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She should be so lucky. Insomnia had been a problem ever since coming to Rocky Ford. When she was worried or upset, she simply couldn’t sleep soundly, and rarely did she go to bed without something heavy on her mind. And she couldn’t remember the last time she’d napped during the day.
The movie ended. Using the remote control, Andrea rewound it and then ejected it from the VCR. Getting up, she laid chunks of wood on the dying fire. It blazed again, and she sat on the hearth rug to watch the flames.
“I must have dozed off.”
Turning to look at Lucas, she smiled. “You had a very nice nap.”
“That was darned rude of me.” Lucas got out of his chair and went to the window. “Any sign of Shep?”
“Your taking a nap was not rude, and no, I haven’t seen Shep.” Her sympathies were with Dr. Wilde. She had never gone through anything remotely similar to his divorce, but she was able to imagine how alone and lost one might feel over such an experience.
She got to her feet. “This is a good time to give you your present.” Ignoring Lucas’s startled expression, she went to the tree, reached way under it and came out with a gaily wrapped package.
“Andrea, you shouldn’t have,” Lucas said. “I didn’t get you anything.”
“And don’t you dare be embarrassed by it.” Andrea held out the package. “This is something I wanted to do and I didn’t expect anything in return.” She placed the gift in his hand. “Open it.”
“This is really nice of you.” In spite of her admonition to not be embarrassed, Lucas looked a little red in the face. But there was also a twinkling excitement in his eyes, making Andrea smile.
“Open it, Lucas,” she repeated.
“Okay.” Returning to his chair, he tore off the wrapping and removed the cover of a small box. “Well, look at this,” he declared.
It was a soft, wool-blend maroon scarf, quite beautiful and much more expensive than what Andrea had planned on spending when she thought of buying him a Christmas gift. Running across it in a nondescript little shop with an eclectic assortment of merchandise had been a surprise, as Rocky Ford’s stores normally didn’t carry what she considered fashionable items of clothing. She would have bought it at any price. Lucas’s best jacket, which he’d worn to her house today, was a dark gray wool, and she’d known at first sight that the scarf would be perfect with that jacket.
“How’d you know I needed a new scarf?” Lucas asked, holding it up and fingering the fabric. “Andrea, this is really nice. As soft as can be. Never could stand scratchy things around my neck.”
“You like it, then?”
“Sure do.”
“I’m glad. I thought it would go well with your gray jacket.”
Lucas grinned impishly. “I’ll look so smartly turned out, I’ll probably have to fight off the ladies.”
Andrea teased right back. “I’m sure you’re already having to fight off the ladies.”
Lucas chuckled. “Not anymore, honey.” Carefully folding the scarf, he laid it in its box. “Well, I feel like a darned fool for not thinking to buy you something, but thank you. I appreciate your thoughtfulness.”
“You’re very welcome. I appreciate your friendship.”
* * *
While this pleasant scene was unfolding in Andrea’s house, Shep was pacing his father’s home. He had walked in the heavy snowfall for about an hour, when he’d started feeling the cold, then bypassed Andrea’s place in favor of Lucas’s.
But he was feeling guilty about it. And besides, the house was so empty. Regardless of his personal upheaval, it was still Christmas, and it wasn’t a good feeling to be alone on Christmas. Shep’s guilt increased. How many Christmases had Lucas spent alone? Shep knew how badly he had neglected his father for years, and Lucas was just next door. He should be spending the day with him, wherever he was.
It finally got to him enough that he again donned his jacket and gloves and plowed through the snow to Andrea’s back door. Swearing that he was going to be friendlier than before—his problems were neither Lucas’s nor Andrea’s fault, and they shouldn’t have to endure his foul moods—he knocked.
Lucas’s face brightened. “That must be Shep.”
“Must be,” Andrea agreed. “I’ll go let him in.” It felt as though her heart were doing flips as she hurried through the house to the kitchen door. It was incredibly exciting to be so dizzily attracted to a man, even if she wished he weren’t Shep Wilde and newly divorced.
