by Dylann Crush
“Really?” A giant wet spot lingered where Kenzie’s tears had soaked into Jinx’s shirt.
“Really. A girls’ day. Just you and me. What do you say?”
“What do we do on girls’ day?” Kenzie wiped at her nose.
“Whatever you want. As long as it’s girl stuff. We can paint our nails, go Christmas shopping, maybe even make some more of those cookies.” Jinx hadn’t the slightest idea what real girlfriends did on a girls’ day, since she’d never had any. But based on the chick flicks and sitcoms she’d seen, she figured her ideas weren’t too off base.
“Real cookies?” The pout came, forcing Kenzie’s lower lip to jut out.
That meant no slice and bake. Was she up for it? Kenzie’s eyes held a glimmer of hope. “Yeah, sure. Real cookies. Why not?”
“Yay! Oh, can we make gingerbread houses instead?” Her whole body lit up.
Jinx froze. She didn’t even know what went into gingerbread houses. But she couldn’t deny Kenzie, especially when she didn’t know if her nana would be able to keep the tradition going with her this year.
“Um, sure. Yes, definitely. I bet we can find a recipe or something online.” Or a shop where they could buy the pieces and assemble it themselves. Or a bakery where they could get a gingerbread cupcake.
“Can I have a Coke while we make gingerbread houses?” Kenzie bit her bottom lip, anticipating the denial.
Jinx knew Kenzie was playing her now, trying to see how far she could push it. “We’ll see, okay?”
“Okay.” Kenzie dropped her gaze to the ground.
“Let’s get started. We’re going to need a grocery list if we’re going to make a real gingerbread house. Can you find me a notebook or piece of paper or something from your daddy’s desk?”
Kenzie took off on her errand while Jinx pulled up the internet on her phone. So many choices. Settling for the one titled “Easy Gingerbread Houses for Kids,” she scanned the recipe while she waited for the notebook.
“Here you go.” Kenzie handed her a small spiral pad, the kind Jinx had seen Cash carry with him while out on patrol.
She went to flip the page filled with his chicken scratch when a name caught her attention. Wade Boyd. Why the hell would Wade’s name be on a page in Cash’s notebook? Her stomach churned, the scrambled eggs she’d scarfed down for breakfast threatening to reappear. The blood drained from her face, leaving her feeling numb. Her vision tunneled. She couldn’t see past that name. Wade Boyd.
“Jinx?” Kenzie grabbed her hand, pulling Jinx’s attention away from the notebook. “Did you find a recipe?”
She didn’t want to think about Wade yet. Actually, she didn’t want to think about him at all, ever again. But it looked like Cash already knew something about Wade. The question was…what?
“Jinx?” Kenzie shook her arm. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m just trying to remember what we need.” She flipped the page over but could still see the name in her mind. She needed to tell Cash about her history with Wade and find out why he’d written down his name. But first, she needed to give Kenzie a good day. Committed to making the biggest and best gingerbread house the girl had ever seen, Jinx picked up a pen and began to make a list.
* * *
Cash nudged the heavy hospital door open enough to peek around the corner. “Anybody home?”
His mom startled. “Cash. What are you doing here?” She rose out of her chair to meet him by the door.
“I thought you might need some moral support.” He wrapped his mom in a hug. Her usually rigid shoulders slumped against him.
“You didn’t need to come, Son. Where’s Kenzie?” His mom’s arms clung to him, her desperate need for support at complete odds with her words.
“Jinx is taking care of her. I needed to be here. How’s he doing?”
Ann nodded and wiped at her eyes with a wadded-up tissue she held in her hand. “Come see for yourself. He’s been in and out because of the painkillers, but he’s doing great.” She led him toward the side of the bed. “He’s going to be fine. Just fine.”
Cash stepped next to his dad. “What the hell were you doing on a ladder?”
Tom had the decency to plaster on a sheepish grin. “Hanging holiday lights over your aunt Doris’s stoop. Damn ladder wasn’t steady. She’s got one of those cheap aluminum ones. I should have known better.”
