by Lori Wilde
Gabi had no idea what to say to that.
“Besides.” Jenny lowered her voice. “I talked to Katie. She says you’ve helped her so much.”
“She did?”
“You have no idea. For the first time since Matt died, she’s come out of her fog. I’m glad she’s doing what she needs to heal, but tonight would be perfect if Katie were here.”
“But if Katie were here,” Dean pointed out, “Gabi wouldn’t be.”
“I don’t see why we can’t have both of them,” Jenny said. “I’m greedy that way.”
“Just like your mother.” Dean kissed her cheeks. “You want all the chicks and their mates under one roof.”
That made Gabi uncomfortable. She wasn’t Joe’s mate.
Fortunately, Joe returned with a plate of food and two mugs of eggnog. “There’s an empty spot on the window seat in the kitchen,” he said. “I think we could both squeeze in there.”
He led the way to the kitchen and they wedged themselves in beside two young women who were discussing hot guys. One of them was Leah from Froggy’s diner.
“Hey,” she said to Gabi. “I remember you.” Leah eyed Joe with a speculative smile. “Fast worker. I’ll have to tell Mick.”
“Mick was interested in me?” Gabi asked.
“Oh yeah,” Leah said. “He’ll be crushed. Or maybe he’ll fight for you.”
Joe slung an arm around Gabi’s shoulder, pulled her closer. “Tell Mick he’ll have to go through me first.”
“Wow, Joe Cheek serious about someone,” said the young woman sitting on the other side of Leah. “That’s a switch.”
Gabi felt Joe stiffen beside her, but she didn’t know what that meant.
“Deviled egg?” Joe asked, and held the plate up for her.
“Sure,” she said, deciding not to try to decipher anything. It wasn’t as if they had a long-term future, no matter how much she enjoyed being with him.
Just as they finished eating, Jenny came over. “Did you go say hello to Gramps?” she asked Joe.
“Gramps is here?”
“Mom got him a pass for a few hours but he tires quickly. Dean and I are taking him back to the rehab hospital when we leave. We only have the babysitter until nine.”
“You didn’t bring the kids?” Joe inclined his head toward the next room where a group of children were being supervised at a pajama party.
“They’re still so young,” Jenny said. “And selfishly, I wanted a mommy’s night out with my husband.”
“Do you know if Tatum dropped Casey off?” Joe asked.
Jenny made a face. “Tatum’s coming?”
“No, just Casey.”
“Oh good,” Jenny said to Joe. To Gabi, she said, “Did he fill you in on Tatum?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re still around? Impressive.”
“Sister …” Joe said darkly.
Jenny raised her palms, stepped back. “Sorry. I don’t mean to chase her off.”
“It’s all right,” Gabi said. “I’ll be leaving in two weeks.”
“So this …” Jenny toggled her two fingers between Joe and Gabi and looked bummed out. “… isn’t—”
“You can go now.” Joe grinned and shooed his sister away. To Gabi, he said, “Would you like to meet my grandfather?”
Joe and Gabi found Gramps in his dad’s man cave away from the noise of the crowd. Joe’s mom was perched on the couch beside Gramps as he sat in a wheelchair parked in front of the TV watching a college football game, and enjoying a plate of party food from a TV tray. He sported a black eye and a small cut on his forehead, closed with butterfly adhesive strips, from the fall he’d taken at the rehab hospital.
“I’d hate to see the other guy,” Joe teased.
His grandfather’s face dissolved into a lopsided smile. “Joey!”
Joe walked over to give Gramps a hug.
Mom stood up. “I’ll let you visit with your grandfather while I go check on the guests.” To Gramps, she said, “Do you need anything else, Dad?”
“More cookies,” Gramps said.
“Will do.” Mom waved and closed the door behind her.
After she left, Gramps peeked over at Gabi. “Hi. Who are you?”
Gabi sat on the couch beside Gramps’s wheelchair. “I’m Gabi.”
Gramps eyed her. “You’re not from around here.”
“No sir,” she said. “I’m from Los Angeles.”
“You’re the one who swapped houses with Katie.”
“I am.”
