“I don’t remember seeing him yesterday,” she mused.
“Bailey was with me,” Gordon explained. “Hunting. But he pined for Evan the whole time.”
“He’s Evan’s dog?” Chloe asked in surprise.
“Bailey’s usually camped out by Evan’s side, clinging like thistle. Jimmy’s pretty special to have tempted him away.”
“French toast this morning.” Thelma winked at Jimmy.
“Thought I might find somebody who’d like it.”
“Sounds great.” Chloe slipped into a chair. “How did your hunting trip go, Mr. Mitchell?”
“Best part of it is the guys. We tell the same stories we’ve told each other for the last fifty years, and now that we’re getting on, some of ’em even sound new again.” His dark eyes crinkled with kindness.
Although she could see the resemblance between the two generations of men, Gordon exuded warmth, friendliness. Chloe wanted to relax, but she was still facing a major confrontation.
The thought apparently conjured up the man in question. Evan stalked into the room, crossing over to the sideboard to pour a mug of coffee. Bailey jumped up and ran to his side. Evan rubbed the dog’s head. As he did, Evan turned, his gaze narrowing first on Chloe, then Jimmy and finally his father.
Thelma pushed open the door from the kitchen, holding a large platter. She placed the French toast in the middle of the table. “Eat it while it’s hot.”
Chloe turned to Jimmy. “Looks good, doesn’t it?” Hoping Evan wouldn’t open with an argument, she speared one piece.
Gordon passed the pitcher of warm syrup. “Thelma dusts the toast in powdered sugar, but I still like my maple syrup. How ’bout you, Jimmy?”
“I like syrup,” he replied in a tiny voice.
Knowing Jimmy was nervous, she patted his leg. “Me, too.”
Evan continued to stare at his father.
Gordon met his son’s gaze, his voice deceptively casual. “I was just about to invite Chloe and Jimmy to stay for a while. Won’t be long ’til Thanksgiving. Holidays are always better with children, more family.”
A vein in Evan’s muscular neck bulged, while his lips thinned into an angry line. He pushed back his chair, scraping it loudly over the wide planked floor as he rose. “I have to get to work.”
His boots rang loudly as he left, and the sound of the door slamming echoed through the house. Bailey whined, then laid down next to the front door, apparently waiting for his master.
“Did I make him mad?” Jimmy asked in an even smaller voice.
“Of course not!” Chloe rushed to reassure him. “He probably has problems at work that are on his mind, that’s all.” She glanced at Gordon. “It’s a family business, isn’t it?”
Gordon nodded. “Mitchell Stone. My great-grandfather started the quarry with not much more than a land claim and a box of dynamite. A few men agreed to work with him in exchange for shares in the company. A lot of their descendants are fourth-generation employees now.”
Chloe glanced upward at the elegant chandelier, just one of the impressive fixtures in the obviously expensive home. “So your family built all this up themselves?”
He chuckled softly. “First house wasn’t much more than a tar shack. The way I heard it, my great-grandmother threatened to dig enough stone out of the quarry herself to build a decent house. But in time, they built a small wood cottage—it’s the carriage house we use for a garage now.”
“I think Thelma mentioned that you’re retired?”
“Yep. Evan’s in charge now.”
Chloe swallowed, hating to pry, but needing to know as much as possible about Evan. “Is that a good thing?”
“He lives and breathes work. Since the recession, Evan’s done everything he can to keep the place together so no one loses their jobs. It’s a Mitchell trait, I suppose.” Gordon absently tapped his fingers against the tabletop. “Feeling responsible. Can’t let go when…”
Chloe waited quietly.
But Gordon glanced up, reined in his memories and lifted a mug of coffee. “So, it’s settled. You and Jimmy will stay here. I’d like to show you around town. See the school, the church. People are friendly in Rosewood. Not much like a big city.”
“Milwaukee’s not small, but it is down to earth,” Chloe replied. “Kind of the best between a small town and a big city.”
“You have family there?”
Chloe nodded, thinking of her mother, worrying about her.
