Wyoming Winter--A Small-Town Christmas Romance

by Diana Palmer

  He laughed. “All right. I won’t say anything.” He was looking at her intently. After a minute he turned his attention back to his notes. “Sleep good.”

  “You, too. Night.”

  She closed the door.

  Her father was wise enough to notice that she hadn’t indulged in any heavy petting with J.C. Such signs were quite visible. It gave him a little hope. J.C. might not turn out to be as bad an influence as he’d feared.

  * * *

  THE WEEK DRAGGED BY. Colie typed up briefs, printed them out, took dictation, scheduled clients, helped open mail and generally buried herself in work to keep J.C. out of her mind.

  “You’re daydreaming, girl,” Lucy, her coworker teased. “It’s that handsome man from the Yukon, isn’t it?”

  She didn’t deny it. “Small towns,” she laughed, shaking her head.

  “Well, my cousin runs the filling station where J.C. buys gas and he mentioned he was going to Lander with a friend. Since he doesn’t have any friends...” Lucy trailed off.

  “He does so. He has me.”

  Lucy grinned at Colie’s mischievous expression. “Anyway, we figured he was taking you over to the casino. Win much?”

  “I won enough to pay the light bill,” Colie said. “And get a few extra minutes a month on my phone. It was nice.”

  “I know what you mean. I had to give up bowling for two nights because I blew a tire and had to replace it,” the other woman sighed. “Ben’s so understanding. I ran over a piece of metal in the road. I wasn’t paying attention. He didn’t even blink. He just kissed me and said he was grateful that I didn’t get hurt. That’s what I call a nice husband.”

  “You two really are great together,” Colie said. “You’re the same kind of people. You come from similar backgrounds.”

  “And we’ve known each other since kindergarten,” was the droll reply.

  “Did you ever think of just living together?” Colie asked, trying not to sound as curious as she was. She was thinking ahead, in case J.C. ever brought it up.

  “Not really,” Lucy confided. “My dad’s a pharmacist. Good luck trying to get birth control in Catelow without him finding out. Besides that, he’s a deacon in your father’s church. People around here are clannish, and they don’t move with the times. Maybe we have couples who sneak around at night to motels over near Jackson Hole, but we really don’t have many who just live together. They get married and raise kids.”

  “I’d love to have kids,” Colie said softly. “I can’t think of anything in the world I want more.”

  “So do Ben and I,” Lucy said. “But we’re just starting out. We figure we’ll have a couple of years to grow together better before we start on a family.”

  “That’s wise.”

  “We think so.” She cocked her head. “What about you and J.C.?” she asked. “I’m not prying.”

  “I know.” She hesitated. “I don’t know, Lucy,” she said honestly. “He’s already said he’s not the pipe-and-slippers type, and he doesn’t really want children.” She bit her lower lip. “You can’t change people. You have to just accept them the way they are.” Her face was drawn with pain. “I keep thinking, if I’d refused to go out with him...”

  “It wouldn’t have changed anything,” Lucy said wisely. “People fall in love. I don’t think they get a choice about who they fall in love with.”

  Colie laughed. “No. It’s like your family. You don’t get to choose them, either.”

  Lucy grimaced. “Your father would give you a real hard time if you tried to move in with J.C. To say nothing of the rest of the community. There’s barely a thousand people who live in and around Catelow. You couldn’t hide it.”

  “I’ve worried about that. I’d like to think I’d say no. But...”

  “He might turn out to be conventional,” Lucy ventured. “He knows how your father feels.”

  “It wouldn’t matter. I don’t think J.C. had much of a home life,” she confided. “He was more or less orphaned in grammar school.”

  “That’s tough.”

  “You mustn’t repeat that,” Colie said.

  “You know me. I work for lawyers,” she whispered, pointing down the hall. “They’d barbecue me on the front steps if I ever talked about what I know!”

