Page 9 of Merry Christmas, Cowboy (Home to Texas #2)

They hit other game booths, ate warmed cinnamon buns, and entered in a few more contests. Cody had fun playing, even though he didn’t win a prize.

“Look, Cody, there’s some of your classmates.” Nicole pointed to a table where they were making paper snowflakes. “Looks like there’s room for you.”

“Can I? I don’t know how.”

“Of course, you can. And I’ll show you. C’mon, let’s find a few seats.”

Garrett should have been installing his granite countertop instead of cutting paper into snowflakes, but Cody was having fun, and Garrett didn’t mind the company.

Not at all. Nicole was good with children.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise, she taught kindergarten, yet he admired her gift, her spirit.

She was stronger than she thought she was, and a whole lot of fun.

“Cody, great job.” She praised Cody’s first snowflake. “Looks a whole lot better than Uncle Garrett’s.”

Cody giggled.

“Hey!” He took his eyes off the paper he’d been cutting, to give her a hard look, but her eyes were twinkling and the sweet smile on her face, kind of hit him in the gut. “This is my first snowflake too. A little praise would be nice.”

“Your first?” she asked. “Well then, you’re doing pretty good for a rookie.”

After making three snowflakes each, they walked further down the street, looking at vendors’ goods. From handmade quilts and pottery to Santa’s Village and personalized ornaments, Cody took it all in, finding something interesting in every booth.

About half an hour later, Cody put his hand on his stomach. “I’m hungry,” he said, giving Garrett an expectant look. He glanced at his watch. It was approaching the dinner hour. “How about we pick up some sandwiches and take them back to the house?”

“Absolutely not,” Nicole said. “You’re both having dinner with me. I’ll make you a home-cooked meal.”

“Okay!” Cody nearly jumped out of his skin.

Garrett shook his head. “You don’t have to do that.”

“Are you kidding? You need to eat something that isn’t microwaved. Both of you do. And after cutting your workday short to help me with the car, I’d really like to return the favor.”

Garrett tugged on his ear, looking at two hopeful faces. The truth was, he would love a home-cooked meal. Especially one from Nicole Russell. “Are you a good cook?” he asked, giving her a wink.

“Uncle Garrett!”

The boy was outraged, until he winked at him too.

“You tell me, after I’ve made you my mama’s family recipe of fried chicken and bacon mashed potatoes with yeast rolls.”

Garrett’s stomach was growling already.

“Can we, Uncle Garrett? Can we?”

“Thank you. I guess you’ll have two more for dinner tonight.”

She clasped her hands together. “Wonderful. I don’t live far from here. You can follow me in your truck.”

A short time later, they entered Nicole’s apartment. It was good-sized for a woman living alone, with two bedrooms, a decent working kitchen and a comfortable living area. Everything seemed pristine and tidy and cheerful, Nicole’s style of homey.

A Christmas tree sat in one corner of the room, lights bright and twinkling. Cody ran over to the tree and peered with boyhood wonder at the decorations. Every single branch held ornaments or ribbon or candy canes. “It’s pretty neat, Uncle Garrett.”

“It is.”

“Thanks,” Nicole said. “I put a tree up the first of December, every year.”

Cody turned his head to peer up at him. “When do we get our tree, Uncle Garrett?”

“That’s a good question, Code. I just don’t know where we’d put it, with all the work going on in the house right now.”

The boy frowned and Garrett felt like a heel.

Nicole put her arm around Cody’s shoulder. “You know something, I think I have the perfect place to put a little tree, that’s if your uncle Garrett thinks it’s okay.”

“You do?” Cody asked.

Garrett gave her a curious look. She might have just saved the day. “Where?”

“Not telling, but it’s someplace Santa is sure to find. Hey, Cody, have you ever played 123Math before?”

Cody shook his head. “What’s that?”

“I’ll show you. Come on over to my desk.

You can play it while I make dinner.” She sat him down in the other corner of the living room and showed him the basics on her computer, insisting he give it a try.

It didn’t take but a minute for the boy to be totally immersed in the game. And he was doing math .

A little bit later, Garrett was standing beside Nicole in the kitchen, cutting up lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers for a salad.

She’d put on a white apron, trimmed in lime green and dotted with shining red apples that read No Matter How You Slice It, Teachers Are The Best .

Before she’d started cooking, she’d put her blonde hair up a wispy bun at the top of her head.

She was busy, intent on making fresh rolls, the scent of flour and yeast making his stomach growl.

