Page 20 of His Christmas Star
“Your nickname in high school was the Grinch,” Heaven said with a brow raised.
“I didn’t think you knew that,” I said with a chuckle. “Okay, so I hated it then, but I was an angsty teenager whose father killed her mother, and another innocent woman who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was already ostracized for my hands, and then suddenly, I had to deal with an angry community too. I earned the right to hate the holiday.”
“Fair,” Heaven said. “What about now?”
“Now, I’m just mad at the Christmas romance moviemakers for selling me a Christmas cowboy that’s never going to show.”
“He showed,” Dawn said, picking up Sammy from her carrier when she started fussing. “You’re just looking in the wrong place.”
I tipped my head in confusion.
“She means Nash,” Heaven said to fill in the blank.
“What?” I asked so dramatically I almost fell off the chair. “Jo-Jo Nash as my Christmas cowboy. No. That’s a solid no. Joe is five years older than me and could have any woman in this town. He doesn’t want me.”
“The survey says X,” Dawn said, making a noise that had us all laughing. “If he didn’t want you, he wouldn’t come around here every other day looking for you. Just sayin’.”
“How about if I leave love up to the Christmas magic and we get back to planning this wedding?” I asked, working hard not to roll my eyes. I couldn’t believe that just came out of my mouth, but it seemed to work when Heaven perked up.
She grabbed a pen and glanced around the table. “Okay, where were we?”
The four of them jumped back into the wedding and dance planning while I stayed quiet. I might be the youngest one at the table, but I had more experience with one thing than any of them combined. Unrequited love. It was a real thing. I had to be okay with knowing that’s what I had for Joe, and it would never be anything more.
Is it unrequited, though?
I groaned at that little voice and stuffed my mouth full of Beau’s biscuits, so I didn’t have to answer it.
The sound of boots crunching on the snow warned me that I was about to get a visitor. I patted Starburst’s nose and turned to the barn door, expecting Caleb or one of the ranch hands. Instead, Joe stepped inside the barn.
“Is Daddy Nash okay?” I asked before he said a word.
“Of course. Why would you think otherwise?”
I glanced at my watch and back to him. “Because it’s nearly midnight, and you’re standing in my barn.”
He stuck his hands in his back pockets and bounced up on his toes. “I just got done with work, and I saw the lights on in the barn on my way by.”
“Nice try, Joe. You can’t see the barn from the road.”
His eyes lit up when he grinned, and it brought one to my lips. It was nice to see him more like himself the last few times we’d been together. “Okay, you got me. I wanted to see you. I checked your cabin, and that’s when I noticed the lights on in the barn.”
“It was my turn to ride the ridges before bed,” I explained, pointing at Starburst. “It was a quiet, peaceful ride in the snow tonight.”
“Would you be up for a walk in it?” I noticed he sounded almost nervous about asking. “I could check out the security detail I’ll have to do for the community dance. It’s dark, but it will be the night of the party as well, so I might as well familiarize myself with it now.”
“The dance is at Bison Ridge. That’s where your security will be focused.”
“True, but we can’t leave this ranch unattended. All the ranch hands will be at Bison Ridge, which leaves Heavenly Lane vulnerable. Not to mention, if people decide to park down here and then try to go over the ridge to get to the party, we could have some serious issues with people getting lost.”
“I didn’t think of that,” I agreed. “This whole thing sounds like it’s more trouble than it’s worth for you guys.”
“The extra work is worth it. It’s important for law enforcement to be seen as part of the community, and these types of events help us with that image. They allow us early contact with kids in a positive way, which makes them less likely to get into trouble during their teen years.”
“That never crossed my mind. You know, Bison Ridge doesn’t have enough parking for all the cars that will be coming in for the dance. Do you have a central staging area where you can shuttle people in?”
“Blaze planned to plow a parking area on the approach to the ranch. People would have to walk, but it was the best we could do considering how many people will come out for this.”
“What if I said I had a sleigh?”