“Hell yeah, you should have known better.” The poor man looked like shit. Like he’d spent the past couple of days on the wrong end of a pissed-off bucking bronc. “Kenzie sends her love.”
His dad tried to sit up higher in bed. Cash reached behind him to fluff his pillow. “You tell Kenzie I’m going to be good as new. Won’t be but a couple of weeks until we’re out riding ponies together again.”
His mom cleared her throat. “You mean after you finish your rehab, right, honey?”
“Oh, I’m not going to need all that nonsense.” He gestured for Cash to lean closer. “They want me to spend a couple of weeks at some nursing home for old folks.”
“It’s not a nursing home. It’s a rehab facility.” Ann rolled her eyes. “Your father thinks I’m going to abandon him at an old folks’ home and leave him in Tulsa.”
“I told her she deserves a younger model. Someone with two good hips, you know?” His dad beamed up at his mom, making Cash feel like he’d intruded on their intimate moment.
The door opened, and a nurse swept into the room.
“Let’s let her do what she needs to do.” Ann squeezed his shoulder. “They come in every so often to check vitals, and it’s easier if we’re not in the way.”
Cash lingered, giving his dad one last grin before following his mom into the hall. He was glad he came. Seeing his dad in good spirits eased his fear, and he couldn’t wait to call Jinx and fill her in.
“Can I get you anything, Mom? Have you eaten yet today?” He’d left the house before breakfast and hadn’t had a meal yet himself.
“Your Aunt Doris left right before you got here. She ran back to the house to grab some lunch for us. She ought to be back soon. He’s going to be fine. The doctor wants him to go straight to a rehab facility from here, but if all goes well, he should be home before Christmas.”
“That’s great.” Relief flooded his system. He was tempted to twirl his mom around in a hug, but the delivery of her good news didn’t match the worried look she still wore. “What’s wrong? Isn’t that good news?”
She stared through the blinds on the window of his dad’s door. “Yes, it’s great news. But he’s got no guarantee of a complete recovery. He’s got to participate in home therapy and stick to a PT routine. Do you want to be the one to tell your dad he can’t just hop on the back of a horse if he feels like it?”
“Oh shit.”
“Cash Warren Walker, watch your language.” Ann clenched her jaw and turned a narrow gaze his way.
“Sorry, Mom. I see what you mean about it not all being good news.” His dad had learned how to ride before he’d learned how to walk.
“And he’s got to start taking regular medications like calcium supplements. Just getting him to take a daily vitamin has been a huge accomplishment.” She turned a worried gaze to her son.
He covered her hand with his. “He’ll do what he needs to do. You, the ranch, his family…they’re everything to him. He won’t like it, but he’ll play along.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“Well, if he gives you any grief, he’s got five grown sons who will kick his ass until he does what you tell him to. Does that make you feel better?”
She looked like she might scold him for a moment, then broke into a grin. “Oh, honey. I’m glad you came.”
Cash pulled his mom into another hug. He knew his dad would do what it took, because that’s what dads did. If roles were reversed and he had to make massive lifestyle
changes to gain more time with Kenzie, he’d do whatever the hell the docs told him. Family was everything, especially for the Walkers. And now he was on the verge of building his own. His dad would be okay.
The door opened, and the nurse swept past. “You can go back in now. Everything looks great.”
His mom nodded. Cash released her, and she took a step toward the door.
“Hey, you mind if I go make a couple of phone calls? I know Charlie’s beside herself wondering what’s going on up here. And I want to let Jinx know everything is okay.”
“You go ahead. I should have called earlier, but I didn’t want to take any time away from your dad.” She touched his cheek. “Thanks for coming all this way. It means a lot.”
“I’ll be back in just a few minutes.” He gave her hand a squeeze.
She entered the room and took a spot by his dad’s bedside. Cash couldn’t begin to imagine what might be running through her mind. His dad was her rock. They’d been together since junior high. Built a family, a home, and a life together. Neither one was whole without the other.
