Page 5 of A Heart Falls Cowboy Christmas

Aiden stretched his arms to the side and rotated slowly. He thought he'd actually done a good job, considering what he had to work with. The tweed jacket with lime green accents had probably been the height of fashion at some point in history.

Not recent history, but still.

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you should brace yourself before your husband shows you what he found to wear to the fireman’s ball.”

Her lips quirked, a hand drifting to her belly to cradle the bulge under her winter coat. It was a mindless move, but one that Aiden had recently grown very familiar with, and the fact he was dressed like a prince turned pauper in an old English novel was no longer the most important matter.

He motioned with a finger to her hand-and-belly combo. “Petra’s doing that all the time nowadays as well.”

Brooke’s brows lifted for a second before she realized what he was talking about. She laughed, hand traveling in a slow circle. “It’s not as if the bump is going to fall off, but holding on seems a necessity.”

“Absolutely,” he agreed. “Everything good with you and baby?”

“Perfect,” she offered. “Glad to hear Petra’s over the morning sickness stage. A pretty cool thing, building babies, but not all of the journey is enjoyable.”

“Worth it, though, and Petra’s the one who said that. Shortly after she stopped throwing up.” Aiden offered a wink. “Sorry to blind you with my awesome attire and then run, but I should get to the meeting.”

“No problem. I just dropped off a change of clothes for Mack since he’s working the night shift. Boring clothes this time.” She waved then stepped delicately down the stairs, face glowing.

Glowing.

He’d always thought that descriptor had been made up to ensure pregnant women felt protected and cherished. But after the morning sickness was done, he’d seen it in Petra. She wore this little half smile most of the time, eyes dreamy as she stared into space, as if holding private conversations with their unborn baby.

“There he is.” Madison Zhao’s smooth call brought Aiden’s attention to the three others gathered at the side of the fire hall kitchen/gathering room. “Right on time. Come and join us.”

Aiden waved at the table as he hurried forward, shrugging out of his thrift-store coat and draping it over the back of the open chair. “Did you all solve the problems of the world while you were waiting for me?”

Lisa Ryder’s expression was pure amusement, but she didn’t say anything about the cheery yellow and blue sweater he wore. “Not the problems of the world, but we did decide the new cherry turnovers at Buns and Roses are better than the apple turners, but still not as good as the cinnamon buns.”

“Agreed.” He settled in the chair and took a quick look at his fellow community center committee members. He was the most recent arrival to Heart Falls out of all of them—only there for a year and a half—but he was grateful to be able to step in and help with the important task of coordinating the building of the new community hall.

As head of the committee, Madison had a set of printed handouts in front of her, lined up and ready to roll. Her reddish-brown hair was cut into a shoulder-length style that framed her face, and her smile made her bright green eyes light up. She and her husband, Ryan, owned the local bar, had three kids, and Aiden had been told from the minute he’d arrived in town if something needed doing, ask Maddy. She was the type who got shit done.

Another get ’er done type, Lisa’s dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail, a set of pens and a note pad in front of her to take notes. A separate pile of what looked like official documents sat between her and Maddy. Lisa’s baby sat happily in his car seat beside the table, staring up at the colourful mobile hanging over his head.

The final committee member had been in Heart Falls for the longest. Brad Ford, local Fire Chief, had grown up in town and returned after his training to raise his family here. His six-and-half-foot height and shaved head would have made him appear frightening except for the fact that he tended toward broad smiles and easy laughter, as long as you didn’t catch him too early in the morning before his coffee.

He was also wearing a pink T-shirt with a dancing unicorn on the front. The shirt was a little tight on his massive frame, but damn, it was a great find.

“Nice shirt,” Aiden told Brad.

Brad grinned back. “Nice sweater.”

Long-suffering sighs, highly exaggerated and in perfect synchronization, echoed across the table as Maddy and Lisa exchanged amused looks.

“Which seems as good a place to start as any.” Maddy handed a set of papers to each of them. “One item on the agenda regards fundraisers for the extra community center costs. Three different proposals have come in, all viable, so we should spread them out over the coming year for maximum effect.”

“It’s been great to see the entire community coming up with different ideas to help support the new center.” Brad’s grin only got wider. “The fire hall contribution seems to be off to a good start.”

Lisa leaned forward on her elbows. “About that. You want to explain why my husband, who is not a firefighter but a veterinarian, has developed the sudden urge to shop for ugly-as-sin⁠—”

“Lisa,” Maddy protested.

“I mean, gently used yet not always fashionable…” Lisa checked with Maddy for approval before finishing. “Clothing?”

Brad spread his hands in a helpless gesture. “One slow night at the hall, we got to talking about what we could do to help fundraise, and the next thing I knew, Alex had it all arranged. Twenty bucks enters you into the contest, and the person with the most votes at the end of the month wins fifty bucks. Reset and start again.”

“Nice. Good return on your investment.” Maddy nodded her approval.