  “Same here,” Colie said, laughing. The smile faded as she shuffled papers on her desk, across from Lucy’s. “He doesn’t know what it’s like to have a settled, happy home. That might explain the way he is. He doesn’t like attachments.”

  “He’s obviously attached to you,” her friend said.

  “So far,” Colie sighed. “I don’t know how long it will last. We’re very different.”

  “May I make a suggestion? Stop trying to control your life and just live it.”

  Colie drew in a long breath. “That’s what I keep telling myself. Then I remember how Daddy looked when I said I was going out with J.C. and I feel guilty all over again. He reminded me that J.C. isn’t a person of faith. In some circumstances, that can be a huge drawback.”

  “People compromise,” Lucy said. “Ben and I have. You and J.C. will find a way to be together that works for both of you.”

  “I hope so.” She lowered her eyes. “I can’t give him up, Lucy,” she whispered. “I love him too much, already.”

  “If you ever need to talk, I’m here. And I’m not judgmental,” Lucy reminded her.

  Colie smiled. “Thanks.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  COLIE HAD NOTICED that Rodney was acting oddly. He stayed out until all hours. Once, she was up getting a drink of water when he came in. His face was flushed and his eyes looked strange.

  “Are you okay?” she asked worriedly.

  “What? Okay? Sure, I’m okay,” he replied. But he seemed foggy. “I’ve just had a long drive, all the way from Jackson Hole. I’m tired.”

  “You spend a lot of time over there lately,” she pointed out.

  He blinked. “Well, yes. There are some presentations on new gadgets and appliances and tools. I go to get familiar with them, for work.”

  He worked at the local hardware store as a clerk. She did wonder why a clerk would need to know about appliances, but perhaps that had become part of his duties. So she just smiled and took him at his word.

  But the next day, he had company. Colie’s father had gone to visit a member of his congregation who was at the hospital. It was Saturday, and Colie was working in the kitchen when the front door opened.

  “Can you make us some coffee, sis?” Rod called from the doorway. “We’ve had a long drive. This is my friend, Barry Todd,” he added, introducing a taciturn man in a gray suit. The man was impeccably groomed, but there was something disturbing about him. Colie, who often got vivid impressions about people, distrusted him on sight.

  “Of course,” she told her brother.

  He and his friend went into the living room. She heard muffled conversation. It sounded like arguing. Rod raised his voice once, and the other man replied in a sharp, condescending tone.

  Colie filled two mugs with coffee and started to take them in, but Rod met her at the door, thanked her and nudged the door closed behind him.

  She went back to the kitchen, puzzled and uneasy.

  * * *

  LATER, WHEN THE visitor left, Colie asked about him, trying not to sound as suspicious as she felt.

  “Barry’s a salesman for a tool company,” Rod told her, but he averted his eyes. “We do business together. He’s opening up sales in this territory and I’m going to be his representative.”

  “Oh, I see,” she said. “Like moonlighting.”

  He hesitated. “That’s it,” he agreed quickly. “Moonlighting.”

  “Your boss at the hardware store won’t mind, will he?” She wo
rried.

  “Of course not,” he huffed. “He doesn’t tell me what to do on my own time.”

  “Your friend dresses nicely.”

  “Yes. He’s loaded. Did you see the car he drives? It’s a Mercedes!” He made a face. “All I’ve got is that old Ford. It looks shabby by comparison.”

  “Hey, it runs,” she pointed out. “And it’s worlds nicer than my truck!”

  “Your truck belongs in a junkyard,” he scoffed. “I’m amazed that they had the gall to actually sell it to you.”

  “Now, now, I can’t walk to work,” she teased.

  He didn’t smile. In the past, Rod had been happy and joking and fun to be around. More and more, he was short-tempered, impatient and morose.

  “Are you okay?” she asked worriedly.

  “I’m fine.” He tugged at the neck of his polo shirt. “I’m just hot.”

  “It’s cold in here,” she began.

