A Cowboy in Her Stocking

by Trish Milburn

  “My life isn’t here anymore. I’m not the person I was when I lived here.”

  “Well, you at least have to stay long enough to use our winnings from the three-legged race.”

  She chuckled at that. “Well, I guess I could be persuaded to stay long enough to eat some free Mexican food.”

  “Tomorrow night? Mia is staying over at Ginny’s for some girly spa night thing I don’t fully understand.”

  “You know, I think I’d be worried if you did. And tomorrow night is fine.” She’d list the ranch, go to dinner with Jake for a final goodbye, then leave the next morning. When she’d arrived in Blue Falls, she’d looked forward to the day she could head back home. But it wasn’t going to be as easy to leave as she’d imagined. Maybe even harder than the first time.

  They headed inside to have slices of Mia’s cake. Talia gave Mia the hat she’d knitted for her then found herself wrapped in a powerful little-girl hug.

  “I love it,” Mia said, then turned and grabbed the stocking she’d brought inside. “Look at your presents.”

  Talia pulled out a candy cane, several silver-wrapped chocolates, a small box of cordial cherries, a drawing of a Christmas tree, and a Snoopy pencil. But it was the photograph of Jake and Mia that Talia knew she would most treasure. Mia was dressed like a fancy little cowgirl astride a horse at what appeared to be a rodeo. Jake stood beside her decked out in his own cowboy attire and smiling with pride. Talia wondered if there would ever be a day in the future when she’d be able to look at the photo and not miss them.

  As she looked up and noticed Jake watching her, she was afraid she knew the answer.

  * * *

  JAKE COULDN’T REMEMBER the last time he’d laughed so much. But the story Talia told about a group of students at her school sending her a singing telegram for her birthday, delivered by a stripper who suddenly started taking his clothes off while singing, was just too funny not to laugh.

  “Hey, it wasn’t funny, at least not at the time,” she said.

  “I can just imagine your face.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure it was every shade of red imaginable. Luckily, the guy showed up when most of the office was at lunch and I was able to convince him to put his clothes back on before someone else saw him.”

  Jake watched Talia take another bite of her enchilada. She was so beautiful it surprised him. Not that he’d ever thought she was ugly, but he’d never thought of her that way when they’d been teenagers. Of course, he’d only had eyes for Sunny back then. But now he found his eyes lingering on Talia more and more, and the truth was he didn’t want her to leave.

  After dinner, he took her for a drive to look at some of the best Christmas light displays in the county, postponing their inevitable goodbye. But as the hour grew later, he reluctantly drove her back to her ranch. The For Sale sign at the end of her driveway hit him square in the gut. She really was leaving, and he was surprised by just how desperate he felt to convince her to stay.

  As he walked her to the front door, he decided to tell her exactly how he felt, even if he wasn’t one hundred percent sure what it meant. He took one of her hands in his.

  “I don’t want you to leave.”

  She looked up at him with an expression that was difficult to interpret. But he got the feeling a battle was going on inside of her.

  Jake pulled her to him and lowered his lips to hers. He expected to be hit with a wave of guilt again, but it never came. Relieved, he deepened the kiss. When Talia didn’t protest, instead wrapping her arms around him and running her hands up his back, he moaned in pleasure.

  “Let me spend the night with you,” he whispered against her lips.

  When Talia pulled away, he was afraid he’d ruined the moment by wanting too much. But after she unlocked the door, she took his hand and led him inside.

  * * *

  PART OF TALIA screamed at her that she was making a mistake, that making love with Jake would just make her miss him more when she left. Because she would leave. This night between them was nothing more than two deeply lonely people seeking connection and physical pleasure. Talia knew she’d never be able to replace Sunny in Jake’s heart, but she also knew that they both needed this.

  She guided him to the couch. “I’m sorry but I don’t have a bed.”

  “Couch is good,” he said before he pulled her to him and kissed her again.

  How many times had she fantasized about a moment like this? Her heart swelled with joy but it also hurt to know this would be her only time with Jake.

  They slowly removed each other’s clothes and lay on the couch. Her nerves finally caught up to her, and Jake must have noticed by the look he gave her as he stretched out beside her and pulled a thick blanket off the back of the couch to cover them.

  “Are you nervous?”

  “Yeah. Not every day you get naked with a friend.” She cupped his jaw, could already feel stubble despite the fact he’d obviously shaved right before their dinner. “I have a confession to make, and you’re going to think it’s silly.”

  “Okay.”

  “Those last couple of years of high school, I had a big crush on you.”

  His features shifted to an expression of surprise. “Really?”

  “Really.”

  “But you never said anything.”

  She gave him a “duh” look. “It would have just made things awkward between us. You were in love with Sunny, and I’d already begun to think about getting away.”

  Jake caressed her cheek. “There’s nothing standing between us now.” He rolled her onto her back as he kissed her.

  When he nudged her legs apart and positioned himself between them, she suddenly wanted nothing more in the world than to feel him inside her. She pressed herself up against him, and in the next moment he slid home. Talia gasped.