She opened the door with a smile, expecting to see him covered in snow and half-frozen. But he was neither; rather, appearing as though he had just come from next door as he had earlier today.
She knew he had gone to Lucas’s home instead of taking that walk. He really wasn’t a very nice person, was he? Coming up with a lie like that to get away from her and his father? She knew he’d been bored and impatient with the day’s quiet activity, but for his father’s sake it certainly wouldn’t have killed him to pretend to enjoy himself.
Her expression became frosty. “Come in.”
Then the biggest surprise of the day thus far occurred. Shep smiled. Not just smiled, but smiled at her! Andrea suddenly couldn’t breathe, and the frost in her expression melted into a puddle of totally female emotions. “Do come in,” she repeated huskily, this time sounding sincerely welcoming.
“Thank you.”
Shep stepped inside and Andrea shut the door. My Lord, she thought. If his smile could make her breathless, what would a kiss do to her?
“Shep?”
Lucas was calling from the living room.
“I’m here, Dad.” Removing his jacket, Shep looked at Andrea. “I can hang it up myself, if it’s all right with you.”
Anything you want to do is all right with me. “Yes, of course. Go right ahead.”
They paraded into the living room. Shep spotted the fire. “That looks great.” He hung his jacket in the closet and immediately went over to the fireplace.
“You were out there a long time, son,” Lucas said. “You must be cold clear to the center of your bones.”
Shep turned around and stood with his backside to the fire. “I wasn’t walking all the time I was gone, Dad. I went home for a while.”
So, Andrea thought, inordinately pleased. He wasn’t a liar, after all. And he probably hadn’t been trying to avoid her and Lucas; he’d merely needed to be alone. Poor guy. Since he was so broken up over it, the divorce must not have been his idea.
“Well,” Andrea said brightly. “Is anyone hungry?”
“I could use a turkey sandwich,” Shep said, giving her another of those dazzling smiles.
“I can always eat,” Lucas said with a chuckle.
“Great. I’ll put everything on the table. It’ll only take a few minutes.” Breathless again, Andrea sped to the kitchen. The day had taken a marvelous turn, simply because Shep Wilde was smiling instead of scowling. His hike in the snow had worked some sort of miracle. Or maybe he was finally glad to be home for Christmas.
Or maybe, just maybe, he had come to grips with liking her. With finding another woman attractive so soon after his divorce. Hadn’t she noticed his brooding glances at the dinner table?
Hastily she sliced turkey and set the table, all the while thinking about Shep. Okay, she admitted, so she had it bad for him, and it could be very dangerous business. But what if he felt the same about her? Would a rebound romance be dangerous if both parties felt the same overwhelming emotions for each other?
“Don’t put the cart before the horse,” she muttered under her breath in a sudden burst of common sense. A few smiles were hardly an admission of attraction. And what was sadder than a person—man or woman—falling for someone who didn’t reciprocate? She really must watch her step around Shep, especially when Lucas was looking on. Appearing foolish or pathetic in Lucas’s eyes would be unbearable. No, she could never let that happen.
Squaring her shoulders, she went to the doorway between kitchen and living room. “Everything’s ready,” she said with an inviting smile. “Come and eat.”
Andrea enjoyed listening to Lucas and Shep talk about old friends in Rocky Ford while they ate. It occurred to her that Shep could be asking about this person or that just to make conversation, but she still read it as a good sign. At least he was trying, which was a lot more than he’d done before.
Most of the people mentioned were strangers to Andrea, but her ears pricked up and her pulse began racing when Shep asked, “And how are the Fanons doing?”
Lucas grinned. “That’s right. I’d forgotten you were sweet on Lola Fanon for a while.”
Shep grinned, too. “In high school, Dad. A very long time ago. Anyhow, do they still live around here?”
“Sure do. Charlie lives in the same house he always did, as a matter of fact. You know about his coffee shop, don’t you?”
