A Cowboy for Christmas: A Contemporary Christian Romance NOVELLA

by Debra Ullrick

  Barb uncrossed her legs. “Oh, that’s a wonderful idea. Do you think she’d like that? I mean, we wouldn’t want to take away from her spending time with the grandkids or anything, but if that doesn’t work out, we’d love to have her join us.”

  “That’s really sweet of you.” He really like that idea. “I’m not sure if Calvin is planning on going to his in-laws for Christmas or not. I’m sure Mom would be welcomed to join them, but I know she won’t do it. I’ll find out and let you know. That is, if you’re sure.”

  “Of course we are,” Callie answered, and Barb nodded, their enthusiasm contagious.

  “That’d be great. Maybe Mom and I can run over to Dave and Laura’s Christmas Day.”

  “You could always invite them over here too.”

  “Thanks.” He felt better already knowing that his mom wouldn’t be alone over the holidays. If only his dad wasn’t. But nothing could be done about that. “I’ll call Calvin and Dave tomorrow and see what’s going on and then talk to Mom.”

  Barb clasped her hands together. “I hope Sherry can come. I’m being selfish, I know. But, oh it would be wonderful to see her again.”

  For a few minutes, everyone seemed lost in their own thoughts. The only noise in the room besides the clinking of silverware against china was a Christmas tune singing something about Grandma being run over by a reindeer.

  Callie’s voice broke through the song. “I’ve been thinking, Dustin. Where will you go after you’re done here?”

  “I’m not sure.” He set his half-eaten pie down on the coffee table in front of him and picked up his coffee mug. “I’m hoping to stay around here. I’ve always loved Grand County. Jobs are scarce around here though. Dave was blessed snagging the job he did. He just happened to call at the right time.”

  “Sounds like God to me.”

  Dustin didn’t miss the roll of Barb’s eyes at Callie’s comment. He’d have to start praying for her. It was because of Barb and her simple faith that he’d come to the Lord. He never forgot it. When he moved to Longmont and was so distraught about moving away from Callie, he’d finally given his life to the Lord.

  “Who’s Dave working for in Sulphur?” Barb asked.

  “The owners of the Star Cross T ranch. The Calhouns.”

  “Oh. I didn’t know Bill and Darla were looking for help.” Barb set her plate on the end table.

  “Neither did I,” Callie added.

  “The day my brother called, their hired hand had given his notice that morning. He had to go down the mountain and help his dad run his farm. A tractor accident.”

  “Oh no!” Callie gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. A hand that was red and chafed from hard work. “Is Henry’s dad okay?”

  “I don’t know. That’s all Dave said.” Dustin picked up his plate and continued eating. While he chewed the ice cream coated sweet-tart cherry bite in his mouth, he looked over in the corner at the wooden barrel with a slew of branding irons in them. “Who made all of those brands?”

  Callie shot a glance toward Barb. “My dad and I.”

  Barb suddenly rose. “Well, it’s getting late. I have a few things to do before I head to bed. If you’ll excuse me.”

  Dustin started to rise but Barb waved him down.

  “Don’t get up. Finish your pie. I’ll see you in the morning. Breakfast is at six.” With that, she picked up her plate and coffee cup and left the room, but not before Dustin got a glimpse of moisture in her eyes.

  Dustin turned to Callie who sat staring at the flames through the glass door of the woodstove.

  “I should have been more careful, Cal-girl,” Dustin lamented, surprised he’d used his old nickname for her. He used to teasingly call her Cal-girl instead of cowgirl.

  “You didn’t know. I told Mom I’d get rid of the brands, but she insists on keeping them because I made them too. I really should get rid of them because every time someone asks about them, it reminds her about…” Callie stopped and closed her eyes for a brief second before opening them, and turning sad blue eyes on him. “You knew my dad left, right?”

  He gave a short nod. “I did.”

  “Do you know when and with who?”

  “On Christmas Eve with another woman.”

  “Not just any woman. My aunt. Which makes his leaving even harder for my mom.”

