Only four shopping days until Christmas and Katy would be home the next day. Suddenly, Fiona realized that she had not bought a single thing for Jud or for her mother. She’d gotten gifts for everyone else, including Truman, but not one thing had caught her eye for the man she’d fallen in love with or her mother.
Love!
She stopped in her tracks going from the back of the store to the checkout counter and gasped. There was no use in running from the truth. She was in love with Jud Dawson and there was no denying it.
The morning coffee drinkers had just left when the store phone rang. She picked up the receiver from the base with one hand and a wet dishcloth with the other.
“This is Fiona,” she said.
“Fiona Logan?” a deep masculine voice asked.
“Yes,” she said cautiously. The first thought that sent her heart to her throat was that something had happened to her mother.
“You are a difficult woman to track down.”
“Who is this?” she asked bluntly.
“Walton Pierce of Pierce, Davis and Green Law Firm in Pasadena, Texas. You brought your résumé to us almost a year ago and we are interested in interviewing you for a job. Are you still in Houston? If so, we’d like to schedule a meeting before Christmas.”
“I left Houston a few weeks ago,” she said.
“Then I suppose we’ll have to schedule for the week after New Year’s. It’s our company policy to close the offices from Christmas through New Year’s Day. How about January fifth? My secretary will be in touch with you to set up a flight from the city nearest to you and we’ll arrange for you to stay at the downtown Westin Hotel while you are here. Any questions?”
“What’s the job?” she asked.
“We need an accountant who will oversee three other people in that office. Basically the same job you had before but with a little more responsibility.”
She popped herself on the forehead with the back of her hand. Pierce, Davis and Green was her in-law’s biggest rival. But why now? Why did Fate put this job in her path right now?
“Interested?” he asked.
“Can I think about it? This has fallen out of the sky, so to speak,” she said.
“Of course. I’d expect you to need some time. We’ll look forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks. My secretary is out today but she’ll be in touch to set up an appointment. Merry Christmas, Miss Logan.”
“Merry Christmas to you,” Fiona said.
The line went quiet and she set the phone back on the base.
She carried the cloth to the table, wiped it down, and then eased into one chair and used another to prop her feet. She was trying to wrap her mind around the phone call and what it meant to her future. Was the coffee shop experience and the trip to Dry Creek a bump in the road or was it to teach her that she didn’t want to work in a big city for a big firm? But Lord have mercy, Pierce, Davis and Green? The biggest firm in Houston had asked for an interview. Walton Pierce had called her personally. That meant volumes.
“Hey,” Deke yelled as he entered the store by the back door.
“In here. At the table,” she raised her voice to say.
He stopped and drew up a cup of coffee. “I was wondering if you’d go with me to Wichita Falls tonight. I haven’t done a damn bit of Christmas shopping.” He set his coffee on the table, pulled out a chair, shucked out of his heavy coat, hung it on the back, and then sat down. Removing his hat, he looked at her with pleading hazel eyes. “Say you’ll go with me. I don’t know how to shop for babies and this is important. It’s Audrey’s first Christmas.”
“Sure. I need to pick up some last-minute things, too.” How could life go on like this when she had such a big decision to make?
“Good, I’ll tell Blake and Jud.”
“What do they have to do with us shopping?”
“They need to get theirs done, too, and we all need a woman’s opinion, but I asked first so you have to shop with me before you do them,” Deke answered. “What’s put a frown on your face? Don’t you want to go with Blake and Jud?”
“No, I don’t mind at all. But what about Toby?”
Deke shook his head slowly from side to side. “He and Lizzy have everything done. He’s so damned organized that it makes the rest of us look bad.”
Her cell phone rang and she worked it up out of her hip pocket. The jeans that had been baggy on her three weeks ago were fitting pretty dang snug these days. “Hello, Lizzy, what’s goin’ on down at your end of the street?”
“Allie needs to do some more shopping, so all us girls are going out for one more night to finish up. Dora June is going with us and we’ll stop by and see Granny. Leaving at five on the dot. Be ready,” Lizzy said.
“I just promised Deke that I’d go with him,” Fiona said.
“That rat! He came by here and I told him I was going to call you; then I had a rush of customers.”
“Maybe our paths will cross and we’ll take a break and have an Orange Julius together,” Fiona suggested.
