Snowfall on Haven Point (18 page)

“I bumped into her at the dollar store. We were both buying wrapping paper, scissors and tape. It was funny—we had almost the exact same items in our basket!”

Christmas
was
only a week away. No doubt they weren't the only ones in town in need of those particular items.

“We got talking about the Lights on the Lake parade and she mentioned that Christopher hasn't seen it yet as this is his first Christmas in Haven Point, so of course I offered to let them sit with us. With Mike being on the town council, we get VIP seats for up to ten guests and we've got plenty of room, since otherwise it would just be the six of us.”

“The six of
us
?” Where did that come from?

“Yes! You were planning to go, weren't you? I hope so, because I've already talked to Andrea about picking you up.”

“Andrea.”

Apparently he wasn't capable of doing anything but echoing his mother, but he couldn't seem to make sense of her words. Hearing Andrea's name made him ache all over again, to remember their kiss and how perfect she had felt in his arms.

“Well, yes. This is her and her darling children's first Christmas in Haven Point as well, which means they haven't seen the Lights on the Lake parade, either, have they?”

“I suppose that's right.”

“I'm so happy she's taken such good care of you these last few days. Having them along to sit with us in our VIP seating area is a tiny thing, really. A very small way of repaying all she has done, but I think that cute little boy and girl of hers will just eat it up. Don't you agree?”

He pictured Chloe and Will, eyes bright as they watched the wildly illuminated boats float past on the last big event on the lake before the shallow edges froze up in January.

His mother was matchmaking, he realized, doing everything she could to throw him together with Andrea Montgomery. And it was his own damn fault.

“So let me get this straight. You called Andie and told her she could sit with you in the VIP seating as long as she stops first to pick up your poor helpless son.”

“Not in so many words.”

“But that was the gist.”

“Did I do something wrong? I thought you would be happy for the chance to spend a little more time with her.”

This was his own fault, he thought again. Andie had warned him what would happen if he intentionally fed his mother misinformation. Now she thought the two of them had a budding romance and she would consider it her maternal duty to twist and turn every circumstance so she could facilitate a relationship that didn't exist.

What was he supposed to do now? If he told Charlene the two of them were merely neighbors, she would be upset at his deliberate deception, yes. Worse, she would feel obligated to jump in and smother him with her solicitude.

The alternative meant going along with the pretense he had created. He was stuck.

Rock, meet hard place.

“Sure. It will be fun.”

As fun as somebody running you down with a stolen SUV on a cold December night.

“I agree. Mike and I will have hot drinks and snacks for the parade, and then we're invited to a party at Ben and McKenzie's house to watch the boats sail back from the warmth of their family room, the one with the big windows overlooking Redemption Bay. Kenzie said dinner will be provided. Are you sure that won't be too much for you?” she asked, voice suddenly anxious.

He had a broken leg. He wasn't dying.

“I don't know. Maybe I better bring an oxygen tank, just in case.”

As usual, Charlene missed the joke. “I didn't see you using oxygen the other day when I stopped by,” she said, her voice perfectly serious.

He immediately felt guilty. It really wasn't fair to yank her chain when she was already so concerned about his health.

“I'm just kidding, Mom. I don't need oxygen. I'm fine, actually. Better every day.”

“Why do my children all find such delight in teasing me?” she asked, presumably to the universe in general.

“Because we love you. And because you're an easy mark.”

She huffed out a breath, but when she spoke, she sounded like her usual cheerful self. “I'll see you tomorrow evening, then. Dress warmly, but the forecast calls for only a little more snow tonight, and then it's supposed to melt right off tomorrow by noon. I understand we've got a warm front coming in tomorrow. That will be perfect for the festival, won't it?”

“I guess.”

“I don't know what time Andrea planned to pick you up. If you don't hear from her tomorrow, you might want to give her a call.”

He didn't. He needed to put as much distance between them as possible—and spending the evening in the company of her and her very cute children was going to make that increasingly difficult.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

D
ID
SHE
HAVE
EVERYTHING
?
Blanket, hand warmers, snacks, water bottles, extra mittens and hats.

She looked in the cargo area of her SUV to make sure she had everything on her mental list. When she couldn't think of anything she'd forgotten—though, doubtless, she had—she pushed the power button and the hatch door slid with a whoosh.

Though she sometimes missed the minivan she used to drive, she had come to love her new small SUV.

Her first Idaho mountain snowstorm a few months earlier had reinforced that winters around Lake Haven definitely warranted a four-wheel drive. As a result, she had traded the minivan she and Jason purchased together after Will was born for a late-model used vehicle from a dealership in Shelter Springs.

It was the first time she had purchased a car on her own, as she had never been able to afford her own vehicle when she was living on her own and going to school. Somehow it had seemed like one more rite of passage into widowhood.

New town, new house, new vehicle. New life. Sometimes it seemed Chloe and Will were all that remained of the marriage she thought would endure forever.

She paused on her way back into the house to breathe past the familiar grief, aware it had become a mere shadow of what it once was.

As if sensing her distress, Sadie nudged her leg. The little dog planted her haunches on the sidewalk to give her a quizzical look.

