The Sheriff’s Christmas Surprise

by Marie Ferrarella

  The idea bothered her. A great deal.

  She wasn’t a snob, Olivia insisted silently. She didn’t think of herself as better than the next person. But if that “next person” happened to be standing in the middle of Forever, Texas, well, she did feel she was more sophisticated, more polished.

  Did that ultimately make her a snob?

  Maybe she was a snob. She was also very confused and torn.

  In the end, she agreed with the good-looking sheriff. Bobby was her responsibility and right now, he needed her more.

  THEY WERE BACK ON THE ROAD within fifteen minutes. And Olivia wound up dozing off within thirty. The monotony of the open road, bathed in approaching twilight, lulled her to sleep.

  Hearing her soft, even breathing, Rick glanced in Olivia’s direction. He smiled to himself when he realized that she had nodded off. Asleep, she couldn’t talk, couldn’t argue and he had to admit that, for now, he found her more attractive that way. But then, he was attracted to her no matter what the circumstance. She was a damn fine looking woman by anyone’s standards.

  He’d already noted that she didn’t wear a ring. She hadn’t mentioned anything about a husband or significant other waiting for her back home. So, as far as he knew, she was unattached. It made him wonder. An intelligent woman who looked the way she did was one hell of a package. Yet as far as he could tell, no one had taken her home to unwrap.

  Was that by choice? And if so, why?

  Was there something in her background the way there was in his?

  He felt his stomach muscles tighten the way they always did whenever he thought of Alycia. Alycia Banderas. He had been one week away from marrying her when a cross-country moving van had flipped over on its side, crushing not just her car but all of his dreams in one awful moment. That kind of event made a man step back and wonder about how fragile life really was.

  He was getting philosophical in his old age.

  Well, once he got that job on the police force in Dallas, he doubted he’d have time for philosophical conjecture. His friend Sam had confided that he had trouble finding any time to himself. The job claimed the man 24/7. From where he sat, Rick couldn’t help thinking that he really liked the sound of that.

  OLIVIA SLEPT THE ENTIRE trip back.

  She had to have been really drained, he thought, his sympathy aroused. Too bad he couldn’t let her go on sleeping, but even if he was so inclined, he wouldn’t be doing her any favors. Her neck would be killing her tomorrow.

  Forever was just up ahead.

  Rick decided not to stop at his office and go straight to the diner to pick up the baby. As he drove past the city limits, Olivia stirred beside him. The next moment, she bolted upright, apparently startled that she’d fallen asleep in his car.

  Her neck hurt and the corners of her mouth felt moist. Oh God, she hoped she hadn’t drooled, she suddenly thought.

  Embarrassed, she mumbled, “I must have fallen asleep.”

  “Must have,” he agreed.

  She didn’t have to look, she could hear the grin in his voice. Had she talked in her sleep? Or worse, snored? Olivia felt uncomfortable as well as really vulnerable.

  “Why didn’t you wake me?” she asked, an accusing edge to her question.

  Rick shrugged. “Didn’t see the point. You were tired. I thought you could do with the rest.”

  “I should take my turn behind the wheel,” she told him. “It’s only fair.”

  The amusement reflected in his expression only deepened. She couldn’t shake the feeling that he was laughing at her.

  “To you or to me?” he asked.

  She barely heard the question. As she looked through the windshield, it suddenly dawned on her where they were, in front of a diner.

  The diner.

  The one she’d left Bobby in. And that was her car on the right. How long had she been asleep?

  “We’re here?” she questioned.

  “We’re here,” he confirmed, turning off the ignition. He got out, rounding the hood to open the door for her. But as he drew closer to her car, he glanced in its direction.

  What he saw stopped him in his tracks.

  An uneasiness undulated over her. What was Santiago staring at?

  Opening the passenger side door, she struggled to shake off the last layers of sleep. She needed to be on her toes, to be able to think. She needed—

  Olivia’s mouth dropped open as she saw what the sheriff was looking at.

