“Let’s not go that high,” Chanel said.
“No worries. Let’s try it from here for the first time.”
She smiled her appreciation and took Trey from his arms. McCoy situated the tube and settled into it, bracing it with his feet. Chanel handed the baby over then squished into McCoy’s side, clinging to him. He let go with his feet and they whooshed down the hill. Chanel enjoyed the ride, but the laughter coming from McCoy and Trey was even more fun.
They rode down several more times, progressing higher on the hill with each ride.
“Let us take Trey this time,” Porter requested as McCoy and Chanel settled at the bottom of the hill.
McCoy looked to Chanel. She nodded. “Okay.”
“Thanks. We’re more fun than those two anyway,” Porter said. “Right, buddy?”
“Right!” Trey laughed. His cheeks were pink. Normally a pretty mellow child, Chanel had never seen him this animated. She’d sled all night just to hear him giggle. Thanks to Missy, she wasn’t even cold. Far from it with the chance to snuggle into McCoy’s side as they flew down the hill.
They all trudged through the snow again. Porter and Missy stopped halfway up and McCoy helped them get settled with Trey. They pushed off down the hill, amidst Trey’s and Missy’s squeals of glee.
McCoy turned to Chanel. “Do you want to brave the top?”
She glanced up the steep incline, a thrill racing through her. She hadn’t sledded down a mountain this huge, ever. “Let’s do it.”
McCoy took her hand and they climbed the hill side by side. His limp made it a bit slower going, but Chanel was out of breath when they still had a quarter of the mountain to climb. “Wish I could say I was working out regularly, but I’d be lying.”
McCoy smiled gently. “You’ve been a little busy with Trey. What do you like to do for exercise?”
“I used to love spin class and boot camp, but that was before my life imploded. In Portland, I’d try to get out for a run or bike ride with Trey, but it’s so cold here.”
“Yeah, it is. Lucky that Porter has nice weight equipment in his basement.”
Chanel glanced over his frame. “Lucky for me.”
McCoy winked.
They reached the top. McCoy settled into the tube. Chanel started to climb on next to him, but he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her onto his lap. She squealed in surprise, but then they took off down the hill and her squeal turned to a scream. McCoy’s laughter mingled with her screams which turned quickly to peals of laughter. They were flying so fast her eyes and cheeks stung. She wished time would slow down and she could just enjoy this sensation of being close to McCoy and soaring down the mountainside.
The slope planed out at the bottom, but they still banged into the straw bales that kept sledders from crashing into the road.
Chanel laid her head back on McCoy’s shoulder and took a long breath. “Wow. I haven’t had that much fun in years.”
McCoy wrapped his arms around her middle. “I have.” He sat up and turned her on his lap so she was facing him. “Kissing you is the best time I’ve ever had.”
Chanel grinned, but sobered quickly when his lips met hers and she was soaring like they were flying down that hill again.
“I was going to offer you hot cocoa, but I guess you two are warm enough,” Porter’s voice interrupted their moment.
Chanel stood and offered McCoy a hand up. He was so big, he about pulled her back down again. She leaned back and he popped up.
“I’ll take the cookie.” McCoy stole the cookie from Porter’s hand, amidst his cousin’s protests. “But it won’t be as sweet as Chanel’s lips.”
“Oh, that’s cheesy, cuz,” Porter said. “I’m going to find me another cookie.” He glanced back over his shoulder. “Missy has Trey by the food table when you two get through smooching.”
Chanel turned to follow Porter. McCoy caught her hand and turned her back. “I’m not quite done smooching yet.”
He tasted like cookie, warmth, and happiness. Chanel wished this night would never end.
Chapter 8
Saturday night, McCoy couldn’t feel anything but gratitude for what Missy and Chanel had accomplished with their flyers. They were approaching February first and the clientele was steady. The only problem was people rarely paid cash to the dentist, even though McCoy offered a ten percent cash discount. He and Chanel had to wait for insurance to be billed and recompense them, or send out bills and wait for the turnaround of people mailing them back in.