  “Man that’s tough.” He shook his head. “I can’t even imagine how she feels.”

  “I can. He left me too.” In the next breath, her spine stiffened.

  Dustin watched her swallow hard a couple of times. When she looked over at him, she had a smile on her face. A very forced smile. “Enough about that. You didn’t come here to listen to all of our problems.”

  “Callie.” His eyes snagged on hers. “We’ve known each other a long time. And even though it’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other, you don’t have to pretend with me. You know that, right?”

  ♥ ♥ ♥

  What Dustin said was true. They’d known each other a long time. Even though miles and years had separated them, his being here now felt as if he’d never left. That’s how true friendships were. Callie glanced over into the kitchen. Her mom was nowhere around. She looked over at him. Knowing they’d shared so much of their lives, their dreams, their goals, passions, problems, hopes and fears in the past, she knew she could confide in him now.

  That he would be there for her no matter what.

  Just like he used to.

  Before he and his family moved away.

  Before they lost track of each other.

  She got up and sat down two cushions away from him, and started playing with the cuff of her flannel shirt. “I worry about my mom, Dusty.” Funny how quickly she reverted to her nickname for him. “This whole thing has been so hard on her. Sometimes late at night, when she thinks I’m asleep, I hear her crying. It breaks my heart.” She sniffed and brushed the tear off her cheek.

  The cushion beside her dipped. Dustin’s arm slipped around, tugging her close to him. She cuddled in to his side and folded her feet behind her. Strength and comfort flowed from him into her. She drew from that strength and relished the comfort his presence provided. Since her dad had left, she’d had to be the strong one, for her mother’s sake. Just this once, she wondered if it would be okay to let go.

  To be honest about how she felt.

  To not have to be the brave one.

  The one holding it together so her mother wouldn’t completely fall apart.

  “Sometimes, I feel like this whole thing is my fault. That if I would’ve only told my mom about my suspicions, then maybe Dad would still be here.”

  Dustin’s hand slid from her shoulder and splayed across the side of her hair, tugging her head into him. He kissed the top of her head. “You can’t blame yourself for another person’s actions, Cal-girl.” His voice was gentle and so uncondescending that she almost believed him. Almost. “Your dad made a choice. A very wrong choice. But he made it nonetheless. You didn’t.”

  “I get that. I do.” And she did, but it didn’t change how she felt or what she believed. The weeping her heart had been doing since he’d left began to spill over her lashes. She sniffed and brushed the tears back, but they’d been held down so long, one little crack was all it took to burst the dam. “But it doesn’t really stop me from blaming myself. When I first suspected something was going on between my dad and Aunt Dee, I flat out asked him about it. Dad tweaked my nose and said there was nothing going on between them and that my imagination was working overtime.” She looked up at Dustin, and his hand slipped to her shoulder.

  “He looked me right in the eye, Dustin, and lied to me.” She dropped her gaze to her lap, sniffing more tears back. “Right then, I should have gone to my mom with my suspicions, but I didn’t. Like a fool, I believed him.” She looked up at Dustin again as the pain of her father’s betrayal drove through her heart like a pitchfork through a pile of manure.

  Because of her dad’s betrayal and outright lie,
Callie wondered if she would ever be able to trust a man with her heart. Even Dustin. Who she secretly loved and had never stopped loving. But was love enough? It hadn’t been for her parents, so what made her think it would be any different for her.

  Chapter Three

  Early the next morning, Callie joined her mom in the kitchen. One look at her red and swollen eyes, and Callie knew her mom had been crying all night again. Would her mother’s broken heart ever be healed?

  It had been four years since her dad had left them. Neither one had heard a word from him since then. The day he left, all they got was a note saying he had left with Aunt Dee, along with the deed to the Lazy G Quarter Circle ranch signed over to her and her mother. Callie silently gave a short snort. A lot of good the deed did. He’d drained their bank account, leaving them with barely enough to make it by for a few months. What kind of father and husband did that? Hers apparently.