  “Oh my God,” she cried, horror stricken. “My car. What happened to my car?” she asked. She’d left the top down and the upholstery on the front passenger side looked as if a wild animal had gotten in and attacked it. Stunned, she ran her hand along the jagged fabric. “It’s all ripped up inside.”

  “Not all,” he qualified. “Just that section,” he said, pointing to the damaged area. “But it does look pretty bad.”

  The door to the diner opened just then and Miss Joan, holding Bobby in her arms, appeared. For a moment, she simply stood there, as if taking the scene in. And then Rick saw a pink hue of embarrassment across the diner owner’s face.

  Miss Joan raised her chin, ready to own up to her part in what had happened. She faced it the same way she faced any and all events in her life, good or bad: head-on, showing no fear.

  “I’ll pay for it,” she told Olivia.

  Fully awake now, Olivia turned in the older woman’s direction. Stunned, shaken up, she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

  What she did do was cross to the woman and take Bobby from her. She needed to touch something that linked her to her life and not this Alice in Wonderland place she had unwillingly found herself in.

  Olivia struggled to wrap her head around this latest twist, still confused about what had happened to her beautiful car. “You did this?”

  “Not personally,” Miss Joan answered, stretching out her words as she searched for the right ones to say next. “Bruiser did. His chew toys are leather,” she explained quickly. “He likes the smell.”

  “He likes more than the smell,” Olivia declared, clearly distressed. “He obviously likes the taste, too.”

  Holding Bobby to her, Olivia inspected the damage more closely. It was as if expensive upholstery had met with the blades of a blender head-on—and come out the obvious loser.

  “Bruiser likes to patrol the area,” Miss Joan said haplessly. “He thinks he’s keeping me safe.”

  Olivia stared incredulously at the woman. “And he thought my car was going to attack you?”

  “I’m sorry,” Miss Joan apologized. “Like I said, I’ll pay for it. Shouldn’t take Mick more than a week to get it fixed.”

  “A week?” Olivia echoed.

  She didn’t have a week. She barely had a couple more days. She’d taken a specific leave of absence from her firm to search for her sister and her nephew. And while the senior partners at Norvil and Tyler indicated that they valued her and viewed her as an asset to the company, Olivia was not naive. She was well aware of the way things worked. A whole slew of second-tier attorneys waited in the wings for the first glimpse of an opening. They would all be willing and eager to fill her space.

  Suddenly overwhelmingly weary, Olivia felt as though the two halves of her life were on a collision course. On the one hand, she needed to be back at work, to keep building her career. On the other, she needed to be here for Tina and for Bobby. She couldn’t abandon either one of them. She couldn’t just pick up and leave with the baby, waiting until such time as the doctor who’d operated on Tina gave her the go-ahead to take her sister back home to Dallas. And maintaining a vigil for Tina while keeping Bobby with her came with its own set of problems as well.

  Okay, first things first, she told herself. One step at a time. “I need a place to stay tonight,” she said to Miss Joan.

  “There’s the motel on the outskirts of town,” Lupe told her, coming out of the diner to join the small gathering. The few customers inside the diner were either eating or relaxing after
a meal. No one was in any hurry. The regulars never were.

  Miss Joan frowned at the waitress’s suggestion, vetoing it.

  “You don’t want to go there,” she said, shaking her head. “They got bugs and snakes in every room. You’ll be putting the baby at risk, not to mention yourself.”

  Olivia shivered. She wasn’t exactly open to sharing space with bugs and snakes. She began thinking that she and Bobby were going to have to spend the night in her chewed-up car—once she got the top up. If she could get the top up, she qualified.

  “Are there any other options?” she asked.

  Again, Miss Joan seemed embarrassed, as if she had once more dropped the ball. “I’d put you up, except that I’m having the house painted and I’m staying with my sister right now.” Her brown eyes shifted toward Rick. “How about you, Sheriff? You’ve got that big ol’ spare bedroom just sitting there, going to waste. You could put her and the baby up.”

