by Deb Kastner
“No, ma’am,” Claudia corrected. “Around here, we address our elders as sir or ma’am as a sign of respect.”
“No, ma’am,” Sebastian repeated, his voice squeaking. His face grew even redder when Maisey applauded. “Way to go, Baz!”
Baz?
Cam was fairly certain Sebastian had never been called by that nickname before, but the boy’s face immediately broke out in a silly grin and his eyes gleamed with pride.
The moment he’d sat down, Cam felt as if everyone was watching him, trying to figure him out and draw him into the conversation. But with five pairs of inquisitive feminine eyes on him, he couldn’t breathe, much less speak.
At least Maisey had switched places with one of her sisters and slid into the chair next to him. On the one hand, she was the most familiar face in the room. On the other were the pins-and-needles he was experiencing because of her nearness, something he’d never before felt with a woman.
Everyone introduced themselves in rapid succession.
Ugh. He was so bad with names. How was he ever going to get this all down?
Claudia and Maisey he already knew. Sophie sat next to Maisey. While the other sisters were wearing dresses and wore their hair long with curls, Sophie’s blond hair was cut in a short pixie style and she had forswore a dress for designer jeans, a bright pink feminine-cut western shirt and cowboy boots.
On the other side of the table, auburn-haired Penny flashed him a shy grin and then, to his mortification, outgoing, dark-haired Lacey greeted him boisterously, even going so far as to slap him on the back in welcome. What was he supposed to do with that?
He was never going to remember all those names. Maybe if he gave them each numbers and figured out a way to make each of them some kind of mathematical equation…but no. Who was he kidding? Names belonged in the categories of English and literature, and he’d never done well with those subjects.
Cam just wanted to eat. He was starving. But despite the delicious dishes lining the table, no one immediately started passing the food around. He suspected it had something to do with the grace Claudia had mentioned.
He was a Christian, but grace wasn’t part of his usual agenda.
Maybe it ought to be.
Hidden by the draping tablecloth, his knee bounced repetitively, something that, despite his superior IQ, he wasn’t able to control. His anxiety had to come out somewhere.
It was too much adrenaline. Or a nervous tic.
Or both.
He was, after all, sitting at a table filled with beautiful women, every one unique in her own way and all of them giving him way too many not-so-subtle curious glances.
“Shall we pray?” Claudia asked, although it wasn’t really a question.
Immediately, everyone joined hands. Cam cringed. His palms were sweaty. He should have prepared himself for this eventuality and at least wiped his clammy hands on his khakis.
Maisey’s palm was small but not delicate. She had calluses on her fingertips which contrasted with the supple skin on the back of her hand. Cam’s thumb explored the area of its own accord. Soft, like butter melting on a hot biscuit.
He sure was hungry.
He only stopped exploring Maisey’s hand when she lifted her head and raised her eyebrows at him.
Amen and praise the Lord were echoing around the table. Grace had been said and Cam had entirely missed it.
He snapped his hand back, his face heating as one side of Maisey’s full lips curled upward and her blue eyes gleamed in amusement. Despite his discomfort, he continued to stare at her for a minute. It’s possible he was gaping.
“You’re so pretty,” he said.
Her eyebrows arched up again, this time clearly in surprise.
Had he just spoken aloud?
Oh…no, no, no, no, no.
SO awkward.
“I—I—I—”
She held up a hand to stop his mortifying stammering that was probably embarrassing her as much as it was him.
“Thank you,” she said softly and graciously. “I think you’re— er—” She paused, tilting her head as her gaze gave him a long, slow once-over.
She didn’t have to tell him.
He knew exactly what he was. The guy in high school who’d always ended up getting thrown into the Dumpster by the football team. The guy who hid out in the computer lab to avoid real life and the guy who never, ever got asked to dance.
Maisey leaned toward him, presumably so her answer would be for his ears only. He bent his head and prepared for the worst.
“Cute,” she whispered, following her word with a quick peck on his scruffy cheek, so fast he almost thought he had dreamed it.
Maybe he should have shaved.
His skin flushed hot and sweat beaded on his forehead. He tried to swallow but his Adam’s apple just bobbed uselessly in his throat.
Cute? She thought he was c-u-u-u-u-t-e.
For some reason that reminded him of something he’d seen before.
A TV show, maybe?
Yes. Of course.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
How many years had it been since he’d watched that show? The twins would probably love it. He’d have to remember to find a streaming version of it and make up some popcorn for a family movie night with the boys.
As he recalled, the little reindeer made his first flight shortly after the fawn he liked had told him she thought he was cute. Cam had never understood that scene.
Not until now.
Now, he felt as if he were floating five feet off the ground. Taking off and flying through the air, deftly defying all the laws of physics, didn’t seem like quite such an impossibility anymore.
Not if Maisey thought he was cute.
CHAPTER 3
C am had taken Maisey by surprise when he’d abruptly blurted out that he thought she was pretty. Clearly, he hadn’t expected his thoughts to come out his mouth and he’d looked mortified afterward, but he needn’t have done. His was probably the sweetest, most sincere compliment Maisey had ever received.