“I'm okay. Relax.”

From the moment they'd brought her home from the shelter, Sadie seemed to have a particular gift for sensing when one of her new family members was experiencing an excess of emotion and was in need of extra attention.

The dog waited for her to gain control, then with a wag of her tail, Sadie scampered to the rear of the SUV and waited there expectantly.

“You can't go, sweetie. I'm sorry.”

The dog's expressive eyes turned reproachful. Andie would swear the dog understood every word she said.

“I would take you if I could, I promise, but we're supposed to go to a party afterward. Lots of boring conversation. You wouldn't enjoy it.”

The dog took a few steps to where Andie stood on the sidewalk, then returned to the liftgate of the SUV.

“Why can't we just take her?” Chloe begged from the backseat. “We can keep her on the leash the whole time!”

“Yeah,” Will said. “I bet she would
love
seeing the boats.”

“Not tonight,” she said. “We can't take Sadie to McKenzie's house after the parade.”

“Why not?” Chloe begged. “She could play with Hondo and Rika! It will be like a doggie playdate!”

She couldn't deny, she was tempted by their entreaties. All of them loved having the little dog along. In this case, though, she was already going to be taking Marshall with them. She was nervous enough about spending the evening with him. She didn't need to add the chaos and further responsibility of taking along a little dog.

She shouldn't be so nervous. She knew it and had been trying all afternoon to tell herself all the reasons her anxiety was ridiculous. Still, she couldn't seem to shake it off.

After that stunning kiss, she wasn't in a hurry to spend the evening with him, especially when his mother thought they had a budding relationship.

Oh, she wanted to
smack
him for giving Charlene that impression.

“Not tonight,” she repeated firmly. “When you're a guest of someone, it is poor manners to take an uninvited dog to their home, especially when there will be others there who might not love dogs. We'll make arrangements for a playdate with Hondo and Paprika another day. Now, we need to hurry or we'll miss the beginning of the parade. Sorry, Sadie. Not you,” she said to the dog.

When she scooped up the little brown-and-white Havachon, Sadie wagged her tail harder, apparently convinced Andie had changed her mind.

Her tail wagging turned into a whine when Andie carried her back inside and set her down in the family room.

“We'll be home before you know it. Take care of the house for us. Both of you, behave,” she said to the room in general.

Sadie gave a disgruntled sigh and sadly made her way to her favorite rug. A moment later, a silky black feline head with green eyes poked out from under the sofa. The cat they had also picked up at the shelter—the one Chloe had named Mrs. Finnegan, for reasons that escaped Andie—stalked over to stretch out beside the dog.

After more than a month, the cat was still shy with all of them except Chloe. Mrs. Finnegan adored the little dog, however, and the two of them seemed to be best friends, which set her mind at ease when she had to leave them alone.

Satisfied they could entertain each other, she returned to the vehicle, double-checked the children's seat belts, then backed out of the driveway, butterflies chasing each other around in her stomach.

Though she had spoken briefly on the phone with Marshall earlier that day to make arrangements for picking him up, she hadn't seen the man in two days, not since the memorable afternoon of that stunning kiss.

The kiss had replayed through her head dozens of times since then. She hadn't slept well and her dreams had been wild, tangled affairs, all featuring the hard-eyed sheriff. She awoke each morning feeling restless, achy and out of sorts.

She had to stop this, especially as she understood completely that she could never fall for a man like him.

The fact that he was in law enforcement was a huge part of it but not the only obstacle, she had come to realize over the last few days.

If she ever allowed another man into her life, he would have to be spectacular father material. Her children deserved nothing less, especially since their own father had been somewhat lacking in that department.

The thought made her feel disloyal, though she had accepted it as hard truth. Jason had loved their children but hadn't seemed particularly motivated to interact with them.

When Chloe was a baby and then a toddler, Andie had chalked up his disinterest in their child to age and perhaps also that Chloe was very much a girlie girl who wanted to play with dolls and have tea parties and dress up like a princess.

After Will came along, though, Jason's detachment continued and she had been forced to accept that he might never be a super engaged, hands-on father, at least not to their young children.

He loved the
idea
of children and proudly showed off their pictures on his desk and around the department. He wasn't as crazy about the hard, endless, usually thankless work required to nurture them well.

In his spare time, he preferred to watch sports or escape to the golf course or ride motorcycles with his buddies. He would begrudgingly consent to “watch” them for her when she needed a break or to get her hair done or finish a work project, but he didn't actively seek out opportunities to engage with them.

She had come to the sobering and enlightening realization after he died that the actual logistics of parenting as a widowed mother hadn't differed significantly from when Jason was ostensibly still there to help.

She was older and wiser this time. If she ever grew serious enough to let someone into their lives on a regular basis, she would choose a man who didn't simply tolerate her children because he loved
her
but who loved them as well for the remarkable humans they were becoming.

A gruff, taciturn sheriff would not even make the first cut.

“Can we come inside with you?” Will asked when she pulled into Marshall's driveway.

“No. Stay in your chairs. I'll just be a moment.”

Before she could even open her door, though, Marshall was making his way down the few steps of his porch.