  “You’re always cold,” he shot back. He turned away. He stopped and looked back at her. “You still going around with J.C.?”

  “Sort of,” she said, surprised. “We went over to the casino at Lander last week.”

  He laughed hollowly. “I’ll bet Daddy loved that.”

  “He doesn’t interfere.”

  His eyes narrowed. “J.C. won’t settle down, you know.”

  “I know that, Rod.” She studied him. “You and J.C. were close before you got out of the service. You don’t spend much time with him now.”

  “We have different interests, that’s all.” His face hardened. “He’s such a straight arrow,” he muttered. “I guess it’s his background.”

  “His background?” she probed, always interested in any tidbit of information about J.C. that she didn’t already know.

  “He was a policeman before he went into the armed services,” he said. “Worked in Billings for a couple of years as a beat cop. They said he was hell on wife beaters. Almost put a man in the hospital. The guy had beaten his pregnant wife bloody and threw his toddler down the steps. Killed the little boy. J.C. did a number on him. There weren’t any charges. The guy attacked J.C. the minute he walked in the door with his partner. Bad move. He’s a lot stronger than he looks.”

  “I can’t imagine anyone bad enough to hurt a child,” Colie said solemnly.

  “The guy used,” he said. “Idiot. You never take more than you need for a buzz. That’s just stupid.”

  He was using terms she’d heard at work when her bosses dictated letters about drug cases they were defending.

  “I don’t know anything about drugs,” she commented.

  “Just as well,” he told her. “What’s for supper?” he added, changing the subject.

  “Meat loaf and mashed potatoes. And I made a cherry pie.”

  He managed a smile. “Sounds good.”

  “I’ll get busy.”

  He watched her walk away. He was uneasy. He didn’t dare let anything slip that she might pick up on. If she found out what he was doing and told J.C., his friend would go to the authorities in a heartbeat, despite their years of friendship. J.C. had serious prejudices about people who used drugs. He was even worse about dealers.

  * * *

  COLIE WISHED SHE’D thought to give J.C. her cell phone number, or that she’d asked for his. She could have sent him text messages.

  Then she caught herself. He didn’t seem the type of person who did a lot of chatting. She’d had only one phone conversation with him, if you could call it that. He’d called that time when he was invited to dinner, that first time that he’d asked her out. He’d said he was going to be a few minutes late. He’d said barely two words to her and hung up. That was the extent of their phone conversations.

  She wished he’d called her, though. She’d have loved to hear the sound of his voice, even if it was only two or three words’ worth. But he didn’t call. And his two or three days turned into a week.

  She knew he was still in Denver because her friend Lucy had a cousin who worked in retail, and he was also attending the gadget convention. He mentioned to Lucy that J.C. was chatting up a gorgeous platinum blonde and said maybe that was the reason he hadn’t come home sooner.

  Lucy told Colie when she persisted, but she hated doing it. Colie’s face fell. It was what she’d expected to happen. She wasn’t pretty or sophisticated. J.C. had even mentioned that the girl he fell in love with was like a supermodel in looks.

  She was so depressed. She’d had all sorts of stupid dreams, about being with J.C. for the rest of her life, of changing his mind about having a home of his own and a family. Now those dreams were being changed into nightmares with platinum blonde hair.

  * * *

  IF SHE COULD have seen J.C., the depression would have lifted. As most gossip was, the bit about him and the blonde was blown all out of proportion. He’d been overseas with another man who trained local law enforcement in the Middle East during his vacations, an Apache man named Phillip Hunter who worked private security in Houston. Hunter’s wife, Jennifer, was a geologist. She was so beautiful, even in her thirties and with two children, that she turned heads everywhere. It was Jennifer that J.C. had been talking to while Hunter went to talk to one of the vendors about an updated closed circuit camera system for Ritter Oil Corporation, where Hunter was head of security.

