Now he looked over as Bailey sat down opposite him and sighed.
“You okay?” he asked.
“I keep thinking about Roger and it breaks my heart. I know he’s truly wanting what’s best for Lola, but it still seems so sad.”
“I know. But it would be worse if he took her back and then had to let her go. Trust me. At least now we can find her a good home and hopefully it will be with someone here in town and we’ll get to still see her for her healthcare.”
“Maybe,” she said, pouring some of her chicken and broccoli onto her plate. “And we still have to find homes for the puppies.”
“Well, maybe not all of them.”
That seemed to perk her up. “What do you mean?”
Shrugging and hoping he sounded casual, he said, “I was thinking we’d maybe keep one or two of them for us. Cooper seems to be a little protective of them and I think it would be good for him to have some playmates too. What do you think?”
“Oh my gosh! I love that idea! I know they have to stay here to be with Lola for a while, but maybe once they can be away from her, I can keep one at my place and you can keep one here with Cooper and…”
“I guess that could work for now.”
“For now?”
Reaching across the table, Gavin took one of her hands in his, marveling at the softness. “Bailey, I know it’s fast and maybe it’s too soon, but…I’m thinking long-term here. I want to go to sleep with you every night and wake up with you every morning. I think about all the time we wasted because I was too busy arguing with you instead of being brave enough to tell you how I felt.”
“Oh, Gavin…” she said with some hesitation.
“No, no, no…I get it. I know it’s fast and maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. I mean, you haven’t even told me how you feel so…um…just forget about it. We’ll do things your way. When the puppies are weaned and can leave Lola, you can have your pick of the litter and maybe, if you want, you can come back to work here and bring the puppy with you so he can hang out with Cooper and his brother or sister during the day. Then on the weekends, we can all hang out together. It will be great. What do you think? It can work, right?”
Oh good grief, he was babbling! And he never babbled! Ever! What the heck was happening to him?
“Do I get to say something now?” she asked with a sweet smile.
He nodded, afraid to even open his mouth for fear of more ramblings coming out.
“I really like everything you suggested. And if you’re offering, I would love to come back to work. I love my job and I love this clinic and all the people and pets who come in. But most of all, Gavin Maguire, I love you.”
It was too much to hope for, he thought, and surely he had to be hearing things because this many good things never happened to him.
Ever.
Gavin was pretty sure his mouth was moving, but now words weren’t coming out. He was incredibly relieved when Bailey got up and came over, sat in his lap, and kissed him.
And he loved kissing her.
He could do it for hours on end and be the happiest man alive.
When they finally broke apart, they were breathless. She cupped his face in her hands and smiled. “I think this is going to be my favorite Christmas ever.”
He nodded. “Considering it’s really going to be my first, I know it’s going to be my favorite because I’m sharing it with you.” He hugged Bailey close and realized how excited he was about his future and it was all because of her. He pulled back and studied her face. “Who knew that going to rescue a pregnant dog would lead to this?”
Her smile only grew. “I love how it led to this—we rescued a dog who really ended up rescuing us.”
“Us?” he asked curiously.
“Definitely us. Although I think Cooper laid the groundwork for trying to bring us together sooner.”
Now he was really confused. “How do you figure that?”
“Well, you never asked Amber or Hannah to look after him when you weren’t here. Only me.”
“He really seemed drawn to you the most…”
“I think he knew before we did that we should stop fighting and get together.”
“You’re putting an awful lot of thinking power on a dog who sleeps eighteen hours a day and refuses to learn how to give me his paw.”
She laughed. “Cooper is an awesome dog even if he doesn’t know any tricks. And look at him over there with the pups.” They both turned to where Cooper was sleeping beside the massive dog bed. “He’s so sweet the way he stays by their side so much of the day.”
“I think he’s just mad that they took his new bed,” Gavin deadpanned.
She swatted at him playfully. “Oh, stop! Don’t ruin the hero worship I have for that sweet dog.”
“Fine, fine…worship the territorial dog.” Then he kissed her. “And I think the feeling’s mutual—Cooper’s pretty smitten with you too.”
“Aww…” Resting her head on his shoulder, she sighed happily. “This is good.”
And Gavin had to agree. “Yes, it is.”
Straightening, she looked at him. “How about we finally eat our dinner so I can get this baking done?”
“Sounds good.” Truth was, he was starving and more than ready to eat.
Bailey stood and gasped.
“What?” he asked, concerned. “What’s the matter?”
“You’re not going to believe this but…it’s snowing!”
Standing up, Gavin turned and looked out the window and smiled. As he wrapped his arms around Bailey’s waist, he murmured, “You know what this means, right?”
“No, what?”
“Change of plans,” he said, kissing her throat.
“Mmm…I don’t even know what that means, but I’m already on board.”
“It’s coming down pretty heavy and I’m going to guess that it’s going to snow all night so…let’s cancel appointments for tomorrow so we can stay up all night.”
She purred with delight as he kept placing tiny kisses on her skin. “You think baking is going to take up the whole night?” she teased.
