A Cowboy's Christmas Promise (17 page)

Hayley laughed. “Well, thanks for telling me anyway.”

“Okay. Daddy says I have to give the phone back now.” She whispered again. “I think he heard me.” Then, in her loud voice, she said, “Bye, Hayley! Come visit soon!”

“All right, you monkeys. Upstairs for teeth and pajamas.” Hayley pictured Daniel scooting them up the stairs as he took the phone back. “Sorry about that. Gracie clearly does not need any more sugar today.”

“And I thought
I
talked fast.” Hayley smiled. “Bryn told me a secret.”

“She lies. I do not like smush-faced cats.”

“Growing on you, is he?”

“Nope. He's obnoxious, he's allergic to himself, and he can't even meow properly.”

“Aww.”

Daniel laughed. “This pile of fluff is not a manly pet. I will not admit he's growing on me.”

“Have you given him a bath yet?”

There was a long pause.

“If I admit it, do I have to give up my man-card?”

“Maybe, but you get a free pass because you're a vet, and in his case, it's a medical necessity.”

“Phew. So…I guess I have a better idea now why you're so good with the girls. You've had experience.”

She really didn't want to talk about Celia and Isabelle, but here he was bringing the conversation back around to them. Her fault, though, for bringing it up in the first place.

“Well, I had
some
experience. Not enough. They were nine and seven when they left.”

“Ouch. So I imagine Gracie and Bryn are sort of a double-edged sword, then.”

“I wouldn't want to say that about them, no.”

“But it's true.” His voice was soft, inviting her to confide. “It has to be a little bit true.”

She sighed. “It might be…I see Izzy and Celia in them—just the way they skip everywhere instead of walking, or sing-song
everything
instead of talking—”

“Or babble sixty miles a minute so you can barely keep up?”

“That, too.”

“Why did your stepdad leave?”

She groaned. “There isn't enough time left in the universe to get into
that
discussion.”

“Have you ever tried to find them?”

“Yeah. They're very well-hidden, unfortunately.”

“But you bake them cupcakes on their birthdays.”

“It's something I can do.” Hayley sighed, then pushed herself up from the couch. “But enough depressing talk. You won't dare to call me again if I'm all morose.”

“Not true, but is that you admitting you
want
me to call again?”

“Nope.”

“Tell you what. I'll call you Thursday after your show. We can take bets on who'll still be alive at the end.”

“You're going to watch it?”

“Eh, my Thursdays are quiet. I can take a small dose of country music.”

Hayley laughed out loud. “You're terrible. And overconfident! You really think you can predict a winner?”

“Absolutely. I'm that confident.”

“After one week of watching?”

“Two. Maybe three. You willing to bet?”

He'd watched her show three times? She smiled in glee, then shook her head.
She didn't do glee.

“I already know who's going to win. What are the stakes?”

“If I win, you have to come back to Montana for Christmas.”

She gulped.

“And if I win?”

“Then I'll come to Boston for New Year's.”

“Wow. You play tough.” Hayley looked around her tiny apartment, imagining Daniel in it. To her utter surprise, the thought made her feel all warm and cozy, rather than panicked and Houdini-ish.

“So do we have a deal?”

Hayley heard the girls thumping down the stairs in the background. He was going to have to go, and she hated that she was disappointed about that.

She took a deep breath, and she could feel her pulse thumping in her ears as she formulated an answer. She squeezed her eyes shut, picturing all the ways this bet could all go wrong. Then she shook her head and opened her eyes.

“We have a deal.”

Three weeks later, Hayley sat down on a bench overlooking Boston Harbor, wrapping her hands around a super-sized cup of coffee to try to warm them up. The sky was a steely gray, and a stiff breeze had turned the harbor into a mass of choppy whitecaps. Brutus was scampering around chasing the last of the leaves, which would be covered up by snow by morning. It was the first weekend of December, she was in a city filled with hundreds of thousands of people, and she'd never felt so alone.

