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“Well, it was either her or Kelli, and since I happened to pass Kelli and Marshall driving somewhere in his truck, it wasn’t that hard to figure out.”
He tossed the bag over his shoulder. “I guess there you have it. Be back in a few.” Dusty disappeared around the corner, and I turned to Audrey to accept that hot chocolate.
“You look like you need this,” she said.
I blew the steam off my cup. “Mmm. Oh, wow. This tastes like one of Kelli’s concoctions.”
Audrey leaned over the table a little. “Probably because it is. She was here earlier. You should have seen the fit she threw when Morgan tried to serve the packet cocoa.”
“I can only imagine! This is going to stick right to my hips.”
She shrugged. “Probably, but Christmas is one time I make an exception to my sugar rule. I’ve already had three cups.”
“You?” I teased. “Aren’t you the sweets police in town? All those kids will be in your office next week with toothaches.”
“The reputation comes with the territory, but I’m not always a stickler. I can turn down candy any day, but give me something hot and rich and sweet like this? I’m a sucker.”
I took another innocent sip of my cocoa. “Are you still talking about the hot chocolate?”
She laughed. I think I’d only heard Audrey laugh maybe half a dozen times since I’d known her. “Unfortunately, yes. So, what’s new?”
“Nothing much. You probably don’t care much about the cylinder heads I replaced this week.”
“And I doubt you’re very interested in how many cavities I filled,” she countered. “We need a life, do you know that?”
I laughed and held up my cup in a salute. “Indeed, we do.”
“So?” Audrey picked up what had to be her fourth cup of cocoa and sipped it demurely. “How does one do that?”
“Snag yourself a cowboy and have some fun, I guess. Seems to be working for Morgan and Kelli.”
Her lip curled. “No, thank you. Well, anyway, it’s not for me, the cowboy thing. I don’t understand it.”
“Maybe you just haven’t met the right one,” I challenged with a grin. “What’s your type? Tall and muscular?”
“Intelligent and able to communicate in more than grunts and monosyllables.” She drew another long pull of her cocoa. “I haven’t met many men around here who seem overburdened with those qualities.”
“Well,” I sighed, “they’re out there. They have to be.”
“Just not in this town. That Dusty Walker might be an exception,” she said, gesturing to the cowboy passing out Christmas boxes with Morgan. “Not my type, but he seems pretty nice.”
“He is,” I admitted. “I just never figured him out. Not much of a talker.”
“Better than one who talks too much, especially about himself.”
“I can’t argue with that. So you’ve been in town what, about a year? And none of our local cowboys have ever interested you?”
She frowned and shook her head. “But that’s okay. I don’t plan on being here forever. Someday, when Kat’s doing better, I’ll get back home to…” Her voice trailed off as she lifted her paper cup to her lips once more, then her gaze sharpened, and her body went rigid. “What in the world? Excuse me.”
Without a word of explanation, Audrey slammed her cup down and marched off. A moment later, she was dragging her niece Lizzy toward the door. I didn’t see what had precipitated that swift action, but I heard her scolding Lizzy on the way out to the car. “I don’t care if Dustin was taking too long to open his gift. You maynotrip it out of his hands and shake it over his head!”
I chuckled and finished my cup. The remaining kids were still sorting through the wrapped gifts, trying to be the first to grab the one they thought would be the best. I watched with a sort of detached fascination.
I’d never had siblings, never experienced that kind of frantic scramble to get what I wanted. Poor Dusty Walker was trying to supervise the bunch, and I wondered how he would manage. Most people would blow a gasket or at least raise their voices. Or they’d just throw up their hands and let the chaos reign.
But Dusty didn’t do any of that. He gave one loud whistle with his fingers, drawing even the most reluctant eyes to him, and then silently passed a gift to Dustin, the kid who had been shoved to the back of the bunch. He didn’t need to say another word. The rest of them looked shamefaced and settled down to open their presents with less noise and better manners. Dusty scooped up the one box that remained untouched and headed straight for me.
“Did Lizzy have to leave?”
