“No, a blogger,” Jyl told her as she started snapping photos.
“Oh, that sounds like a fun job. I’ve been trying to decide what I want to do with my life.”
She snapped a few more photos and then said, “Do you like to write?”
“Not really,” the girl said. “I hated English in school.”
“Oh you did, did you?” Vera had walked up behind her.
Pretending that she hadn’t heard the comment, the girl continued, “But I adored my teacher, Mrs. Bartlett. She’s so nice and so pretty!”
Vera threw her head back in a hearty laugh, and the girl turned around and gave her a hug. Jyl doubted a single one of her teachers would recognize her now if they saw her on the street, much less hug her. She envied the two before her and it made her feel good once again to know that her son would grow up a part of this tight community.
After the girl went back to her group, Vera asked, “Did Grant behave himself?”
Jyl smiled. “He was a perfect gentleman.”
Once again, Vera laughed heartily. She didn’t explain why she found that so amusing, but Jyl could look at the man and figure it out. He probably had more women throwing themselves at him than a rock star does.
“I came to let you know we’re getting ready to start. You can get a spot up by me so you can get some good shots with your camera.”
“Great. I know I’ve said it before, Vera, but I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me.”
“And you in turn are doing good for this town that I love, so we’re even.” Vera led her through all of the other people and straight to the front. Jyl noticed a few of them looking at her curiously, either wondering who she was or pondering the story they’d already heard. A single woman with a child turning up in their small town was likely an unusual event. She didn’t begrudge them their right to wonder about it, and possibly make up their own stories. It might be fun to hear what some of them were.
She looked out across the nearly frozen lake. There were spots where the ice looked nearly thick enough to skate on. The ice had been broken up in the area just in front of where they were standing, but small chunks of it could still be seen swirling around. It looked miserable and uninviting, but she supposed that was the point.
They had a sort of make-shift announcer’s booth set up, and a young man was using a sound system to call out the team names and introduce the participants each individually before their turn. She watched as each team took the plunge, looking a lot happier and more excited before they went into the frigid water than when they came out. People from the community had pitched in and brought towels and blankets and stood by to wrap the plungers up as soon as they came out of the water. There were changing booths too so they could get out of their wet clothes right away.
She snapped photos that she would match up later with the lists Vera had given her with names of the participants. She managed to get most of the teams together for a group photo afterward as well, minus the ones who were too close to hypothermia to stay out in the cold a minute longer. There were twelve teams, which in her opinion was a great turnout for a town this size. The last team was the team of cowboys that Grant was on. She tried not to stare as he stood in front of the crowd and, along with his teammates, peeled off his shirt. If she didn’t look, she’d be the only female who wasn’t. He was even more beautiful without it.
“Aren’t you going to get pictures of them, dear?” Vera was asking her.
Jyl’s face flushed red again as she realized she’d been staring. Hopefully there wasn’t any drool frozen to her chin, she thought. She had no idea what had gotten into her today. The lust-at-first-sight thing had always been Sharla’s department, not hers. She shook it off and started snapping photos. The announcer gave them their drumroll, and she kept her camera going as the five men jumped off the little wooden dock, still in their boots and jeans. It was a sight to behold as they flew through the air and their cowboy hats came off and flew above them. It looked like the hats were dancing in slow motion, separate from their owners. She got a few good shots of that and some good ones of the huge splash the collective group of big men made as they went into the lake.
When they climbed out of the water shaking and laughing, she caught sight of Grant again. The water made a pattern down his hard chest as it dripped off him, and his jet-black hair clung to the sides of his face. He looked like a model in one of those Calvin Klein perfume ads—only better. He saw her watching him and grinned that cocky grin again. She turned away quickly and continued snapping photos of the rest of the men. After she took the group photo, she was quick to move on. She didn’t want to give him any ideas. Even if she was looking to date, a player was not what she was looking for. This cowboy had “player” written all over him.
She wandered the little festival with Vera for about an hour after the plunge was over. There wasn’t really an hour’s worth of things to see, but Vera stopped and spoke to almost everyone and introduced Jyl to those people she hadn’t met. She browsed the booths and looked at all of the handmade goods, sincerely complimenting whoever the artist, baker, or jewelry maker was. There was a lot of collective talent on display for such a small place.
Finally around ten a.m., she told Vera she needed to leave to pick up Gabe. It was a little white lie; Kat had told her there was no rush, but she was really just done being out in the cold. She said goodbye and thanked the older woman again and then trudged through the snow quickly, hoping that Vera wouldn’t send one of “the boys” after her with the Ranger again.
She made it to her car and stripped out of her heavy coat, snow overalls, and sweater before sliding behind the wheel. She fished her keys out of her purse, turned the ignition and … nothing. Damn it! She turned it over again and again, pumping the gas pedal until finally, she started to smell gas. She did know enough about cars to know that she’d flooded it. She was fishing her phone out of her pocket when she heard the sound of another car approaching. She looked up and saw that it wasn’t a car, but a pickup and Grant was behind the wheel. It figured.
