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“Two sentences,” she said.
“Luke and I got a job there, on a construction crew in Vail. It was awful—cold and snowy, with long hours. Days would pass, and I didn’t even know it. Luke hated it; I hated it. I made him miserable with how unhappy I was. I don’t ever want to go back to Colorado.”
“That was at least six sentences.” She smiled at him and wrapped both arms around him, making him feel steady and strong and like she needed him to stay upright. “You can go to Austin by yourself?”
“Yes.” It had been hard, but he had done it, and he could do it again. “I’d like to take you next time I go.”
“I’d like that too,” she said. “Your family is doing great?”
“Amazing.” He had a lot more to say about that, but it didn’t all need to be said right now.
“You…what was it? Confronted your past?”
“Face to face. Me and Jackson MacBride, in my father’s barbecue restaurant, if you can believe it.”
Jill pulled back and looked at him. “My heart is beating really fast,” she admitted.
“Let’s walk somewhere,” he said. “The stables. I miss Scalloped Potato.”
Axle started that way as if he knew where Slate wanted to go, and Slate took Jill’s hand as they followed the dog.
“You don’t need to worry about Jackson,” he said. “I sat down and had a little heart-to-heart with him.”
“Who is he?” Jill asked.
Slate hadn’t realized how much he hadn’t told her. “He’s the guy who got me hooked on pain meds,” he said. “I’ve known him for years; we were in college together. He was my drug supplier for years after I graduated and started my job. He’s still a dealer in Austin, and he’s been sniffing around for information on me.”
“Why you?”
“I’ve always been an easy sale for him,” Slate said. “Until now.” He took a deep breath. “Now, he’s in jail and his underground has been exposed.”
“Slate,” she said. “Is he going to come here again?”
“No, sweetheart,” he said, putting his arm around her. “He’s not. He’s going to go to jail for a very, very long time.” They approached the stables, and Slate saw something he’d never seen before. “What is going on here?”
Bales of straw had been set up strategically to form a throne of sorts. It was easily big enough for two people, and a series of trellises had been erected on three sides. Dried corn stalks, vines, and poinsettias had been woven throughout the holes in the trellis.
A cowboy hat hung on a hook, with a rope next to it, and a false window next to that. A rough-hewn table sat next to the throne, with an oversized, red mug with the nameSantaon it.
So many things started connecting inside his head.
“This is where you’re going to sit,” Jill said, pure glee in her voice. “It’s a country Christmas scene. We’re going to have families out to the ranch every weekend in December for a Christmas corn maze, holiday baking, and pictures with Santa.”
She adjusted the mug slightly and turned to look at him. “I’ll get a rug for Axle to lay on.”
“You have got to be kidding.” The scene dripped with small-town cowboy charm, and so much red and green that Slate wanted to gag.
“It’s time to start building some new Christmas memories, my cowboy,” she said, leaning into him and wrapping her arms around him again. “With me. On this ranch. Will youpleasebe my Cowboy Claus?”
“Are you going to be a sexy elf, or just you know, a regular one?” Slate tore his eyes from the horrible scene and looked at Jill just as she burst out laughing.
He thought it was a pretty serious question, but he sure did enjoy the sound of her laugh. “I’ve missed that laugh so much,” he said, silencing her by kissing her.
She let him for a minute, and then she pulled away. “It’s afamilyevent, Slate,” she said. “I’m going to be a dreary, regular elf.”
“You’re responsible for the West Wing screaming Christmas, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” she said, not even trying to look apologetic about it. “I was angry with you, Slate, for a long time. I decided about a month ago that I wasn’t going to celebrate Christmas either. Then I was like, no. No. Yes, I am. I’m going to celebrate it so hard, and that will drive him out of my head.”