She looked up, inadvertently catching flakes on her nose and chin. Usually she loved the first snow, the way it covered the browning grass with a fresh coat of whitewash, the way it stilled the sounds of traffic to a dull roar, the way it made her feel like a kid again on Scampini Square, back before she'd realized her mother's door worked better going out than it did coming in.

Today, though, she couldn't shed a jangly feeling that was making her skin practically itch. She'd woken up feeling this way, but now it was two o'clock in the afternoon and she still hadn't managed to shake it off. After breakfast she'd walked up Boylston Street, but the makeshift memorials from the marathon bombing jarred her, so she'd headed to the Charles River, hoping for some peace.

This was her city. She loved it here, right? Loved that it sat right on the ocean. Loved that in a few short hours, she could be settled in a rental on the Cape. Loved that she didn't need a car to get around. Loved that she could eat out every night and never repeat a restaurant for a month.

So why did she feel positively hemmed in today? How could she sit here in a breezy, cold park, staring at a huge harbor that led to a
really
huge ocean—and yet feel crowded? How could she walk around this city she'd known for a decade now and feel—lost?

Her phone rang, and her stomach did a little jump, wondering if it might be Daniel. She looked at the readout and smiled. Kyla. She pressed the button to answer.

“Are you all set for your first Montana blizzard?”

Kyla laughed on the other end. “I think they're really serious! We're going to get pummeled!”

“The Weather Channel is very excited.”

“Cole and Decker are out stringing ropes between the barns and the house, and they've brought all the horses in.”

“Sounds kind of like
Little House on the Prairie
. You're actually going to need ropes to find your way around the property?”

“Apparently it's possible. Ma's making a big party of it, though. She got all the upstairs rooms ready, and I think everyone we know is coming.”

Hayley swallowed. Blizzard party at Whisper Creek, and she was—here.

“Wow. And I thought blizzards were a bad thing.”

“Well, Ma figures we've got generators and three refrigerators full of food, so if the storm hits hard and Carefree loses power, we'll still have heat and most of our lights. Decker chopped about an acre of firewood yesterday, too, so we can keep the fire going in the great room.”

“Sounds sort of toasty and idyllic, actually.”

“I'm sure I'm romanticizing it, but it's fun to watch everyone go into high gear getting ready, and it'll be great to have everyone here tonight.”

“I'm sure. So how is—everybody?”

Kyla laughed. “Daniel is still devastatingly handsome, his girls are adorable, and he's
still
the sweetest guy I know besides Decker. He's been interviewing people the past couple of weeks. Guess he finally got some good applicants.”

“Oh?” Hayley's chest did that jumpy thing that was becoming an all-too-common feeling lately. “He's really serious about taking on a partner, hmm?”

“Very. So that's the news. Daniel needs a partner.”

“Thank you for torturing me with that particular update.”

“What are friends for, right?” Kyla paused. “And on a completely different topic, have you given any more thought to coming out here for Christmas?”

Hayley looked around her at the last leaves skittering around the brown grass, looked out at the harbor where one lone sail scooted across her line of vision, looked up as a jet roared over on takeoff from Logan. She thought about her last conversation with Daniel, and an ache started just below her ribs.

She closed her eyes, picturing how the lodge must look at Christmastime, with evergreen swags, white lights, and red bows strung along the porch railings. She could almost feel the crackling heat from the stone fireplace, could almost taste the hot cocoa and feel the softness of the down comforter in her favorite cabin.

Could
she close the office and catch a flight out? Maybe. But being at Whisper Creek meant that she'd be way too close to Daniel, and that thought scared her way more than anything had in a very long time. She could resist him from afar, even though the sound of his voice over the phone had her knees going all melty, but if she put herself in a position where she could see him, smell him, or, God forbid, touch him, there was no way she'd survive.

Thinking about him was driving her completely, utterly nuts, and she needed to stop. She'd worked so hard for so long to make sure she didn't become a shadowed version of her mother. She wasn't going to let it happen now.

