White Christmas (7 page)

Her smile lit up his day. He loved the way she chewed her lips when she was thinking and she was always thinking! She was as well-informed as he. They could and had talked for hours on different issues. Sometimes they agreed but more often than not, she challenged him to new ideas. Passionate and committed, she could laugh and tease as ruthlessly as the big brothers who had trained her. Every moment with her had been a blessing in Chad’s life…and he never wanted it to end.

Realistically, he knew this had all the makings of a holiday romance, gone the minute they returned to the real world. But Chad found himself wanting more, wanting Tessa to be a part of that real world, too. He was determined to take it slow, to test the waters, but he was weary of doing all the work alone. He wanted a partner, one like Tessa.

Sophie’s cell phone rang. “Oh, there she is now.”

She answered and listened for a few minutes. “OK, hon, you let us know if there’s anything we can do. All right.”

Sophie closed her phone and shook her head. “Someone left Jessica’s garage door open and their dog got in. He jumped on the float and wrecked it. They managed to get it down here. Then it broke again. They’ll have to pull out of the parade.”

“Those little girls are gonna be awful disappointed,” Grandpa Jim said, looking over his glasses at his wife.

“Chad,” Nell said, a pleading tone in his voice.

“Let me go see if I can help. You three just sit tight.” He squeezed his aunt’s hand and then jogged down the street.

He found Tessa kneeling beside Jeremy, Jessica’s husband. The box tower had broken clean off the base. Now it slid back and forth on the support. Behind the float, the little girls in their brown and green uniforms watched. In their hands, they held Christmas bags full of candy canes to hand out to the children along the parade route.

Tessa rose as he came up. “It’s sheared off at an angle,” she said, pointing to the base. “We tied it but the ropes just keep breaking the papier-mache. I tried walking beside it and holding it in place but it tilts and I can’t run around fast enough to push it back.”

“So you need me to hold the other side.”

Her smile lit her face and his heart. “I knew we could count on you! Girls,” she said turning to the teary-eyed little troopers behind the float. “Let’s get ready to rumble—I mean march!”

The little girls jumped and cheered. Jeremy rose from his knees and extended his hand. “Thanks, man. You saved me from the dog house.”

“No problem.”

“No, really,” he said his voice low. “I think I’m the one who left the door open for the dog.”

Chad laughed as Jeremy climbed into the golf cart that pulled the float trailer. Jessica herded the girls into two lines. Tessa took one side of the float and Chad took the opposite.

Thirty minutes later, when they were only half way through the route and his arms ached from holding the float boxes in place, Chad wondered if he’d made a mistake. But one look at Tessa’s flushed cheeks and sparkling blue eyes made it worthwhile.

When they finally reached the end of the parade route, Jeremy stopped the golf cart. Tessa let her arms drop and the box tower toppled completely over, cracking one corner open.

“Good riddance,” Jeremy said, coming back to join them.

Tessa and Chad laughed as he pointed to some dumpsters situated along the street. “If you’ll help me carry it over to one of those, we’ll be done with it.”

“At least for this year,” Tessa said, in a wry voice.

“I don’t even want to think about next year. I have eleven months to recover!”

Chad and Jeremy broke the papier-mache tower into pieces before Chad returned to Tessa, brushing off his hands. He wanted to talk to her, to tell her how he felt.

All through the parade, he’d been trying to figure out what to say. It had taken him almost the entire route to decide. Not too much, not too little. Just a sincere desire to see more of her, to see where the relationship might go.

She stood beside the golf cart.

“Listen, Tessa, I hoped we could have some time alone. I’d like to talk to you about something.”

She frowned slightly. “Anything wrong?”

“No. Everything’s great. That’s what I want to talk to you about.”

“Aunt Tessa!” Her nine-year-old niece Michelle came running up, bouncing and spilling her candy canes all over the asphalt road. She bent over quickly and her green cap nearly fell off her head, so she grabbed it. At the same time her little sister, Emma, ran up behind her and bumped her from behind.

“Emma! You almost knocked me down.”

“I wanna ask Aunt Tessa. She wants to go with me.”