It was going good, but not good enough for the payday loan that was due February first. What would happen if he defaulted? When he called to ask for an extension they had graciously told him no, they were very sorry, but the national policy was firm. He would have to pay at least twenty percent or they would have to repossess his equipment and try to get the value out of that. He didn’t have close to four thousand dollars. How would he run his business without dental chairs and equipment?
He slumped down in Porter, or maybe it was Missy’s, office chair. How was he going to pay that loan off? Maybe he could go to the local bank. See if they’d give him a small loan. He didn’t have much of a track record, but he was making money. He could put his truck up for collateral. He scowled deeper. He could sell his truck and still not come close to paying the first payment on the loan.
Footsteps approached and he hurriedly closed the mail window with the response from the loan company. There was nothing on the screen but a picture of Porter and Missy on their wedding day. He clicked quickly on the internet button again and typed in Jagas Dental Equipment.
Warm fingers massaged his neck and shoulders. McCoy groaned and leaned back into her fingers. “I’ll give you two days to stop that.”
Chanel laughed and the light, happy sound brought a stirring of hope back into his heart. He’d told her he would make her future better than her present circumstances, but was he doing all he could to make that happen? A buddy from dental school had told him about an opportunity to fly to remote locations and do pediatric dentistry a few days in each spot then move on. It would be hard to be gone from Chanel and Trey and might kill his dream of establishing his own practice, but he would do what he had to do to make things work. If he defaulted on the loan, he wouldn’t have any equipment to work on anyway. He’d keep trying to bring in enough money next week, but if it didn’t work out, he’d have to call his friend.
He forced the loan from his mind and concentrated on Chanel and her wonderful fingers.
“You dreaming again?” she asked.
“About you? Always.”
She laughed. “About the Jagas Cascade chair?”
McCoy was so glad he’d thought to Google that. If she’d seen the screen was blank, would she realize he was trying to hide something from her? He knew she would handle his revelations of impending doom with kindness and grace, but he wasn’t ready to shoot down her hopes yet.
“It would be fun,” he said, “but definitely a few years down the road.”
“You’re doing great.” Chanel’s confidence in him both inspired and terrified him. “Hey. Trey’s asleep and Porter and Missy offered to listen for him if you want to go get a shake from Big C’s or maybe some pie from Tina’s?”
McCoy whirled in the office chair and hugged her around the waist. Sadly, he couldn’t afford to take her out to dinner, but he could afford ice cream. “Shakes sound great.” He stood and they got their coats and boots and headed out.
Big C’s was full of the usual Saturday crowd—mostly teenagers with a few middle-aged couples or families sprinkled in. He said hi to Gabe Wesson and his two children. They’d come into the dental office a couple of days ago. Seemed like a great guy. McCoy checked to see if Chanel had noticed the other man, but she was only looking at McCoy. Yes.
They ordered and sat to wait for their shakes. McCoy studied her beautiful face, excited for the chance to just sit and talk to her. They spent a lot of time together and he’d grown to love and ap
preciate her even more over the last couple of weeks—her fabulous attitude, sweet smile, and competence with dental work and her son—but he wanted to know more.
He reached for her hands across the table.
“Tell me something about you,” Chanel said in a rush. “Something I don’t know.”
McCoy chuckled. “I was going to ask you the same thing.”
She smiled. “Okay, but you have to go first since I said it first.”
“Hmm.” He tried to think of something original. “So I told you that I was kind of rebellious in high school?”
The blonde teenager brought Chanel’s mint chocolate chip shake and his raspberry cheesecake. They thanked her and released hands to take a bite. McCoy savored the mixture of tart, sweet, and creamy.
“Yeah, I remember the talk about rebellion. Doesn’t seem to fit now.”
