“Yes, but I can’t stay with you indefinitely,” she said. The last thing she wanted to be was a burden to Connor.
“Let’s just take this one step at a time, Amy. First we’ll get you free of that poor excuse of a husband of yours,” he said, tempering his reference to the man whose mere name made his blood boil, “and then we’ll work on your living accommodations. Okay?” He gave her an encouraging smile.
He was trying so hard to help her and he was obviously solidly on her side. She felt her eyes misting. She’d been such a misguided idiot five years ago. How could she have not seen that he was the far better man?
“Okay,” she answered.
“Time to pick out a decoration,” he prodded, squatting down over the remaining open boxes.
There were still a great many to choose from, considering how many decorations were on the tree already. He looked over several ornaments before he finally picked up a large, shimmering snowflake dusted with silver sparkles applied to both sides.
“How about this one?” Connor asked, holding the snowflake aloft.
Amy smiled wistfully as she looked over the ornament. “That looks like something I would have made as a kid,” she told him.
He considered that the seal of approval. “Perfect,” he concluded, thrusting the snowflake into her hand. “Get in touch with the inner kid in you.”
Amy’s eyes crinkled. “Inner kid it is,” she said, taking possession of the shimmering, patterned snowflake. “Now I just have to find a place to hang it,” she said, slowly circling the giant tree. “Looks like all the lower branches are spoken for.”
“That’s why Miss Joan suggested you use the ladder,” he reminded her. “I see a spot right up there.” He pointed to a barren area just a foot above her head and to the left. He pulled the ladder over, setting it up as close against the tree as he could. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ll hold the ladder steady for you. I won’t let you fall.”
“I wasn’t afraid of falling,” she told him with a toss of her head.
A fond smile curved his mouth. “As I remember, you weren’t afraid of anything back in the day.”
A wave of nostalgia brought a sad look in her eyes. More than anything, Amy wished she was still like that. “Yes, well, things change.”
She sounded like she was talking more to herself than to him, Connor thought. Most likely she was thinking about something that Clay had done.
Wanting to keep the moment light for her, he asked, “Are you saying that you’re afraid to climb up this ladder with me holding it for you?”
Amy appreciated what he was trying to do. It wasn’t lost on her, but for the sake of playing along, she pretended to give him an impatient look. “Just hold the ladder.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied obediently, doing his best not to grin.
Connor stood to the side of the ladder, holding it so she could go up the first few rungs. Once she’d gone up three rungs, he moved to the center of the ladder, holding on to it on both sides as Amy climbed farther up.
The backs of her heels were level with his face when she finally reached her goal.
Maybe it was her imagination, but the ladder felt as if it wobbled slightly. “Don’t let go yet,” she warned.
Connor tightened his hands on both sides of the ladder.
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he told her.
Looking up, he saw that she was standing on the rung on her toes as she reached up as far as she could in order to hang the snowflake in an empty space. She was a few inches shy.
Amy was definitely making him nervous.
“Amy, why don’t you come down and I’ll hang that for you?” he offered, then pointed out the obvious. “I am taller than you are.”
Amy gritted her teeth. “I can do this,” she insisted. “Just hold on to the ladder.” So saying, she climbed up another rung.
He could feel the ladder moving against his chest as he braced the ladder with his upper torso. “What do you think you’re doing?” he demanded.
“Getting closer to the open space,” Amy answered without looking down at him.
She was taking unnecessary chances for a Christmas ornament. Amy had had a daredevil streak as a kid and it was obviously making a comeback, he thought, irritated. He’d encouraged her to hang up an ornament, but not if it meant getting hurt.
“Amy, get down from there. You’re going to break your neck,” he called up the ladder.
Balancing herself on the rung, with one hand on the top of the ladder, she stretched her other arm as far as it would go.
“Not if you do your job right and hold on to the ladder for me,” she answered.
Despite his best efforts, Connor could feel the ladder straining and swaying even though he was gripping it for all he was worth. He could feel his biceps straining to steady the ladder—and consequently her—in place. It felt as if every single fiber of his being was fighting to hold the ladder—and her—upright.
This was getting to be really hard work. “You planning on coming down anytime soon, or have you decided to set up housekeeping up there?” he asked, raising his voice so that it carried up the ladder.
Having hung up the snowflake, she now had both hands on the ladder and braced herself for the descent. “I’m done with my decoration, but I still need to hang up Jamie’s,” she told him.
“Tell you what,” Connor suggested, never taking his eyes off her. “You come down and we’ll see if we can find any openings on the other side of the tree that are a bit closer to the ground for Jamie’s ornament.”
That sounded good to her. “All right. Hold the ladder steady,” she told him. “I’m coming down.”
As if he hadn’t been trying to do just that all along.
His forearms as well as his biceps were straining—and trembling. These were muscles he obviously didn’t use all that often, he thought, because despite all the heavy work he did around the ranch, his muscles now felt as if they were on fire as he struggled to hold the ladder perfectly steady until Amy had climbed down to a safer level.
