A Baby for Dry Creek and A Dry Creek Christmas. Janet Tronstad

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      “I thought you were an angel,” Reno said simply.

      Chrissy glanced up again and saw Reno looking back at her. Since she was in the back seat to be close to Justin, she and Reno had carried on long conversations through the mirror for two days now. Chrissy kind of liked the flirtatious way it made her feel.

      “It was dark out.”

      Reno grinned. “And you sparkled with all that glitter on your dress. It was an honest mistake. I didn’t think to check for wings.”

      “Not many angels pull up in a sixteen-wheeler truck.”

      “They do when your own truck is dead and it’s cold enough outside to freeze your toes off.” Reno paused. “I never thought of it, but I owe you for the ride that night.”

      “Of course you don’t owe me,” Chrissy said a little more sharply than she’d intended. Justin moved in his sleep and lifted his fist up to his mouth.

      “You keep saying you owe me for this trip we’re taking right now. If you owe me for this ride, then I owe you for that ride.”

      “It’s not the same,” Chrissy said softly.

      “You might have saved my life. It was cold enough that night for a man to freeze to death. So I owe you for more than just the ride. I owe you for—preventive medical services.”

      “You would have found a way to keep warm.”

      Chrissy blushed. She suddenly remembered the way Reno had kept them warm that night. He’d wrapped blankets around them both individually and then wrapped himself and his blankets spoon fashion around her on the small bed in the back of the cab of her cousin’s truck. Chrissy couldn’t ever remember feeling so warm and safe.

      “Well, I’m willing to call it even between us if you are,” Reno said. “I won’t pay you for that trip and you won’t pay me for this one.”

      “I can’t pay you anyway until I get my check or find a job,” Chrissy pointed out as she reached over to rub Justin’s back. He was starting to wake up, and she liked him to know she was there. “So until then we can call it even.”

      Reno grunted as he turned the car’s wheel to the right. “We’ll call it even—period. I don’t want you giving your wages to me.”

      As Reno made the wide turn, Chrissy saw the small town of Dry Creek come into view in the distance. “We’re almost there.”

      The sky was partially cloudy, but there was no wind. She could tell because someone had white sheets hanging on a clothesline and they did not move. The snow flurries that had covered Dry Creek most of the time she was here last were gone. In their place were broad stretches of mud. Someone had put wooden planks around so people could walk without stepping in the puddles. She noticed two extra-wide planks in front of Mrs. Hargrove’s house. No doubt someone had put them there so the older woman would be able to walk more easily.

      The planks were an act of kindness that touched Chrissy. Dry Creek wasn’t a dressed-up town like Las Vegas, but the people here cared about each other. Chrissy wondered if they could care about her and Justin, as well.

      She didn’t want the trip to end. She’d been comfortable thinking about going to Dry Creek, but she wasn’t so sure she was comfortable actually arriving here.

      Reno had entertained her with stories of what had been happening in Dry Creek since she’d been there last. She learned about his new calves and Mrs. Hargrove’s arthritis that was sometimes so bad she couldn’t peel potatoes. He told her about Lester dressing up as Elvis on April Fools’ day and the Friday sundae night at the café.

      He even told her about going to church again and what that had meant to him. He talked about forgiving his mother for leaving the family all those years ago. He told her he’d never quite understood about grace when he’d been a young boy, but now that he was a man he felt humbled by it. He wasn’t so much forgiving his mother, he said, as trying to see her as she was, the way God might see her.

      Chrissy didn’t quite understand what he was saying, but she couldn’t doubt his sincerity.

      For the first time ever, Chrissy began to wonder if God could be real. She’d had people talk to her about God before, but never with the matter-of-fact directness Reno had. He talked of God as naturally as he would the sky or the mountains. Chrissy knew beyond a doubt that God was real for him, because Reno didn’t make a big deal of trying to convince her of anything. Reno talked about God with the same warmth he used when he talked about Mrs. Hargrove or his sister, Nicki.

      As Reno was telling her about the different things that were happening, he’d pass along greetings to her from various people in Dry Creek. He said that Elmer had asked him to tell her he’d buy her a cup of coffee when she came to town. And Linda from the café had asked Reno to tell her she was looking forward to Chrissy coming to town.

      During all the days when they talked, Reno had not indicated anyone had a negative thought about her coming to the area. But Dry Creek was a small, conservative town. She was sure she’d find her share of turned shoulders and unwilling welcomes. It had been just eighteen years since her mother had had a bad experience in a small town because she was an unmarried mother, and eighteen years wasn’t that long ago.

      “I should comb my hair,” Chrissy said. As she recalled, churchwomen were big on combed hair. “Or roll it into a bun or something.”

      “Your hair looks fine,” Reno said.

      “You’re right. It’s this orange dress they’ll think is strange. No one wears an orange dress this bright. They’ll think I’m nuts.”

      “They know about the fire. Nobody cares what you’re wearing. Besides, Linda wears those kinds of colors all the time.”

      Chrissy reached for her purse anyway. A touch of light lipstick couldn’t hurt.

      “We’re here.” Reno slowed the car to a crawl. “We might as well get something to eat at the café.”

      Chrissy forced herself to look out the windows of the car and take a deep breath. The people of this town had been friendly to her when she’d been here last fall. If the fact that since then she’d had a baby without the benefit of marriage made any of them treat her any differently, then they were the losers, not her.

      “There’s not as many houses as I remember.” Chrissy forced herself to concentrate. She could do this. “The town’s smaller than I thought.”

      “Yeah,” Reno said curtly. “One café. One store. Seventeen houses. Seventeen and a half, if you count the Andersons’ basement. One church. That’s it. No growth expected. Not even a post office.”

      Chrissy lifted her head. She’d taken on bigger challenges and done fine.

      Reno watched Chrissy get ready to face Dry Creek and his heart sank. She looked as if she was getting ready to walk the plank. Was it really that bad to live in a small town like Dry Creek? “It’s not like you’ll need to be here forever.”

      “Huh?”

      “I mean, the lawyer is going to give up sooner or later. Then you can move back to Las Vegas.”

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