  With one look at her mom, that old bitterness stirred inside of Callie.

  Father God, what my dad did to us hurts really bad. But, Lord, I don’t want a root of bitterness springing up inside me like Your Word says it will. So, I’m asking You to take this bitterness out of my heart so that that doesn’t happen. Help Mom to let go of her hurt too. I can’t stand seeing her like this. It hurts so bad. Please do something. Please heal her broken heart. Thank You, Lord.

  Knowing her mom didn’t like it when she brought up the fact that she’d been crying, like she always did, Callie pretended things were all right even though she knew they weren’t. “Bacon smells good, Mom.” She snatched up a thick slice and bit into it. “Tastes good too,” Callie said around the crisp yet tender piece. “What can I do to help?”

  “You can set the table.” Her mom’s voice sounded hollow and empty, as if just going through the motions of life was somehow painful.

  Callie wanted to reach out to her, to hug her, but she knew her mom wouldn’t like that. So, instead she went about setting the table for three. She made the orange juice, fixed the toast, and helped put breakfast on the table.

  “Good morning.”

  Callie turned toward the sound of Dustin’s voice. It was nice to see a cheerful face and to be greeted so warmly. “Good morning to you too.” She smiled.

  “Morning, Dustin.” Her mom’s voice didn’t at all match her mood from moments ago. Neither did her smile. But she had become the master at changing masks, and at faking and hiding her real feelings. To be honest, so had Callie. There was only one Person she was real with and that was God. She knew she could be herself with Him and tell Him exactly how she felt and that He would understand and work to fix the situation.

  One look at the concern on Dustin’s face the moment his eyes landed on her mom made Callie wonder whether or not they really were that good at hiding their true feelings at all. His masked scowl said he understood far more than she had thought he would.

  Dustin’s attention shifted to her as he strode over. He leaned down close to her ear and took the coffee pot from her hand. “Is your mom okay?” he asked, setting the pot on the electric warmer on the table.

  She shrugged, not knowing how to answer that especially with her mother only steps away. Ducking her head so he wouldn’t be able to read her own thoughts, she collected the last of breakfast and went to put it on the table.

  When everything was ready, they sat down, and Dustin prayed over their food and their day. They passed the scrambled eggs, bacon, homemade hash browns, wheat toast, orange juice and coffee to each other.

  All through breakfast, Callie’s mom was pleasant. Smiling at just the right times and saying all the right things. But Callie knew under all that pleasantry was a hurting woman whose self-esteem had plummeted the day her husband had left her for another woman. From the looks of things, Dustin knew it wasn’t genuine either.

  As soon as they finished eating, she and Dustin dressed in their winter garb and stepped outside.

  Bitter cold snatched the air from her lungs. “Man, it’s cold.”

  “No kidding.” Dustin buttoned the top button of his coat. Then without being asked to, he started the snow blower and started clearing the walk.

  Callie grabbed a broom and went about knocking the crusty snow off the Christmas lawn decorations and brushing it off their pickups that they didn’t put up in the shop the night before.

  They finished about the same time, then headed to the shop.

  Inside the huge building, Callie turned to Dustin. “Would you mind starting the tractor for me? Hopefully the diesel fuel isn’t all jelled up. It quit snowing around two this morning. And after the sky cleared it really turned cold, so I hope the thing starts.”

  “How do you know what time it quit snowing? You didn’t get any sleep, did you? Neither did your mom. Both of you look like you’ve been crying.”

  She yanked her gaze up to his. She didn’t think her eyes looked nearly as bad as her mom’s did.

  Compassion stared down at her.

  “Callie, you and your mom are good at trying to hide what you feel. But you can’t hide the pain in your eyes. And I’m not talking about crying either. The pain is raw in both of your eyes. More your mom’s than yours, but it’s there nonetheless. Cal-girl, you don’t have to pretend around me. I told you that. I know what you and your mother have been through has been really rough.”