He laughed softly. “The baking will have to wait until tomorrow. Now that I know we don’t have to get up early, I have much bigger plans for tonight. Better plans.”
“Ooh…I like the way you think.”
Releasing her, they sat back down to finish their dinner when Gavin figured he’d surprise her one last time. “Yeah, now that we don’t have to worry about getting up tomorrow, we can stay up late and decorate this tree! I bought all kinds of lights and ornaments, but I thought you’d want to do that with me!”
She blinked at him several times as she tried to process what he was saying. “So…wait…you want to stay up late so we can…decorate the tree?”
Leaning in close, he gave her a sexy grin. “Well, that’s part of it. But if you had other plans for how we could spend the night…”
Now it was her turn to give a sexy smile. “Gavin, I have all kinds of plans for us.” Then she primly picked up her fork. “Now let’s eat. I have a feeling we’re going to need all of our strength before the night is through.”
“Baby, I love the way you think too.”
And if he wasn’t already feeling like the luckiest guy in the world, he would be now.
Epilogue
“And this one’s for Cooper…”
Gavin rolled his eyes. “He already got a present. Actually, he already got three presents.”
“And he’ll probably get a few more so…deal with it.”
It was Christmas morning and they were sitting on his living room floor surrounded by mountains of discarded boxes and wrapping paper and now an assortment of dog toys. Bailey took her Christmas presents seriously and when she came over with all of them yesterday afternoon to put under his tree, he was certain she must have shopped for half the town.
But she hadn’t.
It was all for him, Cooper, Lola, and the pups.
He was majorly reli
eved that he had found the time on Friday to go out and do some shopping of his own after the roads were cleared. They hadn’t gotten nearly as much snow as he thought they would so that made his life a lot easier. Although, shopping for Christmas gifts for the first time in his life and doing it the day before Christmas Eve was an experience he was likely never to forget.
Nor would he ever repeat.
Next year, he was going to shop early.
Like in September.
Last night, they each opened one gift from each other—something Bailey explained was a tradition in her home. She had bought him a pair of pajamas—another tradition he had been warned about in advance—so he had done the same for her. It seemed ridiculous, but it was actually kind of fun. The look of pure delight on her face when she’d opened the box told him he’d done the right thing.
Beside him, Bailey was rifling through the wrapped gifts and pulled out another box. “This one’s for you.”
“Bailey, this is all too much…”
“Oh, hush. Let me have my fun.” She was adorable in the flannel pajamas he’d given her—they were red and white and had reindeers on them. He thought she’d appreciate them with all of her exuberance over the holiday, and she did.
“Well then let me grab one for you to open now too,” he said, finding the small box and handing it to her.
And rather than opening his gift, Gavin sat back and watched her open hers. The whole situation was causing a bit of anxiety for him—he’d never done this before and had no idea if he purchased good gifts or bad ones.
“Oh, Gavin! I love it!”
He almost sagged with relief. She was holding up the wooden picture frame he’d picked out for her and in it was a picture of Lola and the puppies. “I thought you might like a reminder of them.”
“It’s perfect,” she said and again, there were tears in her eyes. She was a very emotional person and he was beginning to realize how much he loved that about her. “It’s absolutely perfect.”
“I can’t believe we’ve already found homes for these guys and it took only one day,” he said, unwrapping the box in his hands.
“Well, to be fair, we did stop at about eight different houses yesterday, sooo…”
“Okay, fair enough. The odds were in our favor, but still. I’m glad they’ll all be local and we can watch the pups grow up.”
“Especially since we’re keeping two and now they’ll always get to see their siblings,” she said, smiling happily.
Gavin took the cover off the box and started to laugh. “Um…Bailey…”
“What? Don’t you like it?”
And then he laughed even harder as he pulled out the t-shirt with the Grinch on it—something she admitted to calling him. It was a picture from the Christmas movie where the Grinch’s heart grew three sizes. “You think you’re pretty funny, don’t you?”
It wasn’t really a question.
“Well, it seemed very appropriate for you this year.”
There was no way he could argue with that logic because she was spot on.
“Yeah, well…maybe I’ll wear it to work on Monday and shock everyone.”
That had her laughing with delight. “Would you? Oh, my goodness, that would be awesome!” Then she lunged for him and they rolled on the floor while she kissed him. When she lifted her head, she was smiling down at him.
“I love you, Bailey. Merry Christmas.”
“And I love you too, Dr. Grinch,” she teased.
“That’s ex-Dr. Grinch to you.”
Nodding, she agreed. “Definitely ex, but I still love you.”
“Best Christmas ever,” he murmured right before he pulled her in for another kiss.
Silver Bell Falls Excerpt
See where it all began with Silver Bell Falls
CHAPTER ONE
* * *
There was nothing quite like coming home at the end of a long day: kicking off your shoes…having a little something to eat while watching TV…and most importantly, not having to hear any more Christmas music!
