Jingle Bell Blessings (3 page)

“If you keep putting your personal money in the business, you'll tank when it does.”

“
If,
not when.” Evan plowed his fingers through his hair, then looked out the window at Main Street. “You know we've had our offices in this building more than a century. My great-grandfather didn't want to confine himself to one quarry, so he insisted on having an office right in the middle of town. That's why he kept looking for more sources, staking more claims all his life. Then my grandfather and my father. And there was a little thing called the Great Depression that happened along the way. But Mitchell Stone never closed its doors. I don't intend to let it happen on my watch.”

Perry was empathetic but realistic. “You know as well as I do, that the first decade of this millennium wasn't hit by just a recession. It was a depression.”

“Plattville is accepting bids next month on their new courthouse. If we can get a lock on who wins the job…” Specu
lating, Evan knew Mitchell Stone would be one of dozens interested in supplying the limestone.

Perry sighed. “Look, I've got some savings. More than my shares in the company. I'll cut my salary down to just enough to cover my health insurance.”

“You can't do that.”

“I'm in charge of payroll. Be pretty hard to stop me. And, I can just about guarantee that everybody else would understand a cut in pay. In fact, they would support the idea, so we don't have to close.”

“No. Let's take it slow. Holidays are just about here. I'm not taking Christmas dinner out of any mouths.”

“You're a good man, Evan.” Perry sighed. “I'm just not sure you know when to say no.”

“N
o!” Evan looked exasperated as he spoke to his father.

Gordon put his hand on Jimmy's shoulder. “If you don't have time now to show Jimmy the quarry, we'll do it another day.”

Chloe held her breath, hoping the men wouldn't argue.

“Course I could do it myself…” Gordon continued. “Not sure I still have my keys to the outer gates, though.”

Evan rolled his eyes heavenward. “I'll fit it in this week or next. Don't you have enough to keep busy today?”

Gordon rubbed his chin in thought. “Well, I do have a doctor's appointment….”

Chloe choked back unexpected laughter, coughing to cover the sound. Gordon had told them he had a checkup scheduled with the foot doctor. He sure was milking the excuse for all it was worth. And clearly it was working.

Concern filled Evan's face. “You didn't tell me.”

Gordon shrugged, his face on the verge of woeful. “You've already got a lot on your mind.”

Evan glanced at his father, then plunked a pile of papers down on his desk. “You want me to take you to the doctor?”

Clearing his throat, Gordon shook his head. “Not necessary.”

Reluctantly, Evan shifted his gaze to Chloe. “I'll show them around the quarry. But I can't spend all day.”

Chloe knew his last words were directed at her. “I've never been to a quarry before.”

“I've never met any women who wanted to before.”

Tension bubbled through the air like hail stones.

“So that's settled.” Gordon turned to leave. “I'll see you all back at the house.”

“I told you I can't…” Evan didn't bother to complete the sentence since his father was walking away without listening.

“Spend all day,” Chloe completed for him. “Jimmy and I understand, don't we, big guy?”

Jimmy, looking intimidated by Evan, nodded tentatively.

For the briefest moment, Evan's countenance turned utterly bleak. He shook the expression off as quickly as it had formed, then picked up his phone, punching in a few numbers. “Perry? Push the meeting with Alsom back two hours.” He listened a few moments. “Oh yeah, I'll definitely be back in time for the bank.”

Chloe got the message. The visit would be brief, but any time Evan spent with Jimmy would help.

Outside, parked in front of the building, were a few shiny new SUVs and three double-cab trucks. At the end of the row was a beat-up pickup truck. Since all of the vehicles were emblazoned with Mitchell Stone logos, Chloe trailed behind Evan waiting to hear the chirp of doors unlocking.

When he paused in front of the ragged old beater, Chloe couldn't help staring.

Evan walked to the passenger door and opened it.

Jimmy immediately tugged on her hand. “You get in first, please?”

Since he drew out
please
like a deathbed request, she reluctantly scooted over to the middle position in the single cab.

While Evan slid in front of the steering wheel, Chloe scrunched over as close as possible to Jimmy.

Glancing in the rearview mirror, Evan backed out on to the lazy Main Street. Even though it was near noon, not much traffic flowed through the quaint downtown area that looked as though it had stayed primarily the same since Victorian times.

“Swell truck,” she commented.

He darted a glance, obviously gauging her sarcasm. “It was my grandfather's.”

“It's nice.”

The corners of his mouth curled down.

“That you kept it, I mean,” she added hastily. “A lot of people just want the newest model. I think sentiment's more important.”