  “You feel so good,” he said next to her ear.

  “So do you.”

  He began to move then, sliding in and out, giving her a pleasure like she’d never known. Gradually, they increased their pace, building toward the ultimate pleasure. When she climaxed, she cried out and gripped Jake’s shoulders. He thrust a few more times before he came with a sexy growl that made her want to stay there on that couch with him forever. It was on her lips to tell him that she loved him, but she somehow kept the words from breaking free. She might not be able to say them, but she intended to show him. If she had her way, sleep would be a long time coming.

  * * *

  TALIA AWOKE THE next morning to find herself alone on the couch. She dressed quickly and went in search of Jake, hoping he hadn’t left without saying goodbye. She found him on the porch, staring out across the now empty pasture with a deep-thoughts sort of look on his face. Her heart ached that he might be regretting what they’d shared because she was going to treasure it forever.

  But when he turned toward her, he smiled. “Good morning.”

  “Morning.”

  He pulled her close and dropped a kiss on her forehead. “What would it take to make you stay?”

  She couldn’t, not when she wanted so much more from him than he might be able to give. Despite what they’d shared the night before, she remembered the guilt in his eyes when he’d first kissed her. She still saw it now. At least part of him was still in love with Sunny. Making light, she said, “A job and Prince Charming.” It was all she could do to keep smiling when he caressed her cheek.

  “You’re going to leave today, aren’t you?”

  Not trusting her voice, she nodded.

  She fought tears as they spent a few more minutes together, then as she watched Jake get in his truck and head down the driveway. It wasn’t until she finally drove away from the ranch for the last time, as she pointed her car west, that she could no longer hold back the tears and let them flow.

 
Chapter Seven

  Jake drove the familiar route from his ranch toward town in silence as he took Mia to school. Normally, she would be chattering up a storm, but she too was quiet. Had been since the day Talia had left two weeks before. He wanted to be angry at Talia for hurting his precious little girl, but he knew deep down it wasn’t her fault. Talia had not made any secret of the fact that she hadn’t planned to stay in Blue Falls. But if he was honest with himself, Mia wasn’t the only one who’d wished Talia had changed her mind.

  “Daddy?”

  “Yes, sweetie?”

  “Do you miss Talia?”

  He considered lying to her, but that wasn’t exactly a good lesson to teach his child. Plus, he didn’t think he could rustle up a convincing lie. “Yes, I miss her a lot.”

  “Me, too.” Mia fell silent for several seconds before speaking again. “Would it make you sad if I said I wished Talia could be my new mommy?”

  The question hit him like a two-by-four to the chest, so hard that he found himself pulling over on the side of the road to catch his breath. He was surprised to find Mia’s question didn’t affect him so much because of the loss of Sunny. Rather, it was because deep down he’d wanted to tell Talia that he was falling in love with her. But she wasn’t the only one who’d dealt with fear in her life. The thought of giving himself to someone again the way he had Sunny scared him down to places so deep within himself that he hadn’t known they existed. But was it worse than living alone when fate had seen fit to allow him to love again? When the person he loved was out there alive and well?

  “Daddy?” The concern in Mia’s voice had him turning toward her.

  “Do you mean that, sweetie? You’d like Talia to be a part of our family?”

  At first she looked as if she didn’t know the right answer to his question, and it reminded him of that night when Talia had told him that Mia never mentioned her mother because she knew it made him sad.

  “You can tell me the truth,” he said.

  She took another moment, thinking, before she smiled and nodded. Something that had been locked away inside him opened up, allowing him to visualize a future where it was no longer just Mia and him against the world. He told himself not to get his hopes up. After all, he had no idea if Talia felt the same way. And even if she did, would she be willing to give up the life she’d built for herself to come back to Blue Falls, a place that held bad memories? Could he uproot Mia, taking her away from where her mother had been laid to rest to a new life in California?

  He looked out the windshield, and told himself to slow down, to take things one step at a time. First on the agenda was dropping Mia off at school, then arranging for her to stay with India and Liam for a couple of days. And then he was going to use some of his hard-earned money to buy a plane ticket. Because the questions he wanted to ask Talia weren’t over-the-phone questions. They were most definitely of the look-the-other-person-in-the-eye variety.

  For the first time in nearly two weeks, Jake smiled.

  By the time he made arrangements for Mia’s care while he was gone, excitement was coursing through him at a velocity that had him speeding home to book his flight from Austin and pack. If he hadn’t reached his driveway just as Helen, his mail carrier, was pulling away, he would have sailed past the mailbox without a second thought. He spared a few seconds to grab his stack of mail before continuing on to the house. He tossed it on the table where it lay forgotten until he had everything ready to leave.

  Left with time to kill before heading to the airport, he made himself a sandwich and sat at the kitchen table. He sifted through the mail, most of which was junk. When he reached an envelope from the hospital, he almost didn’t open it. The last thing he needed intruding on his good mood was a reminder of how much he owed for Mia’s treatments. But something had him slipping his finger under the envelope’s flap and unfolding the bill inside. Expecting to see the figure that was burned into his brain, he was stunned to see a balance due of zero.

