The Happiest Season (13 page)

The donkey had kicked up huge clods of dirt laden with
grass, creating peaks and valleys in what had been a level lawn.  Rain had
puddled in the valleys, making for a soggy mess.

Maggie, beside John, sighed.  “I know.  It’s horrible. 
Maybe we should demand the donkey’s owner get his, er…”  She gave a sheepish
grin.  “I mean, maybe we should ask him to come over here and have a look at
the damage his animal did to my yard.”  She furrowed her brow in thought.  “If
you really think about it, it’s not my job to fix this, is it?”  She angled a
glance his way.  “It’s
definitely
not your job.”

“You could always move,” he said wanly.

“I’m afraid that’s outside the realm of possibility. 
Purchasing this house wasn’t exactly a walk in the park and I’m fortunate to
have it.”

John gave her a shoring nod.  “I am going to make a quick
phone call to the guy, I think.”

“He’s probably in church,” Maggie reminded him. 

“Do you attend church?” John asked, seemingly out of the
blue.

“Not yet.  I promised Gloria I’d visit her church when I’m
ready.  What about you?”

“Not as often as I should,” he told her with a sigh.  “But,
I’m going to head over to that church right now.”  He checked his watch.  “If I
remember right, from reading the board out front, the first service starts at
ten.  I can be there long before the pastor starts his sermon.  I’m going to try
to speak to him and see if he has any suggestions for us.”

“I do hate to impose on them,” Maggie said.  “Especially on
a Sunday.”

“Impose on them?” John said with a snort, and then gestured
out over the ruined lawn.  “I’d say this is an imposition on you, and that
someone in a position of authority there needs to see it.”

“Do you want me to go with you?”

He shook his head.  “I’ll go.” 

Together they walked into the house.  “Don’t try to do
anything with the sod until I get back,” he said, knowing Maggie was a ‘can-do’
person, and fearful she might try to take on the project alone.  “Those carpets
of grass are heavy—particularly after a rainfall.  I don’t want you hurting
yourself.”

Maggie met his gaze.  His concern for her touched her to the
core. 

“Okay?” he prompted.

She nodded. 

With a salute, he headed for his truck and drove away. 
Maggie watched him go, hoping that things went well at the church.  She hadn’t
come right out and told John, but the prospect of dealing with that lawn
without additional help was daunting.  When she’d first seen the rain-soaked
yard this morning, she’d nearly gone back to bed and pulled the covers over her
head.

While she waited for news from John, she began cleaning up
her kitchen.  She was still a bit out of sorts in the space.  She wondered if
it would ever feel clean to her again.

She began loading the dishwasher, but startled when her
doorbell rang.  Hurrying to answer it, she expected John, but found Gloria
instead.

“You’re early,” Maggie said briskly.

Gloria winced.  “Too early?  I’m sorry.”

“No.  No!” Maggie smiled reassuringly.  “I mean, I figured
you’d be at church.”

“I went last night.  You should have gone with me.  The
service was excellent.”

“Do you have the presents you want me to hide for you?”

“In my trunk,” she said.  “I wanted to assure you were home
before I hauled them all from the car.”

“Where’d you think I might be?” she inquired, puzzled.

“Oh, I don’t know,” she answered, grinning cheekily.  “Maybe
out to breakfast with handsome Officer John. 

“He had breakfast here.”

“Oh, yeah?” Gloria said, grinning smugly now.  “Me thinks a
certain eligible officer has the hots for a friend of mine.”

“What are ‘hots’?” Rickey inquired, as he stepped into the
foyer.

Gloria bit back a laugh, which was difficult when she saw
Maggie’s mortified face.  “Nothing,” she said quickly, pulling Rickey into a
hug.  “Boy, am I glad to see you,” she told him, eager to distract him.  “I
need you to help me hide presents for my grandkids.”

He made a confused face.  “What do you mean?”