That’s what he wanted in his life. He’d never had that sense with Lori Lynne. They’d been young and stupid and horny. But he saw hints of being able to build that kind of a future with Jinx. She was the one he wanted to call first. She was the one who infiltrated his thoughts. She was the one who made him feel like he could be the man he wanted to be. For Kenzie. For her. For himself.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Jinx propped the extension ladder she’d found hanging on the side of the bunkhouse against Cash’s living room wall. She’d managed to get Kenzie off to school by promising she’d string the lights today. Whose idea was it to pick the tallest tree in Texas for a Christmas tree? She leaned back, letting her gaze drift from the huge metal pail at the base to the crooked point at the top. Getting a star to sit straight would be Cash’s job. Jinx would be doing well just to get a few strands of lights looped around.
Kenzie couldn’t wait to hang garland and drape tinsel over the giant pine. Cash had said he’d be home in time for dinner, and Jinx didn’t have to go in to the Rose tonight, so she was hoping they’d be able to make an evening out of it. They’d hang ornaments, sing Christmas tunes, and maybe watch that vintage Rudolph special she’d recorded on the DVR. And after they put Kenzie to bed, she could ask him what he knew about Wade Boyd. She didn’t want any secrets between them. The sooner she came clean about how she knew Wade, the better off she’d be.
As she climbed the ladder, a strand of lights coiled in her hand, she let her thoughts drift over memories of holidays past. Last year, she’d been in Vegas. She hadn’t lasted long tending bar at that seedy joint off the Strip. The year before that, she’d been working at a ski resort in Colorado. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d actually set up a tree with all the trimmings. Somehow, this seemed right. Usually, the holidays filled her with a sense of loss, made her ache for what might have been had her dad never passed.
But this year, she was looking forward to it. She’d even done some shopping for Kenzie and the rest of the Walkers. Nothing big. But she wanted to show them how much they’d come to mean to her. She still hadn’t found the perfect gift for Cash.
Jinx tucked the end of the strand into the top boughs of the tree. The ladder wobbled a bit when she leaned in to pass the cord around the tree. Round and round she went, moving her feet down rung by rung as the top of the tree sparkled in pink, blue, green, and purple. Kenzie had picked the jewel-tone lights as opposed to the traditional colors. As long as the kid was happy—that’s what mattered.
Having reached the end of the strand, Jinx clambered down the ladder to rip open another box. On her way back up the ladder, something within the tree caught her eye. She paused, searching through the greenery for whatever she’d seen—probably just a couple of loose branches or something.
About halfway down, she tucked the strand in to wrap it around a branch. Something brushed her hand. She screamed and fled. Right back up the ladder, giving her a perfect view of what had to be a thirty-foot snake wrapped around the branches of the tree. Okay, so maybe it was more like six feet long. But still, it seemed much, much larger from where she stood, perched at the top of the tall extension ladder.
If she could just climb past it, she could grab her phone from the end table and call someone to come take care of it. She’d lived with mice, been infested with cockroaches, and even had an overpopulation of kangaroo rats take over when she lived in a mobile home in the high desert. But she didn’t do snakes.
She stepped down to a lower rung, trying to find the creature within the branches. No luck. Down one more rung. Still nothing. She moved her foot to the next rung. There, nestled among the dark-green needles. Oh hell no. She scrambled the three rungs back up to stand near the top again. It was only one o’clock. If nothing else, Kenzie would be home in another two hours. Surely, the snake would slither down by then.
* * *
“Jinx? Are you home?” Kenzie bounded through the front door, dropped her backpack on the floor, and turned an accusing gaze to where Jinx still clung to the top of the ladder. “You didn’t meet my bus.”
“I’m so sorry. Guess what?” Jinx didn’t want to scare the crap out of the kid. Stay calm.
“What?”
