Page 1 of Merry Christmas, Cowboy (Home to Texas #2)

N icole Russell walked her class out to the pickup line at Honeysuckle Elementary, her fourteen kindergarten students eager to greet their mom or dad.

It was an especially cold December afternoon, even for Last Stand, Texas.

Late last night, they’d had an unexpected snowstorm, enough white powder to blanket the streets and make for a frosty landscape.

This morning, her students had been thrilled to slosh through the snow.

It was an unusual sight and one worthy of all the hoopla.

Nicole was careful to make sure the little ones put on their jackets before going outside for pickup.

The cars drove up and one by one, Nicole escorted the child to their parent.

She knew many of the adults from childhood, so as she handed them off, she smiled and waved.

Too often she’d receive a sympathetic look in return.

Still. It had been three solid months since she’d been left at the altar in the church just a few blocks away.

Three months since her beautiful one-of-a-kind wedding gown had been tossed aside.

Three months since the food had spoiled at the reception that didn’t happen.

How could she have been so wrong about Johnny Dupree? How could she have not seen it coming?

Don’t dwell. Don’t dwell, Nic.

She handed Donald Collins off to his mom. “He had a great day, today,” she said.

“Thank you, Miss Russell. It’s good to hear. How are you doing?” Mrs. Collins gave her a head tilt , the one she dreaded.

“Just fine,” she replied. “Have a great rest of your day.”

She loved the town, but she didn’t want to be everyone’s pity case. Small towns were like that, and Mrs. Collins along with the rest of them was being kind and caring. But why couldn’t they move on, like she was trying to do?

She couldn’t dwell, Christmas was coming and it was her favorite time of year. She needed the diversion, looked forward to it. All she had to do now was finish planning the Honeysuckle Holiday Fundraiser.

When Paulette Sanchez pulled up to the curb, she guided her newest student, Cody Brown to the car. “Look, Cody. Here’s your ride.”

She ducked her head down as she helped Cody into the car seat. “Hi, Paulette.”

Paulette was a high school senior, and the daughter of Honeysuckle’s school principal, helping out by driving Cody back and forth to school, while his uncle Garrett worked at Cottonwood Ranch. There was sometimes babysitting involved, from what Nicole gathered.

“Hi, Miss Russell. How did Cody do in school today?”

“He’s been fascinated with the snow. All the kids are. It’s quite a treat, right, Cody?”

The dark-haired boy nodded.

“I agree. I don’t remember it ever snowing in Last Stand. It’s pretty awesome,” Paulette said. “So I can tell Mr. Brown that Cody is doing well and doesn’t need any extra help with anything? He asks me at drop-off every day.”

“Right now, Cody is keeping pace with the class, but I’d be happy to speak with him if he needs reassurance.” She glanced at the boy and he gave her a shy smile. “I did send a couple of notes to Mr. Brown this week about the fundraiser. Did he mention it to you?”

Paulette shook her head. “No, he never mentioned a note.”

“I gave them to him, Miss Russell,” Cody answered from the back seat.

“I’m sure you did, Cody,” she said softly.

“He’s really busy and all, fixing up the ranch.”

“I know he is. Maybe I’ll send him another note. Well, good-bye now. See you on Monday, Cody.”

“Bye, Miss Russell.”

Once all the kids were picked up, her friend Julie, who taught second grade, slipped her arm through Nicole’s. “All done for the day?”

“Yes, how about you?”

“I’m all done too. We should head on over to the meeting. It’s about to start. We’ll grab some coffee to warm us up.”

“I know, right. I’ve been cold all day.” A shiver ran through her as she headed to the teacher’s lounge with Julie. “It’s amazing that we got snow last night.”

“Right, snow in Last Stand. It’s sort of a miracle. It’s too bad it happened in the wee hours of the morning. None of us got to see the snow fall.”

“It came as quite a surprise when I woke up. It’s really beautiful seeing everything coated in white.”

After grabbing coffee in the teacher’s lounge, they sat down at a table and greeted two other teachers and several PTA members, the Honeysuckle Elementary School’s fundraising committee.

This was Nicole’s third year on the committee, and somehow, she’d been wrangled to head it up this time.

She wanted to do it justice. They had thirteen families in need and it was important to give them a good start into the new year.

Nicole led the discussion, the PTA president taking notes as they touched base about how the progress was going.

“Do we have permission to use the Cottonwood property?” one member asked.

