Sweet Christmas Kisses (96 page)

“I’m going to make a basket today, Mom,” Ryan said, his eyes shining with excitement as she tried unsuccessfully to smooth his hair before he launched himself out the door. “You’ll be proud of me.”

Cecilia laughed and kissed him. “Of course I will be. I’m proud of you every moment of your life.”

He seemed barely to have heard her. “Okay,” he mumbled as he dashed out the door. Before he climbed into his coach’s minivan with other members of the team, he turned and waved. “Bye, Mom. Bye, Dad. Don’t be late to my game.”

“We’ll be there, son,” Jim called out, coming up behind her, coffee cup in hand.

Cecilia felt the warmth of his presence at her back for just a moment before she moved away. This was going to be hard, she thought. Knowing he was here, in the house, but that he wasn’t here for her.

Her hand on the knob, she turned to face him, wanting to be polite and say good morning. His gaze met hers for a second but then shot past her out the door. His eyes widened, fixed on something over her shoulder, and his face paled.

“Jim, what….?” Whirling around, she saw the coach’s car pulling away and a man and woman coming up the front walk.

The man was tall, wearing a leather jacket and a cowboy hat, his hand protectively under the elbow of the woman with him, a woman who was quite obviously pregnant. They stopped and the man’s face broke into a grin.

“Hello, Jimmy,” he said, stepping forward with his hand out.

Jim was silent for a few seconds, then his voice choked a little as he spoke. “Cam.” He reached for the other man’s hand only to be hauled into a back-slapping hug. The woman reached into her handbag, pulled out a camera and began taking pictures of the two men.

Cecilia, watching from the entryway, saw an expression on Jim’s face she’d never seen before—half joy, half…disbelief? Consternation, she decided. Why did he seem so dismayed?

The two men pulled apart and stood looking at each other.

“What happened to you?” Jim asked, tilting his head back. “We used to look eye to eye.”

“Grew four inches after high school.”

High school? Cecilia blinked. She had never met anyone from Jim’s high school years, or from his home town, for that matter.

The man named Cam reached back and pulled the woman forward. “Jimmy, this is my wife, Billie. And Billie, this is Jim Warwick, the best quarterback the Lucky Break High School Miners ever had.”

Jim lifted a hand deprecatingly. “I had a good team backing me up. I couldn’t have thrown passes if you hadn’t been there to catch them, Cam.”

Cecilia could barely keep her jaw from dropping. She knew Jim had gone to college on a football scholarship, so she should have guessed he’d been good in high school. But he had never talked about those years, never bragged, never mentioned this man who had obviously been a friend.

Jim finally turned to Cecilia. “This is my…my wife, Cecilia.” He pointed up the street. “And that was our son, Ryan, going off to basketball practice. We have a daughter, Yvonne, who is…?” He looked at Cecilia for clarification.

“Next door at her best friend’s house.” Cecilia stepped back and held the door open wide. “It’s lovely to meet you. Please come in.”

Once they were settled in the family room—Cam and Billie close together on the loveseat, Jim and Cecilia on opposite ends of the sofa—Jim asked, “What are you doing here in town, Cam? And how long are you staying?”

“Billie is a wildlife photographer,” Cam answered, giving his wife a proud look as he reached over and took her hand. “She’s going to be photographing a herd of wild horses north of here. Her last assignment before the baby comes in February.”

“Is this your first baby?” Cecilia asked.

“Yes.” Billie chuckled. “And probably our only one if Nervous Nellie here can’t calm down about every little step I take.”

The two women laughed together and then Jim asked, “Cam, how did you find me?”

“Gus had your address.”

Jim looked down at his hands. “Gus,” he said. “How is he?”

Cecilia saw Cam and Billie exchange a look. “He’s gone, Jimmy. He passed away last month.”

Jim went still, then shook his head slowly. “He did? I…I didn’t know. I would have come….”

“He didn’t expect you to, Jimmy. He knew how you felt. Everyone understood.”

Everyone but her, Cecilia thought, frustrated. Understood what? She had no idea what they were talking about, but as annoyed as she was becoming with Jim, she wouldn’t embarrass him by demanding answers—at least not until their guests were gone. She had a vague recollection of Jim saying he’d lived with someone named Gus after his mother had died. She had thought the relationship was a casual one, but now she wondered.