“You took me there the last time I was home,” Shep reminded. “About eight years ago,” he added quietly.
Andrea saw a glint of remorse in Shep’s eyes. Obviously, he was regretting his long absence, probably feeling guilty over neglecting his father for eight long years.
Well, he should feel guilty, she thought to herself rather fiercely. If she ever connected with her father, she would never neglect him.
She cleared her throat. “I’ve run across the Fanon name several times. What kind of man is Charlie?”
Lucas answered. “Real nice guy, Andrea. I doubt if there’s anyone in Rocky Ford who doesn’t like him. If they’ve met him, of course.”
“What about the rest of the family?” Shep asked. “Does Ron still live here?”
“Ron’s dead, Shep,” Lucas said gently.
“Dead! What happened?” Shep inquired, obviously stunned.
“He died while in the military. I don’t know the particulars, but Charlie went to Germany—that’s where Ron was stationed—and brought his body back here for burial. Brought his wife and little boy with him, too. Candace-that was Ron’s wife—remarried about a month ago. Maybe a little longer.”
Shep fell silent for a few moments, then inquired quietly, “And Serena? Lola?”
“They’re both married and living in the area. Serena’s a lawyer with an office in the Ridgeport Building. Her husband, Travis Holden, owns a string of car lots all over Montana. Lola married Duke Sheridan and they, of course, live on the Sheridan Ranch. I’m sure you remember the Sheridans.”
Lucas’s knowledge of the Fanon family surprised Andrea, though she didn’t let on. But she was learning more about life in a small town all the time. Even if people weren’t close friends, they seemed to know what everyone else was doing. This was new to her. Sandra had always shied away from small communities, preferring cities and elegant neighborhoods where people were rather standoffish. Actually, Andrea had to admire her mother. While her life-style hadn’t been wonderful for her daughter, she had certainly gotten around, and however often they had moved, it had never taken Sandra very long to insinuate herself into a new neighborhood and become a part of it, however reserved and aloof the residents were.
And she’d been so beautiful. So stylish, so chic. Small wonder she’d attracted men by the droves.
Andrea sighed. While she’d obviously inherited some of her mother’s best physical features, she certainly hadn’t gotten much of her intrepidness. Nothing had ever daunted Sandra as facing Charlie Fanon daunted Andrea.
Around six, Lucas said it was time they went home. Andrea hated to see them go, but she put on a smile and saw them to the door. Just before leaving, Shep shook her hand again. “Thank you for today, Andrea. You’re a gracious hostess.”
Looking into his dark eyes, she again felt that constrictive band around her chest. If she counted every man she’d met in her whole life, Shep Wilde was the most handsome. And no other man had ever caused such volcanic reactions in her system, not even those she had liked and dated.
Lucas broke up the handshake by holding up the box he was carrying. “Thanks again for the gift, Andrea.”
She saw Shep look at the box, but he said nothing about it. Father and son walked out the door and called goodnights. It was dark outside and still snowing. The biting cold had Andrea quickly closing the door behind them.
Then, sighing, she went to the living room and added wood to the fire. It was too quiet now, and she put another CD into the player. Seated in her favorite chair, she laid her head back and thought about the day. Overall, it had been a good Christmas, she decided.
Far better than many she remembered.
Shep and Lucas hurried into the house. It wasn’t a night to linger outdoors, and Lucas’s modest home was warm and cozy. After hanging up their jackets, they sat in the living room. Shep could tell that his father wanted to ask questions, and he decided to make it easy for Lucas by telling him everything without prompting.
“She left me for another man,” he said bluntly.
Lucas looked stunned and incredulous. “Shep, are you sure?”
Shep gave a sharp little laugh, one with no humor in it whatsoever. “I’m sure. A friend told me she was seeing someone—using every subtlety in the book to say it without actually saying it. I called him a liar, backtracked and said he must be mistaken and then talked to Natalie that night, expecting denials and anger that anyone would intimate such a thing about her.” Shep’s expression became bitter. “She said it was true and asked for a divorce.”
