by Emmy Eugene
Russ loved the one she was wearing. It said Christmas without all the gaudy colors and reindeer antlers. He glanced down at her shoes, which added a couple of inches to her height.
“What would a boyfriend buy you for Christmas?” he asked.
“Oh, a boyfriend,” she said playfully. “Now, that’s a different story, isn’t it?”
Russ grinned as she steered him toward the check-out register. She just bought the ornaments, which the clerk took great pain to wrap in copious amounts of paper. She handed Janelle a red bag with gold handles, and smiled them out of the store.
“Jewelry?” Russ guessed. Janelle always had something glinting from her ears, but her fingers were gem-free.
She automatically moved her hand to the necklace he’d seen her wear.
“You always wear that,” he said.
“Yeah, it’s a mother’s necklace,” she said. “It has the birthstones of my girls on it.”
“Ah.” Russ couldn’t top that, and he wondered who’d bought it for her.
“My sister gave it to me last year, for my birthday,” she said, and Russ got that question answered.
“I know,” he said, “A year’s supply of coffee from Brew Time.”
“Do you know how much a year’s supply of coffee from Brew Time would cost?” Janelle scoffed and shook her head. “That’s something my brother would get for me.”
“Definitely not interested in being your brother,” Russ said, dipping his mouth closer to her ear. It could’ve been his imagination, but he thought he detected a shiver as it moved down her arms and into her hand, which held his.
“Candy?” he suggested as they walked by a store full of caramel apples and chocolate covered truffles. “No, that’s lame.” He honestly didn’t know what to buy for a woman. “I usually get my mother a pair of slippers or something she likes to read.”
“If you buy me a pair of slippers, ever, it’s over,” she said. “That’s the death knell for a relationship, isn’t it?”
“Is it?” Russ looked at Janelle. “I think slippers can be sweet. Like, sometimes I’m annoyed when I have to run the garbage can out to the end of the driveway and it’s been raining and I have to put on my shoes and socks. Slippers are so much easier.”
“Do you need me to buy you a pair of slippers?” she teased.
“Actually,” he said. “I was hoping to find some tonight.”
Janelle laughed, quieting when he just smiled at her. “Oh, you’re not kidding.”
“No, I am not.” He steered her toward a department store. “So let’s go in here. See what they have.” The music changed once they’d stepped through the wide entrance, and he said, “Look. Tons of sweaters.”
“A sweater would be romantic,” she said, dropping her hand to finger the fabric on the one closest to her.
“You’d let an old cowboy buy your clothes?”
“First off, you’re not old,” she said. “And second, yes, I think clothing gifts are sweet.”
“Slippers could be counted as clothing.”
“You’re never going to let that go, are you?”
“Nope.” He took her hand again and led her toward the shoe section. He wasn’t fussy, and he knew what he liked, sometimes just by looking, and he picked out a pair of slippers fairly quickly.
He wasn’t planning on buying her a Christmas gift that night, but he sure would like to know what would constitute a boyfriend gift so he could start thinking about it. He still liked the idea of jewelry, but his mind also moved in the direction of a pet.
“What about a kitten?” he asked.
“For a Christmas present?” Janelle looked and sounded horrified, and Russ crossed a pet off his list.
“Never mind,” he said, setting his slippers on the counter for the clerk to scan. The guy rang him up, and Russ pulled out his card to pay. “You’re a man,” he said to the man. “What do you give your girlfriend for Christmas?”
Janelle giggled quietly beside him, and they both watched the guy, who was easily ten years younger than them. Maybe fifteen.
“Perfume?” he guessed. “I got that once for my girlfriend.”
“Are you still with her?” Janelle asked.
“No.” He ran Russ’s card while Janelle cocked her head and looked at Russ meaningfully. So no perfume.
Russ took back his card and his bag with his new slippers in it, and he and Janelle headed back out into the mall.
“You know,” Janelle said. “It’s not about the cumulative gift once a year.”
“Oh?”