“He made you the executor of his will, Jim. You’re going to have to go back to Lucky Break to take care of things.”

“Made
me
executor?” Jim looked from Cam to Billie and back again.

“Along with your wife.”

Cecilia sat up straight. “Me? I didn’t even know—um…Gus.”

Cam spread his hands wide. “He wasn’t thinking too clearly the last couple of years. He let his place go and nobody knew how bad it was until after he passed away. Billie and I went in, and….”

“We couldn’t even get in the door,” Billie said. “The living room was jammed to the rafters with boxes and I don’t know what all. Cam had to force the door open.”

“He was a hoarder?” Jim shook his head, unable to take it in. “He always had a lot of stuff around, but it wasn’t unmanageable.”

“It is now.”

With a whoosh of breath, Jim sat back. “And I have to clean it out?” He looked at Cecilia, who lifted an eyebrow at him. “I guess I can go in a couple of months, but—”

“It has to be now, Jim.” Cam gave him a sympathetic smile. “That’s why I came to tell you in person. He hadn’t paid his property taxes in a couple of years, so between the tax office, the sheriff’s office, and the health department, it’s got to be taken care of now. It’s only a matter of time before vandals get in there and wreck the place. If some idiot gets hurt in there, you might be liable.”

“It sounds like it’s already a wreck.”

“But a valuable wreck.”

“What do you mean?”

“He gave me a copy of his will a couple of years ago and it lists about a dozen mining claims and some stock certificates among his assets, along with a coin collection and some other things. They’re in the main house somewhere, I’m sure. The sheriff has locked the house up and says only you can get in there to look for his assets and take care of their distribution.”

Jim thought about that for a minute, then said, “Who are the beneficiaries of his will?”

“The Lucky Break School District. And with the way education budgets are being continually cut—”

“They would
also
like this to be taken care of as soon as possible,” Jim finished for him.

“That’s pretty much it. The sooner the estate goes into probate, the sooner the assets will come out.” Cam paused. “I know you’re busy, Jim. Everyone is, but….” His voice trailed off as he waited for Jim’s response.

Cecilia watched the face of this man she had once believed she understood so well. She couldn’t read his expression, but he seemed to be struggling with the news. Curling her fingers into her palm, she fought the urge to reach out to him.

Finally, Jim looked up to meet Cam’s eyes. “All right, I suppose I have to go, then.”

“You both do,” Cam said, looking from one to the other of them. “You are both responsible.”

Cecilia was so surprised she could barely form a coherent thought, but she nodded and said, “We’ll do whatever we have to.”

The Van Peters stayed only a little while longer. Billie had to get started on her photo shoot, Cam said.

As soon as she closed the door behind their guests, Cecilia turned to her husband. “I’m so sorry about Gus, Jim. But you never talked about him, never said how important he was to you.”

“No. No, I didn’t.” Jim glanced at her, then his gaze skittered away.

“And now?” Cecilia waited, torn between sorrow—both for the man who had died, probably alone in his junk-filled house, and Jim, who had lost someone who had once meant something to him—and annoyance that she had known nothing about any of it.

Jim started to say something, then shook his head. Misery filled his eyes and she recalled the look he’d given his old friend when he’d seen Cam walking toward them—a mixture of joy and what she’d thought was consternation. Seeing his face now, she realized it was more than that. It was dread.

“We’re going to be late for Ryan’s game if we don’t leave soon,” he said, turning away from her eyes. “I’ll go over to Mandy’s and get Yvonne.”

He opened the door and strode outside, leaving Cecilia staring after him, her thoughts a confused jumble and her heart feeling as if it were going to break.

****

It turned out to be easier than Jim had thought it would be to organize the trip to Lucky Break. He was able to cover for his time away from work, and Cecilia had arranged with the local school for the kids to be gone for a week, maybe longer if they needed it. He liked spending time with Ryan and Yvonne, plus they would be a welcome buffer between his wife and him on the six hundred mile drive to his home town.

They started out early in the morning a few days after Cam’s visit. The closer they got to Lucky Break, Arizona, the more Jim felt like he needed to warn his family.

“Don’t expect too much,” he said, casting Cecilia a sidelong glance. “Lucky Break is just a dusty little town at the base of the Mule Mountains. Copper and silver mining built the town, and when the profitability ran out, so did the mine owners. The place has struggled ever since to stay afloat. There’s not much to it.”

