Page 8 of Holiday Grief

His goading made her huff and he laughed. Seeing her begin to relax, especially in his company, made all the drives out here to her farm more than worth it. In the last few months, those visits had become more frequent, and now he was out here at least a couple of times a week.

“You're impossible,” she huffed, making him laugh all over again.

“Tell me which sink needs fixing, Jas,” he said as he nudged her out of the way and closed the front door. When she’d called last night to tell him that one of her sinks was backing up and overflowing and asked if maybe he could come and help, he’d about jumped up and down cheering.

Finally.

He’d earned her trust enough that she was now comfortable asking him for help. He knew she had maintenance staff who could fix this for her, but he also knew while she’d ask them to do something on the property letting anyone into her home was hard for her.

“Kitchen,” she replied as the three of them headed for the kitchen, Fauna bouncing on ahead. The now six-month-old puppy had been working hard on her training as had Jasmine, and she was well on her way to becoming a well-trained guard dog.

In the kitchen, he headed straight for the sink while Fauna trotted over to her bed and resumed chewing on a toy wand, and Jasmine stood in the middle of the room wringing her hands nervously.

If there was one thing he’d learned it was not to push her. When she was ready, she’d admit whatever was going on with her. For now, he just got to work on fixing her sink.

“Umm, I was thinking, since you're here, and it’ll take you a bit to fix the sink, and it’s getting close to lunchtime, maybe you want me to fix you something to eat before you go?” Jasmine finally asked.

Since his back was to her, Jasmine didn't see his grin or the relief he felt.

He was making progress.

Patience.

All he had to do was be patient, continue earning Jasmine’s trust, and then when she was ready he’d ask her out on a date.

Although this felt kind of like a date and he knew from the anxious waves flowing off her Jasmine felt the same way.

“I'd love to stay and have lunch with you.”

Chapter Three

December 19th

11:03 A.M.

It was totally crazy given that she owned and ran a Christmas farm which was of course geared for kids and families, but children made Jasmine nervous.

No, nervous wasn’t a strong enough word.

They totally freaked her out.

It wasn’t that she disliked them, quite the opposite in fact. She found kids to be intelligent, empathetic, curious, and full of life and energy. She liked them a whole lot but being around them stirred up memories she’d rather forget.

Memories it was getting harder and harder to keep buried.

All because of the man she was going to see.

Adam had been a constant in her life these last seven months. Honestly, she didn't know what she would have done without him. Bit by bit he had earned her trust with his patience and steadfastness. Their relationship had long since moved from cop and victim of crime to friendship. And now …

Now it felt like more.

Felt like too much.

That might not be as terrifying as it was if he didn't have a daughter. A sweet, adorable little four-year-old named Claire.

Claire who was sweet, sassy, and bubbly and for some completely unknown reason had become immediately taken with Jasmine the moment they met. It had happened by accident about two months ago. After putting off hiring a new Santa for her farm because she couldn’t handle doing it after what happened last time, she’d reached the deadline. If she didn't hire someone, she’d miss the entire Christmas season, and that meant she might as well give up her farm.

Since she couldn’t do that, she’d reached out to Adam who had readily agreed to do the interviews for her. Only when he’d come over his babysitter had fallen through because his mom had come down with the flu, so he’d brought along his daughter.

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