If she heard, she didn’t mention it. It was true, Garrett had a healthy appetite and lately, due to remodeling the kitchen, they hadn’t eaten properly.

Which was why Cody jumped at the chance for a home-cooked meal.

“So, what do you do when you’re not teaching?” Suddenly he was anxious to find out more about her.

“I, uh.” Her shoulders slumped and she immediately transformed her face from somber to perky. But he’d caught her in a sad moment. “I’ve been focused on the fundraiser lately.”

“Before that?” he asked. He got that she’d had a rough few months. “Do you have family close by?”

“I do. My mom and dad live just about thirty miles from here. They’re retired, and travel some. You know, I think they’re really enjoying their retirement.”

“That’s good. Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

“I have a big brother. He’s in the military. He’s a sergeant in the army. He should be back in the States soon.” She bit her lip, and nodded her head. “Sam’s a really good guy.”

“You miss him?”

“I just want him safe, you know?” She met his eyes for a second. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to… here I am going on and on about my brother when you—”

“It’s okay. Can’t be helped.” He lowered his voice so Cody wouldn’t overhear. “That’s all I wanted for my sister, for her and Cody to be safe.”

She began shaking her head. “I can’t imagine.”

He spoke softly, “I don’t want Cody to ever forget his mom, but there’s a fine line that I’m not sure I’m walking correctly.”

She wiped her hands on a dish towel. “You don’t want to bring her up too much, fearing he’ll miss her even more, but you don’t want his memories of her to be blurred, either.”

He stared at her for a long moment. Her ability to read a situation stunned him. “How do you know—” He sighed and looked away for a moment.

Nicole’s perception was too keen, too insightful and, right at the moment, he didn’t want her to see how much she affected him.

“Cody seems to be doing okay.”

“He prays every night for the snow to fall. He wants to catch snowflakes just like he and Carrie would do. I think he has this notion that if it snows, it’ll be a sign from his mother.”

“Ah. That makes sense. He wants a reminder of something special they used to do together.”

“I think his heart’s going to be broken. That’s why I’m going along with all this.” He made a sweeping gesture with his arms. “To keep him busy and distract him.”

“To make this Christmas the best it can be for him,” she added, reminding him of their deal.

“That too.”

She took hold of his hand and plopped a whisk in it. “Hey, how are you at mashing potatoes?”

Mentally, he thanked her for changing the subject. It was far too heavy a conversation for a woman who’d just wanted to feed them a good meal. “I can mash with the best of them.”

“Good, you whip and I’ll add butter and bacon.”

“Now, you’re speaking my language.”

The mood lightened up after Nicole put on Christmas music during dinner.

The two Browns, well, technically Cody was still a Wentworth, scarfed up the meal.

Cody had a second helping of fried chicken and mashed potatoes.

And when Garrett eyed the yeast rolls, Nicole didn’t hesitate to put another one on his plate.

“Don’t you know, they’re carb free?” she said.

“Are they now?”

“For tonight only.”

“Okay, well in that case, pass the honey butter.”

“Glad to.” She gave him a sweet smile that would’ve knocked him to his knees, if he’d been standing.

After dinner, Cody went back to the 123Math game and Nicole and Garrett cleaned up the dishes, with her doing most of the talking.

Garrett didn’t mind, she always had something interesting to say and he liked the sound of her voice.

She told him about how she’d lived in Last Stand all of her life and while some of her friends couldn’t wait to leave the small town behind, she’d never had any desire to go.

Her mother had been a teacher and because Nicole also wanted to make a difference in the world, she’d taken up the same profession.

She enjoyed her students, was happy to give them the tools they needed to move on and learn.

“What about you?” she asked softly. “How did you come to flip houses?”

“My father was a carpenter. He worked hard, too hard, if you ask me, but I learned from him and I found myself doing little projects around the house. My mom had an artistic eye, and when I was old enough, my father and I renovated our old house to my mother’s vision.

I guess I got the bug from there, because after that, I started my own business. I had a partner for a time, but she—”

“She?”

“Yeah, she. Jodie and I didn’t work well together.”

“Why not?”

“The truth?”

“Always,” Nicole said.

Of course, she’d want the truth. Nicole didn’t know any other way to roll.

“She was too bossy and too beautiful. And not for me.”

Nicole frowned in the cutest way. Come to think of it, Jodie wasn’t nearly as appealing as Nicole, which should send up big red warning flags.

“A deadly combination, I suppose,” she said.