Cecilia sent him a puzzled smile. “We’ll keep our expectations low, Jim,” was all she said.

He didn’t know what else to say, so he stepped on the gas to take the steep curve that would bring them into town. He blinked as he rounded the curve and saw the fancy new sign proudly proclaiming,
Welcome to Lucky Break, Arizona, Home of Christmas Village.

“Christmas Vill— Whoa,” he said as he spied a large animal starting across the road in front of them. He stood on the brakes and brought the car to a screeching halt, throwing everyone forward and then back again.

Bracing one hand on the dashboard, Cecilia drew a shaky breath and whipped around to look into the back seat. “Is everyone okay?” But her question was lost in the children’s shouting: “Was that a
reindeer
?”

Jim swallowed to get his heart back into its rightful place. “I think it was,” he said. Hurriedly, he reached up and hit the button on the dashboard to set the hazard lights blinking as a warning to any approaching cars.

The reindeer was wearing a halter studded with bells that jingled when it shook its head. A rope dangled from the halter, brushing the pavement. As one, the family slid down their windows and watched the animal as it stopped in the middle of the road and looked around. It seemed to be trying to decide which way to go. While it was thinking things over, a teenaged boy dashed up and grabbed the rope around the reindeer’s neck. Tiny bells jangled on the tail of the boy’s red-striped stocking cap. He also had bells on the hem of the bright green tunic he wore over matching tights. His shiny black boots reached almost to his knees.

He gave Jim a wave and said, “Sorry, mister. He got away from me. Are you guys okay?”

When Jim and Cecilia nodded, the boy turned his attention to the animal at the end of the rope. “Prancer, you jerk. You’re supposed to stay with the rest of the herd.”

He led the reindeer away. The Warwicks looked at each other.

“Herd?” Jim said.

Cecilia stared after him. “That boy was dressed as—”

“An elf!” the kids supplied in unison.

Yvonne unbuckled her seatbelt and jumped to her feet so she could stick her head out the window. “He was one of Santa’s elves and he had a reindeer.” Her voice rose. “And he makes music when he walks.”

“Ah, um, yes, he does.” Jim glanced at his daughter’s excited face. “Sit down and put your seatbelt on so we can get going.”

She scrambled to obey. “Let’s go see some more reindeer!”

Jim turned off the hazard lights and stepped on the gas, starting off slowly, just in case. “Um, Yvonne, honey, I don’t think we’ll see any more reindeer or elves. I’m sure that was only a….” His voice died away as he took in the scene before him.

“Forget it, Jim,” Cecilia said, leaning forward to stare through the windshield. “The low expectations ship has sailed.”

The depressed little town that Jim remembered had been transformed. Every building was decorated for Christmas. Lights shone in all the windows, which were swagged with tinsel and sparkling garlands. Cheerful shoppers were strolling in and out of stores or lined up for hot chocolate and popcorn balls from the vendors set up in the entrance to every alleyway.

The sound of tinkling bells drew their attention to a makeshift corral a few feet from the car. The boy they’d met earlier was leading his recaptured reindeer into the enclosure to join his sleigh-mates. In front of the corral, a man dressed as Santa Claus sat on an elaborate throne, a crowd of children and parents lined up before him.

“Daddy, is this the North Pole?” Yvonne asked breathlessly.

“It…it didn’t used to be.”

“Dude,” Ryan chimed in. “This is awesome.”

“It’s magical!” Cecilia exclaimed.

“Excuse me, sir, I’m afraid you’re holding up traffic,” a man said as he bent to look inside the car. “If you’ll turn left here, there’s free parking available.”

Jim did a double take. “Lucas?”

The man frowned. “Yes, do I—Jimmy? Jimmy Warwick? I heard you were coming to town.” The man stepped back and looked at the car. “Wow, nice car. You’ve come a long way since—”

“Yes, I have. Where did you say I could park?”

“Right here.” Lucas held up his hand to stop the oncoming traffic so Jim could turn into the lot, then followed them as they parked. When they all climbed out of the car, Lucas held out his hand to Jim. “It’s great to see you again, Jim. It’s been—”

“Sixteen years,” Jim supplied, shaking the man’s hand. He gave Cecilia a sidelong glance. She was watching the scene with so much interest he knew he’d have many questions to answer later.