Gramps shot Joe a look of approval. “She’s a beauty.”
“That’s so kind of you to say.” Gabi blushed and ducked her head.
Damn, but the woman didn’t have a vain bone in her body. How was that possible? Did she not have any idea how freaking gorgeous she was?
“Nothing kind about it.” Gramps grunted. “Call it like I see it.”
“Why thank you,” she said.
They chatted for a while, Gabi truly listening to Gramps—her head cocked with interest, eyes on his face, her body language relaxed. She asked him upbeat questions designed to get him to talk—what was his favorite part of being a Christmas tree farmer, what were some holiday traditions he passed down to his children, what was the best Christmas present he ever got.
From the light of her attention, Gramps came alive and Joe learned some things about his grandfather he did not know—that his favorite part of Christmas tree farming was planting new trees and watching them grow, that the guess-the-ornaments-on-the-tree competition originated with him, that the best Christmas present he ever got was Joe’s grandmother saying yes to his marriage proposal on Christmas Eve. Gramps talked and talked and talked. He mumbled a bit and his pace was slow and sometimes he used the wrong word, but his mind was still sharp, the effects of the stroke he’d suffered minimal.
Gabi was a master at drawing people out and making them feel good. He had an overwhelming urge to hug her hard.
“Could you excuse me for a minute?” Gabi laid a hand on Gramps’s arm. “I’m in need of the ladies’ room.”
“Down the hall on your left,” Gramps directed. “Hurry back.”
Gabi got up and Joe caught her eyes, telegraphed her a message. Thank you. You’re awesome.
Her smile said, I’m enjoying myself.
As soon as she was gone, Gramps turned to Joe and said, “She’s something.”
“Yes.” Joe couldn’t stop grinning. “Yes she is.”
“Listen boy, now that I have you alone a minute, we need to talk.”
Something in his grandfather’s tone stirred the hairs on the back of his neck and Joe took the seat Gabi had vacated. “What is it?”
“I won’t be coming back home.” Gramps’s blue eyes looked faded.
“Sure you will,” Joe said, hearing his voice ring false. “The doctors say you’re doing much better.”
“Better, yup.” Gramps nodded his shaggy head. He needed a haircut. “But my farmin’ days are behind me. I’m gonna move to assisted livin’.”
“But what’s going to happen to the farm?’’
Gramps’s chin went up. “I’m hopin’ you’ll stay on.”
“Until you have a chance to sell it?”
“As the new owner.”
Joe’s breath stalled in his lungs, he rested both palms on his knees and leaned forward, his heart thumping hard. “What do you mean?”
“I called a lawyer the day I fell, and had him start the paperwork. I’m planning on deeding the farm over to you. If you want it, that is.”
Stunned, Joe’s mouth dropped. The Christmas tree farm could be his? The place where he’d always been the happiest. The place he’d finally come home to. “I … I don’t know what to say.”
“Simple question. Do you want it?”
Did he?
It would mean settling down for good. Commitment. The skittish part of him said no, and another part of him, a stronger part of him said, “I want it more than anyth
ing in the world.”
“That’s all I needed to know. It’s done.”
“But why me of all the grandkids? You’ve got fifteen of them.”
“For one thing, you’re the only one who’d really be interested in it. You were the one who left your job in Florida to move home and look after the farm when I got hit in that car crash.”
“I did it because I love you and you needed help and no one else could do it.”
“Would do it,” Gramps corrected. “At least not in the way it needed. But that’s not the only reason I’m leaving it to you, Joe. You’re the one who really needs it.”
“Needs?”
“The farm will tie you to the earth. It’ll keep you home. Grounded. You’ll stop feeling like you’re about to fly away.”
Joe stared at Gramps, unable to believe his grandfather understood how he felt. The swiftness of his rapidly pounding pulse was pure excitement. He wanted this. More than he ever could have imagined.
“Gramps,” he confessed, “I’ve already stopped feeling like I’d fly away.”
His grandfather smiled as if he knew the greatest secret ever kept. “Because of Gabi.”
Joe’s jaw dropped. “How do you know?”