“I hope not. Allie is shopping for Blake and he’ll be with y’all. If you see us, steer those cowboys another way. Oh, and Toby is taking Truman to the RV shop tonight. They are bringing the new toy home and we’re keeping it out behind our house until Christmas morning.”
“Dora June is going to be speechless,” Fiona giggled.
“And that will be the real Christmas miracle.”
“Ha! Happy shopping tonight.”
“Good luck to you. I wouldn’t trade places with you for anything. Customer coming through the door. Bye, now.”
Fiona shook a finger at Deke. “You are in trouble.”
“I know, but it’s worth it. Now what’s troubling you?”
Fiona told him about the job interview. “It’s a big thing, Deke. It’s what I’m trained for and it’s the city I love.”
“Hard decision you got to make. If you need to talk, holler at me. I’m a good listener,” he said.
“I’m in love with Jud,” she blurted.
“Well, that ain’t no surprise. But I do reckon it makes a difference in your decision about Houston.”
“Yes, it sure does.”
The mall was crazy that night. Christmas music played over the speakers. Last-minute shoppers raced from store to store. And Fiona found out that shopping with men was a whole different experience than with women. They found what they wanted, got her opinion and bought it, had it wrapped if that was an option, and went on to the next person on their list.
For the most part, they were very practical. Sweaters, new work coats, boots, and wallets, belts—that kind of thing was what they were interested in buying. Two western wear stores pretty much finished their job. Blake did want her to go to Victoria’s Secret to pick out something pretty in lingerie for Allie. From the time they entered the store to the time they walked out with a lovely bright red silky nightgown in a gift bag, ten minutes had elapsed.
Jud glanced up from the bench where he and Deke had opted to sit. “Are we all done, then? Can we grab some Chinese food at that place?” He pointed. “My treat since you came with us, Fiona.”
Deke whispered something in Jud’s ear and Fiona heard her name in the mix of muted words. Jud nodded the whole time and clamped a hand on Deke’s shoulder.
Fiona hoped to hell that Deke had not just told him about the interview. She wanted to make up her mind about it before she mentioned it to her mother or to Jud. She fought the urge to pop herself on the forehead. She should have told Deke it was a secret.
“We’ll eat first and then, Fiona, we want you to call the girls and go with them for a while,” Deke said. “We have to shop for you.”
She wanted to wipe her forehead in relief but she held her hands together tightly. “I’ll call Lizzy. If they’re hungry, maybe they can join us.”
“Sounds good,” Jud said.
Thank goodness the mall hours had been extended from Monday through Christmas Eve because after they’d eaten and the guys had gone off in a different direction from the ladies, Fiona was completely at a loss.
Where did she shop and what did she buy for Jud?
“Did you see that Santa right back there?” Dora June asked.
“You want to go back and sit on his lap?” Fiona asked.
“No, but my Truman looked better than that. I bet he could get a job being Santa and he’d look better than that guy did,” Dora June declared. “That man’s eyes were glazed over. I bet he’s been drinking. I wouldn’t let my kids sit in his lap. Oh, here’s the toy store. I want to look for a Raggedy Andy doll for Audrey to go with Ann doll I got her last time.”
“Y’all go on. I’m going to sneak into this bookstore,” Fiona said.
Nothing took Fiona’s eye in the store until she was leaving and noticed a small display at the end of an aisle. A cowboy hat hung on a nail up above stacks of long, narrow booklets titled Merry Christmas Cowboy. The tagline said, “Something special for the sexy cowboy in your life.”
She picked one up and flipped it open to find a coupon for each week of the upcoming year and they all had to do with something a cowboy would like. A night of western movies. A picnic in the pasture. Plus there were a few that made her blush but Jud would love it.
Did buying it mean that she was staying in Dry Creek? Or did it mean he’d have to drive or fly to Houston to collect once a week? She wasn’t sure but she bought the booklet anyway and meandered on down the mall alone.
A sex toy place caught her eye because of the silk boxer shorts hanging in the window. She chose a pair with a picture of glow-in-the-dark tangled Christmas lights printed on the front. With their past experience with the condoms, he’d think those were funny.
Two presents and neither one of them could be wrapped to go under the tree. Now it was time to get serious and buy something for him that he could unwrap in front of the family. She stopped at a jewelry store and stared at the display in the window. A tie tack caught her eye. Shaped like steer horns, it was something that Jud would really like—and then she glanced over at the wedding bands.