“My father passed away when I was in junior high school. My younger brother, Chip, is in the army—he and his family are stationed in Germany. And my mother lives in an extended care facility. She has COPD—it’s a chronic pulmonary condition. Because of it, she can’t live on her own. If she had a bad episode and no one was around, it could be…” she glanced down at Jimmy, then up to meet the understanding in Gordon’s eyes. “Since I work full-time, it’s safest where she is.”
“Much extended family?”
“They all live pretty far away in the rural part of the state. But Milwaukee still clings to its ethnic roots. We have areas that are primarily German, Romanian, Hungarian. Makes neighborhoods friendly.”
“Sounds familiar.”
“Rosewood has neighborhoods like that?”
He smiled. “Pretty much the whole town. We’re a dying breed, but we don’t cotton to superstores, tourist traps. So far, we’ve been able to keep them out. The news always says mom-and-pop businesses can’t survive, but they do here.” Gordon chuckled. “Sounds like I’m about a century old with my reminiscing.”
Chloe was liking him more and more. “I noticed the town was pretty when we were driving through.” She lowered her lashes, trying to hide some of her anxiety from Jimmy. “But I was too nervous…driving in an unfamiliar rental car to pay very much attention.”
“Then we need to take care of that.” He turned to Jimmy, who was adding even more syrup to his plate. “What do you say? After breakfast, we check things out?”
Jimmy appeared shy but pleased.
While she was looking forward to their tour, Chloe didn’t know how it was going to help matters. The look in Evan’s eyes that morning had said it all. He wasn’t about to change his mind.
Evan studied the latest financial report. Mitchell Stone was sinking as though pummeled by its own boulders.
Perry Perkin, their chief financial officer, shoved both hands in his pockets. “Numbers won’t get any better by staring at them.”
“Yeah.” But he had to turn around the profits. The employees depended on him, most were like family. “Construction business is picking up. Got two new orders this week.”
“Small ones. Evan, you know they aren’t going to carry the payroll.”
“Recession hit everyone, Perry. It’ll take time for bigger deals to roll in.” Mitchell Stone had operations all over the hill country and in other parts of the state. Even though most of Texas hadn’t been hit as hard by the recession as the rest of the country, new construction was still down. And many of their orders had been national as well as international, customers that still remained on shaky ground. “We’ll make the payroll.”
“If you keep putting your personal money in the business, you’ll tank when it does.”
“If, not when.” Evan plowed his fingers through his hair, then looked out the window at Main Street. “You know we’ve had our offices in this building more than a century. My great-grandfather didn’t want to confine himself to one quarry, so he insisted on having an office right in the middle of town. That’s why he kept looking for more sources, staking more claims all his life. Then my grandfather and my father. And there was a little thing called the Great Depression that happened along the way. But Mitchell Stone never closed its doors. I don’t intend to let it happen on my watch.”
Perry was empathetic but realistic. “You know as well as I do, that the first decade of this millennium wasn’t hit by just a recession. It was a depression.”
“Plattville is
accepting bids next month on their new courthouse. If we can get a lock on who wins the job…” Speculating, Evan knew Mitchell Stone would be one of dozens interested in supplying the limestone.
Perry sighed. “Look, I’ve got some savings. More than my shares in the company. I’ll cut my salary down to just enough to cover my health insurance.”
“You can’t do that.”
“I’m in charge of payroll. Be pretty hard to stop me. And, I can just about guarantee that everybody else would understand a cut in pay. In fact, they would support the idea, so we don’t have to close.”
“No. Let’s take it slow. Holidays are just about here. I’m not taking Christmas dinner out of any mouths.”
“You’re a good man, Evan.” Perry sighed. “I’m just not sure you know when to say no.”
Chapter Three
“No!” Evan looked exasperated as he spoke to his father.
Gordon put his hand on Jimmy’s shoulder. “If you don’t have time now to show Jimmy the quarry, we’ll do it another day.”
Chloe held her breath, hoping the men wouldn’t argue.
