The Rancher's Christmas Match

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She wrinkled her nose at him, and then smiled at Allie. “I bet you’ll be starting school here, won’t you?”

Allie nodded. “Next week.”

“You’ll make a lot of very good friends. There are quite a few about your age in my Sunday school class. We’re getting ready to start practicing for our Christmas play.” She picked up an empty plate as she spoke. “I have to get back to work. You all have a good weekend. See you at church Sunday.”

“Yeah, and I’ll pray for you,” Isaac called out to her retreating back.

“You do that, Isaac.”

“We don’t go to church,” Allie said, to no one in particular. But Isaac noticed Rebecca’s cheeks go slightly pink at her daughter’s revelation.

“How about those Christmas trees,” he interjected. “I love a big old Christmas tree. Especially cedar.”

“Because you know I’m allergic,” Jack grumbled. “We can pick up live trees at the feed store. They’re in pots and we can plant them after Christmas.”

“But we’ll put the artificial tree in the main house,” Kylie added. “The trees at the feed store are pretty, but they’re never large enough for the living area.”

Isaac agreed, but his gaze slid to the woman sitting across from him. Rebecca had a lost look on her face. It had started with the topic of church and hadn’t gotten better when they’d switched to talking about Christmas trees.

She had stories, a troubled past. Right now she had a softness about her that hinted at tears. Not his problem.

He usually stuck to that motto, but Rebecca changed things. Because she didn’t seek attention. She didn’t put her pain out there for everyone to take a look at. She was private, strong and hurting.

He respected that.

He also liked her daughter, and he couldn’t get that sad little voice out of his head when she’d said she didn’t go to church. He remembered being about her age listening to other people talk about the things they did as families, things he never understood. Going to church together was one of the biggies. But there had been other things, like family dinners, trips to the lake, playing ball. A kid shouldn’t have to yearn for the things that childhood seemed to guarantee.

With that in mind he spoke up. “About that Christmas program?” he said to Allie.

The little girl lit up and her mother’s eyes narrowed. “I bet you’d love to be a part of it, wouldn’t you?” he asked Allie. “If your mom doesn’t mind. Every child gets a part and even if something goes wrong, it’s still the best thing ever.”

“I don’t think so,” Rebecca said.

At the same time Allie asked, “Do you think I could?”

Rebecca mouthed the word don’t silently.

He got the message loud and clear.

Someone in church had hurt her. If he had to guess, it probably had something to do with Allie.

Jack got to his feet, steadier today. “We should get on the road. Rebecca is going to make a list of materials she’d like to purchase for the shop. Isaac, you should see to those Christmas trees.”

Isaac grabbed the bill Holly had left on the table. “I’ll do that, but I’d prefer to wait until Allie can go with me. I have a feeling she’s a Christmas tree expert.”

Just like he was an expert at getting involved where he shouldn’t. Allie didn’t remind him of a child in Afghanistan, a little girl with dark hair and pleading eyes. He’d seen her look his way. And then she’d been engulfed by the explosion, the smoke, the violence. Her story never made it to the news. No one thought about her or the tragedy of a young life lost. He remembered. His friends remembered. The image had stayed with them. There were times late at night that he’d get a text from one of the men he’d been stationed with, asking if he still had nightmares.

He did.

“Isaac.” Jack’s voice caught him mid-thought. A hand on his arm brought him back to the present and he managed to breathe, to clear his head. He swiped an arm across his forehead and walked off, still holding the bill for their lunch.

He heard Holly say something like “don’t worry about it, it’s on the house.” Jack told her to take the money. Conversation buzzed around him as he walked out of the café, the door closing behind him, cutting him off from the buzz of curious voices.

As he walked down the sidewalk, a headache started. Throbbing pain began at his temple and radiated down to his ear and above his eye. He leaned against the building, closing his eyes as he drew in fresh air.

“Breathe,” a low voice told him. He’d expected it to be Kylie. It wasn’t, though. He was surprised to hear Rebecca’s soft alto.

“Easier said than done.” He opened his eyes, but squinted against the sun. He pulled sunglasses out of his pocket and slid them on.

She stood next to him, shoulder to shoulder. She was a surprise. First, he’d expected her to walk on, or to take the same stand she’d taken on Monday when she’d offered him a ride.

Instead, she remained next to him.

He matched his breathing to hers until his thoughts became rational once more. The sky was blue. A cool north wind brought the fragrant hint of fall turning to winter. The town maintenance crew was working from bucket trucks, hanging lights from poles.

His world was far removed from the terrors of Afghanistan. And yet he thought of all the children living in that country, listening at night for the sound of gunfire or bombs, wondering when a neighbor would be revealed as an enemy.

“Better?” she asked.

“Yeah, thanks.”

She stepped away from the side of the building. “We all have our pasts to deal with. Things that might not be frightening to one person can be a nightmare to another.”

“Church?” he asked, as she started to walk away.

Without looking back, she nodded. And he let her go, watching as she returned to her daughter. Allie grabbed her hand, said something that brought a frown to Rebecca’s face, then they moved on.

He would follow. Soon.

* * *

The future home of the Hope Lakeside Salon was on a corner of Lakeside Drive just a block from Mattie’s Café. The street was lined with brick-and-wood-sided buildings. The structure was two stories. Downstairs would house the salon, while the upstairs rooms were being remodeled to rent by the night.