“Your mom is going to let me hide presents here, so my
grandkids can’t find them at my house.”  Suddenly, her face fell and her eyes
snapped to Maggie’s face.  Maggie didn’t immediately register why she was alarmed. 

“What’s wrong?” she mouthed.

Gloria gave an almost imperceptible nod toward Rickey. 
“Santa Claus?” she mouthed in reply.

Maggie understood what Gloria was getting at.  She was
afraid that Rickey believed in Santa Claus, and that having her show up with
gifts might confuse the issue for him.

She gave her friend a reassuring nod.  Ricky didn’t believe
in Santa Claus, having lost his father around Christmas time two years before. 
In his little mind, he now equated Santa with loss, and refused to believe any
longer.

To Gloria’s surprise, the bright little boy picked up on her
line of thinking.  “I don’t believe in Santa Claus,” he told her in a very
grown up voice, and gave a shrug.  “It doesn’t matter anyway.”

“Why’s that?”

He perked up considerably and said with absolute confidence,
“Because God’s bringing me my present this year.”

***

When John arrived back at Maggie’s house, Gloria was still
visiting.

Rickey answered the door and led him into the family room. 
“John’s here!” he called cheerfully. 

Maggie rose from her chair and watched him expectantly. 
“Well?”

He grinned broadly.  “We have a crew of men coming over
after the church service.  The pastor was very gracious.  He told me to
apologize to you for everything.  Apparently, the owner of the animals hadn’t
told him about them escaping as yet.”  He gave a shrug.  “I have no idea why he
didn’t mention it, but…”

“Well, the good news is, the cavalry is on the way,” she
said, clearly relieved. 

“Oh, hi, Gloria,” he said, seeming to notice her for the
first time.  “How are you?”

“Good.  Yourself?”

“He’s better now, since he’s not facing all that sodden sod
alone.  Well, I would have been by his side, for what it’s worth.”

He sent a quick glance at her, narrowing his eyes slightly. 
She saw something in them—some emotion she couldn’t read.  She felt unsettled,
but in an odd, warm and fuzzy sort of way.  She felt as if her heart had
suddenly been infused with warmth.  What was going on with her lately? she
wondered.

“So, you think you’ve seen the last of your animal
visitors?” Gloria asked.

“I sure hope so,” Maggie said.

“I sure hope not,” Rickey said simultaneously.

John laughed.  “Saves a trip to the zoo, eh, Rickey?”

He nodded.  “Yeah, but I do want to see a money.  Do you
think a monkey might come over next?”

Gloria chuckled.  “No monkeys in a nativity,” she told him
as she rose from her chair.  “I should get moving.  So much to do.  We’ll have
to take a drive by the nativity another time,” she added briskly, remembering that
last night she and Maggie had discussed visiting it today.

“Are you ready for the holidays?” John asked her.

“Doing my level best to get ready.”

“Gloria is an angel,” Maggie told him matter-of-factly. 
“She devotes much of her time and resources to helping other people, and not
just during this time of the year,” she added affectionately.

“Oh, stop that,” Gloria said, looking uncomfortable under
the praise.  “We’re supposed to help others.  It’s why we’re here.”

John watched her speculatively, and then nodded.  “I think
you’re right.”

“I’ll walk you out,” Maggie said. 

“You ought to hang on to him,” Gloria said at the front door,
and Maggie understood she was referring to John.  She pretended to
misunderstand her, however.  “Yeah, I’ll probably keep Rickey.”

Gloria gave her a dirty look.  “You know what I mean. 
John!  He’s easy on the eyes, isn’t he?  And, he’s a real sweetheart.”

Maggie couldn’t deny it.  John was easy on the eyes.  She
refused to contemplate his ‘sweetheart’ status, however.

“He likes you,” Gloria said, in a sing-song voice.

“Oh, he does not,” Maggie protested, dropping her voice down
a notch and looking behind her lest John hear them talking.

Gloria abruptly grew serious.  “Yes, he does.  You should
see the way he looks at you.”