Nicole nibbled on her lips. “Not yet. I haven’t heard back from the new owner.

But being Randolph Brown’s nephew, I figured it wouldn’t be a problem.

Rand had donated his property for the past five years, ever since we’ve started doing this.

Hopefully, Garrett Brown, who inherited the ranch from his uncle, will follow suit. ”

“That place is perfect,” another committee member said. “Cottonwood Ranch isn’t too far from town, and being a nonworking ranch means we have full use of all the facilities.”

“I hope it won’t be a problem,” Cathy Jacoby said. “Mr. Brown has been coming into our store a lot, picking up supplies, and my Wes says he’s quiet, businesslike and never cracks a smile. Not even a polite one and we all know Wes’s corny sense of humor.”

Nicole smiled. Wes Jacoby ran the local hardware store and she’d never walked out of that store without a chuckle.

Julie twisted her mouth. “Maybe we should nail that down before we get ahead of ourselves. We’re on a tight schedule and if he’s not agreeable, we’ll have to come up with another place really fast. Everyone knows, our tiny auditorium isn’t big enough, and the parking lot is hardly conducive to what we have planned.

The families love the sleigh rides in Rand’s old wagon, as well as the ornament making and tumbleweed snowman contest.”

“I’ll get right on it,” Nicole said.

She figured her polite little notes weren’t doing the trick. She needed a better plan of action. She’d taken what would’ve been her honeymoon off to recover from the shock and humiliation of being left at the altar and she’d never gotten the chance to meet Cody’s uncle after school started.

“Maybe more than a note this time,” Julie suggested. “Why not go over there and ask him in person?”

Nicole didn’t think it was a bad idea. The kids had no school tomorrow, a student-free day and she had no big plans, no hot dates.

She scoffed at the notion. She couldn’t even wrap her head around dating anyone ever again.

Both Julie and her dear friend, Taylor, said she was being dramatic; she shouldn’t give up on her future.

Maybe they had a point. But she had every right to be dramatic.

It wasn’t every day a woman got stood up by her groom because he wasn’t sure he loved her enough to marry her.

And he wanted to get his head on straight.

Geesh. How had she been so blind?

“I think I will,” she said, getting back to the important matter at hand. The event was to take place in three weeks and she had been negligent in nailing this down. “I’ll pay Cody and his uncle a friendly little visit tomorrow.”

After all, what was the worst that could happen? He couldn’t very well run her off his property, could he?

*

Garrett stood at the gates of Cottonwood, waiting for little Cody to come home from school.

Usually, Paulette would drive him right up to the front door, but today, he wanted to surprise Cody with a greeting.

The boy had been through too much lately, and Garrett couldn’t love him any more than he already did.

He only hoped he was enough for the boy.

He didn’t have any experience in raising a child and when his twin sister Carrie died so unexpectedly, he was the only one close enough to Cody to raise him.

He couldn’t imagine any distant relative taking him in.

Cody deserved to be loved. It was just that Garrett wasn’t sure he could be both father and mother to the boy.

Did he have the financial means to raise little Cody right?

It weighed heavily on him. He’d been working hard to flip the ranch house he’d inherited from Uncle Randolph.

His plan was to put the entire property on the market, so he and Cody could finally settle down in Northern California.

He’d bought a house there. It was a fixer-upper in a great neighborhood that was ready for a remodel.

The sale of Cottonwood Ranch would give him peace of mind that Cody’s financial future would be secure.

Paulette’s white Honda came into view and Garrett lifted his hand to her. She waved back as she slowed the car to a stop and rolled down the window. “Hi Paulette. How’d it go today?”

“Really well. Miss Russell said Cody is keeping up with the class. She did ask me about a note she sent you.”

Garrett rubbed the back of his neck. “Oh yeah. Haven’t gotten around to answering her yet.

I’ll try to remember on Monday.” Or not.

He didn’t want to get involved with the community any more than he had to.

He didn’t want Cody to get attached to being here.

He’d had enough transition in his life already, with his mother dying and having to start kindergarten in a new place.

He walked to the back of the car and opened the door. Cody, being an independent kid, had already unbuckled himself out of the car seat and put on his jacket and his backpack. Every new thing that Cody learned swelled Garrett’s heart with pride.

“Hey, Code. Good to see you, buddy.”

“Hi.”

“How was school today?”

“Good.” He bounced out of the SUV and high-fived him.