And she hadn’t been lying to him when she’d called him cute, even if it was perhaps not using the dictionary definition but rather going with her heart. It was actually his social awkwardness which made him appear so adorable. He was so much like a large teddy bear that she just wanted to hug the stuffing out of him.
After that one uncomfortable comment between them, his strategy appeared to be to keep his eyes locked on his plate and his mouth crammed with food. He would smile, grunt and nod at appropriate moments as everyone else talked and laughed but he didn’t contribute to the conversation at all.
The twins, on the other hand, were fountains of information, sharing everything from their favorite zoo animals to everything they hoped would be under the tree on Christmas morning. As with every child ever, Christmas was clearly the twins’ favorite holiday, although Maisey didn’t miss the occasional twitch of sadness and pain in Silas’ expression. From time to time, the little boy appeared overwhelmed by all the sights and sounds around him.
Then again, Maisey supposed, everything happening today was a bit much for a six year old, especially with her lively sisters sitting around the table pelting the boys with questions.
Silas was more like his Uncle Cam, shy and not as at comfortable in social situations as his brother Sebastian was. This might very well be the first holiday he’d spent without his mother. No wonder he looked overwhelmed.
And it wasn’t just Silas who concerned Maisey. If she wasn’t mistaken, Cameron had blanched a little bit when that particular subject of Christmas came up. She suspected he was at least as unprepared for Christmas as he’d been for Thanksgiving, and there wasn’t much time to spare to fix it.
Her mother had a strict no-cell-phone policy at the dinner table—especially a holiday dinner—and Maisey would get kicked to the curb if her mother noticed her underhanded movements, but she didn’t know how she would ever keep track of all the Christmas gift ideas spouting
from the twins’ mouths without preparing a list before she forgot. Someone needed to do it, or those boys were going to be awfully disappointed come Christmas morning. Cam still appeared to be completely focused on his meal, so she carefully slid her phone out of her back pocket and opened a list-making app, all under the cover of the tablecloth.
The boys were clearly enamored of their new country lifestyle. Among their greatest wishes were cowboy hats, stick horses and a bow and arrow set. Surprisingly, they didn’t mention a single video game. Glancing at the twins’ still-oblivious uncle, she typed STEM onto the list, thinking maybe if the twins received something they had to build, like a robot or a volcano, Cam could get in some quality time with them on a level in which he was comfortable. Everybody would win.
“So, Cam,” she said, nonchalantly replacing her phone in her back pocket as she spoke. “Tell us about your Christmas traditions. At the Gray ranch, we do most of our shopping on Black Friday and put up all our decorations on Saturday. How about you?”
His eyes widened. “I—I—I—”
Poor Cam. Maisey ached for him.
“Real or artificial?” she asked.
“I—uh—what?” His gaze went blank.
“Tree?” Penny jumped in, giggling behind her hand.
He combed his fingers back through his hair and nodded vigorously. “Oh. Yeah. Right. Of course. A tree.”
She tilted her head and raised her eyebrows.
“I haven’t—that is—”
“Right,” Maisey said as the picture became clearer.
He didn’t have a tree. And he hadn’t had a tree in—well, who knew how many years?
“Artificial trees are so boring,” she said. “And if you wanted a real tree in California, I imagine the best you could do was pick one out from a tree lot, am I right?”
“I—er—”
“Well, Cam, you’re in for a real treat this year. This part of Wyoming is brimming with evergreens. I’ll bet we can find you the perfect ponderosa pine right here on your own property. The boys will have a great time picking out the tree and helping us chop it down.”
“Us?” he parroted.
“Oh. Only if you want my help.” She flashed him a grin, hoping to put him more at ease. Obviously, he could make complicated computer applications and solve mathematical equations which would make her head spin, but a lumberjack he was not.
“You can borrow my ax,” Sophie said. She really did have an ax--and she knew how to use it. She was the family tomboy and, in this family of all women, she did most of the woodchopping for the woodstove they used to help heat their cabin in the winter.
“Yes, yes, of course. Thank you--??” He paused. Obviously, he’d been about to say her name, but had stopped himself before making an incorrect guess.
“Sophie,” she supplied. “I’ll get you that ax for you right after dessert.”
“Decorations?” Lacey was the next to plunge in.
“For the tree,” Maisey suggested, knowing he was probably not keeping up with an entire table of women pelting him with questions. Not to mention his house was way too big to try to decorate the whole thing by himself. “And probably at least for one room of your house. That front room we sat the other day is lovely. We could put the tree in there. Oh, and it has a wood fireplace and a mantle where you can hang everyone’s stockings. Perfect!”
He swallowed hard and leaned toward her. “I don’t have stockings,” he whispered, his voice raspy. “I don’t have anything.”
“Never fear, Maisey is here,” Claudia said. “I can proudly say my eldest daughter is the queen of Black Friday sales and all things Christmas.”
“Amazon Prime Day?” he squeaked.
“The Internet is helpful,” Maisey agreed, “and we’ll check it later this afternoon, since Amazon starts the party early, but there’s nothing quite like experiencing the joys of a true Black Friday shopping experience.”
