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Lucy watched as Helen met Ray's gaze across the table and smiled. Then they started to pass the food around the table.
"So Ray tells me you've been doing some work out of the Dallas field office. Any chance that'll become permanent and we can see you more?"
Lucy's eyes flew to his, watching to see if he'd say anything about last weekend. He just smiled at Helen and shook his head.
"I don't know what they'll do. I had to do some extra therapy sessions this week due to aggravating my back in a sting operation last weekend. There's talk of benching me for a few more months."
Ray grumbled as he speared a potato. "I told you it was coming, didn't I?"
Mason frowned and pushed the food around on his plate.
"What's coming?" Lucy asked, surprising herself. Mason frowned, but Helen was the one who answered.
"Mason was shot this year and had a long recovery. He's just recently started to do field work again, but Ray's afraid they're going to stick him in an office somewhere."
Ray nodded, but Lucy watched Mason carefully. His shoulders seemed to hunch as he shoved a bite into his mouth and avoided the conversation.
"He's too young to retire, but Ray's trying to convince him to move to Crimson Creek and join the police force here."
Mason stared at Ray and almost growled, "I started there, but I'm not ready to move back, Pops. There's still a lot of fight left in me, and I can do the most good in the city."
Ray grunted, and Helen turned to Lucy and smiled. "Tell me what you've been up to this week, sweet pea. Did you have time to call Katie about the job offer or think about it at all?"
Lucy took a drink before answering. "Yeah, I actually did. If it's alright with you, I'd like to stay the night in town tonight. She said I could swing by the salon tomorrow afternoon and check out the space."
The look of joy on Helen's face helped Lucy know this was the right decision. Since last weekend's fiasco, she'd been thinking more and more of moving to this little town. It felt safer, and it was time to move out of the campus apartments and live on her own.
But being so close to Helen was comforting. It felt right.
Ray pointed his fork at Mason and asked, "Are you staying the night too?"
"I cleaned Ray's house so both rooms have fresh bedding. Y'all can't stay here though, because we painted all the spare rooms this week. It's still a bit too strong on the fumes," Helen chuckled.
Mason met her gaze across the table, his eyes twinkling. "So we'll both stay the night at Pop's house again. Not a big deal. We made it work the night of the wedding."
Helen gasped and slapped a hand to her forehead. "Oh no, I forgot all about that. Ray, you didn't tell me Mason was staying the night, but of course you would. You wouldn't want to drive all the way back to Waco. Even Dallas would've been too far to drive that night. I'm so sorry about double booking y'all."
Lucy snorted and lifted her wine, hiding her smile behind her glass. She had to give it to her grandma. That was a stellar performance. If she didn't know better, she'd say she actually meant that little speech.
Mason winked at her across the table, and she felt her cheeks heat as she took a drink. This was going to be a long night.
AFTER DINNER, THEY moved to the living room to open presents around the tree. Mason remembered a big tree like this growing up, but it'd been years since he'd celebrated like this.
Normally, Pops would put a small two-foot tree in the corner on the table, with one ornament for each of them. But Helen's tree was massive. He inspected it as Helen and Lucy passed out presents.
He smiled and pointed to an ornament. "Lucy, is this you?"
She stopped beside him, stared and winced. "Yeah, that was before I found my taming hair serum. It went all over the place, as you can see."
He chuckled, and she punched him in the bicep. "What? I think you look cute with that poofy hair."
She rolled her eyes and walked away. "Yeah right. Liar, liar, pants on fire."
He grinned and looked around. "Where do I sit?"
Helen pointed to the couch. "Sit there, dear."
Lucy sat on one end with a neat stack of presents on the coffee table in front of her. Another stack was on the other end of the coffee table. Helen was in a rocking chair with her lap full of presents, and Ray was in his recliner, unable to take his eyes off Helen.