He parked next to her and rolled down his window. She thought about telling him help was already on the way. Then she considered that she had no idea who to call and she’d have to trudge across the snow again to get to where the others were to ask. She put her window down too and found herself once again drawn into those beautiful eyes.
“Are you okay?” he asked her with what sounded like genuine concern.
“Yeah, I just flooded it, I think.”
“Do you want a ride home? We can come back for the car later.”
“No, thank you. It should start in a few minutes. If it doesn’t, I’ll call Triple A.”
He was beginning to look amused—again. “I’m afraid there’s only one tow truck in town, and this time of year you can sit all day and wait for it. You could freeze to death by then.”
“I have my coat,” she said, amusing him further.
“Okay, suit yourself. Just remember that most people parked on the far side of the park. It might be a while before anyone else comes by. Your toes could be frostbitten by then.”
“I’m pretty well bundled up,” she said, wishing he would just let it go and go away. She wasn’t going to get that lucky.
“I tell you what,” he said. “How about you call them and while you wait, you let me take you on a tour around town?”
“A tour?”
“Yeah, you’re new in town, right? I’ve lived here my entire life. I’ll show you the hot spots.”
“You just got out of that frigid water. Don’t you want to go home and take a warm shower?”
He had changed into dry clothes and in his brown thermal shirt and thick flannel jacket, he actually looked warmer than she did. She was looking for a polite way to turn him down. She did not want to be alone with this man.
“You mean instead of giving you a tour?”
“Yes. A warm shower is probably what you need after that.”
H
e grinned and she felt her heart catch in her throat. “I appreciate the concern, but I’m really okay. If you don’t want to take a tour with me, a shower will do.” She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him. He laughed. “I’m kidding. If you don’t want a tour, I’ll wait here with you.”
“You really don’t have to—”
“I want to,” he said, cutting her off. “Besides, my mother would tan my hide if she knew I left a lady stranded on the side of the road. Although I’d much rather take the tour, I know a place that has the best hot chocolate.”
“Hot chocolate, you say, huh?” A warm drink sounded really good. Grant seemed harmless enough; everyone here today seemed to know him. What could it really hurt? “I could use a hot chocolate, actually.”
“You’ve come to the right place,” he said. “Sissy’s has the best hot chocolate in the world.”
She smiled. “In the world?”
He grinned and said, “Yeah, that’s what I said, in the world.”
“And how many places outside of Colorado have you tried?”
He chuckled. “Do you want hot chocolate or not because I can leave you right here—”
She grabbed her stuff and stepped out of her car.
CHAPTER SIX
Grant had had a feeling just from her eyes and the way she had felt when he picked her up earlier, that the woman underneath three layers of coat would be attractive. He hadn’t pictured quite this attractive however. When she stepped out of the car in her jeans and a long-sleeved thermal shirt, his heart rate actually sped up. She had a killer body, one that he would love to explore further. He wished that she would take off that cap so he could see her hair. He watched her walk around his truck to the passenger side. His truck had an eight-inch lift on it and even with the running boards she was probably going to have a hard time stepping up. He started to open his door to go around and help her, but she was already inside the truck.
“So who should I call about the car?” she asked.
There really was only one tow truck in town. That had sounded like a ploy to get her to let him take her home, but it was the God’s honest truth. If he ever ran across an accident where two cars were damaged, Max, the tow shop owner, would take first one and then come back for the other.
Grant dialed Max’s number and put the phone on speaker. It rang twice and Max answered. “Max’s towing!” There was a lot of background noise; it sounded like he was driving.
“Hey, Max, it’s Grant. I have a young lady here who is having trouble with her car. She was out here at Shiloh Falls Lake for the Plunge this morning and now the car doesn’t want to start. Can you pick it up and take a look at it?”
“Did you try and jump her?”
I would love to, Grant thought. “No, I’m in my truck and the Justin Case is in the cruiser.”
“Alright. It’ll be fifty for the tow and once we have it out at the shop, I can check it out and let her know from there. I’m way out near the refuge right now. There’s a four-car pileup involving a big rig. Be glad you ain’t working today.”
“Wow, yes I am glad,” Grant said. “Take your time. I’ll make sure she gets home safely. It’s the silver Camry. Right now, she’s the only one in the lot.”
“Have her leave the keys under the mat.”
“Will do, thanks Max.”
“Yep.”
Max hung up and Grant looked at Jyl and said, “Do you have the keys? I’ll go put them under the mat for you.” She looked reluctant and he said, “Trust me, it’ll be fine.” She pulled her house key off the ring and handed the car keys to him. When he opened the door to put the keys in, he saw the car seat in the back.
When he got back to the truck she said, “Are you a police officer?”
“Yes, a deputy sheriff.”
“Oh.”
He wondered what that meant. Instead of asking her, he said, “I have an electronic jumpstart kit, but I’ve been carrying it in the cruiser while the weather was so bad because sometimes we get several calls a day and we run out of juice in one.”
“You get calls to jumpstart cars?”
Grant pulled the pickup out onto the road and headed for town. With a smile he said, “Yeah. Like I said, Max is the only game in town. If we don’t help people stranded out in the snow, we’d be picking up bodies instead of jumpstarting cars.”