It was time to call off the bet.

“Worst. Birthday. Ever.” Hayley muttered as she let herself into her apartment a week after Kyla's call. Her day had been filled with an endless stream of stressed-out, overbred patients, topped off by a horrible emergency halfway through the day, and she was completely exhausted.

Dixie had surprised her with a giant chocolate cupcake and Thai food at lunchtime, but a hit-and-run had come through the doors three minutes later, and she'd spent the next two hours trying to stitch the poor dog back together. In the end, his injuries had been too severe to fix, and she couldn't shake the cloud of failure that had settled heavily on her shoulders as she dropped her keys in a bowl and hung up her coat.

She flopped on the couch, exhausted and close to tears. Here it was her birthday, and she was young, single, and living in the city. She should have plans, for goodness sake. There should be a show to go to, dinner to eat out, presents to unwrap. Unfortunately, it was also a Wednesday night, and her friends had classes to teach, kids to pick up from practice, and jobs to get to tomorrow morning. Gone were the days when her six best gals could text each other and meet somewhere fabulous an hour later, then stay out until dawn.

Jess was the only one of their college posse who was still as single as Hayley, but she was so busy with her yoga studio that she barely had any evenings free these days. And everyone else? Hayley sighed as she looked at her watch. Those of them who weren't dishing out spaghetti to preschoolers were working overtime downtown—or enjoying newlywed bliss out west.

She reached for the bag of Thai takeout and opened the rice. Cold. Same with the chicken and the vegetables. It seemed more than a little pathetic that she decided to eat it anyway.

When her phone rang, she had a mouthful of sticky rice, and of course the readout said
Daniel.
Did he know it was her birthday? She tried to swallow the cold rice, but it wasn't easy to get it past the sudden nervous lump in her throat. Tonight, she should finally tell him she was backing out of their bet.

“Hi, Hayls,” he said once she finally picked up. She could hear lots of chaos in the background. “Do you have Skype?”

“Um, maybe?”

He laughed. “Don't be scared. I'm going to text you my Skype name. Give us a call in five minutes or so, okay?”

“Who's us?”

“You'll see when you call.” He hung up, and though the last thing Hayley wanted to do after an afternoon in surgery was boot up a computer that would send her frazzled image twenty-five hundred miles across the country, she couldn't help but smile as she opened her laptop.

She typed in his name and hit the connect button, and when the picture came into focus, she put her hands to her mouth in surprise. Crowded around Daniel's laptop in the Whisper Creek kitchen were Kyla, Decker, Cole, Ma, Gracie, and Bryn, all with pink sparkly party hats on their heads. Her eyes searched for Daniel, but he was apparently offscreen.

Gracie said, “Ready! Set! Go!” and they launched into a horrifyingly off-key rendition of ‘Happy Birthday,' then blew on various noisemakers and threw sparkly confetti. By the time they were done, Hayley was laughing so hard she had to hold her stomach, and at the same time, a warm glow seemed to start in her chest and work its way toward her extremities.

“Happy Birthday, Hayley!” Gracie shouted when they were done.

“Thank you! That was…awesome.” Hayley drank in the sight of them in their party regalia, knowing her smile was crazy-wide. “You totally made my day.”

“Guess what?” Bryn popped up. “We made you cupcakes!”

Gracie nodded. “Daddy said you like purple, but we saw you make pink ones, so look what we did!” A cupcake zoomed toward the screen, all swirly pink and purple, making Hayley back up, laughing. Then there was a mild male curse, and then a paper towel wiped the purplish pink frosting from the webcam.

She laughed again. “Gracie, I can almost taste that cupcake. It looks delicious.”

Bryn poked Gracie out of the way. “We made them for you, but Daddy said we could help eat them because you're not here.”

“That is just about the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me, you two.” Hayley leaned so she could see Ma at the corner of the picture. “Ma? Were you the lucky one picked to supervise this cupcake extravaganza?”