And when she finally did that, he found that he had another problem, because he was now staring at a part of her anatomy that he had no business staring at. Even though he upbraided himself, he didn’t look away immediately. Not for thirty whole seconds. It took that long for him to get a grip.
Why was she just staying there? Connor wondered. Was something wrong?
“You forget how to climb down the rest of the way?” he asked her.
“Not if you back off and give me a little more room,” she answered. “I can almost feel you breathing on the back of my legs.”
Obviously the grip he had on himself wasn’t as effective as he thought. He masked his error with a quip. “That’s a powerful imagination you have there,” he said, taking great pains to give her as much room as possible to climb all the way down while still securing the ladder in place for her.
When she was finally on level ground again, Amy turned around and all but butted up against Connor’s body. This time, they were face-to-face with less than half an inch between them.
He could feel her heart accelerating. He wasn’t meant to be this close to her, he thought ruefully. Being this close totally destroyed his perspective and filled his head with all sorts of thoughts he couldn’t afford to act on—or even be feeling.
There was no more public place than standing smack in the middle of Forever, yet all Connor could think about was kissing her. The only thing that stopped him was the threat of having Miss Joan pop up at any given moment and he would rather not have any witnesses around when he finally kissed Amy for the very first time—especially not Miss Joan.
Even if the woman didn’t say anything at all, Connor knew he could almost hear her thoughts on the subject—something to the effect that it was �
�about time.” As much as he liked Miss Joan, that was something he could do very well without.
He was more grateful to the woman than anyone would ever know, but that didn’t mean he would willingly become her source of entertainment, at least not if that entertainment involved kissing Amy.
Clearing her throat, she stepped back. “I still have to find a spot where I can hang up Jamie’s ornament,” she reminded him. Amy took a deep breath, willing herself to get a grip and for her heart to settle down to a normal beat. She felt herself growing warmer and warmer and prayed that Connor wouldn’t somehow see that in her face.
“A tree decorator’s job is never done.” Connor pretended to sigh dramatically as he temporarily closed the ladder, ready to drag it over to anywhere Amy saw fit to place it.
“Shh, let me concentrate,” she told him, scanning every section slowly as she looked for a suitable space that wasn’t prohibitively high up. “How many more decorations does Miss Joan intend to have people hang up?” she asked.
“As many ornaments as there are left in the boxes,” he answered. And from what he could see, looking into the half-full boxes, there were still quite a bit left. “I think Miss Joan is going to have to get a bigger ladder,” he said to Amy.
Amy pointed to a slightly barren area on the far side of the tree and approximately five feet higher than she estimated she could reach standing on the ladder Connor was holding.
“How about over there?” she asked Connor, pointing out the space.
One look had him repeating, “Like I said, a bigger ladder.”
She scanned the immediate—and not so immediate—area to see what else was available.
“There has to be at least one other ladder. A bigger one. Otherwise, how else did these other decorations get onto the tree?” she asked, pointing to the ornaments that were already on the tree and at least eighteen feet off the ground.
Without hesitation, he quipped, “Trained carrier pigeons.”
“Very funny.” She frowned at Connor, her hands on her hips. “No, seriously.”
“Problem?”
The question came from Cody, who had walked up behind them without either of them hearing. The deputy had been observing his older brother and Amy and their efforts to hang an ornament on the town’s Christmas tree from the shelter of the sheriff’s office across the street.
“Ah, good. Looks like the cavalry’s arrived,” Connor commented.
“Not quite,” Cody answered. “But if by ‘cavalry’ you’re referring to common sense, then maybe you are right. Are you trying to reach that branch up there?” He pointed to the area that Amy had been looking at.
“It’s a distinct possibility.” Since Cody had a good view of the square from the sheriff’s office, Connor asked, “Where’s the ladder that was used to decorate the upper section of the tree?”
“Probably back at the hardware store would be my guess,” Cody told his brother.
Connor thought that was rather odd, considering the fact that the tree was still unfinished. “And how do we get a hold of that ladder?” Connor asked.
“You ask nicely,” Cody said and then laughed at his own comment. “Look who I’m talking to.” He regarded Connor with amusement.
Connor pinned him with a look. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I haven’t heard you asking nicely in years,” Cody answered. “You’re more the grumpy, demanding type these days.”
“Did you ever think that was because I had to raise you three? Not the easiest thing to do considering how stubborn and headstrong all of you were. Lion tamers have an easier time of it.” Connor started to head for the hardware store.
“Aren’t you going to wait?” Cody asked him.
Connor stopped and looked at his brother quizzically. “Wait for what?”
“For the violins to accompany your story?”
He didn’t mind exchanging banter with his brother, but right now he had something more important to take care of. “Are you going to help me get that ladder out of the hardware store or not?” Connor asked.
Cody pretended to look at him in surprise. “I have a choice?”
“No,” Connor said flatly.
“Then I guess I’ll help,” Cody said, resigned. “Besides, having an officer of the law backing you up might be helpful in getting Jake to give you the ladder,” he said, referring to the manager of the hardware store.
