Sleigh Bells for Dry Creek

“It’s time we came back home,” Gracie said as she put her arm around Amy. “It’s God’s goodness that we can be here.”

“Yes,” Amy agreed. She wondered if she should say something to Wade about Shawn’s speculations. She had no idea what that would be, though. Maybe if she just treated Wade with the right touch of friendliness, absent any of the closeness she’d felt at one time, he wouldn’t believe Shawn, even if the other man did say something about her waiting for Wade to come home. Surely, Wade would remember Shawn loved to tease.

She looked through the door at Wade and almost sighed. She’d reached down and pulled out her feelings for him years ago, like her emotions were tough weeds that wouldn’t die unless the root was all gone. She wasn’t sure if enough of her love for him was left inside her that it would develop into something, but she hoped not. She couldn’t take the heartbreak again.

Chapter Two

Wade breathed deep as he stood outside looking at Amy’s red pickup. The paint had faded over the years, but the vehicle had been polished, and its silver chrome shone. The storm clouds had lifted, and the morning sun was finally here in all its Montana glory. Thankfully, the street was still quiet, and he took another determined breath. He didn’t know what was wrong with him. Seeing Amy again had him off balance.

He hadn’t felt so tongue-tied and awkward since he left Dry Creek. During his rodeo years, he’d gained a reputation for being able to hold his own with women. He hadn’t dated much, but he’d had enough women say they were willing to go out with him that he knew he was doing something right. Being back here brought up his old insecurities, though, and made him feel like he was seventeen again.

He heard Amy and his mother walk out of the café, but he didn’t turn around. Instead, he kept walking back to his pickup. It was then that he noticed there was a bumper sticker on the front of Amy’s vehicle in addition to the one in the back. She must really plan to vote for that man.

“I didn’t know you were so friendly with old man Garrett.” He turned as he spoke. That made easy chitchat. It wasn’t difficult to find something a woman was interested in and ask her about it. There was no reason for him to feel awkward.

Amy had her arm around his mother, but she stopped to look up at him.

“Don’t worry. He might be running for office, but he’s not going to talk to the reporters, either.” Amy lifted an eyebrow in what looked like annoyance.

Okay, so she’d been a little offended, Wade thought. He didn’t blame her.

“It’s not that.” He nodded his head toward the bumper sticker. Maybe he needed a lighter approach. “I just wondered how the old man was doing.”

“It’s Shawn,” Amy said, her lips pinching together.

Wade looked at her in astonishment. “Our Shawn?”

The years rolled away. He forgot about being easygoing as his mouth hung open.

“He’s not our Shawn,” Amy snapped. “He’s just someone who wants to run for public office and—”

“Shawn Garrett?” Wade repeated. “The guy couldn’t even get elected to the student council in high school. And I think he cheated in history. And math. Of course, he had to if he was going to pass anything. But the state legislature!”

The color was high on Amy’s face, but it still took a moment for Wade to connect all of the dots. His heart sank. “You didn’t get married to him or anything, did you?”

His eyes looked for her ring hand, but she had it around his mother’s waist as they stood there. He should have checked for a ring earlier when they were inside. He’d forgotten that nine years had passed. She was likely married to someone; he was a fool to think otherwise. But Shawn?

“It’s none of your business if I did,” Amy said as she stepped away from his mother, stomped to her pickup and yanked the door open.

Amy was six inches shorter than Wade, yet somehow she managed to look down her nose at him as she stood by that open door like she was defending her pickup from him. “I’ll come over to your house after I’ve stopped to let my aunt know where I am.”

He shouldn’t be grinning, but he was. There was no ring on her finger.

“You do that.” Wade watched her swing herself up into the vehicle. She had always been graceful, and her shoulders moved smoothly with her arms as she settled herself behind the wheel.

He should have turned to go to his own pickup then, but he just stood there with his mother, both of them looking at that old, red Ford and Amy inside it. He didn’t know what his mother was thinking, but he was having a hard time catching his breath. He just realized a ring wasn’t a requirement anymore. Not all women were as tied to those gold bands as his mother was to hers. He didn’t like thinking of Amy married to anyone. But wouldn’t she have admitted the fact if she was married to Shawn?

“She’s still as nice as ever,” his mother said, glancing up at him with that look he was coming to recognize.

Oh, no. She thought God was talking to her again.

Wade could only grunt. “It’s not a sign, Mother. Seeing Amy like this.”

“Oh, of course not, dear.” She sounded innocent enough, even though he knew she wasn’t being straight with him. She thought it was a sign, all right.

He needed to stop her matchmaking. “Amy’s probably married to someone, even if it’s not Shawn.”

His mother grinned just like she had years ago when she caught him with his hand in the cookie jar. “She should be married. She’s cute enough any man would be a fool not to marry her if he had a chance to make it happen—good-tempered, too.”

He kept his mouth shut. There wasn’t much he could add to that, anyway. His mother was right. Amy always had been sweet to everyone. He turned to walk away, and then he heard a grinding sound. He stopped and looked back. Amy was staring down at the wheel of her pickup or, more likely, the ignition. When the starter ground again, he began walking to her door. She had the window rolled down by the time he got close.

“It’s not starting,” she said.

“I see that.”

By then, his mother had come over to the window, too.

“It’s okay,” his mother said. “You can ride back with us. Wade will come into town later and fix whatever’s wrong with it. He’s always been good at things like that.”

Amy looked at him with indecision on her face.

“No need to spend money for someone else to fix it,” he agreed. That old pickup of hers might be shined up nice on the outside, but he guessed the inside was held together with paper clips and baling wire. “I mean, money doesn’t grow on trees around here.”

Real smooth, he thought to himself as he tried to smile. Remind her that she’s broke. What woman doesn’t like that?

She frowned. “I can afford to pay you to repair it. Maybe not until after Christmas, but—”

“That’s not what I meant. We’re neighbors. Of course, I’ll fix it. No charge.”

“I’ll pay. I’ve been saving some money to go back east for a visit, so I can use some of that.”

“I see.” He could hear that his voice sounded pinched and tinny. He cleared his throat, hoping to make it come out more normal, but then realized he had nothing to say. The tone of her voice made him think there was more to her words than she was saying. He wished he knew why she was going back east. Of course, he couldn’t just ask, but he did remember that she had no relatives except the ones she lived with in Dry Creek, so if she was visiting back east, that probably meant she had a boyfriend somewhere. Maybe even someone she’d met on the internet.

“Be sure you meet in public places,” he said. “But not bars. Maybe a coffee shop. Or church. Church is good.”

She looked at him like he was deranged.

“I mean, on your trip back east,” he explained. “Be careful of strangers.”

“I’m always careful,” she said, her words clipped.

“That’s part of the problem. I haven’t met a stranger in a long time.”

“Well, that’s good then.” He hoped.

She didn’t say anything to that so he cleared his throat and tried again. “Well, fortunately, I can probably fix what’s wrong with your pickup. Most men could, so if there’s someone—” He waited for her to fill in a name of a husband or boyfriend, but she didn’t. “I’ll just need to order a part for it.”

She didn’t protest, so he figured it was settled.