Chad recognized the little imp who’d run into him the first time he’d met Tessa. She was too young to be a Brownie and obviously felt left out. She seemed to have made it her mission to make her sister pay for her feelings of abandonment.

“Whatever. It’s my pizza party!”

“That’s why Aunt Tessa wants to sit with me!”

Michelle sighed and rolled her eyes. “Are you gonna come?”

“Yes, I’ll be there. And I’ll sit with both of you.”

“Yeah!” Michelle ran off and Emma followed, obviously determined to be a part of everything.

Tessa and Chad laughed before Tessa turned back to Chad.

“We could talk at the pizza party,” she suggested.

“I have a better idea. I know the whole family will go to the dance tonight, but how about you go with me?”

“You mean together, like a date?” she asked.

“Like a date.” Chad was surprised to find himself holding his breath as he waited for her answer.

A slow smile spread over her lips. “I’d like that. I’d like it a lot.”

“Great,” he said with a sigh of relief. “I’ll pick you up at six.”

6

Tessa smoothed the skirt of her version of “the little black dress.” It had a boat neck that accentuated her long neck and tight, long sleeves. Since black made her look washed out, she chose a dark plum, so dark it looked almost black. But when she put it on, the color brought out the ivory tones of her skin. With a little bronzer on her cheeks, her skin glowed like burnished copper.

A single strand of ivory pearls with her hair swept up and contained, and she was ready. She took a deep breath, grabbed her coat and headed down the stairs of their two-story, hundred-year-old house.

Her dad was sitting in the front room reading the paper. When he looked up, all he said was, “Wow.” Then he shot a surprised look at her mother, sitting across from him.

At that moment the doorbell rang and Tessa hurried to the entryway to answer it. As she walked away, she heard her dad very quietly ask her mother, “How serious is this?”

Tessa paused before she opened the door.
That’s the million dollar question, Dad. I wish I had the answer.

Taking a deep breath, she opened the door. Chad filled it with all of his six foot presence. He looked as she had seen him so many times in the city. Dark suit and overcoat. Dark hair with a slight wave. So calm, collected, professional, and drop dead gorgeous. He could have been a model in a magazine.

When he saw her, his lips parted and his gaze swept over her. He said, “You look…”

At last, more than uncomfortable, Tessa said, “Thanks. Come in and meet my parents.”

She took his hand. His fingers were cool and dry. Even though his words had seemed to slip away, his grip was firm and sure. Tessa needed that reassurance as they walked into the front room.

Her dad set his newspaper on the coffee table as he slid glasses up over his head. “So you’re Nell’s nephew we hear so much about,” he said, coming to his feet.

Chad smiled that small, crooked little smile he seemed to have for his aunt. “Yes, I am. I’m surprised we’ve never met. I think I’ve met everyone else in the family.”

Her dad nodded. “Yes, this is usually the busiest time of the year for the paper with all the celebrations and events. We’ll be writing local articles for months.”

“It’s encouraging to know your paper seems to be thriving when so many others are failing.”

“Well, we’re not out of the woods completely, but we learned a long time ago to focus on the local events and folks. If you want to know what’s really exciting, my nephew has been working on increasing our online presence. Now that’s a very promising project.”

Tessa’s mother cleared her throat and her dad halted. “That’s my cue. No more work talk.”

“We’ll see you two at the dance,” her mother said, as she shook Chad’s hand. “Have fun at dinner. You and I need to get dressed,” she said, taking her father’s arm and tugging him gently towards the stairs.

Tessa slid into her coat.

Chad helped her.

As they stepped outside she said, “My mother was just trying to help us get away. It won’t take them that long to get ready. The dance is very casual and we’re overdressed. When we get there, everyone’s going to stare.”

Chad paused with her car door open. “That’s not why they’ll be staring.” His gaze traced over her face, slowly, then settled on her lips, leaving no doubt in her mind that he liked the way she looked.

Heat came into her cheeks and then it ran down her neck and arms to her fingertips. If her fingers hadn’t been tingling, she would have reached up and ran them along his lips, just to see if they were as full and firm as they seemed. But she was trembling and it all happened so fast. Her own natural caution held her back. She turned away and slid inside the car.