  “I shouldn’t have told you all of that,” she mumbled.

  “Callie, true friends never stop being friends. Even though I moved away, I never forgot you. And I know you didn’t forget about me. You wrote to me like every day for the first thirteen months or so after I left.” He laughed, and Callie couldn’t help but join him.

  “Yeah, and you didn’t.” She wrinkled her nose up at him.

  “Hey, I wrote you. Just not every day.”

  “I know. I’m just giving you a hard time.”

  “Speaking of letters, why did you stop writing?”

  “Why did you?” she asked, her heart cracking at the memory of waiting and hoping another letter would come even though she knew it wouldn’t. It was all fuzzy now about who had stopped writing who first.

  A shrug was his only answer and that was okay because she didn’t want to tell him her reasons for stopping either.

  One of the reasons she had stopped was her dad had left and life had changed. And the other was, she had fallen in love with Dustin even more through his letters. Letters that were filled with poetic words and a heart that was tender, compassionate, and caring. They were definitely not the words of the boy who had cut her pigtail off and auctioned it off in order to help pay for a 4-H cow. She smiled at the memory.

  “What are you smiling about?”

  Her eyes came up to his. “You.”

  “Me?” His brown eyebrows dipped.

  “Yeah you.”

  “What about me?”

  “Just remembering the good times we used to have. That’s all.”

  “We sure did, didn’t we? I remember all those sweet kisses of yours.” His lips curled into that crooked grin that had always sent her heart skittering like a flat rock tossed across the surface of a smooth pond, and her knees nearly buckled.

  Heat flooded her cheeks. Why’d he have to go and bring that up? They were just trying to make Joy Skeen jealous because Dustin had a crush on her and she wouldn’t give him the time of day. At least that’s what he’d said anyway. Only thing was, Callie had enjoyed every one of Dustin’s kisses even though she pretended not to at the time. Because after all, what girl dates the boy she grew up with? Not liking where her thoughts were taking her, she whirled on her heel and tossed the words over her shoulder, “Let’s go get them animals fed.”

  He chuckled. “Whatever you say, boss.” He climbed inside the tractor cab still chuckling.

  Though it was colder than dry ice outside, Callie’s face had enough heat rushing into it to melt a huge block of ice.

  Luckily, the diesel hadn’t jelled and the tractor fired right up.

  Sh
e quickly unplugged the extension cord from the radiator. “While the tractor’s warming up, let’s go feed the animals in the corrals.”

  “Lead the way, boss.” Dustin waved his hand like a king gesturing for his queen to go first.

  “Goofy.” Callie shook her head and rolled her eyes.

  They trudged through the deep snow toward the corrals. After they fed and checked the heated water tanks there, they headed back to the shop.

  Callie stopped at the cab. “You want to ride in the cab on the way out?”

  “No, I’m good.”

  “Alrighty then. Hop on the back of the wagon and we’ll get going.”

  “Is it safe?” There was that crooked grin again.

  “Hey, I’m a good driver. But if you don’t watch it, I just may jerk the clutch and dump you.”

  “Thanks for the warning. I’ll hold on tight then.”

  “You very well may want to.” She laughed as she climbed into the cab of the tractor.

  Three hours later, the cows and horses were all fed, the ice was chipped in the big round water tanks and the stream of water running into them was flowing nice and steady, and the wagon was loaded for the next day. Other than a couple of cows that needed doctoring, they were done for the day.

  ♥ ♥ ♥

  Dustin plugged the tractor in so it would start in the morning while Callie climbed down out of the cab.

  Side-by-side they walked out of the shop and into the sunshine. Even though there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, it had only warmed up a few degrees. Dustin couldn’t get over the differences between up here in the mountains and down below in the flatlands. Down below it snowed and got cold, but it also warmed up quickly and usually melted right away. Not up here in the high country. The cold and snow stuck around for months. Truth was, Dustin preferred the cold and snow. He was glad to be back up here, especially with Callie. “Well, what’s next, boss lady?”