Ma nodded. “Well, someone's gotta teach these girls how to cook without using a box, right?” She smiled, leaning closer to the camera. “Happy birthday, honey. We miss you out here.”

“Aw, Ma. I miss you all, too.”

Kyla poked her head in. “Hey, Hayls. Are you having a great birthday?”

“I am now!”

“Are you and Jess going to do something tonight? The annual Thai-hop?”

“Actually, I'm on my own for the Thai.” Hayley rattled the almost-empty rice box at the screen. “It's hard to get people out on Wednesday nights these days.”

Kyla frowned. “You're alone? On your birthday?”

“Not now, I'm not! I have you guys!” Hayley strove to keep her voice lighthearted, instead of letting the aching loneliness show. “Cole and Decker, those hats are almost sexier than your Stetsons. Just sayin'.”

Cole grinned. “We know. Because what cowboy doesn't look good in”—he took his hat off and grimaced playfully—“pink.”

Decker leaned close to the monitor, plucking off his party hat. “We've gotta go feed the beasts, but happy birthday, Hayley.”

Cole poked in beside him. “And if you decide to come out for Christmas, just give at least a week's notice, okay? Our insurance agent needs time to do the paperwork.”

“Very funny.”

“Happy birthday, hon.” He blew her a quick kiss, and she saw him head out the kitchen door behind Decker.

Kyla gathered the girls in front of the camera and said, “Okay, let's say good-bye and give Daddy a chance to talk to Hayley. We've got some major cleanup to do in here!”

Bryn and Gracie waved their pudgy little hands and blew kisses her way, making Hayley long to scoop them up in her arms and squeeze them tightly. Daniel lifted them off Kyla's lap and sent them scurrying to the background to help Ma at the sink.

While he was turned away from the camera, Kyla winked and whispered, “his idea.” Then she stood up and grinned innocently. “Happy birthday, Hayls. We love ya!”

Daniel sat down in her place, wincing and smiling at the same time. “So that maybe sounded like a better idea than it was. Sorry about the singing.”

“Are you kidding? It was perfect.” Hayley smiled. God, he looked good, even on a wobbly computer screen with a somewhat blurry picture. “Thank you for doing it. It's exactly what the doctor ordered tonight.”

“Lonely birthdays suck.”

Hayley laughed at his directness. “They totally do!”

“Too bad you're not out here. Then you could actually
taste
the cupcakes.”

“Well, Gracie did do her best to help with that.”

“So how's your birthday
really
been?”

“Great! Really!”

She saw him narrow his eyes. “I can see you, you know.”

“I'm aware of that, and only mildly perturbed about it, since I spent more than two hours bent over the operating table this afternoon.”

“Bad?”

She read empathy in his expression.

“Yeah,” she finally said, her voice quiet.

“I'm sorry, Hayls. That's tough.” He shook his head.

“Well, a Chihuahua is a lousy match for a Chevy.”

“Damn.”

“But hey!” She took a breath and shook her rice box again. “Thai food, right?” Then she pointed at the screen. “And cupcakes!”

He smiled. “Well, hopefully it helped a little. We just didn't want you to be alone on your birthday.”

“It helped a lot. Really. So sweet I might get a cavity, actually.” She smiled as she watched the girls drag chairs to the sink in the background. “Please give them a real hug for me, okay?”

“Will do.”

“And thanks for doing this, Daniel. I mean it.”

“Well, I had to do something nice today, because my gal is totally going to whup your guy tomorrow night on
Nashville's Next Idol.
”

“Is not. My guy rocks.”

“Nope. My gal is going to
smoke
your guy.”

Hayley paused, laughing. “You do hear yourself, right?”

“Yes, and I'm completely, utterly disturbed.” Daniel smiled. “So I'm going to hang up now, and wish you a last happy birthday. Talk to you soon.”

He winked, then disconnected, but Hayley sat there for a full five minutes.