“It’s kind of a funny story.” Well, maybe not yet. But it had potential. Assuming she and Kenzie didn’t get eaten by the rogue rattler. She could see the headlines now… Christmas Comes Early for Giant Rattler in the Form of Stupid Woman and Tasty Little Girl.
“Why are you on a ladder? Are the lights done?” Kenzie moved toward the boxes of twinkle lights at the base of the tree.
“Stop!” Jinx wasn’t a yeller, so her shout made Kenzie stop in her tracks. “I don’t want you to freak out, but there’s a snake in this tree, and we need to call someone to help us get it out. See my phone over there on the table?”
Kenzie nodded, then turned her head to peer into the tree. “Is it a copperhead? Daddy says they’re posiness.”
“Poisonous,” Jinx corrected. “I don’t know what kind of snake it is, but I need you to stay away from the tree, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Can you go get my phone? Do you know your Uncle Waylon’s number?”
Kenzie shook her head.
“How about Uncle Statler?”
Another no.
A swell of panic squeezed her lungs, making it hard to take in a full breath. There was only one other thing she could think to do. “Kenzie, I want you to dial 911.”
“Daddy says that’s only for emergencies.”
Jinx wanted to laugh, cry, and scream all at the same time. If this didn’t qualify as an emergency, then she didn’t know what did. She had to get off this ladder soon, or her legs were going to give out. “Honey, this is an emergency. Do you know how to dial that?”
Kenzie crossed the room to the table and picked up the phone. Her little fingers punched in the numbers before she lifted the phone to her ear.
Jinx gritted her teeth while she listened to the one-sided conversation.
“There’s a snake in our tree.”
Pause.
“It’s in our house.”
Pause.
“My daddy is with my papa. He’s in the hospital. I don’t have a mama, but Jinx is here.”
Pause.
“She can’t. She’s on a ladder.”
Pause.
“Oh, hi, Brandi. Okay.” She pressed the “end” button. “Can I get a snack?”
Jinx took in a deep breath through her nose, warding off a claustrophobic sense of panic. “Is someone coming?”
“Yeah. Brandi’s nice. She gives me suckers when I go to work with Daddy sometimes.”
“So Brandi’s sending someone over?”
“She said it will be a little while. Can I make
hot cocoa?”
“Can you wait, sweetheart? I’ll make you cocoa with marshmallows when I get down, okay?”
“I’m gonna go play in my room.”
“Okay.” Good idea. That would keep her away from the snake. “Will you make sure Hendrix is okay? But don’t let him out.” That’s all she needed—a Chihuahua on the loose with a snake chasing him around the house.
Jinx rolled her neck, trying to dislodge the tension that had settled in. Standing on a ladder all afternoon would do that.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, the faint wail of sirens reached her. Sirens? All she needed was one cop. Or a husky ranch hand. As long as he or she came with gloves and hopefully a huge hoe. Or two hoes. Or at this point, even a shotgun. But seriously, what was with the sirens?
Blue and red lights flashed across the walls of the house through the front window. The sirens stopped, but the sound of voices took their place. Voices, as in more than one person. How many guys did this Brandi send over? A sharp knock sounded at the door.
“Come in!” Jinx yelled.
The door opened, and a handful of people trickled in. Jinx recognized Tippy, Cash’s coworker, but the rest of them were strangers.
Tippy took off his hat. “So we received a call from Kenzie about a snake?”
Jinx’s legs shook, the effort of clinging to the ladder finally taking its toll. “It’s in the tree. When I tried to climb down the ladder, I saw it.”
A woman with bright-red hair stepped out from behind Tippy. “What color was it?”
“What color? I don’t know. I didn’t get a good look at it. I was trying not to get eaten.”
The woman didn’t flinch, just pulled on a pair of long gloves, then took a stick out of her pocket. “Where did you last see it?”
“Um, are you just going to grab it?”
Tippy spoke up. “Jinx, this is Sage. She lives down the road a ways and knows how to handle just about any kind of wild animal.”