“Because I see it in your face whenever you look at her,” Gramps said.
“See what?”
“Why, you’ve gone and fallen in love with the girl.”
CHAPTER 21
I send my thoughts afar, and let them paint your Christmas Day at home.
—Edward Rowland Sill
When Gabi returned to the man cave, both Joe and his grandfather were looking at her differently. What? Did she have toilet paper stuck to her shoe? She glanced down to check. Nope. No clinging toilet paper.
“What’s up?” she asked.
The intensity of Joe’s gaze burned her face and he stared at her with thunderstruck eyes as if he’d experienced a grand revelation that changed everything he had ever believed.
The look was so all-encompassing that it rendered Gabi motionless, and she halted in her tracks.
At the same moment, Lois Cheek appeared in the doorway behind her and announced, “Casey’s here.”
Gabi turned to see Lois ushering a little girl into the room. “Hi,” she said.
“Who are you?” the girl demanded in a trying-hard-to-be-tough voice. She fingered a row of colorful friendship bracelets on her arm, scowled hard, and hitched up her chin. Thin legs sheathed in black leggings protruded from underneath a pink and white striped dress.
Gabi looked into the girl’s vulnerable brown eyes and her heart catapulted into her throat. Poor little thing trying so hard to be tough. “I’m Gabi,” she said. “And you must be Casey.”
Casey swung her gaze to Joe. “She your girlfriend?”
“Gabi is my friend, yes,” Joe said in a soothing voice.
“Mom says she’s your booty call.” She sank her hands on her hips.
“That’s not something you should be saying.” Joe kept his tone light but firm. Treading a careful line in correcting her when he wasn’t her parent.
“What’s a booty call?” Gramps asked.
The girl narrowed her eyes at Gabi. “I don’t like her.”
“Casey,” Joe said. “Don’t be rude. Apologize to Gabi.”
“She doesn’t have to apologize for speaking her mind,” Gabi said.
Joe gave Gabi a look that said, You’re undermining me.
She sucked in a breath, not knowing where she stood, what was the right thing to say. She was just a visitor, a guest in their lives. She had no vested interest in the outcome. She should keep her mouth shut. But she liked Casey’s spirit. Wished she could have been that gutsy at eight.
“Would you like something to eat?” Lois asked Casey, diplomatically shifting the topic.
The girl folded her arms over her chest. “I’m not hungry.”
“Okay.” Lois put a hand on Casey’s shoulder. “The grown-ups’ scavenger hunt will be starting soon and the kids are going to be watching The Polar Express in the game room.”
Casey twirled her hair. “Can I go on the scavenger hunt?”
“It’s for couples,” Lois said.
Casey cast a glance at Joe and Gabi. “So they can go smooch?”
“You’ll be more comfortable here, dear,” Lois said. “There’s going to be popcorn and hot chocolate and Santa—”
“Fine.” Casey chuffed out a sigh. “Go ahead. Palm me off. Everyone does.”
Gabi didn’t know anything about the scavenger hunt, but it certainly seemed like something a child would enjoy. “Is there any reason why Casey can’t come with us?”
“Oh dear,” Lois said. “If Casey goes, the other children will want to go and it’s supposed to be a date night for young adults to have some wholesome fun.”
“We don’t have to tell the other kids she’s going, do we?” Gabi asked.
“I changed my mind.” Casey moved across the room to stand beside Gabi. “I like her after all.”
“Sure you do.” Gramps snorted. “Now that she’s on your side. Watch out for this one,” he said to Gabi. “She goes whichever way the wind blows.”
“It’s a talent.” Casey blew on her fingernails and then shined them against her dress.
“She can go with us,” Joe said. “No one has to know.”
“Yay!” Casey said and threw her arms around him. “Thank you, Daddy Joe.”
“Get your coat,” he said. “We’ll be the first ones out the door.”
Casey tore out of the room.
“You’re spoiling her,” Lois said.
“Mom, she just needs some attention.”
“That girl is smart as a whip.” Lois’s gaze followed Casey’s retreating back. “What she needs is a firm hand.”
“She’s a good kid,” Joe said.
