face said it all. He’s devastated. I tried to explain that Chicago is your home, but it didn’t sit well with him. I think he might do something rash.”
Bella blanched. Her heart raced. Fear clouded her mind. “Rash, like what?”
“Whoa, sweetie. Nothing outrageous. While he was talking to me, he kept pulling on his beard. He’s probably going to shave it off before Christmas in retribution for losing you again. Maybe you should talk to him before you leave. Ease him down slowly.”
Bella couldn’t see Travis again. Not now. Not after she’d hardened her emotions and was back in business where she belonged. Besides, she was running late already and still had to pick up her dad at the inn. No, that was Travis’s decision to shave off his beard and not her place to try to convince him otherwise, even though she thought the whole Cowboy Santa was just about the cutest and sweetest part of Travis she’d ever known.
“I don’t have time to talk him down, Jaycee. My flight leaves out of Jackson in less than three hours. I have a meeting in Chicago in the morning.”
“But it’s Christmas Eve tomorrow.”
“It’s just another day in business.”
“Is that how you feel?”
Bella paused before admitting, “I used to, but not so much anymore.”
“Then stay.”
She stood, wanting the conversation to end. “It’s the biggest real-estate deal I’ve ever brokered. I have to go.”
Jaycee shook her head. “That’s too bad. With a man like Travis, he may never grow another beard again.”
* * *
TRAVIS HELD THE razor close to his neck, contemplating his next move. Ever since he’d hit puberty he’d grown a beard for Christmas, bleaching it pure white a few days before the main event. At first his family thought he was taking things too far, then after the third year, they all came to accept it. When his brothers started having kids Travis found a red cowboy hat in a thrift shop in Boise and decided to become Cowboy Santa. His nieces and nephews loved it and before he knew what was happening, he was turning up at Valley Hospital with a sack full of toys. As the years passed his reputation grew and soon, nearly everyone in town came to expect Cowboy Santa to pay them a visit if they were in the hospital.
Then about five years ago, Travis came across an old beat-up sleigh in a barn sale out on Highway 22. Once he’d cleaned it up, spent hours repairing it, then had it painted bright red, he’d known for certain he’d have to buy the right team to pull it. He came across Rio and Wildfire at an auction right outside of Cody, Wyoming, and he knew they completed his Cowboy Santa image.
But now everything had changed.
Not only was he losing Bella once again, but he would be losing a man who was just as much of a father to him as Dodge. How could he celebrate Christmas without Nick? Without Dream Weaver Inn? Without Bella?
He lathered up his beard once again and readied the razor. This time he was determined to go through with it, determined to end his foolish yearly hype of everything Christmas. He was a grown man now. Christmas was for kids, and parents who had kids. It was not for a single guy, and especially not something a cowboy should be getting all excited about. He wondered if any of the iconic cowboys of bygone eras had celebrated Christmas with such enthusiasm. There was absolutely no evidence that any of them had.
Cowboy Santa! Who thought that one up?
He had, and it was just plain childish.
It was time he grew up. Time he acted like a man. Time he let go of his childhood.
With a steady hand he took the first swipe, making a dent in his white whiskers. The vision of a bare spot under his chin sent a chill through him as he pictured the faces of his nieces and nephews looking as sad as hounds losing a trail because Cowboy Santa was clean shaven. What kind of a Santa could he be without his beard?
“A stupid one, that’s what.”
What was he thinking? Who cared if any of his favorite classic cowboys liked Christmas or if any of them ever wore a red cowboy hat? And just because Bella Biondi had turned into Ms. Scrooge didn’t mean he had to, as well. If she refused to embrace her true emotions and refused to accept his love, that didn’t mean he had to suddenly do an about-face. Christmas was in his soul, she’d taught him that, and even though she no longer cared about the holiday or about him or for that matter, about her dad and everything she grew up with and had loved, didn’t mean he had to give it up, as well. He loved Bella with all his heart, would do anything for her, but he had to draw the line at shaving off his beard.
He leaned over the sink and washed off his face, stored the razor back where it belonged in his medicine cabinet. He was about to walk out of the bathroom, proud of his manly decision to continue his Christmas tradition when he noticed a pair of red gloves on the floor next to the tub, half hidden under a bath towel. At first he thought they were his. He’d worn red gloves the previous night, but his gloves were in the mud room.
If they weren’t his gloves, they had to be Bella’s.
He reached down and picked them up, turning each one over in his hands. Not only were they red, but each finger had a tiny face sewn on, a Santa, a few elves, and Rudolf with his bright red nose. They were the cutest gloves he’d ever seen. His niece Scout would love them, but they weren’t Scout’s gloves, they were Bella’s.
“Ms. Scrooge wears puppet gloves?” He shook his head in amazement. “The girl is just a case of misdirected bluster.”
Chapter Ten
Bella hadn’t seen her dad since the previous day when he’d been playing his piano, sitting on the bench next to his brown-haired beauty, Audrey. And like déjà vu, they were once again sitting in the exact same positions, singing a Christmas carol. Only this time the lobby was completely empty. Not one other person was around, and every stick of furniture, carpeting, pictures, drapes, trinkets and Christmas decorations were gone, as if they’d never been there. As if her childhood had never happened, and her dad had never run Dream Weaver Inn.
The starkness of the aftermath was shocking. She’d expected to have a reaction to seeing the inn completely empty, but nothing had prepared her for this. The empty room brought up many memories she’d managed to forget long ago. Now, seeing the room like this, they were digging up her emotional stockpile, which she didn’t want dismantled.
Especially today when she was heading back to Chicago to sign off on the sale.
She had called her dad, but he hadn’t picked up. He seemed to have another place to stay he liked more than his inn. She couldn’t blame him. Even Bella didn’t like seeing it this way.
She’d left him a message to please meet her at the inn telling him they would leave from there for the flight out of Jackson to Chicago. Her rented truck would be returned to the affiliate rental agency in Jackson. That made her life easier. She was planning on meeting with TransGlobal bright and early as planned, knowing the deal would cause her a mountain of paperwork she’d have to process on Christmas day, and possibly a few days after that. Her assistant would take care of a lot of it after Christmas vacation, but Bella knew she’d have to be in the office on Christmas to get everything ready for her.
The office was usually open during the week between Christmas and New Year’s.
She intended to get her dad to Tampa as soon as she could book him a flight out of Chicago. The sooner he could get settled, the better she’d feel about the whole move and he’d begin to make friends and adjust to his new surroundings. She would have liked to help him move in, but there wasn’t any time for that now. She’d plan a nice long visit sometime in February or March to make up for that.
A smooth rendition of “Oh Holy Night” echoed through the now empty inn, giving Bella a chill. The harmony between her dad and Audrey sounded well practiced. Another reason for Bella to doubt the friend theory.
And why was Audrey there, anyway? Bella thought the entire scene was rather curious. They didn’t notice Bella, so she was able to watch them, sitting together, looking as if there was no one else in the entire world but the two of them enjoying a song. They each knew all the words, and how they looked at each other, smiled at each other, and chuckled whenever someone hit a wrong note Bella knew positively this was much more than a friendship.
Her dad spotted her and stopped playing.
“Hi, Dad,” she said, her voice echoing from across the room. “Audrey.”
“Bella, we’ve been waiting for you, sweetheart,” her dad said, his voice low and heavy.
She didn’t like how that sounded. “We don’t have much time, Dad.”
“I have something to say. But first, why is the piano still here? Isn’t it part of the sale to TransGlobal?”
“I’m having it shipped to Florida for you.”
“Thanks, but that’s what I want to talk to you about.”
“Can it wait until we’re in the truck? We don’t want to miss our flight.”