Rebecca found herself overwhelmed and excited as she looked around. The building had been renovated, the walls painted ivory, leaving whoever started a business there to choose their own colors. There were several rooms, including a large main one that might have once been a store. A door led to a hallway and several smaller ones that would make treatment rooms as she expanded her business to include a day spa, offering facials and massages.

“This was a dry goods store when I was a kid growing up in town,” Jack told her. “My mom would bring me here to buy shoes. She would buy cloth for sewing.”

“Those are good memories,” Rebecca agreed.

She had memories, too. Of gardening with her mother, helping her father clean the church. But senior year of high school everything had changed. She’d met Greg. And she’d learned that her father preached forgiveness to his congregation, but his daughter was exempt from his mercy.

The bell over the shop’s door chimed. Isaac entered, looking more himself. He pushed his hat back and glanced around the bright, clean room.

“Will this building have the water you need for a salon?” he asked.

“I’ll see that it does,” Jack responded. He headed to the back corner of the room. “There’s a restroom behind here, with water pipes. We’ll have to run lines along this inside wall.”

“I’m hoping to have four stations, for four stylists. I know that sounds ambitious,” Rebecca said.

Isaac glanced around the store. The front had floor-to-ceiling windows, with an area to the right of the door where hair product displays might be located. The other exterior wall had two large windows that overlooked the lake, a short distance away.

“I think it’s good to be ambitious,” Jack told her. “I’ll have them install five. Why not dream big. And what else will you have in this front area?”

“I think a couple of stations for manicures and pedicures, and possibly a small boutique in the back corner. Of course, it’s going to happen in stages. I have the money to get the salon started. I’ll need chairs, sinks, equipment.”

“This is why I picked you, Rebecca.” Jack sat on a folding chair in the corner. “I like that you’re ambitious, but you know how to take things in stages.”

She stood in the center of the room, picturing it all in her mind. Her dream. She wanted this, for herself and for her daughter. They would have stability here. They might still be two against the world, but the world around them would be smaller and they would at least feel less alone.

She didn’t allow herself to think about having people to depend on. She’d believed she had that in Arizona and she’d been fooled. She’d made the disastrous choice to trust Robert Larkin as a business partner. She’d never expected the longtime friend of her aunt to embezzle money from the salon and disappear. His crime had become her failure. This time she wouldn’t lose. She wouldn’t let herself or Allie down.

“You okay?” Isaac asked. He hadn’t sneaked up on her and yet his presence at her side took her by surprise. She smiled at him, noticing again the scar that zigzagged along his cheek and ended somewhere beneath the black cowboy hat.

“I’m good. Just daydreaming.”

“Was it a nightmare? You looked pretty intense.” He said it with a teasing grin that revealed a dimple in his right cheek.

“No, just a thought,” she said as she walked away. His hand caught hold of her arm.

Still grasping her arm, he stepped in front of her. His carefree look had disappeared and those steel-gray eyes held her captive. She watched the slow flick of dark lashes over them, and drew in a breath.

“Since we’re going to be around each other, you might need to know that I’m deaf in my left ear. I don’t want you to think I’m walking off without answering you.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

“And that’s why I’m telling you.” He removed his hand from her arm, slowly, as if just realizing he’d had ahold of her. As if he didn’t want to let go.

Something crazy was happening. It felt as if she was in a vortex, spinning ever so slowly, and he was in the middle of it with her. Looking into his eyes, she couldn’t catch her breath. He felt it, too. He had to. The intensity of his gaze as he searched her face made it clear. She had to swim her way to the surface and break free.

“I need to go,” she said. And then she glanced beyond him. “Allie!”

She pushed past him and ran to her daughter, catching her just as she fell. She should have been paying attention. She should have seen the distress in her daughter’s eyes. With trembling hands Rebecca eased Allie onto her side as the seizure shook her small body.

Isaac knelt next to her. “Jack is calling Carson,” he whispered.

“I don’t know why this is happening.” She shook her head. “That isn’t true, I do know. It’s the move. She had to leave her home, her school, her friends...”

“Don’t blame yourself. You made the move because you thought in the long run it would be the best thing for her.”

“Right. I thought my parents would...”

“What?”

She shook her head. “Nothing.”

Jack appeared, his eyes full of concern as he studied her now-silent daughter.

“Carson said to bring her to his office so he can do a thorough examination.”

Rebecca nodded and started to reach for her Allie. Isaac gently pushed her aside and lifted her daughter with care, holding her close. The tender look in his eyes almost undid Rebecca’s composure. It wasn’t fair that her child had to deal with this pain, with this illness.

As much as Rebecca knew it wasn’t her fault, her father’s words of accusation still taunted her, telling her that Allie suffered for her mother’s sins.

“She’s going to be okay,” Isaac assured her as they headed for the door.

She nodded, unable to speak for fear tears would begin to fall and never stop. She’d been alone for so long. Her aunt had been ill for several years before her death. And afterward it had been easier to make it just her and Allie against the world.

After only a day in Hope, she was beginning to see how wrong she’d been. They did need people in their lives. They needed more than the safety net of knowing her parents were nearby.

She didn’t need Isaac West, she just needed people. Maybe that would be her reason for staying in Hope. She and Allie would no longer be alone. They would have a community that surrounded them and cared for them.

But for some reason, that thought made her feel all the more lonely.

Chapter Five (#ub578e4dd-336f-5012-825d-c75366f888e2)

Monday morning, a full week after her arrival in Hope, Rebecca sat in a chair in the center of what would soon be her salon. She’d dropped Allie off at school, made a stop at the feed store, where she’d found a good selection of interior paints, and then she’d called her parents.