“It’s about all the little things,” Janelle said. “Flowers for no reason. Doing the dishes for me before I get home from work. Sacrificing something you want to do to spend time with me, doing what I want to do.”
Russ nodded, because he believed that too. “So I’m really getting some points for being at this mall tonight, aren’t I?”
“You suggested the mall,” she said, looking at him with surprise in her eyes.
“Yeah,” he said, putting his arm around her waist and bringing her close to him. “Because I knew you liked it.”
Janelle’s eyes softened, and she melted into his side. “That’s so sweet, Russ.”
“All right, baby,” he said. “Let’s go find Santa Claus. I have a few questions for him, and I want to make sure he knows what I want for Christmas.”
Chapter Twelve
Janelle turned in a full circle, looking for something in her house. What, she didn’t know. She just knew she was nervous about putting the girls in the car and driving out to Chestnut Ranch.
“Keys,” she muttered. “Phone. Purse. Cinnamon rolls.” She’d gotten up early with Kelly to get the dough made, and then she’d spent the hour while it proofed getting their hair braided and curled. They wanted to “look cute” when they met Russ for the first time, and Janelle hadn’t even suggested it.
When Kelly had wanted to wear her blue and yellow flowered dress, Janelle had told them about the construction on the new dog enclosure. “So sneakers and jeans, girls,” she said. “We can still look cute in clothes like that, trust me.”
Russ had told her last night how much he liked her sweater, and Janelle had caught him looking at her several times. He still didn’t kiss her when they pulled up to the patch of dirt off the side of the road where she’d parked her car.
As she’d driven home last night, she realized why. He didn’t want to kiss her on the side of the road at an intersection he passed every time he came to town. He wanted to kiss her somewhere romantic—and Janelle wanted that too.
Though she’d kissed him before, this time would be important too—almost like the first time all over again.
Janelle had been thinking about it nonstop that morning. She needed to plan the perfect date, with the perfect ending spot, so she and Russ could have their special, romantic moment. She wanted to kiss him so badly, and she turned around again, still searching for something.
“What am I missing?” she asked the girls.
“Nothing,” Kelly said in her cute Texas drawl. “Let’s go, Momma. We’re going to be late.”
“Are we?” Janelle looked around. They’d fed and watered the dogs. They’d been let out of their new stable-pens. The oven was off. She had everything she needed. Now, if she could just find the steel nerves required to drive the twenty minutes to the ranch, getting out of the car, meeting Russ on the front porch…
“Come on,” she said, exhaling. “I’m ready.”
The girls went first, and Janelle turned back, something still on her mind. She wasn’t sure what it was, so she followed them into the garage and handed Kelly the roll of cinnamon rolls they’d carefully frosted only twenty minutes ago.
The miles disappeared under her tires as Kelly sang every lyric to nearly every pop song that came on the radio. Janelle didn’t even have the wherewithal to be annoyed, though she certainly would’ve been in any other circumstance.
Before she knew it, she drove past the
elaborate fence that marked Chestnut Ranch, and then under the arch that had a giant J carved into the wood.
“This place is nice, Momma,” Kadence said from the back seat.
“Real nice,” Janelle agreed. “Russ is nice too, and I’ll bet we’ll get to meet some of his brothers too. Y’all remember your manners, now. Make me proud.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the two girls chorused back to her.
Janelle drew in a deep breath and continued past the cabins on the left-hand side of the road. The driveway held two trucks and a sedan, and she parked beside Russ’s truck.
“That is a huge house,” Kelly said. “Momma, he must be really rich.”
“He must be,” Janelle agreed. She’d never really thought about it before, and Russ had never said anything about money. A huge pine wreath decorated the front door, with a brilliant, bright red bow on the lower right side.
She stretched as she got out of her car, and she took the pan of cinnamon rolls from her oldest. The girls joined her at her door, and she said, “You two go first. There’s nothing to be afraid of. It’s like going to visit Pops.”
“Is he old like Pops, Momma?” Kadence asked.