The late afternoon glowed in his dark hair. Even on crutches, he looked big and rough and masculine. The silly butterflies started dancing around inside her again, until she wanted to smack them.

“Who knew you would be so excited to watch the Lights on the Lake parade that you would literally be waiting for us on the doorstep?”

He made a face. “Funny. I just didn't see the point in making you come all the way to the door when I was ready to go.”

He was the sort of man who would charge through life. She admired that, especially as she still had much room for improvement in that area.

“Watch for ice. It stays pretty shady on this side of the house.”

“Christopher cleared most of the snow last night and the warm temperatures this afternoon did the rest.”

The night was unusually warm for December. She wouldn't call it balmy, but it was not at all unpleasant.

“Isn't this weather strange?”

“Don't get used to it. You know the saying about the calm before the storm? We often get a warm spell just before a big snow. I've heard we're in for a serious storm tomorrow night and Monday.”

“I hope we get a white Christmas.”

“From the sound of it, you'll get that and more.”

He reached her vehicle before she could answer and she hurried to open the door for him and offer help if he needed.

He seemed to be moving around even better on the crutches than he had two days earlier and slid in easily. He tucked the crutches at his feet, with the ends extending between their two seats.

“Hi, Marshall!” Will chirped from his booster seat.

“Hi!” Chloe added her voice.

“Hey, Will. Miss Chloe. Been decorating any Christmas trees lately?”

They both giggled.

“Nope. Just yours.” Chloe gave her sweet smile.

Andie couldn't hear Marshall's response as she moved around the vehicle and slid in behind the wheel. When she climbed in, Will was talking.

“Guess what? Santa Claus comes in only one more week!” her son exclaimed, as if nobody else on earth knew Christmas Eve was on the way.

“Is that right?”

“Yep. We only have seven more days left on our 'vent calendar.”

“What are you asking Santa to bring?”

It was the sort of question guaranteed to keep two kids chattering the entire drive from Riverbend Road down to the lakeshore and the downtown park where most of the festivities would be.

“Oooh, look!” Chloe breathed when the park and all its holiday lights came into view. “It's so beautiful!”

The long, narrow lakeside park served as the nadir of Haven Point's holiday decorations. While the town itself and the property owners and downtown merchants all did an excellent job of holiday decorating, with wreaths on all the vintage-looking streetlamps and lights in all the windows, here the holiday spirit was in overdrive. Each massive pine tree was lit up with hundreds of thousands of lights, and bulbs were strung from tree to tree. In an open space of the park, a life-size winter village provided interest the entire month.

She and the children and Sadie had walked through the park one evening in November, just after the lights had been turned on. Now the entire north section of the park was covered with more lights and several rows of booths that would be selling crafts, food and gifts.

“This is gonna be so awesome!” Will exclaimed, just about jumping out of his booster seat with excitement.

Marshall turned in his seat and did something wholly unexpected. He smiled. Not just a perfunctory, casual sort of thing, but a full-on, ladies-grab-your-britches smile, overflowing with warmth and delight.

Those butterflies could hardly contain themselves. Andie wanted to simply stare at him all evening, but she swallowed and forced herself to move. She parked, then climbed out and walked around the vehicle, wishing the air were a little more brisk to cool her down.

He didn't need her help, apparently, and was already pulling himself to stand, balancing on his good leg, so she turned her attention to the children.

“I'll need both of you to help me carry things,” she said, fumbling for a moment with the key until she found the right button that would release the cargo door.

She handed Chloe one of the blankets and gave Will the small bag of snacks, then reached for the other blankets and the soft-sided cooler with the water bottles.

“I can take the cooler,” Marshall said.

“You're going to have enough trouble navigating through that crowd as it is. It's not heavy at all.”

“Then I should be able to carry it just fine.”

With an implacable expression, he held out a hand. Arguing only made her look foolish, she knew, so she finally handed over the bag, which he pulled on cross-body style, as he had his laptop bag the other day.

“Perfect,” he claimed, though she knew it couldn't possibly be comfortable.

Will looked as if he was ready to race through the crowd at top speed, but Chloe was watching, eyes worried, as Marshall moved slowly on the crutches toward the area of the park where Charlene Bailey told Andie the VIP seating could be found.

“Will and me will go in front of you to make sure everyone gets out of your way,” Chloe announced. “Otherwise you might trip on people.”

“We don't want that, do we?” Marshall said with another one of those potent smiles. “That's a great idea.”

Chloe seemed to relish his approval. “Come on, Will,” she ordered her brother, then the two of them walked side by side with a slow formality normally reserved for royal standard bearers.

They made quite a procession, she couldn't help thinking with amusement.

“Hey there, Sheriff!” A man with a bald head, thick mustache and leather jacket that made him look like a middle-aged motorcycle bandit waved and offered a friendly smile.

“Dennis. How's it going?”

“Can't complain. But then, I'm not the one on crutches.” The guy guffawed and Marshall smiled in return, before Helen Mickelson, the director of the community center where Andie attended yoga and self-defense classes, stopped to exchange greetings and offer her sympathy for his injury.