“Hmm.”

Chloe had already figured out that he wouldn't be easily convinced of anything. Apparently, Evan was equally economic with his words.

As they rolled out of town toward the quarry, the old truck bumped considerably. One especially large bump thrust her against Evan's shoulder. Feeling as though she had hit heated rock, Chloe drew back, immediately scooting toward the passenger-side door.

“Ouch,” Jimmy squeaked.

“I'm sorry! I was…concentrating too much on the landscape.” At the moment she couldn't have guessed if they were surrounded by mountains or desert.

“You mean the trees?”

Feeling smaller than the child at her side, she tried to look unaffected. “Pretty aren't they?”

Actually they were. Leaves had transformed into clusters of color. Standing next to sentinel green pines, this was the beautiful Texas hill country she'd heard so much about. But
the squiggle in her stomach didn't have anything to do with the surroundings—the nonhuman ones, that was. Still feeling the impression of Evan's shoulder against her arm, she wanted to touch the spot, to see if the fire she'd felt was external. Ridiculous, she knew. A grown woman practically melting by the accidental brush of a man's arm. A very handsome man's arm.

“We're not far,” Evan announced.

Still ruminating on her reaction, again she overreacted, jumping when he spoke. “Well… that's good then.” At this rate she would reduce her conversational skills to a first grader's level.

“Look!” Jimmy poked her as his voice threaded with something close to excitement.

Chloe followed his gaze. A beautiful horse trotted in a field, lifting its head in a royal motion.

Evan didn't take his eyes from the road. “He's an Arabian. Belongs to the Markhams.”

“That's a neat trick,” she commented. “How did you know without looking?”

“This is my home,” he explained simply.

“Still….”

“At the curve, there's an old oak that's got more notches on it than an outlaw's gun. One of them's mine. Most everybody in town's hit that oak when they were learning to drive. Luckily, the tree's over far enough that no one's run into it straight on.”

How could a man who obviously cared about his home and employees have absolutely no compassion for a parentless child?
Burdened with the thought, Chloe didn't ask any more questions as Evan drove farther from town. Jimmy, still intimidated, didn't speak either. And Evan clearly wasn't going to initiate a conversation.

In the quiet, Chloe saw much more of the gently rolling
hills, the yellowing of wild grass, the last wildflowers struggling to survive despite the bite of late autumn. The hill country really was a beautiful place for the holidays.

Back home, they would have a wintry cold Thanksgiving and a guaranteed white Christmas. She wasn't missing the weather. Or her job. Just her mother. And Barbara Reed had been insistent that Chloe accept this assignment. Still, she was so used to caring for her mother…visiting her in the long-term recovery facility, spending every spare minute with her. Intensely aware of the thousand-plus miles that separated them, Chloe sighed.

“Something wrong?” Evan asked.

Again, his unexpected speaking startled her. This time her hand flew to her throat to disguise the rapid pulse that must be visible. “No… of course not.”

“Hmm.”

How did the man run a business when he barely spoke?
Feeling the opportunity, she cleared her throat. “Actually, I was thinking about my mother. Missing her.”

Evan took his eyes from the road. “Then why'd you come all the way out here?”

Because she needed the money Mr. Wainwright had offered to continue paying for her mother's care.

Jimmy looked up at her and she smiled for his benefit. “I wouldn't miss this adventure for anything.”

Evan snorted. “Adventure?”

“Sure, neither of us has ever been to Texas.” Chloe struggled for something benign to say. “Or a quarry.”

This time when he glanced at her, she met his dark eyes, sustaining the gaze. Despite the disbelief lurking in their depths, she felt the same as she had when she'd bumped into his shoulder. Silly but….

Chloe swallowed. She hadn't experienced that kind of reaction to a man since her ex-fiancé, Derek, had dumped her.
Must just be nerves, she told herself. That, and knowing how much was riding on her swaying Evan Mitchell to change his mind.

Still, she straightened up, holding her body rigidly in place. And kept herself in that position until they neared a large sign indicating the quarry. Unexpectedly excited, Chloe leaned forward when Evan turned off the main road. Bumping over the rutted dirt road, dust billowed behind them in a dark cloud. Evan didn't slow down. Clearly the pitted road was familiar to him, so familiar he knew its ups and downs, its twists and curves.

Not surprisingly, the small office, barely more than a shed, was built of limestone.

“Is the quarry in that building?” Jimmy asked in a disappointed voice.

Evan chuckled, startling Chloe and Jimmy. “Nope. It's the big pit we're driving to when we switch vehicles.”