“Course I could do it myself…” Gordon continued. “Not sure I still have my keys to the outer gates, though.”
Evan rolled his eyes heavenward. “I’ll fit it in this week or next. Don’t you have enough to keep busy today?”
Gordon rubbed his chin in thought. “Well, I do have a doctor’s appointment….”
Chloe choked back unexpected laughter, coughing to cover the sound. Gordon had told them he had a checkup scheduled with the foot doctor. He sure was milking the excuse for all it was worth. And clearly it was working.
Concern filled Evan’s face. “You didn’t tell me.”
Gordon shrugged, his face on the verge of woeful. “You’ve already got a lot on your mind.”
Evan glanced at his father, then plunked a pile of papers down on his desk. “You want me to take you to the doctor?”
Clearing his throat, Gordon shook his head. “Not necessary.”
Reluctantly, Evan shifted his gaze to Chloe. “I’ll show them around the quarry. But I can’t spend all day.”
Chloe knew his last words were directed at her. “I’ve never been to a quarry before.”
“I’ve never met any women who wanted to before.”
Tension bubbled through the air like hail stones.
“So that’s settled.” Gordon turned to leave. “I’ll see you all back at the house.”
“I told you I can’t…” Evan didn’t bother to complete the sentence since his father was walking away without listening.
“Spend all day,” Chloe completed for him. “Jimmy and I understand, don’t we, big guy?”
Jimmy, looking intimidated by Evan, nodded tentatively.
For the briefest moment, Evan’s countenance turned utterly bleak. He shook the expression off as quickly as it had formed, then picked up his phone, punching in a few numbers. “Perry? Push the meeting with Alsom back two hours.” He listened a few moments. “Oh yeah, I’ll definitely be back in time for the bank.”
Chloe got the message. The visit would be brief, but any time Evan spent with Jimmy would help.
Outside, parked in front of the building, were a few shiny new SUVs and three double-cab trucks. At the end of the row was a beat-up pickup truck. Since all of the vehicles were emblazoned with Mitchell Stone logos, Chloe trailed behind Evan waiting to hear the chirp of doors unlocking.
When he paused in front of the ragged old beater, Chloe couldn’t help staring.
Evan walked to the passenger door and opened it.
Jimmy immediately tugged on her hand. “You get in first, please?”
Since he drew out please like a deathbed request, she reluctantly scooted over to the middle position in the single cab.
While Evan slid in front of the steering wheel, Chloe scrunched over as close as possible to Jimmy.
Glancing in the rearview mirror, Evan backed out on to the lazy Main Street. Even though it was near noon, not much traffic flowed through the quaint downtown area that looked as though it had stayed primarily the same since Victorian times.
“Swell truck,” she commented.
He darted a glance, obviously gauging her sarcasm. “It was my grandfather’s.”
“It’s nice.”
The corners of his mouth curled down.
“That you kept it, I mean,” she added hastily. “A lot of people just want the newest model. I think sentiment’s more important.”
“Hmm.”
Chloe had already figured out that he wouldn’t be easily convinced of anything. Apparently, Evan was equally economic with his words.
As they rolled out of town toward the quarry, the old truck bumped considerably. One especially large bump thrust her against Evan’s shoulder. Feeling as though she had hit heated rock, Chloe drew back, immediately scooting toward the passenger-side door.
“Ouch,” Jimmy squeaked.
“I’m sorry! I was…concentrating too much on the landscape.” At the moment she couldn’t have guessed if they were surrounded by mountains or desert.
“You mean the trees?”
Feeling smaller than the child at her side, she tried to look unaffected. “Pretty aren’t they?”
Actually they were. Leaves had transformed into clusters of color. Standing next to sentinel green pines, this was the beautiful Texas hill country she’d heard so much about. But the squiggle in her stomach didn’t have anything to do with the surroundings—the nonhuman ones, that was. Still feeling the impression of Evan’s shoulder against her arm, she wanted to touch the spot, to see if the fire she’d felt was external. Ridiculous, she knew. A grown woman practically melting by the accidental brush of a man’s arm. A very handsome man’s arm.