Lois’s eyebrows went up on her forehead. “With a loosely wrapped mother.”
“Casey’s back home now. I’m here to look after her. She’ll be all right.” Joe nodded.
“Does this mean you’re staying in Twilight for good?” Lois’s voice climbed a hopeful mountain.
Joe looked over at his grandfather. Gramps patted the sofa beside his wheelchair. “Come sit, daughter. We need to talk.”
Gabi wondered what that was all about. Apparently, she’d missed a lot when she’d gone to the bathroom.
Mac bounced into the room. “Scavenger hunt is starting,” he said, and pressed a piece of paper in Gabi’s hand. At the top it said: “Christmas Light Scavenger Hunt List.” Below it was the rules for the hunt and a list of the lights they were tasked with finding and photographing. This looked like so much fun. Casey would love it.
Hey, who was she kidding? Gabi loved it.
“On your mark,” Mac said. “Get set. To your vehicle!”
Gabi consulted the scavenger hunt list Mac had given her as Joe cruised houses on the east side of the town square. “Keep your eyes peeled for inflatable carolers.”
“There …” Casey pointed from the backseat of the extended cab pickup. “No, wait, that’s blow-up snow people.”
“Snow people, yes,” Joe said, pulling the truck over and rolling down the back window. “But they’re caroling. Snap a picture, Case.”
Using Joe’s cell phone, Casey leaned out to capture the photograph. “Yay. Nine down, how many we got left?”
“There’s twenty-two items on the list,” Gabi said.
“Aw man.” Casey sighed and sank back against the seat. “You’re gonna make me do math?”
“Yes.”
“Bummer.”
“Hey,” Joe said. “It says ‘joy’ on the caroling snow people’s song book. We’re supposed to find the word ‘joy’ or ‘Noel’ right? Twofer. Score.”
“No twofers.” Gabi squinted to see the paper in the dim light. “The rules say only check off one item per house.”
“Cheater!” Casey playfully swatted Joe’s shoulder.
“It was for yo
ur benefit,” Joe teased. “If we had an even ten, it would make doing the math easier.”
“Twenty-two minus ten …”
Gabi glanced in the review mirror, watched as Casey did calculations on her fingers.
“That’s twelve. Plus one since we only have nine, not ten like cheater Joe said. Thirteen. We need thirteen more.” Casey’s voice rang with self-assured pride.
Heck, Gabi was proud of her too. “Good job.”
“See,” Joe said. “You’re great at math.”
Casey leaned her chin against the back of the seat, stretching out her seat belt. “Whatta we got left?”
Gabi read off: “Elves, the word ‘joy’ or ‘Noel,’ candy cane decorations—”
Joe spun the car around, doing a U-turn in the middle of the street.
“Eeps.” Gabi gasped at the sudden change in direction. “What are you doing?”
“Emma and Sam have candy canes in their yard.”
“Oh well, okay then.”
They laughed and joked and drove around town snapping pictures. It was a whole lot of fun, and twenty minutes later, they had every item on their list. Along their route, they ran into several other scavenger hunters.
“We’re gonna beat you!” Casey would holler at everyone they met.
“Her mouth is making promises I can’t cash.” Joe groaned.
“You can do it, Daddy Joe,” Casey patted his shoulder. “I have faith in you.”
It was such an endearing gesture, such an earnest statement that Gabi’s heart hitched up high in her chest.
“We done?” Joe asked. “Is that it?”
“Not quite. There’s a bonus round.” Gabi read the list from the light of her cell phone. “It could give us a leg up if we find the Grinch and Charlie Brown characters.”
“This hunt is also timed,” Joe said. “First one back with all the items wins. Is the risk of the bonus round worth the loss of time?”
“Your call,” Gabi said.
“Case?” Joe turned his head to look at the little girl. “What do you think?”
“Go for it,” Casey urged.
“How’s this? I’ll drive out to the new housing development west of town. If we don’t see Grinch or Charlie Brown and his crew there, we’ll head back.”
“Works for me,” Casey said. “But hurry.”
“I’ll drive as fast as the law allows.”