Melanie Harper was certain she wasn’t the only one who felt that way. It was early November and the holiday season was just getting under way.
“More like under my skin,” she murmured as she walked into her kitchen and poured herself a glass of wine. Taking her glass, she went back to her living room and sat down on the couch.
It had been a long day. A long week. Hell, if she were being honest, it had been a long three months. With deadlines approaching, her editor was getting more and more snarky while Melanie was getting more and more discouraged.
Writer’s block.
In her ten years of writing, she’d never once suffered from it, but for some reason the words refused to come.
“Figures,” she said with disgust and turned on the TV. Flipping through the channels, it was all the same thing—Christmas specials, Christmas movies and holiday-themed shows. Unable to stand it, she turned it off and sighed.
It was always like this. Christmas. The holidays. Every year, if something bad was going to happen, it happened around Christmas.
Not that it had been that way her entire life, but…she stopped and paused. No, scratch that. It had been like that her entire life. Her earliest memory was of the Christmas when she was five. That was the year her mother left. Her father had been too distraught to celebrate that year so she spent the day watching him drink and cry.
There had been a glimmer of hope for the next year—her dad promised her it would be better. The flu had both of them fighting for the bathroom the entire day. And after that, it was all one big, giant blur of suckiness. Between financial struggles and family issues—and that one year where they had gotten robbed the day before Christmas—Melanie had come to see the months of November and December as nothing but a big nuisance. Eventually they stopped even attempting to celebrate.
And now she’d be able to add “getting cut by her publisher because of writer’s block” to the Christmas resume of doom.
The name almost made her chuckle.
It would have been easy to sit there and wax unpoetic about how much she hated this time of the year, but a knock at the door saved her. Placing her wine glass down, she padded to the front door and pulled it open.
“Hey! There’s my girl!”
Melanie smiled as her dad wrapped her in his embrace. “Hey, Dad.” She hugged him back and then stepped aside so he could come in. “What’s going on? I thought we were getting together on Saturday for dinner.”
John Harper smiled at his only child as he took off his coat. “Is this a bad time?”
She shook her head. “No, not at all. I just wasn’t expecting you. Have you eaten dinner yet?”
He chuckled softly. “It’s almost eight, Mel. Of course I have.” He studied her for a minute. “Don’t tell me you haven’t.”
She shrugged. “It was a long day and I sort of lost my appetite.”
“Uh-oh. What happened?”
Melanie led him to the living room and sat down on the couch again. “My deadline will be here at the end of December and I haven’t written a thing.”
“Okay,” he said slowly. “So…can’t they extend your deadline?”
She shook her head. “They’ve extended it three times already.”
“Hmm…so what’s the problem with the story? Why are you having such a hard time with it? That’s not like you.”
She sighed again. “They’re pretty much demanding a Christmas story.”
“Oh.”
She didn’t even need to look at him to know his expression was just as pinched as hers at the topic. “Yeah…oh.”
“Did you try explaining…?”
Nodding, she sat up and reached for her glass of wine. “Every time I talk to them. They don’t get it and they don’t care. Basically their attitude is that I’m a fiction writer and I should be able to use my imagination to concoct this Christmas story without having to draw on personal experience.”
“Mayb
e they don’t realize just how much you dislike the holiday.”
“Dislike is too mild of a word,” she said flatly. Taking a long drink, she put her glass down and looked at him. “I don’t even want to talk about it. The meeting with my editor and agent went on and on and on today so my brain is pretty fried. The only thing to come out of it is yet another crappy reinforcement of the holiday.”
“Oh, dear…”
Melanie’s eyes narrowed. “What? What’s wrong?”
“I guess maybe I should have called first because…” He stopped. “You know what? Never mind. We’ll talk on Saturday.” He stood quickly and walked back toward the foyer.
“Oh, no,” she said as she went after him. “You can’t come here and say something like that and then leave! Come on. What’s going on?”
John sighed and reached for her hand. “Your grandmother died.”
Melanie simply stared at him for a minute. “Oh…okay. Wow. Um…when?”
“A month ago.”
Her eyes went wide. “And you’re just telling me now?”
Slowly, he led her back to the couch. “Mel, seriously? Your grandmother hasn’t spoken to me in over twenty-five years. I’m surprised I was notified.”
“I guess,” she sighed. Then she looked at him. “Are you okay?”
He shrugged. “I’m not sure. I always thought when the time came that it wouldn’t mean anything. After all, she kind of died to me all those years ago. But now? Now that I know she’s really gone?” His voice choked with emotion. “It all suddenly seems so stupid, so wrong. I mean, how could I have let all those years go by without trying to make things right?”
Squeezing his hand, Melanie reached over and hugged him. “It’s not like you never tried, Dad. Grandma was pretty stubborn. You can’t sit here and take all the blame.”
When she released him, she saw him wipe away a stray tear. “In my mind, I guess I always thought there would be time. Time to make amends and…”
“I know,” she said softly. “And I’m sorry. I really am.”
A Christmas Rescue Page 11