“We’re not far,” Evan announced.
Still ruminating on her reaction, again she overreacted, jumping when he spoke. “Well… that’s good then.” At this rate she would reduce her conversational skills to a first grader’s level.
“Look!” Jimmy poked her as his voice threaded with something close to excitement.
Chloe followed his gaze. A beautiful horse trotted in a field, lifting its head in a royal motion.
Evan didn’t take his eyes from the road. “He’s an Arabian. Belongs to the Markhams.”
“That’s a neat trick,” she commented. “How did you know without looking?”
“This is my home,” he explained simply.
“Still….”
“At the curve, there’s an old oak that’s got more notches on it than an outlaw’s gun. One of them’s mine. Most everybody in town’s hit that oak when they were learning to drive. Luckily, the tree’s over far enough that no one’s run into it straight on.”
How could a man who obviously cared about his home and employees have absolutely no compassion for a parentless child? Burdened with the thought, Chloe didn’t ask any more questions as Evan drove farther from town. Jimmy, still intimidated, didn’t speak either. And Evan clearly wasn’t going to initiate a conversation.
In the quiet, Chloe saw much more of the gently rolling hills, the yellowing of wild grass, the last wildflowers struggling to survive despite the bite of late autumn. The hill country really was a beautiful place for the holidays.
Back home, they would have a wintry cold Thanksgiving and a guaranteed white Christmas. She wasn’t missing the weather. Or her job. Just her mother. And Barbara Reed had been insistent that Chloe accept this assignment. Still, she was so used to caring for her mother…visiting her in the long-term recovery facility, spending every spare minute with her. Intensely aware of the thousand-plus miles that separated them, Chloe sighed.
“Something wrong?” Evan asked.
Again, his unexpected speaking startled her. This time her hand flew to her throat to disguise the rapid pulse that must be visible. “No… of course not.”
“Hmm.”
How did the man run a business when he barely spoke? Feeling
the opportunity, she cleared her throat. “Actually, I was thinking about my mother. Missing her.”
Evan took his eyes from the road. “Then why’d you come all the way out here?”
Because she needed the money Mr. Wainwright had offered to continue paying for her mother’s care.
Jimmy looked up at her and she smiled for his benefit. “I wouldn’t miss this adventure for anything.”
Evan snorted. “Adventure?”
“Sure, neither of us has ever been to Texas.” Chloe struggled for something benign to say. “Or a quarry.”
This time when he glanced at her, she met his dark eyes, sustaining the gaze. Despite the disbelief lurking in their depths, she felt the same as she had when she’d bumped into his shoulder. Silly but….
Chloe swallowed. She hadn’t experienced that kind of reaction to a man since her ex-fiancé, Derek, had dumped her. Must just be nerves, she told herself. That, and knowing how much was riding on her swaying Evan Mitchell to change his mind.
Still, she straightened up, holding her body rigidly in place. And kept herself in that position until they neared a large sign indicating the quarry. Unexpectedly excited, Chloe leaned forward when Evan turned off the main road. Bumping over the rutted dirt road, dust billowed behind them in a dark cloud. Evan didn’t slow down. Clearly the pitted road was familiar to him, so familiar he knew its ups and downs, its twists and curves.
Not surprisingly, the small office, barely more than a shed, was built of limestone.
“Is the quarry in that building?” Jimmy asked in a disappointed voice.
Evan chuckled, startling Chloe and Jimmy. “Nope. It’s the big pit we’re driving to when we switch vehicles.”
Transfixed by the difference in Evan when he smiled, Chloe didn’t pay attention to the quarry until Jimmy poked her arm, pointing out the large slabs of stone literally everywhere.
Chloe tried to think of something intelligent to say; she reverted to the familiar. “Do you sell stone from this office?”
“Small jobs like home remodels. All the commercial orders come through the main office.” He pulled the truck up close to the small building.
Jingle Bell Blessings Page 3