“No, silly.” Janelle laughed. “That wasn’t a good comparison. I just meant sometimes you two are afraid of Pops, but he’s always nice, and he always has candy, and you always love seeing him as soon as you get past your fear.”
Janelle wondered how she was going to get past her fear, because the ball of nerves in her throat wouldn’t go away no matter how many times she swallowed.
The wreath moved as the front door opened, and Russ himself stepped out. He was a cowboy god, and Janelle’s pulse rioted in her chest. “There he is,” she whispered.
Kelly and Kadence kept walking, and they were the only thing that kept Janelle’s feet moving too. She smiled at him as he leaned against the post at the top of the steps, a huge smile on his face too.
“Well, look what we have here,” he said, his Texas drawl bright and unrushed. “Three pretty ladies. Who are you guys here to see?”
Kadence giggled, and Kelly said, “We came to see you.”
“You came to see me?” Russ came down the steps then, his boots making plenty of noise against the wood. “Wow.” He crouched in front of Kadence, his eyes never wavering from hers. “You must be Kadence. Your momma talks about you all the time. You like to draw and paint.” He looked at Kelly. “And you’re Kelly. Did you make the cinnamon rolls?”
“Yes, sir,” she said, and Janelle was proud of her manners.
“Do you draw?” Kadence asked.
“Only if I want to make people guess about what they see.” Russ chuckled. “But my younger brother, Travis, is a real good artist. He draws whole buildings.”
“Wow,” Kadence said.
“Girls,” Janelle said. “This is momma’s boyfriend, Russ Johnson.”
“Nice to meet you, sir,” the girls rehearsed, and Russ chuckled as he straightened.
“Nice to meet you ladies too.” He touched the brim of that sexy cowboy hat and finally, finally, looked at Janelle. “You look great, baby.” He smiled at her and reached for her hand. “I have coffee, milk, and juice inside. Everyone else is out on the ranch. Let’s go eat before we get to work.”
“Momma helped with the cinnamon rolls,” Kelly said as she climbed the stairs. “But I did a lot of it.”
“Did she braid your hair so pretty?” Russ asked as they brought up the rear.
“Yes, sir,” Kelly drawled.
She stepped into the house, and Russ said, “Straight ahead, girls. Go on into the kitchen.”
They did, and Russ had more than a few beverages on the counter. Yes, he had the coffee, the juice, and the milk, but he also had bacon, scrambled eggs, and a huge platter of fruit.
Janelle squeezed his hand, and he looked at her. His eyes danced with a spark of life she hadn’t seen in him before, and his smile was brighter than any she’d seen previously too.
“I told you he liked to cook,” she said to Kelly as she slid the pan of cinnamon rolls onto the counter with the rest of the food. “Which is a very good thing, because I’m starving.” She released his hand and moved around the counter to pick up a plate.
She handed it to Kelly and said, “Go on, girls. You can eat.”
The mood relaxed from there, as everyone loaded up something to eat. Russ helped scoop fruit, and he carried Kadence’s plate to the table for her before returning to get his own food. Janelle couldn’t help watching him, and she sure did like his gentle touch with her kids, the kindness in his actions and eyes, and the way he kept flitting his gaze toward her.
He was still nervous, but doing such a great job of acting like he wasn’t. Truth be told, Janelle was a little nervous too. Kids were unpredictable; they could say anything at anytime.
Kadence asked Russ if he like Taryn Sawyers, and he glanced at Janelle with a blank look on his face.
“She’s a pop star,” Janelle said with a smile.
“You don’t know Taryn Sawyers?” Kelly demanded. “Momma, let me see your phone.”
Janelle passed it over, and Kelly started looking up her favorite music video. “It’s not country,” she warned Russ, who looked from her to Kelly and back again. “He only likes country music, girls.”
“She has some country songs,” Kadence said.
“Not since her first album,” Kelly said, rolling her eyes.
Janelle wished her eyes were equipped with lasers as she glared at her oldest daughter. Be kind, she thought. Kelly seemed to get the message, because she put her head down and found the video.