  Oh no, Olivia thought. Staying with the sheriff was not a good idea. It was just asking for trouble and from where she stood, she had more than her share of that right now.

  She shook her head, rejecting the suggestion. “I don’t think—”

  Miss Joan didn’t let her finish. “Sure, you do,” she contradicted. “The alternative’s either sleeping in your car, or with vermin. You might not mind it, but you’ve got to think of the baby. In the motel, he could get bit. In your car, he could catch a chill. It’s settled then,” Miss Joan declared, seeming pleased with herself. “Why don’t I put together some dinner for the two of you—on the house,” she added quickly, “seeing as how Bruiser made lunch out of the inside of your car. Not that I’m trying to get out of paying for that, but dinner’s the least I can do to show you how really sorry I am.” With that, the woman turned on her heel and hurried back into the diner. “I’ll have it ready in a jiffy,” she promised.

  Olivia blinked, trying to focus. She felt as if she’d just been run over by a steamroller, one that used words like “jiffy.” Without realizing it, she tightened her arms around the baby, and Bobby squealed in protest. Startled, Olivia loosened her hold just enough. Sniffing, Bobby settled down.

  “Look, if you don’t feel comfortable about this,” Rick began, choosing his words carefully, “I can ask around, see if I can find someone willing to put the two of you up.”

  She was beginning to feel like a charity case. She didn’t want him supplicating on her behalf. If she had to make a choice, she’d rather stay with him than a stranger. At least she knew the sheriff. Sort of.

  Olivia forced a smile to her lips. “I don’t feel uncomfortable,” she lied. And then it dawned on her. Maybe it wasn’t her he was concerned about. Maybe there was a girlfriend, a lover, who wouldn’t take kindly to her staying at his house.

  “Unless you’d rather that we went somewhere el—”

  “I’m fine with it,” he told Olivia, cutting her off abruptly.

  Olivia was far from convinced he meant what he said. Maybe there was a back room at the diner she and Bobby could use. They had to close down sometime, right? “You’re sure?”

  “I’m sure.” He said it so firmly, he left no room for doubt—or argument.

  “All right,” she murmured, even though it was against her better judgment.

  She wasn’t afraid of Santiago. It was more a case of being afraid of being alone with him. Throughout this whole day, she’d felt something…something shimmering between them. Tension, electricity, attraction.

  Something.

  Suddenly, Olivia stifled a scream as Bobby grabbed her hair and yanked hard. Every single hair seemed to separate from her scalp. He’d managed to bring tears of pain to her eyes.

  “Here, let me get that,” Rick offered. Very carefully, he loosened the chubby little fingers just enough to remove the strand of hair caught in the baby’s grasp. “Better?” he asked once he’d freed her hair.

  “Better,” she breathed. The next moment, she thrust the baby at him. “Could you hold Bobby for me for a minute? I want to get my suitcase out of the trunk.”

  “Sure thing.” Rick took the infant from her before she could finish her question.

  Bobby instantly lit up. It was not lost on Olivia. “He really seems to like you,” she observed, pulling the trunk release on the driver’s side floor. The trunk popped open.

  “The feeling,” Rick told her as he looked at the little person in his arms, “is mutual.”

  Rick turned so that he could watch as she took out the suitcase, then fished out the other, larger case from the inside of the car. The latter was filled with supplies she’d brought along for her nephew—disposable diapers and a few changes of clothing. She’d even packed one of the boy’s toys, he noted. The woman was nothing if not prepared, an admirable quality. Along with all her other admirable qualities.

  “Here,” Rick said, offering the baby to her. “Why don’t you take Bobby and I’ll just deposit these things in my car. Along with the food,” he added, seeing Miss Joan headed for them.

  Olivia caught herself thinking that she could get used to this.

  Immediately, she warned herself against trusting someone’s kindness. Good things never lasted. The only person she could rely on was herself. She had to remember that. To think anything else was to leave herself open to disappointment and disaster. The sooner she remembered that, the better off she would be.