“We need the ladder to decorate Miss Joan’s tree. She’s all the backup that I need. I can, however, use some of that muscle of yours to carry that ladder from the hardware store over to the tree since it’s so damn big. Why didn’t they just leave the ladder out once they brought it over?” Connor asked. “It’s not like someone was going to make off with it. The ladder is a little large to hide on your person.”
Cody shrugged. “It’s the hardware store’s ladder and Jake was lending it out. He didn’t owe anyone an excuse about why he wanted it back in the store.”
“But the tree clearly isn’t finished,” Amy said, joining in.
Connor noticed that Cody’s manner softened just a touch as he spoke to her. “Man probably has his reasons. His father still owns that store, and holding on to the oversize ladder when it’s not being used might have been his idea. Maybe Jake didn’t want to get into an argument with the old man.” Cody looked pointedly at Connor. “You know how family can be sometimes.”
“Yeah,” Connor answered, looking directly at his younger brother. “Boneheaded.”
Cody smiled. “My thoughts exactly.”
Amy smiled. This felt just like old times. Before things had gone so awry. “It’s the Christmas season, boys,” Amy reminded the two men.
“You know, I think she’s right,” Connor said to his brother. “I guess we’d better go get that ladder so we can hang up Jamie’s ornament.” With that, he led the way to the hardware store.
Chapter Nine
By the time Connor and Cody carried the borrowed ladder from the hardware store over to the Christmas tree in the town square, more than a few people had gathered around the tree, ready to press the ladder into service and hang up more ornaments.
However, both brothers made sure that Amy was the first one to make her way up the extended ladder in order to hang up her son’s very first ornament on the town’s Christmas tree.
Despite the exhilarated feeling she experienced in doing this for Jamie, Amy felt somewhat self-conscious as she made her way down the ladder. She wasn’t accustomed to having an audience watching her every move.
The second her foot touched the ground and she stepped aside, the next person with an ornament immediately made his way up the ladder. Decorating the town’s Christmas tree was a tradition that everyone relished and looked forward to.
Moving away from the gathering crowd, Amy told Connor, “I’m ready to go back to the ranch now.”
She’d almost said “home” instead of “ranch” but she had managed to catch herself just in time. She had to remember that it wasn’t her home no matter how comfortable and familiar the ranch house might feel. It was Connor’s home and she and Jamie were just temporary guests there, nothing more. She needed to keep that in mind, Amy silently lectured herself.
“You mean without stopping off at the diner first for a cup of coffee and some of my French fries you used to scarf up as a kid? Is that any way to treat an old friend?”
This time, Amy didn’t have to turn around to know that Miss Joan was standing behind her again. How did the woman manage to keep doing that? Those comfortable shoes of hers seemed to be completely soundless.
They could at least squeak once in a while, Amy thought as she turned around to face the woman. She forced a smile to her lips.
“I thought I’d come by when I had the baby with me,” Amy explained, hoping
that was enough to get her off the hook with Miss Joan.
She should have known better.
“No reason you can’t come by then, too,” Miss Joan said matter-of-factly. “There’re no restrictions posted on my door that say you can only stop at the diner a limited number of times in a week. If there was, half the people in town would starve to death,” she added drily. “Now, are you coming, or do I have to get one of the McCullough boys to carry you to the diner?”
“Well, since you asked so nicely—” Amy began, trying to get a smile out of the woman.
“I wasn’t asking, girl,” Miss Joan informed her, her eyebrows narrowing. “I was telling. About time you learned the difference.” The older woman turned on her soundless crepe heel and then led the way back to her diner.
Amy glanced at Connor. The latter gestured toward the diner owner’s retreating back. “You heard the lady,” he said.
Amy’s eyes shifted to Cody, looking for support. She wasn’t sure what the woman had in store for her.
“What he said,” Cody told her, not about to go up against both his brother and the venerable Miss Joan.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to go into the woman’s diner. It was that she didn’t relish the idea of being in close proximity to so many of Forever’s citizens. The Christmas tree in the town square was a different matter. The people there were more interested in getting a chance to decorate the tree than they were in her return and what had prompted it.
But the diner wasn’t just where everyone gathered to eat. It was also the place where everyone gathered to talk, to exchange news and, very bluntly, to gossip. Forever being the size that it was, there wasn’t usually all that much to gossip about.
Until now, she thought as she went up the few steps to the diner’s front door.
Connor held it open for her, waiting for her to go in ahead of him.
Sensing her tension, he leaned forward just as she crossed the threshold and told Amy, “It’ll be fine. Remember, these were all your friends when you lived in Forever.”
Friends she hadn’t been in contact with for five years, Amy thought ruefully. At first it was because she was so busy, trying to get her new home with Clay started. And then it was because she was too embarrassed to let those friends know that she’d realized she’d made a foolish, horrible mistake running off with Clay Patton. Whatever the cowboy might have had in looks and charm, he lost when it came to integrity and decency.
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