Maggie searched her friend’s face, her own features
contorted in alarm.  “Do you really think so?” 

“Would that be a bad thing?” Gloria said, watching her
sympathetically.  “I mean, really, Maggie, would it?  You’re a young woman. 
You’ve been alone long enough.  And something tells me, that man is a keeper.”

Maggie gave a dismissive wave.  “Well, that may be, but he
isn’t mine to keep.  I definitely get the ‘friendship’ vibe from him.”

“You do not!”  Gloria wasn’t fooled for a moment.  “Look me
in the eye and tell me that again,” she challenged.

Maggie averted her eyes, unable to lie to her friend.

“There!  I’m right.”

Maggie turned back to her and moaned softly.  “I’m not ready
for…”  She gave a shrug of her shoulders.  “Anything.”

“Take it slow then,” Gloria said.  “Maggie, you deserve to
be happy.  You know that, don’t you?”

“Oh, I know,” she said, attempting a smile.  “It’s just…”

“You still feel as if you’ll be cheating on Shane if you
have feelings for another man.”

“Yes.”

“Shane is dead, Maggie.  He’s not coming back.”

“I know,” she said softly.  “I know.”

“The lawn looks great,” Maggie said, as she and John stood
side-by-side at the sliding door and looked out over the newly laid sod.

“Good as new,” he agreed.

“Right as rain,” Maggie quipped, and offered him a lopsided
grin.

He chuckled.  “The work went quick, with all the extra men who
showed up to help.”

“That was such a relief to see that many men arrive, ready
and willing to work.”

“The pastor was fairly alarmed when he saw the damage the
donkey had done,” John commented. 

“Well, fortunately, it’s all fixed.”

“Oh, and that reminds me…”  He dug around in his pocket. 
“The pastor gave me a check for the siding, sod, and top soil.  He said to let
him know how much the paint will cost to repair the trim out back, and he’ll
assure you’re paid for that, as well.”

Maggie accepted the check, but realized most of it belonged
to him.  She studied it for a moment, trying to decide how best to reimburse
him. 

He noted her befuddled expression.  “Is everything okay?”

“It’s just, well, most of this check belongs to you, but
it’s made out to me.  I’m going to write out a check to you, but…”  She made an
apologetic face.  “Could you possibly wait to cash it until after one o’ clock
tomorrow, so the funds will be there?  I can’t make it to the bank until
lunchtime.”

“That’s fine,” he assured her, smiling at her earnest face. 

As she wrote the check, she looked so pretty, her eyes bright
blue and fixed with concern.  He wanted to smooth her brow, to take the worry
away.

His eyes widened at the realization.  He felt protective of
Maggie.  He hardly knew her, yet, at the same time, he felt as if he knew her
well.  She was a good person, a wonderful mother, and a loyal friend.  She was
strong, independent, practical.  Everything his ex was not.

When earlier, she had made an off-hand comment about how she
would have been at his side working on the lawn even if the others hadn’t shown
up to help, he felt an odd stirring—a longing.  He envisioned the two of them
together, facing life’s challenges, and confident they would persevere, strong,
despite the obstacles that came their way.

He blew out a breath.  What was he thinking?  What was going
on with him?  Was he so lonely that he was falling for the first woman he’d
given the time of day to since Kim had left him?    

Another wave of confusion washed over him.  What did he
want, if anything, from Maggie?  Why had he so readily availed himself to her,
when until recently, he hadn’t wanted anything to do with the opposite sex?

He needed time to sort things out.  “Uh, well, I’d better
get going,” he said too brightly.  “I’m sure you have things to do, and I have
a few things to take care of too.”

“Oh, okay, well, thanks again for all your help,” Maggie
said. 

She watched him thoughtfully, and he knew she’d sensed the
change in him.  She was too perceptive not to have.  But it couldn’t be
helped.  He was as determined to protect her as much as himself from further
pain.  It wouldn’t be fair to give her false hope that the two of them might
possibly embark upon a relationship, particularly when she had a child to think
about.