“I hope not. One of the things I did was grow my hair out. I kind of liked it and it ticked off a lot of adults, but my Aunt Rebecca never had an issue with it. She always told me that I was a great kid and if I liked my hair long that was fine.” He half-laughed. “Kind of ruined the rebellion part. When the hair was halfway down my back I got pretty sick of it and chopped it off. I found a website where I could donate it to the Children’s Cancer Foundation. Made me feel good that I could do something cool with it.”
Chanel had stopped eating her ice cream. Tears shone in her beautiful blue eyes.
“What?” McCoy sat up straighter and reached for her hand. “What did I say wrong?”
Chanel wiped at a tear. “Nothing wrong. My best friend growing up had leukemia. Jessie died at fifteen.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
She held up a hand. “It was tough, but I remember when she received the most gorgeous wig. It was gold and brown like yours with the perfect amount of curl and she just loved it. It made her so happy to feel pretty when she’d lost all of her own hair. I always wished I could tell the person who donated it thank you. And you… you were one of those people.”
McCoy found himself wishing that he was the one who donated the hair that made her friend’s wig. He poked at his melting shake. “Sorry to hear about your friend.”
“It’s been over ten years now, but sometimes it hits me all over again and I miss her so much. Besides Missy, she was the best friend I ever had. We were just meant to be best friends.”
“I bet she appreciated you being there for her through … everything.”
Chanel’s eyes clouded over. “She always said she did. I was such a stupid teenager though. When she passed I was so caught up in my own sadness I didn’t ever go visit her parents or do things to help them. They ended up getting divorced and moving away. Made me really sad for her little brother. I always thought Jessie would’ve been crying from heaven.”
“That is sad, but happens a lot when someone loses a child.” McCoy took a deep breath. “You’ve been through a lot of death.”
“Yeah.” She nodded. “Jessie, both of my grandmas, and Missy and I lost one of our aunts just last year.”
McCoy wondered if it was his place to remind her. “And your husband.”
Chanel had her spoon to her mouth. She dropped it back into the cup. At this rate neither of them were going to eat much ice cream. “Oh. Yeah.” She exhaled slowly. “I guess he should be the top of the list.”
“You guess?” McCoy had yet another hint that all had not been well in Chanel’s marriage. When he thought about her being married to another man his gut tightened and he had to stop thinking about it. He wondered if he’d imagined that her marriage wasn’t great to try to satiate his desire to be her world, but he didn’t think he was imagining this.
“He’s, well, he’s Trey’s father, so I should be more devastated that he’s gone.”
McCoy glanced around at the busy restaurant. No one was paying any attention to them in their corner booth. “But you’re not?” It was a horrible question to ask, but he needed to know.
She sighed. “You don’t want the whole miserable story.”
Sadly he did, he really did, especially if it was miserable. He stopped himself. That was wrong. He didn’t want Chanel to be miserable, far from it, but he had to admit the idea that her husband wasn’t some saint had a lot of appeal. Oh, he was a truly bad person.
“Please,” he said. “I shared about my hair.”
She laughed unsteadily and ate a bite of ice cream. It must not have set well because she pushed the cup away.
“Do you want to get out of here?” he asked.
“Yes, please.”
He gathered up their cups and tossed them in the trash then they walked out into the cold night. It was snowing great big flakes. He drove them home through the increasing snow. He wished they could sit outside in the truck and talk where they wouldn’t be interrupted, but it was too cold and he didn’t have enough gas money to leave the truck running. When they pulled into the yard he got the perfect idea.
He opened Chanel’s door and helped her out. She started walking toward the house. He took her hand. “Do you care if we go somewhere where we can talk alone for a little bit longer?”
“I’d like that.” But she was trembling, whether from the cold or nervousness about sharing her story, he couldn’t be sure.
He led her into the barn and shut the door behind them. It was warmer in here, but not considerably. He opened one of the cupboards and sure enough there were a pile of fleece blankets in there. He didn’t know if Aunt Rebecca put them there for emergency purposes or what. She surely didn’t put them there for what they were used for in high school. Blankets to snuggle with a cute girl in the barn. McCoy smiled thinking of what Aunt Rebecca’s response to that would have been.