She put the phone on the table in front of Russ and watched him. He exchanged a glance with Janelle and peered down at the phone as the music started to blare from the small speaker.
“Oh, wow,” he said. “This is rock-country. I think I’ve heard this before.”
“See?” Kelly asked. “Everyone’s heard of Taryn Sawyers.” She put another bite of bacon in her mouth while Kadence belted out the lyrics to the song still playing from Janelle’s phone.
“You’re a great singer,” Russ said to Kadence, who had eaten very little for breakfast. She rarely consumed more than a few bites in the morning, and Janelle would have to watch her out on the ranch. It wasn’t terribly hot, and it had been raining off and on for the past couple of days, but Kadence could be delicate.
Janelle finished her cinnamon roll and looked at Russ. “Not as good as the bakery, but not bad, right?”
“It’s delicious,” he said. “Just as good as the bakery, actually. Just not as big.”
“No one can eat those huge cinnamon rolls,” Janelle said.
“Uh…” Russ gave her a sheepish grin, and Janelle burst out laughing. Russ chuckled too, his hand landing on her knee and sliding up a few inches.
Sparks and showers of shivers moved through her whole body, and she enjoyed this man so much she couldn’t imagine her life without him. She wondered how she’d survived before they’d met, and she was so glad he’d given her a second chance.
“All right,” Russ said with a sigh. “The new dog enclosure isn’t going to build itself. Who’s ready to swing a hammer?”
“I am,” Kadence chirped, and Janelle wondered if she could even lift the tool. A powerful dose of love moved through her as she watched her daughter slide off the chair, most of her food still on her plate.
“I can, too,” Kelly said, getting up and picking up her plate. Pride filled Janelle now as her daughter carried her dishes into the kitchen with Russ. The two of them standing side-by-side at the sink made everything inside her melt, and she told herself not to get too far ahead of the situation. This wasn’t her house. He wasn’t her husband. And she was just here for the day—or for as long as the girls behaved—to help Russ build a new dog enclosure.
She stood up too and took her plate and Kadence’s into the kitchen.
“She didn’t eat much,” Russ murmured, and Janelle handed him the pl
ate.
“She’s not a big breakfast eater,” Janelle said. “What can I help clean up?” All the eggs were gone, and only one slice of bacon remained.
“I’ll bag the fruit.” Russ opened a drawer in the island, pulled out a plastic zipper bag, and started putting the grapes and strawberries into it. Janelle put the beverages into the fridge, and a few minutes later, they were ready to go outside.
“We let our dogs out here, just like you guys do at your place,” he said as they went through the back door. “We’ll drive over in my truck. Do you girls want to ride in the back?”
“Yes,” Kadence cheered, and Russ lifted both girls into the back of his truck before helping Janelle into the cab.
“They’re great,” he said the moment he climbed behind the wheel. “How am I doing?”
“Russ, you’re doing amazing,” Janelle said. “Better than amazing.”
“Do you think they like me?” He started the truck and looked at her, pure concern in every line of his face.
“Yes,” Janelle said with confidence. “I think they like you. The extra food was a definite good move. Kelly loves having a hot breakfast.” Janelle herself didn’t cook much, and she put a few boxes of cereal on the table for the girls to eat before school.
Russ drove around the back of the house and on a dirt road out to the dog enclosure. Plenty of pups ran around inside a fenced area, and Janelle easily made out the construction site. “Is it ready?” she asked.
“Not quite,” he said. “The foundation has to cure, but we’re putting together the frames anyway. I spent yesterday morning cutting wood, and Travis and I worked on building the walls in the afternoon. But his girlfriend came over, and well, he didn’t help a whole lot.”
“And now you have two little girls and your girlfriend here,” Janelle said, watching him. “I don’t think you’re going to get very far today either.”
“We’ll see,” he said. “Travis will be over to help in a little bit.”
Janelle put her hand in his, wishing this truck had a bench seat instead two bucket seats with a console between them. “Thank you for inviting us,” she said. “The girls are going to love ‘helping’ you.” She grinned at him, and Russ returned the smile.