Lucas was still stunned. “But, son, a woman who is happy and contented with her marriage doesn’t go looking for another man.”
Shep’s lips twisted cynically. “Maybe they don’t in Rocky Ford, but southern California isn’t Rocky Ford, Montana, Dad.”
“Are you telling me you never had a clue that something was wrong before your friend mentioned it? Incidentally, I don’t have a lot of respect for someone who’s supposedly a friend carrying tales like that.”
“If there were clues, I never picked up on them,” Shep said. “As for Jeff talking about Natalie like that, wasn’t he trying to do me a favor? It was damned hard for him to broach the subject, and he risked our friendship to let me know what was going on. I don’t hold anything against Jeff, Dad. It would have been worse for him to know about it and not say anything.”
Lucas shook his head sadly. “Don’t see how it could have been any worse, Shep. All this time, I believed your marriage was solid as a rock and that both you and Natalie were happy. Now, here you are, divorced and miserable. You two should have had kids.”
“So we could have fought over their custody? Kids don’t hold a marriage together, Dad. Only love does that. Apparently, Natalie didn’t love me.”
“She did at first, didn’t she?”
“I thought so,” Shep said, letting his bitterness show again.
“Well, at least you have your practice,” Lucas said, obviously assuming Shep would find comfort in his work.
Shep wasn’t ready to talk about that. He didn’t know what he was going to do about his career. He’d spent so many years in getting an education, and they’d been hard years. Lucas had helped out financially with what he could afford, but a medical education, especially when it included a specialty, was extremely costly. Those were years of doing without, of barely getting by, years when he’d done very little beyond studying, working at whatever job he could find to earn a few extra bucks and living without enough sleep.
He’d been interning at Los Angeles General Hospital, on the very last leg of his education, -when he met Natalie Draper.
Her world had dazzled him. She had dazzled him. Beautiful, vivacious and without a care in the world, Natalie had had hordes of friends, most of whom had seemingly existed for one reason—the next party, whether it be a fundraiser, the opening of one more elegant or campy restaurant, or film-industry events, such as the Academy Awards gala. Always dressed in designer clothing, Natalie missed nothing that Hollywood and its icons had had to offer.
It had taken Shep a while to believe that a fashionable, wealthy, gorgeous young woman like Natalie Draper would want him. He’d definitely been head over heels for her, but a penniless intern was so far from her realm of existence, it had been a massive shock to finally realize that she was truly serious about him.
She’d taken him home to meet Daddy—and Daddy’s third wife. Brad Draper hadn’t been nearly as charmed as Natalie was by an almost doctor with a yet unknown future. But Shep still to this day had to hand it to Brad; he’d put aside his own misgivings and eventually welcomed him into the family.
Ten years, Shep thought with another onslaught of bitterness. Ten years down the drain. He was back to square one, or damned near. No wife, no practice and very little money weren’t exactly consoling, especially when he hadn’t seen it coming.
What kind of fool had he been?
He suddenly realized that Lucas was watching him with an uneasy expression. But why wouldn’t his dad be uneasy? He hadn’t given him any kind of answer to his comment about him at least having his medical practice, had he?
Well, he had none to give. When he himself knew what was coming next, he’d be glad to inform Lucas about it. Getting to his feet, he stretched and yawned. “I’m beat, Dad. I’m going to hit the sack.”
Lucas frowned. “Well, sure, son. Go right ahead.” Before Shep made it out of the room, he added, “What do you think of my next-door neighbor?”
“Andrea’s a very nice person,” Shep said evenly, omitting deliberately so much as a hint of the libidinous urges she had aroused in him all day. “Good night, Dad. See you in the morning.”
“Good night, Shep. Sleep well.”
Three (#ulink_7e5cdc81-44da-5501-9468-444d51559338)