Her heart was already racing just thinking about it. She’d spent the last three days mapping out the stores she’d be visiting and making her plans. She now had a list for the twins—at least a preliminary list—which she could run through with Cam. Maybe he had some good ideas to add to it. Then she could adjust her times, maps and coordinates to make sure they got the best deals on everything.
There was nothing quite like the thrill of victory when she achieved her shopping goals and was able to purchase products at ridiculous Black Friday discounts.
“Last year Maisey managed to get a big screen TV for under a hundred bucks,” Lacey informed Cam.
His jaw dropped. “Huh. What did you do? Swipe it off the shelf?”
She chuckled. “Pretty close. I left for Cheyenne just after midnight and stood in line all night. They gave me a ticket that said I was number two out of the three who would receive one of the televisions, but that didn’t stop people from stampeding when they opened the doors. People go totally crazy over the deals—me being one of them.”
“I think you’re nuts,” Penny said. “I’m surprised more people don’t get hurt in the rampage.”
Sophie snorted. “They do. You just don’t hear about that part as much. Personally, I’d rather just spend the money than brave the crowds.”
“I don’t have the money,” said Maisey. “And even if I did, that’s not the point.”
“We do not talk about money at the supper table,” Claudia reminded them. “We may be from the country, but we don’t have to act like barn animals.”
“Barn animals don’t have money,” Maisey said under her breath. Cam must have heard, though, because he cracked a rare smile.
Of course, Cam had money. Loads of it. That wasn’t his problem. His issue was that he had two little boys who were no doubt looking forward to a special Christmas with their Uncle Cam.
What he didn’t have was a tree. Or decorations. Or presents.
Or apparently, the Christmas spirit.
Well, she would just have to change that. Pull him out of his shell and show him every beautiful thing that Christmas could be. She was good at coaxing horses into new and better lives. Why not do the same thing with a man?
It was settled, then.
Cameron Flynn and his nephews were Maisey’s new mission. She had just appointed herself their very own Christmas miracle.
***
How had he been talked into getting up before the sun to stand outside in the freezing cold waiting for a store to open? He was a night owl, for starters, and ought to be hitting the hay at this point, not waking up. And he couldn’t say he was fond of the weather, either. Granted, it was all new to him and fed his curiosity, but there was a winter storm warning over the area which sounded ominous.
So what was he doing out here?
Blame Maisey Gray for that.
The first day they’d met, she’d told him a little bit about the work she did with horses—essentially convincing them to follow her anywhere. Cam had the sinking suspicion she’d used that horse whisperer stuff on him.
His problem was that Maisey had done all the talking. If he would have been able to get his tongue untwisted, that might have helped. He could have said something—like how much he hated shopping, for starters. How he even bought his groceries off the Internet so he didn’t have to go to town and get them. He didn’t have the time nor the inclination to go to any brick and mortar store and hassle with people, much less the long chain of stores she had planned for the day’s excursion.
He already knew he wasn’t going to enjoy this outing, with or without Maisey accompanying him—or should he say he was accompanying her.
Even now, standing in the frosty cold, he was having a hard time swallowing. Claudia and Penny were keeping the boys for the day while Maisey dragged him around making Christmas happen.
Her words.
Who even did this? They were standing in a crowd of at least a few hundred folks waiting for the doors to open so everyone could rush inside the store at once. Were people really that poor and
bad off that they had no choice but to brave the weather and the crowds for the sake of Christmas day. Were they so completely desperate for the one toy that would make their toddler’s dream come true, or the ninety-nine dollar big screen like Maisey had nabbed last year that nothing could hold them back?
He said a prayer for those who would find Christmas difficult this year. Money had never meant much to him, but he could see how it might affect others if they didn’t have it. He made a mental note to see what he could do to make some families’ Christmas better this year, although he wasn’t quite sure how he would do so.
Then again, he didn’t think all the brave, sturdy souls mingling about were here just because of lack of funds. He got the feeling it wasn’t so much because Maisey was strapped for cash that they were shivering outside in the dark with their coat collars pulled up over their necks for warmth.
This was actually fun for her. A challenge.
Ugh with a capital UH.
The lights inside the glass doorways flipped on and the poor store employees took their places at the doors. They already looked frantic, and they hadn’t even turned the locks yet.
Maisey slipped her arm through his.
“Are you ready?” she asked, excitement brimming over in her voice and gleaming in her silver eyes.
Not in this lifetime.
“Um, yeah, sure,” he said aloud.
“Ready? Set? Go!”
He felt as if he were in a riptide, sucked along with the waves of people into the store. Maisey grabbed his hand and headed straight for the toy section.
“I did some research,” she said, her breath already coming fast and shallow. She waved her cell phone at him. “I put it at the top of my list. The biggest toy of the year for six year old boys is a magnetic set that makes different kinds of walking robots. They’ve only got a limited number here and it’s so popular it will sell out in minutes.”
Cam didn’t quite believe it until they got to the endcap stocked with the boxes of magnetic robots. Sure enough, people were practically dogpiling each other to grab a box for their shopping basket.
“Wait here,” Maisey said, shoving her purse at him. “I’m an expert at this. I’ll be back in a moment.”