“Oh yeah, I didn’t think of it that way. How long have you been a deputy?”
“About five years. I went to the academy right out of high school. I had to wait until I was twenty-one to get picked up. How long have you been blogging?”
“About the same. The first few years it was just a hobby and then I started picking up advertisers to make a little extra cash.”
“So what brings you to Shiloh Falls from the big city?”
She was quiet for several seconds and he thought she wasn’t going to answer him at first. Finally she said, “My son and I needed a change.” Grant assumed she was divorced, or going through one. He didn’t want to ask her about anything that might be a fresh wound, so he said, “How old is your son?”
Her entire face changed. It softened somehow as she said, “He’s four. His name is Gabriel.”
“Good name.”
“Do you have kids?”
“No. Not yet. I’m still kind of growing out of the kid stage myself.”
She laughed. “Kids have a way of forcing you out of it, trust me.” They were just coming into town, and when the sign for “Sissy’s Diner” came into view she said, “The people at the diner are really nice. My son and I have eaten there a few times.”
“Oh, so you didn’t really need a tour,” he teased.
“I really didn’t. I think I’ve seen it all on Main Street in the week we’ve been here, but I didn’t know about Sissy’s hot chocolate.”
“You obviously had an inferior guide then.” He parked the truck and went around to help her out. He was really tempted to grab her by the waist again now that she didn’t have that bulky coat on, but he decided to be a gentleman and he held his hand up to her. She took it and as she jumped down, the hat she was wearing fell to the ground. She bent to pick it up and her hair slipped loose from the bun she had it in. As she stood back up, long ringlets of fire-red hair cascaded across her shoulders and down her back. Grant found himself mesmerized by it.
She giggled. “I shoved it up there still wet this morning. I’ll bet I look like a cavewoman.”
He had to swallow hard to find his voice, but when he did, he said, “Only if they were beautiful.” Jyl’s face turned as crimson as her hair. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to embarrass you,” he said. “It’s just … a fact. You’re gorgeous.”
She looked uncomfortable now and he felt bad. He hadn’t meant that as any kind of line, or come-on; it was just a fact. He wasn’t sure he’d ever seen such a beautiful woman in real life before, much less one that seemed to be so unaware of it.
She mumbled a quick, “Thanks,” and turned toward the diner. He stood there and watched her for few seconds and then followed her in.
“Hey there, Jyl … and look who you brought with you!”
“Hi, Maggie,” she greeted her. Grant winked at the waitress he had known his entire life.
“Better run, boys, it’s the law,” an elderly man at the end of the counter said to his three friends.
They all laughed, and then one of them said, “He’s keeping prettier company than he usually keeps.” All three men turned to look at Jyl then, prompting another blush.
“Alright, you old cronies, nothing to see here. Go back to sipping your Metamucil.”
The old men cackled, and without thinking about it, Grant put his hand on the small of Jyl’s back to lead her to a booth. He felt her stiffen underneath his touch and then she walked forward out of it. He wasn’t used to having women shun his touch. It hurt his feelings a bit.
Once they sat down, Maggie came over with two menus and the coffee pot. “I think we’re both going to ha
ve hot chocolate,” he told her. Then he looked at Jyl and said, “Did you want something to eat?”
“No, I think the hot chocolate will do it.”
“Better put a lot of whipped cream and chocolate on top, Maggie.”
She winked. “You got it.”
When she was gone, Jyl asked, “So where did the name ‘Sissy’s’ come from?”
That was a story that made him sad. He pulled his brows together and said, “Maggie’s little sister’s name was Rose. Every one called her ‘Sissy.’ My first year on with the sheriff’s department, she was killed in a car accident. I was the first officer on scene. It was the worst thing I’d ever seen in my life at that point …”
“Oh no! That’s terrible. How old was she?”
“She was about twenty-five at that time. Maggie was ten years older. She had practically raised her after they lost their parents when Maggie was only sixteen. This place was just called “Shiloh Diner” back then. A few weeks after they buried Sissy, the guy who owns Lawson Cabinets made the new sign for her. The whole town was hurting for her. She’d given up a lot of her own childhood to make sure Sissy had everything she wanted or needed. She’d even sent her to college. Trent Lawson thought she could just put the sign up as a tribute, but Maggie decided to just change the name altogether.”
“So sad.”
Maggie brought their hot chocolates and with one of her genuinely bright smiles, she said, “Y’all enjoy.”
“She seems like such a happy, positive lady. You can’t tell all that she’s been through by talking to her, that’s for sure.” She picked up her cup then and took a sip. Closing her eyes, she said, “Wow! You weren’t kidding. That is the best I’ve ever had.”
Just until I get my chance, Grant thought. “I’m a cop. I can’t lie.”
She smiled at him and said, “I’ll have to bring Gabriel in for one of these next time we’re out and about.”
“I’m sure he’d love it. Where is he today?”
“I made a new friend here in town. She has children of her own and she and her husband seem like really good people. He’s there today—actually he’s been there since last night. I couldn’t convince him to come home with me.”
I Saw Mommy Kissing A Cowboy (Cowboy Christmas Romance) Page 4