He wrapped one of the blankets around Chanel and tugged her close for a sweet kiss. It was tender and not meant to lead to anything. He was mature enough now to know that snuggling in the barn wasn’t the best opportunity to keep things chaste. He grabbed another blanket for himself and led her to the straw pile. Sitting down on two bales, they rested their backs against the barn wall and inhaled the scent of straw, dust, and horses. The horses were chewing slowly on their hay and occasionally breathing loudly or nickering.
McCoy glanced over at Chanel. “I’m ready for the story.”
She nodded. Her mouth worked for a few seconds then she began with, “My parents begged me not to marry Chance, but I was a very mature twenty-two year old, already working, making all kinds of money as a dental assistant.” She gave a wry smile. They both knew she was making more working for McCoy than most dental assistants ever would. “Chance was a lot of fun and he came from money. I assumed we were going to be wealthy and happy. No more troubles in the world for me.”
“At first things were okay, but I started getting annoyed that I went to work every day then came home and cleaned and cooked and he did nothing but play video games. Honestly, nothing.” She shook her head. “We only knew each other for a couple of months before we got married, but he really snow jobbed me. He took me on all kinds of fun and active dates. I knew he played video games and didn’t have a job, but he was in school so I justified him not working. He told me he was going to be a dentist, of all things.”
McCoy smothered a laugh at that. “You’ve got to watch out for those dentists.”
“I’d say.” She smiled but then sobered quickly. “It became evident really quickly that he was only taking one or two classes a semester and failing those miserably. I don’t remember at what point I realized he was addicted to prescription painkillers. He’d blown his knee out a few years before in a skiing accident then after he’d recovered he’d broken an ankle and arm on a mountain bike. When I confronted him, he claimed it was because of the old injuries that he needed the medicine. I started finding bottles and pills hidden everywhere in our house.”
She sighed. “We had the most beautiful house. His parents had bought it for our wedding present. They were so thrilled with me when we got married, but then Chanc
e took a turn for the worse and they blamed me. They claimed I was enabling him because I worked, cooked, cleaned, and he did nothing. I lost it and told them maybe they should’ve taught him how to be a worthwhile member of society.” She arched her eyebrows. “Not the best idea for in-law relations.”
McCoy let his blanket drop and put his arm around her, pulling her against his side. “It sounds like a nightmare.”
“It was, believe me, it was.” She plucked at the blanket’s edge. “I don’t think I’ve ever told anyone this much of the story. I should stop talking.”
“Please don’t.” McCoy kissed her forehead and hugged her tighter. “I want to know everything about you.”
“I feel the same.” She kissed him briefly then pulled away and laid her head on his chest.
McCoy felt extremely protective of her. He wanted to be the one to be there for her and Trey. Every day. Every minute.
“So how did the in-laws react?”
“They cut us off completely. No paying Chance’s tuition or giving him spending money every week.” She sighed. “That should’ve been my first clue to run—a twenty-three year old man whose parents gave him spending cash. Chance went a little nuts when he realized they were serious and my mouthing off had taken away one of his sources of buying drugs. I didn’t know at this point about all the maxed out credit cards and payday loans.”
McCoy winced at the words “payday loans” and hoped she hadn’t noticed.
“I thought he was going to hit me,” she continued quietly, “but he screamed for a while and then left. I didn’t find him for two weeks. Finally, a friend of his called and begged me to come get Chance off of his couch. I did, but it wasn’t too long after that he died.”
“How did he die?”
“Car accident. I’ve always felt awful about it because it was his fault. He had all kinds of painkillers in his bloodstream.” She shook her head against his chest. “He plowed through a red light and t-boned an older Jeep. He hurt the man in the other car badly and Chance had lied to me about renewing the car insurance. He spent the money on drugs instead so I don’t know how that man paid the medical bills. I always wanted to go see if he was okay, but felt so guilty my husband put him in that situation and I had no money to make things right.”
Winter in Snow Valley (Snow Valley Romance) Page 27