  Jennifer was as conservative as her husband, and it would never have occurred to her to cheat on him. She was simply enjoying talking about her work to J.C., who knew something about the mining industry. Geology was an interest of his. When he was very young, his father was always bringing home unusual rocks from work. J.C. hated the memory of his father, but he’d always loved geology.

  He missed Colie. He didn’t want to. He knew that he could never give her the things she wanted. It was sad, because she was the kind of woman any man would be proud to call his own. But a family, kids...that wasn’t him. He’d been on his own too long.

  Maybe he was overthinking it. He should just take it one day at a time and not take life so seriously.

  Phillip Hunter rejoined them, smiling. He was older than Jennifer, probably in his forties by now. He had silver at his temples and threads of silver in his thick, straight jet-black hair. But he was still as fit a man as any J.C. had ever seen. He kept in fighting trim. He and Jennifer had two children, a daughter, Nikki, and a son, Jason. They seemed perfectly happy together, for an old married couple. J.C., who had rarely seen a good marriage, was impressed. His foster parents had been like these two. Their deaths had been worse than a tragedy to him. He was only eleven when he lost them in the fire. That placed him in other foster homes, ones not as nice or welcoming or secure as the one he’d had. He had painful memories of those days, after the fire, memories he’d shared with no one. Not even with Colie.

  “Are you going back over month after next?” Phillip asked J.C., meaning Iraq, where they both were involved in training courses. But while J.C. taught police procedure, Phillip taught private security.

  “I am,” J.C. replied. “I like the challenge.”

  “You like the risk,” Jennifer chided, glancing at her husband with a grin. “Like someone else I know.”

  Phillip pulled her against him and kissed her hair. “I can’t live without a little risk. You knew that when you married me, cover girl,” he teased.

  She pressed close with a sigh and closed her eyes. “Yes, I did. Warts and all, I can’t imagine any other way of life. It’s been wonderful.”

  “It has,” her taciturn husband replied gently. The look they shared made J.C. uncomfortable. It spoke of a closeness he’d never known.

  “I guess you’re going to be a bachelor forever,” Jennifer mused as she studied J.C.’s hard face.

  “Looks like it.” He sighed. He smiled. “I’m not domesticated.”

  Phill
ip chuckled. “Let’s get something to eat. All these electronic gadgets remind me of stoves, and stoves remind me of wonderful meals,” he added, winking at Jennifer.

  “Lucky you, that I finally learned to boil water!” She laughed.

  It was a private joke. She’d always been a great cook.

  J.C. was impressed by the way they got along. He’d had lovers; never a woman he could tease or joke with, or just enjoy talking to. Then he thought of Colie, and how easy it was to talk to her. She made him feel warm inside, safe. These were new feelings, for a man who didn’t court domestication.

  He put it out of his mind. He didn’t have to worry about Colie right now. And he was confident that she was his, if he wanted her. She wouldn’t be looking at other men, any more than Jennifer Hunter was. If there was one thing he was certain of, it was that Colie belonged to him.

  * * *

  AT THAT VERY MOMENT, Colie was accepting a date with a visiting accountant who’d come to audit the books at the savings and loan company down the street from the law office where she worked.

  His name was Ted Johnson, and he was from New Jersey. He was a pleasant man, just a few years older than Colie, and he’d been around the world. They met at the local hamburger place and struck up a conversation after he’d mistakenly been given part of her order. They laughed about it, sat down together and found a lot in common.

  “I don’t know the area very well,” Ted told her, “but they say there’s a fairly good theater here. Want to take in a movie with me? I’m only here for a couple of days, so I won’t be proposing marriage tonight or anything,” he joked. “Besides that, I’m doing my best to coax a woman at my office to go out with me. So this would be just friends.”

  “I have my own coaxing challenge, with a man who doesn’t want to be domesticated.” She sighed.

  “Life is hard,” he said. He grinned. “So we take in a movie and drown our sorrows in sodas and popcorn.”