Page 46 of Cowboy’s Christmas Baker

Mal tossed her head back to laugh, sending her fiery ponytail over her shoulder like a waterfall of flames, and he felt his heart squeeze.

Would it be so bad to fall for her?

“Well, shall we carry these dishes out?” Joe asked, moving to stand when Nick’s story was done.

“Wait,” Katie said, shooting to her feet. “The scones.”

“Oh, Katie,” Mal said. “You’re a lifesaver, thank you for remembering. But maybe everyone’s still too full from dinner?”

“We could bring them out in a little bit with the coffee, if you think that’s a good idea,” Aunt Alice said to Katie. “Most grownups like something sweet with their coffee.”

“Okay,” Katie said, nodding.

Harrison felt a wave of pride in his daughter. She really was doing so well here.

He wasn’t sure if it was knowing that she was among family, or if it was the particular warmth that Alice and Joe Cassidy cultivated as easily as the apples in the orchard and the trees on the hill. But Katie seemed like she was blossoming.

Everyone began moving at once, in the usual Cassidy way, passing dishes and pans and forming an assembly line in the kitchen to get everything washed up and put away.

As they worked, the kitchen filled with laughter and the sounds of water splashing and silverware chiming in the sink. If he closed his eyes, it could be any summer of his childhood all over again, and he would be standing here with skinned knees and mud splatter from the creek on his t-shirt, his belly full and his heart eager to finish the clean up so they could play ghost-in-the-graveyard outside, or make sugar cookies, or sit around the fire while Joe Cassidy told pirate stories, complete with sea shanties sung at full voice while Aunt Alice smiled at him like he was the most wonderful man in the world.

The kitchen was a little too crowded for any more hands, so Harrison headed out to the family room and made himself useful by feeding a few more logs onto the fire.

“She’s a nice girl,” Joe Cassidy said, his deep voice soft in the cozy space.

“Mallory?” Harrison asked, knowing the answer already.

“I’ve never known her to go out with anyone in particular,” Joe said, nodding. “Must mean you’re pretty special.”

Harrison opened his mouth to say that they were just friends.

“I haven’t dated since Penny,” he heard himself admit instead. “I never thought I would, at least not until Katie was grown.”

“That’s a long time, cowboy,” Joe replied with a funny smile. “And you’re still a young man.”

“I wouldn’t even know how to be a boyfriend,” Harrison said, casting his eyes down to the dancing flames. “I hardly know how to be a father.”

“Now listen,” Joe said, wrapping a hand around Harrison’s shoulder. “That little girl of yours is doing just fine—you’re doing a great job with her. And there’s nothing to know about being a boyfriend. Just follow your heart. You’re not reinventing the wheel.”

Harrison’s gaze went back to Mal, drawn to her like a magnet. She was drying off the mashed potato bowl with Katie by her side, and smiling at something Natalie was saying.

Would it really be so hard to be good to her?

She’s not the only one you have to worry about.

“I’m not sure how Katie would feel,” he said, turning back to Joe.

“I think she’d be just fine,” Joe said with a funny smile.

“Dad,” Katie called out, running over. “Great-aunt Alice just started the coffee. Can we get out Mal’s scones for the taste test? Mal said to ask you.”

“Sure,” Harrison told her, pleased to see her still smiling and excited. “Let’s do it.”

Joe nodded to him as they headed to the kitchen to grab the bakery box.

“Now Katie,” Aunt Alice said. “I thought you might like to make the taste test official.”

“Okay,” Katie said. “How do I do that?”