Page 48 of Fa-La-La-La Faking It
Once they got to the barn, they didn’t talk much. Jace cleared out one row of trees while Ford loaded up another. Sunlight filtered in through the wide barn doors, casting a soft golden glow over the trees. It was such a stark contrast to the stormy night when they’d moved the lot that Jace’s spirits couldn’t help but lift.
Maybe this Christmas really would turn out to be merry and bright. Maybe, little by little, Gus would embrace the holiday season and he’d get to know his uncle while there was still time. Maybe things with Adaline didn’t really have to come to a screeching halt at midnight on Christmas Eve.
After all, Christmas was supposed to be the season of miracles, wasn’t it?
“Hey, Jace?” Ford’s voice echoed off the knotty pine walls of the barn. “Have you got any more rope? I’m out, and I could use more to tie everything down in the bed of my truck.”
“I’m sure I’ve got some around here someplace,” Jace said as he peeled off his gloves and looked around.
He’d used all the bungee cords he’d brought with him from the farm, along with the rope he’d picked up at the local hardware store in downtown Bluebonnet the morning of the storm. Surely Gus had something they could use.
The workbench on the far left side of the barn was scattered with tools, dusty from years of neglect. He poked around but didn’t find anything. Then his attention snagged on the door to a storage closet behind the table saw.
Jace had forgotten about that door, probably because the storage closet had been strictly off-limits to him as a kid. Gus told him it was filled with tack and horse supplies back from the days he’d raised quarter horses—nothing that would be of interest to a boy who was stuck on a horse farm that no longer had a single pony. Jace had believed him, because why would his uncle lie?
Now, Jace wasn’t so sure.
The Gus he knew as an adult would definitely lie to a child. Even if he’d been telling the truth and the closet contained nothing but horse tack, there was still a good chance Jace might find something they could use to secure the trees in Jace’s truck. What would Uncle Gus care if he went inside the storage area now, after all this time? Chances were, his uncle would never even find out. Jace would have to clear out the space eventually, anyway, once Uncle Gus was gone and he prepared the property to be sold.
You’re really going to walk away from this place? Again?Didn’t you learn anything the first time around?
Jace pushed that thought away and tugged at the door. It was a slider, and at first, it wouldn’t budge. But once he put some heft behind his effort, it jerked open to reveal a whole side of Gus that Jace knew nothing whatsoever about.
He squinted into the darkness and tried to make sense of what he was seeing. Sure, there was some horse tack, but there was also so much more. Horse show ribbons hung from the rafters, and trophies tarnished with age lined the shelves, alongside dozens of dusty frames, all filled with pictures of the same beautiful woman dressed in riding breeches, a crisp blazer and shiny equestrian boots.
Cardboard boxes had been neatly stacked along the back wall, and when Jace lifted the lid of one of them, he found a delicate wedding veil, yellowed with age.
Jace’s heart nearly stopped. Gus had beenmarried?
No, not possible. Surely Jace would’ve heard about a wife at some point. There had to be another explanation.
He flipped open box after box, looking for answers. There were so many memories locked away in the closet that Jace didn’t know where to focus or how to take it all in.
Then his gaze landed on the one picture that just might explain it all—not a framed horse show portrait, but a simple snapshot with a crease down the middle as if it had once been folded in half and placed into someone’s wallet, like a sentimental treasure. Jace picked it up for closer inspection, and part of the mystery that was Gus Martin clicked neatly in place.
Jace took a deep breath and tried to calm his racing heart. He couldn’t deal with all of this now. Adaline’s brother was waiting for him somewhere in the barn.
He folded along the crease and tucked it into the breast pocket of his flannel shirt just as Ford called out for him.
“Jace? Did you find anything?”
He took one last gulp of air and grabbed a coil of rope from a nearby box of tack. “I’ll be right there.”
Ford’s question snaked its way under his skin.
Had he found anything?
You have no idea.
Chapter Sixteen
Adaline and Fuzzy arrived at Bluebonnet Chapel to meet the rest of the Comfort Paws teams fifteen minutes before Santa photos were scheduled to start. Already, the line of parents and small children filled the vestibule, stretched down the chapel’s front steps and spilled onto the sidewalk.
“Looks like we have our work cut out for us today, Fuzzy,” Adaline whispered as she pressed a kiss to the top of the spaniel’s head and carried him across the street toward the small white building.
Like the Sunday houses in Bluebonnet, the chapel dated back to the 1800s and featured Victorian-style scrollwork along the eaves. With a wreath on the door and swags of evergreen decorating the railing that flanked the steps, it almost looked like a painting or a scene from a Christmas card. The chapel was going to be the perfect setting for Maple and Ford’s Christmas Eve wedding.
Today, however, it was the scene of total holiday chaos. Adaline wove her way through crying infants dressed in reindeer and snowman onesies, past a toddler climbing his mother’s leg like a tree to find Maple, Jenna, Belle and their dogs in a huddle near Santa’s oversize red velvet chair. Notably, said chair sat empty in front of a camera on a tripod, manned by a photographer whose face was nearly as red as the velvet throne.
