Sleigh Bells for Dry Creek. Janet Tronstad

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      “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.

      In less time than he would have thought possible, Amy was sitting beside him in his pickup. His mother had said her hip would be sore if she couldn’t stretch her legs on the passenger side, so Amy had no choice but to slide in beside him.

      He’d take what he could get when it came to being close to her. He was just glad he didn’t have any crumpled chip wrappers on the floorboards and that his heater worked. A mile or two down the road, he managed to check Amy’s neck to see if she had a ring hanging around it on a chain. The girls used to do that in high school. But she didn’t have a necklace of any kind.

      “Excuse me,” he mumbled automatically. His elbow kept rubbing against her arm when he shifted gears. With the condition of the roads, he had already made his excuses more often than he liked. Added to that, he thought he caught the faint scent of spearmint. He would have asked her if she still chewed the gum, but she wasn’t looking like she felt real friendly toward him. She probably thought he’d already asked too many questions.

      His mother was doing fine with the conversation, anyway, going on about how she wanted to decorate their old house for Christmas and needed to buy some ornaments, since they didn’t have any.

      Wade felt Amy’s every move, but she clearly wasn’t as bothered as he was by the contact. He had never known a scratchy, wool jacket could be so tempting, though, especially after he noticed there wasn’t even a tan line where she used to wear a ring. That meant she must not be divorced or anything like that, either.

      “Sorry again,” he repeated. This time, she was the one moving her arm, and she was doing it more than anyone needed to in his opinion. Not that he minded the contact; it’s just that he could do without the memories that were coming back.

      Feeling her elbow graze his arm reminded him of the freckles on the back of her hand. When she was twelve, she’d worn a bandage over them one whole summer because she was afraid they were going to spread to the rest of her body. He’d secretly hoped they would, but he hadn’t said that to her because she had been so stricken by the thought.

      He stole a glance at her now. Since she’d climbed in the pickup, she’d pulled the collar of that gray work coat closer and closer around her neck. But he didn’t see any freckles anywhere. Just the smooth, creamy skin along the side of her face.

      “I was just pointing out the new fence along the Garrett place to your mother.” Amy turned and frowned at him.

      He nodded, wondering if she could still read him like she used to be able to. Her expression certainly indicated she disapproved of something.

      “I thought you would both be interested since you mentioned Shawn,” she added a little primly.

      Wade grunted. The sun was completely up by now, and there were no shadows to hide the expression on anyone’s face, so he kept his eyes straight ahead. “I don’t care about Shawn one way or the other. I was just surprised. That’s all.”

      He’d figured out by now that Shawn’s name was coming up in the conversation more than would be normal if he didn’t mean something to Amy. Why else would she point out those white-and-red cardboard signs nailed to that new fence begging folks to vote for the guy?

      “Guess I’ll have to register to vote,” Wade added, trying his best to be pleasant about it. Men saw their childhood sweethearts get married to other men every day. Young love didn’t last for most people.

      Maybe he’d even come back to cast his ballot for Shawn, if he could. Voting wasn’t the sort of thing a man who lived in hotels had to worry about. Of course, it was a whole lot of months before any election. One thing he’d have to say for Shawn—the man was smart enough to know he’d need an early start to collect enough votes to win.

      It didn’t take many fence posts for Wade to remember everything he knew about the Garrett ranch. His father had complained bitterly about the fifteen hundred head of purebred Angus cattle old man Garrett ran on his place. And he had only one son to help him—a sickly boy who came in last every time the kids raced at school. The Stone family had worked to manage eighty head of scrub cattle in their best years, but, as often as not, Wade’s father would get drunk and let the cattle into the wrong pasture or decide they needed to head down the road somewhere, so he’d open a fence gate.

      Wade and his brothers, all of them sturdy boys, had a hard time fixing all their father did wrong, and yet the man made them feel that Shawn Garrett was worth more as a son than the three of them added together. It was Tyler or Jake who had decided to call Shawn “that puny boy,” but they’d all been jealous of him.

      “There’s nothing wrong with being a civil servant,” Amy said a bit later, eyeing him like she didn’t trust his response.

      Wade nodded. He supposed he’d get used to being polite even when he felt like ripping the man’s heart out. “Of СКАЧАТЬ