  Chapter Ten

  It looked like a home that had seen its share of happiness. Olivia felt it the moment she saw it. She didn’t have to be told that this was Rick’s house. She just knew.

  Single story with a white stucco exterior, the house had a paint job old enough to have witnessed several winters, but not so old that it showed signs of suffering from the effects of a merciless summer sun.

  When Rick pulled his car up in the driveway and turned off the ignition, Olivia hesitated about getting out. There were lights on in the house.

  “Maybe you should have called ahead and checked if it was all right to bring home houseguests.” She glanced into the back of the car at her nephew. Lulled by the drive, he was sound asleep. A condition subject to change at the drop of a hat. “Especially one who cries.”

  “You’ll just have to work on that,” he quipped, humor curving his mouth. And then he saw that she was serious. “And called ahead to check with who?” he asked.

  A girlfriend? A wife? A friend? She shrugged, at a loss as to specifics. “With whoever’s in the house.”

  Rick watched her. “There’s no one in the house,” he told her.

  His sister was away at college—her last year—so there was no one to greet him when he came home at night, a fact he was acutely aware of. He was seriously thinking of getting a dog, except it wouldn’t be fair to the dog to leave him alone all day. Conditions at the sheriff’s office were fairly relaxed, but not enough to accommodate a dog.

  Olivia got out and began to remove the infant seat restraints holding Bobby in place. Bobby continued sleeping.

  She nodded toward the house. “The lights are on,” she pointed out.

  Was that it? He laughed, shaking his head. “Automatic timer. Makes it seem less empty when I come home.”

  “That bothers you? The emptiness,” she added when he didn’t answer. He didn’t strike her as the lonely type.

  “Sometimes,” he allowed. He took out the cooler filled with baby bottles and formula that she’d transferred into his vehicle, as well as her suitcase. “My sister lives here when she’s not away at college. After an entire summer of Mona’s chatter, the house feels unnaturally quiet when she’s gone.”

  “You get along with your sister?” she asked, following him to the front door.

  “Better now that she’s outgrown her bratty stage,” he quipped.

  He paused to unlock the front door, then picked up the cooler and suitcase again, only to park both just inside the door. Rick waited as she looked around, wondering what she thought of his home. He assumed that she was acc
ustomed to fancier digs, but this suited him. Even though he would most likely take that job in Dallas, this would always be home to him.

  “Let me show you to your room,” he offered.

  He led Olivia and the baby down a very short hall. He opened the door to the first room on the left. It was a very feminine bedroom. The double bed had a canopy overhead. The canopy matched the white eyelet bedspread which, in turn, matched the shams on the pillows.

  Bobby began to stir. She automatically started to sway, attempting to lull him back to sleep. “Let me guess, this is your sister’s room?” Olivia didn’t exactly like the idea of invading someone else’s space, even if they weren’t there to witness it.

  “No, my grandmother’s.” He looked at her, amused. So far, both guesses she’d made about the house had been wrong. “You’re not very good at this game, are you, Olivia?”

  Because he was putting them up, she bit back the first retort that rose to her lips. Instead, she looked around again. He’d said that no one was home. That didn’t mean that someone wasn’t due back. “Your grandmother, where is she?”

  A fond look came into his eyes. “Probably bossing the angels around, telling them how to play their harps if I know her.”

  “Then she’s—?”

  “Yes,” Rick answered quickly, cutting her short before she could say the word he really didn’t care to hear.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Yeah, so was I.” His grandmother had been gruff and strict, but both he and his sister knew she loved them. That was never in question. “This is her house. She left it to me and to Mona. Abuelita said it was all she could give us.” There was irony in his smile. “She didn’t realize that she’d given us so much more than just a building. She gave us a home.”

  Aware that his voice had become softer when he spoke about the old woman, Rick cleared his throat, as if that could erase outward signs of sentiment. He became all business.