Chad came around and climbed in. As they pulled out of the driveway, he pointed next door to the long, low building that housed her parents’ print shop and the newspaper offices.

“So have your parents always worked here together?”

“Yes. My dad was an intern here in high school. Then when he graduated from college, he and mom married. They bought the business from the old owner and they’ve been here ever since.”

“Do you miss it here, living in the city?”

Tessa slowly shook her head. “Not as much as I could. I always planned to come back here. When I’m done traveling and working, I want to build a little house on Grandpa’s ranch. There’s this spot I found when I was a little girl. It looks out on the whole valley, across the Petrified forest all the way to the Painted Desert beyond.” She smiled just thinking about it. “When I was little I asked Grandpa if I could buy it from him. He said it would cost me a lot of money. I told him it was worth it and I’d start now. I gave him two pennies out of my pocket. He said he’d take it as my first payment.”

“Only fourteen thousand, nine hundred, ninety eight dollars to go on the acre,” Chad said with a smile.

“A lot less than that,” Tessa said. “Over the years I paid him thirty dollars in change and now I have five thousand in savings.” Her voice dropped at the last and she caught her lip in her teeth and turned away.

Neither of them mentioned the fact that she’d never have the acre now that her grandfather had to sell the ranch.

They were at the stop light at the main intersection of town and Chad turned to her.

“Will you show it to me?” he asked.

“Now?”

“Why not? We have at least half an hour before dark. Can we make it there in that time?”

Tessa’s lips parted in surprise. Impulsively she said, “Turn right here.”

Chad flipped the blinker and headed out. He followed Tessa’s directions out of town and on to the narrow lane that led to the ranch.

When she told him to slow down onto the dirt road, she wondered if Nell’s car was up to the trip.

“She’s as dependable as Nell,” Chad said patting the wheel.

“She may be dependable but she’ll also be covered in dust,” Tessa said, as plumes of dirt kicked up behind them.

“I worked my way through high school in a car wash. I think I can get it back in good shape.”

At each bump, Tessa would cringe and Chad would pat the steering wheel, coaxing the car to be brave and not give up. At last, the dirt road ended in a large rounded boulder. It was about thirty feet wide and ten feet high.

“This is where we get out,” Tessa said, opening the door and fairly leaping out of the car. She hurried over to the boulder and came to a stop. Looking down at her high-heeled shoes, she shook her head.

“I didn’t think about this,” she said in a low voice.

Chad stepped up onto the rock and held out his hand. “This,” he said with excitement in his voice. “This is what I love about Arizona! The contrasts! Where else would you find us, dressed like this, climbing a rock?”

She took his hand.

“Just think of it, Tessa. We have the delicate eco-balances of our deserts and the glass and steel of our skyscrapers.” Her ankle wobbled a little and he grabbed her other hand to steady her. “We have our rich western heritage and an exciting future in organic farming and alternative energy. It fills me with excitement and hope. I love it!” He was facing her, holding her hands as they reached the top.

Smiling, she gestured behind him. “This is what I love.”

Chad turned and whistled. They were on the edge of the mountain range, looking down the gentle slope of hill that led all the way to the desert floor. It was almost fifty miles of tan-colored slope and open range.

The clouds that had been coming and going all day had finally gathered against the hills and formed a dark billowing storm. Even as they watched, lightening flashed in a bright zig-zag that went all the way down to the ground. Rain began to fall in the distance. More lightening jagged across the sky as the echo of distant thunder drifted towards them.

Reaching across the space, Chad grasped Tessa’s hand. The lightning danced. The rain hit the hills and the trademark colors of rust, green and turquoise that gave them the name Painted Desert turned bright.

The sky changed from gray to purple. Dusk was upon them as Chad turned to Tessa. “I think we love the same things,” he said, his voice low.

“I think so, too,” she murmured.

“I don’t want this to end.”

She shook her head and started to protest. He pressed a finger to her lips and let it linger, tracing them as she’d longed to do to his.

“I know our time here has to end. But I don’t think we do, Tessa. I think what we have is special. I want the chance to find out. Will you give me that chance?”