Hometown Christmas Gift. Kat Brookes

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СКАЧАТЬ from Sacramento.”

      “Understandable,” he replied, his heart going out to Lainie. “She was widowed at twenty-eight, left to raise a young son all on her own.”

      “She wouldn’t have had to handle anything on her own if only she had come home after Will died,” Justin said, a hint of frustration lacing his words.

      “Maybe Lainie needed to at least try to handle things on her own,” Jackson pointed out. “Know that she could stand on her own two feet. Whatever her reason may be, it’s safe to say the past couple of years, twenty months to be exact, couldn’t have been easy for her. Or for Lucas, for that matter,” he added, recalling the boy’s angry outburst.

      “You know the exact number of months?”

      “It happened to Lainie,” Jackson replied.

      Justin nodded. “Sort of burns itself into one’s memory, doesn’t it? And you’re right. It hasn’t been easy for her. Granted, Lainie always tried to sound strong whenever we talked on the phone, but I could hear the strain of what she’s been through in her voice, having to cope with such a tragedy on her own. I know when we went out there for Will’s funeral Lucas was angry with God for taking his father. We all talked to him, trying to get him to see that his anger shouldn’t be directed at the Lord, but at the bad choices people sometimes make. Like the teenager who ran that red light that night, causing the accident. Lainie said Lucas had been coming around, but then eight months ago he suddenly began acting out again. Not only at home, but at school and church as well.”

      “Sounds like his grief is finally surfacing,” Jackson said, his heart going out to the little boy, who’d lost his father so young, and to Lainie, whose husband had been taken from her so tragically.

      “It needs to,” his friend said. “Grief tends to fester when it’s shoved aside. Look at how it affected Garrett.”

      Not only had Jackson and his brothers lost a sister, but his older brother had also lost his high school sweetheart. It had taken Hannah, Garrett’s new wife, and her son, Austin, to bring joy fully back into his life.

      “I don’t want to even think about Lucas holding in his grief for seventeen years like my brother did,” Jackson said with a frown.

      “Lainie hopes their moving back to Bent Creek, where Lucas will also have his grandparents and myself to turn to when things are troubling him, might be what my nephew needs to pull him from this grief-driven anger he’s been experiencing.”

      Jackson could tell there were issues going on between Lainie and her son but didn’t know to what extent. “From what I witnessed today, when I took the key over to your sister, Lainie isn’t overreacting where her son is concerned.”

      Justin’s brows furrowed. “Why? What did you see?”

      “It was more what I overheard. Their voices were raised, at least her son’s was, when I rode up to your porch,” Jackson explained. “Lucas was having a meltdown of sorts and then ran off. Lainie doesn’t know I overheard their exchange of words, and I’d appreciate it if things could stay that way. Sounds like she’s got enough on her plate already without adding embarrassment to all the other emotions she’s dealing with right now.”

      “I appreciate that,” his friend said, concern creasing his brow. “I had intended to take the day off and be home waiting for them when they came, but they arrived a couple days ahead of schedule and I am tied up here at work for several more hours.”

      An impatient tapping sounded at the office door.

      “Excuse me,” Justin said apologetically as he stood and crossed the room to answer it.

      “Sheriff,” Mrs. Baxter, the middle-aged receptionist who worked the front desk, said a bit breathlessly, a troubled frown marring her features. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but Kathy Culler just called. Todd—that is Deputy Culler—has had an accident.”

      “How bad?” Justin pressed, his words pulling Jackson back to the present.

      “Bad,” she said fretfully. “Apparently, Deputy Culler fell off his ladder while putting Christmas lights up on their roof and broke his hip. Kathy told me they’d just taken him back for emergency surgery.”

      Justin dragged a hand back through his dark brown hair. “The break must have been a serious one.”

      She nodded. “Kathy isn’t one to get too overwrought about things, but she was definitely in a panicked state when she called to let us know.”

      Jackson said a silent prayer for the injured man, knowing firsthand how hard recovery could be for a badly broken hip. Especially for an older man. Deputy Culler was in his late fifties and had been employed by Bent Creek’s Sheriff’s Department for as long as Jackson could remember. Could probably even have been sheriff somewhere along the way if he hadn’t had such an aversion to all the extra paperwork and responsibility the position demanded, stressors of the job Justin handled with ease.

      “I’ll head over to the hospital to sit with her for a while as soon as I finish up here,” Justin told his frazzled secretary. “In the meantime, call Deputy Mitchell and explain the situation. See if there’s any chance he could cut his vacation short to come back and take over Deputy Culler’s shift. Tell him we’ll make it up to him.”

      “I doubt he’ll be able to,” she replied, her frown deepening. “He’s on a ship somewhere in Alaska.”

      Justin sighed. “I forgot he was going to be seeing Alaska by cruise ship.”

      She managed a slight smile. “Probably because his vacations usually include a remote cabin somewhere. Not a fancy hotel on the water. Besides, you’ve got a lot on your mind with your sister and her son coming home to live with you.”

      Jackson’s brows knitted together. Justin had told his receptionist about Lainie moving home, but had chosen to keep the news from him? Sure, Jackson had mentioned knowing there were issues between him and Lainie. But it made Jackson wonder exactly what his friend did know. Had Lainie opened up to her brother about the heartbreak Jackson had caused her? About how he had crushed all of her girlhood dreams about true love?

      “I could probably reach him through the cruise line’s main office,” Mrs. Baxter suggested. “He could probably catch a flight home from his next stop.”

      “No,” Justin said, shaking his head with a sigh. “Deputy Vance and I can split Deputy Culler’s shifts between us.”

      “Only two of you doing everything?” she said, growing wide-eyed beneath the rim of her rhinestone-lined cat’s-eye glasses.

      “It’ll only be for ten or so days,” he assured her. “Then Deputy Mitchell will be back and can take over his share of the extra workload. In the meantime, I’ll see if we can bring in additional help until we’re back to a full crew.”

      She shrugged. “I suppose that’s all we can do for now. Thank the Lord above that Bent Creek is a peace-loving town or we would be in real trouble.”

      Justin offered her a reassuring smile. “If that was an issue, I’d just deputize Jackson here to fill in. He’s good with a rope. Could lasso any criminal who dared to step foot in our little town.”

      The older woman looked his way and Jackson smiled. “If СКАЧАТЬ