  While he fantasized about seeing that, he knew it wasn’t right. He was the kind of man who paid what he owed, so he dialed the hospital’s billing department.

  “Billing. Can I help you?” a woman said.

  “Yes, I have a bill here for my daughter that is incorrect.” He could tell by the almost inaudible sound of frustration the woman made that she expected him to say he didn’t owe what he’d been billed. “It’s showing a balance due of zero. While I wish that were true, I owe a considerable amount more than that.”

  He gave her the account information she asked for.

  “No, that bill is correct. A third party paid the bill in full.”

  “That can’t be right.”

  “It is. But may I just say that I admire you for being honest. I don’t see that an awful lot in my job.”

  He thought he might have asked the woman to verify that zero balance two more times before he finally hung up. When he racked his brain for a possible explanation, it kept coming back to Talia. He hurried with his bag to the truck and drove out to her family’s ranch. The For Sale sign still sat at the end of the driveway. Even so, he knew in his gut she was the one who’d paid off that bill. He didn’t know how she’d done it, but then it wasn’t the first time she’d made a big move to help him and Mia. If possible, he fell even more in love with her.

  Though his flight didn’t leave for three hours, he turned around and headed toward Austin. He had every intention of being the first person on that plane so he could be the first person off.

  * * *

  TALIA STUCK A strip of tape along the top of the box containing her most beloved books, then stood to stretch her back. It seemed all she did lately was pack things away in boxes. But this was the last one. Next on the agenda was unpacking all of the boxes already sitting in her new apartment.

  The sound of the doorbell surprised her, and she wondered who it could be. It shouldn’t be the real estate agent, not after they’d finalized all the paperwork at the closing the day before. Part of her still couldn’t believe she’d sold her cute little house, the one she’d worked so hard to call her own. But she knew that even if she were given the chance, she wouldn’t go back and make a different decision. Wouldn’t change any of the decisions she’d made lately.

  Well, that wasn’t completely true. If she’d thought Jake could have really been hers, if he’d felt for her the way she felt for him, she would have stayed and fought for him. But she’d seen the look on his face the morning after they’d made love. As he’d stood on the front porch and looked out across the ranch, she could almost hear the guilt hammering him. He was still in love with Sunny, always would be.

  She shook her head and told herself for the umpteenth time to put him from her mind. She was embarking on a new life, and she needed to shed her past, every bit of it, once and for all.

  But that proved difficult when she opened the door to find part of that past staring back at her.

  “Jake?” She couldn’t believe her eyes. Surely, it was another man and her thoughts of Jake were making her hallucinate. But even after she blinked a couple of times, it was still him. He stood there in his cowboy boots and hat, looking out of place but sexy as hell.

  He glanced past her to the boxes in the foyer. “You sold your house to pay for Mia’s medical bills, didn’t you?”

  He’d know if she lied, so she nodded.

  “Why?”

  “It was the right thing to do. Besides, I couldn’t afford to stay in it any longer with no job.” Before he could say anything else, she asked, “Why are you here?”

  “To tell you something I should have told you before you left Blue Falls.”

  “They have these things now called phones. I happen to know you own one.”

  “This isn’t the type of thing you tell someone over the phone.” He took a step toward her, cau
sing her heart rate to kick into high gear. “It’s okay if you don’t feel the same way, but I hope that you do.” He lifted his hand to cup her jaw and run his thumb over her cheek. “Because I love you.”

  A momentary burst of joy was quickly followed by pain. She stepped away from him, breaking contact. “You don’t mean that. You love Sunny.”

  “Yes, I do, and I always will. But she’s gone. Just because Sunny was my first love doesn’t mean I can’t love again.”

  She shook her head. “But I saw you that morning after we were together. There was pain in your eyes.”

  “Yes. When you love someone like I loved Sunny, it’s hard to finally let them go. But I knew I had to because I was falling for you.”

  “But you didn’t say anything.”

  “Neither did you, and you’d made it clear from the moment you returned to Blue Falls that you had no intention of staying. You had built a life for yourself, and it wasn’t in Texas.”

  “So what changed?”

  “Instead of missing you less every day, I missed you more.”

  She still couldn’t believe that this was happening, that he was here professing a love she’d only dreamed about receiving. “But we’re not the only people this affects. We have to consider Mia. She loved her mother.”

  “Yes, she did. But here’s the thing about human beings, even kids—they can love more than one person.” He reached into his jacket pocket and retrieved a sheet of paper, then extended it to her. “She made this for you.”

  With a shaky hand, she accepted the homemade card. The cover just had “Talia” written in big blocky, purple letters. But what she found inside had her biting her lip and blinking back tears. Mia had drawn a little girl, one hand held by a dark-haired man, the other held by a woman with short, blond hair. Underneath, she’d written, “Will you be my new mommy?”

  Talia lost the battle with the tears, and they flowed down her cheeks as she looked up at Jake. He stepped inside the house and closed the door behind him before erasing the distance between them. Talia’s heart swelled as he wiped her tears away.