She’d had diamonds the first time around and they hadn’t helped things to work. Next time all she wanted was a plain gold band—if there was a next time. An antsy feeling told her that someone was staring at her and she looked up to see the manager of the jewelry store smiling from the other side of the glass.
Then an arm slipped around her waist and Jud was there beside her. Her heart jacked up its speed a few notches and her palms got a little clammy as he pulled her close enough that they were touching from shoulder to thigh.
“I’ve bought you a couple of private things to be opened when it’s just us,” he said. “But I can’t find anything that looks right, that tells you what is in my heart and yet can be opened in front of the family.”
“Me too,” she sighed.
“How about that?” He pointed toward a red velvet box with a set of matching gold bands.
“Are you serious?” Fiona asked. “We’ve barely known each other a month.”
Her heart fluttered and her hands trembled. She should panic or run but all she wanted to do grab hold of Jud and never let him go.
“We could put them on a shelf until you’re ready,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere.” He dropped down on one knee right there in front of the jewelry store and held her hands in his. “I think I knew I was in love with you the moment you kicked the crap out of the tires on that old truck you drove into town. And since then all I can think about is you. When I go to sleep, I relive the day we’ve had. When I wake up, I can’t wait to see you again. When we dance, it’s like the world disappears. I never want to live a day without you. Fiona Logan, will you marry me?”
It was too soon. She had a decision to make about the Houston job. She couldn’t rush into anything. She had to plan things out. She couldn’t say yes. It was crazy. It was too fast.
She fell to her knees in front of him, hands still in his, and listened to her heart instead of all the noise in her head.
“Yes,” she said, and all the doubts and fears about decisions disappeared into the air along with the Christmas music.
He let go of one hand and tipped her chin up with the back of his forefinger. When his lips met with hers, they were the only two people on the whole planet and she knew she’d made the right decision even if it was impulsive.
“I didn’t plan this,” he whispered softly.
“Neither did I.”
“Let’s go in here and buy you an engagement ring. We can wait until summer for a wedding.” He straightened up and pulled her to her feet.
“Why?” she asked.
“Because I want everyone in the whole world to know that you’re mine,” he said.
“No, I mean, why wait until summer? I don’t want a long drawn out affair that will drive us both crazy. Lizzy did that when she was engaged to Mitch. It was horrible. That’s not for me.”
“Spring?” Jud asked.
“We could get a license tomorrow and the preacher could perform the ceremony after the Christmas church service. We can have a reception later with all our families there but Dora June and Truman won’t miss the wedding that way.”
He picked her up and twirled her around half a dozen times until they were both dizzy with happiness. Everyone near them had stopped to stare, so he yelled, “She said yes!”
The applause echoed off the walls of the mall and several people started a mob humming of the traditional wedding song.
Jud bent her backward in a true Hollywood kiss before he led her into the jewelry store.
“Congratulations.” The store manager grinned.
“We need to look at that set of wedding bands in the window,” Jud said. “We’re getting married this week.”
The jeweler held the rings out. “They can be resized by tomorrow afternoon.”
Jud slipped the smaller one on Fiona’s finger and the larger one on his. They fit perfectly.
Fiona held up her hand, the band shining in the well-lit jewelry store. Saying yes might have been impulsive, but it was right. And when something was a right fit, she wasn’t going to argue.
Then the guilt set in—she should tell him about the job offer, right? And yet she could not spoil their moment with that news.
On the way home, the guilt got the better of her and she said, “Jud, I have something I have to tell you.”
“That you’ve reconsidered and want to wait?”
“No, it’s more than that.”
“You look like you are about to explode. Please don’t tell me you’ve changed your mind about us altogether,” Jud said.
“Not about us. I love you, but maybe about Dry Creek,” she said, and then told him about the offer.
“I don’t give a damn if you go to Timbuktu, Fiona. I’ll be there beside you. There are ranches and oil in this whole state, and like I said, I want your beautiful face to be the last thing I see at night and the first thing I see in the morning,” he said. “I feel like I’ve been hunting for you my whole life and now that I’ve found you, I don’t intend to let you go.”
“I love you, Jud Dawson,” she whispered.