Transfixed by the difference in Evan when he smiled, Chloe didn't pay attention to the quarry until Jimmy poked her arm, pointing out the large slabs of stone literally everywhere.

Chloe tried to think of something intelligent to say; she reverted to the familiar. “Do you sell stone from this office?”

“Small jobs like home remodels. All the commercial orders come through the main office.” He pulled the truck up close to the small building.

“Is the quarry nearby?” Chloe asked, as curious as Jimmy.

“We'll grab a buggy to get over there.” Evan got out of the truck and disappeared.

Chloe wriggled her eyebrows at Jimmy. “Sounds cool.”

He loosened up slightly. “Evan doesn't even sound mad at me.”

Chloe's heart pinged and she impulsively wrapped her
arms around him. “He isn't mad at you, honey. If anything, he's mad at himself.”

“How come?”

Yes. Why?
“Because he's the sort of man who's used to being in control, in charge, like at his company. And, when Evan's in unfamiliar territory…he's confused. And that makes him mad. Let's get out of the truck and be ready when he brings the buggy around, okay?”

Evan appeared shortly in what resembled a golf cart. “Hop in.”

When Jimmy hesitated, Chloe climbed in, taking a spot in the back so Jimmy could ride up front next to Evan.

When Jimmy continued to hesitate, Evan's impatient expression relented a fraction; he shrugged his head to one side. “Come on. You ride shotgun.”

Once Jimmy was onboard, Evan didn't speed off as Chloe imagined he wanted to. Instead, he drove slowly, pointing out various formations.

“This quarry is limestone.” Evan pointed to a newly excavated vein. “See the different colors? The clay and the iron oxide cause that.” He drove past the open pit to a second pit.

“Now, this limestone's been weathered a long time, about a hundred and forty years. That's why the color's different than the new vein. Subtle change, though. Takes stone thousands of years to form, sometimes more to change.”

Jimmy's big brown eyes grew even larger. “How do you grow more, then?”

Evan's mouth curved as though about to smile. As quickly, he pulled his eyebrows together in a serious expression. “We can't. Have you heard about taking care of the environment?”

Solemnly, Jimmy nodded. “Daddy and Mommy said we have to take care of the earth. That it's our job, so that's why
we have to use green things.” He looked up at Evan. “That doesn't mean the color green.”

“So I've heard. Which is why we use every part of the stone we dig up. After the big slabs are cut, we use the small pieces for all kinds of things—cement, mortar, it even goes in toothpaste.”

“We brush our teeth with rocks?” Jimmy asked, forgetting his fear, completely intrigued.

Evan's lips definitely twitched. “Helps that they flavor it with mint. Oh, and bubble gum for kids.”

Bubble-gum flavored toothpaste?
Funny thing for a single man to know about. Mr. Wainwright had told her that Evan was an only child. So no nieces or nephews. Of course he could have seen the product in a commercial.

Chloe had wondered if Evan's stubborn refusal to even consider taking Jimmy in was because of being an only child. Never having to share. Maybe he hadn't left the trait behind with his childhood. Maybe he didn't want to share his life, either.

She found that terribly sad. Even though Chloe had felt the impact of financial problems for years, she wouldn't trade caring for her mother. Not for a zillion dollars. But the money Holden Wainwright had promised her if she succeeded in placing Jimmy with the Mitchells would change their lives. There would be no more angst-ridden moments of worrying whether she would be able to pay the rising costs of the care facility.

“Are most of the rocks for toothpaste?” Jimmy was asking Evan.

“Nope. Most of it's used in architecture. Have you heard of the Great Pyramids? They're in Egypt where your grandparents are. Anyway, they're made of limestone.”

“I didn't know that,” Chloe blurted out, belatedly realizing she had verbalized her thought.

“Castles in medieval times were made from it, too.” Evan replied, unperturbed by her question.

“With dragons?” Jimmy asked with the first note of genuine, full-out excitement she had heard in his voice.

Evan scratched his head. “Hard to say. We don't carry dragons at our quarries.”

Chloe nearly giggled aloud, not something she would have ever anticipated doing with Evan.

The thought had barely formed when he turned around. “I have to get back to the office soon. Where did you leave your car?”

“The house,” she admitted, belatedly realizing that hadn't been a well-thought-out plan.

Evan glanced at his watch, then scowled. “Have to head back now, then.”

By the time they returned the cart and switched back to the truck, Evan was impatient to get to his meeting. He pulled into the driveway at the house, leaving the engine running. Jimmy hopped out immediately. Chloe started to follow, but Evan caught her arm.