The Twins' Family Christmas. Lee McClain Tobin

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СКАЧАТЬ be...fun,” Lily said. Not. She would drive down to town, get the coffee and coffee maker she needed now even more desperately than before—her headache was getting worse—and then drive back up and hide out in her cabin for the duration of Christmas Eve.

      Spending the holiday by herself seemed a little bit lonelier after talking to Skye and Sunny, but Lily pushed the feeling away. She put the car into gear and started cautiously down the icy road.

      The car picked up speed on the incline, and she hit the brake reflexively. The car fishtailed a little, even though her pace was slow. Her heart beat faster, and her hands on the cold steering wheel were slick with sweat. If she went off the road, who would help her?

      You’re tough; you’re a soldier. She just had to remember that you braked gently in icy conditions.

      She gathered her courage and took her foot off the brake. The car started moving again.

      There was a shout behind her, and when she looked into the rearview mirror, she saw the two little girls running after her. That wasn’t safe. What if they got too close and the car went out of control? She braked, harder this time, and the antilock tick-tick-tick-tick didn’t stop the car from sliding sideways. It stopped just at the edge of a two-foot dropoff. Not deadly, but... She put the car into Park and got out just as the girls reached her.

      “We saw your car slide and we told Daddy!” Sunny said.

      “And he said you could ride to town with us.” Skye looked up, her brown eyes round and hopeful. “We have a big truck.”

      “Oh, no, it’s okay.” She walked to the front of her car, and it was, in fact, okay. About three inches from being not okay, but okay.

      She looked back toward her cabin and saw Carson Blair striding toward them, flannel-shirted and boot-clad and looking nothing like any preacher she’d ever seen.

      More like a lumberjack.

      Weren’t there social media sites and photo calendars about good-looking lumberjacks?

      She shoved that ridiculous notion away, her face heating as Carson reached them.

      “Everything okay?” He patted each twin on the back and then walked around to look at the front of her car.

      “It’s fine,” she said.

      “But her car went sliding. Like a sled!” Sunny demonstrated with a complicated hand motion.

      Carson nodded. “I like the rear-wheel-drive Camaros,” he said, tapping the hood, “but they’re not the greatest on snow and ice.”

      “I didn’t think of that before I came,” she admitted. “Not much snow in Phoenix. But it’s no big deal for me to get to town,” she added while her body cried out for caffeine.

      “Daddy’s a good driver,” Skye said earnestly.

      “You should come to town with us!” Sunny was wiggling her excitement, which seemed to be her normal state of being. “You could come to church!”

      “Oh, I...” She trailed off, part of her noticing that the girls seemed enthusiastic about church and life in general, nothing like abused children were likely to be.

      “You’re welcome to join us,” Carson said. “We’re picking up a couple of things at the hardware store and then going to church for Casual Christmas Eve.”

      That made sense of Carson’s lumberjack attire and the girls’ outdoorsy clothing. “Are you staying until midnight? Because I can’t...can’t do that.” Can’t deal with you and your girls for that many hours in a row.

      Carson waved a hand and smiled, and he went instantly from good-looking to devastatingly handsome. “I scored this year. Got the afternoon service, and the other church in town—Riverside Christian—they’re doing the evening services.” He held out his hand. “Come on. I’ll drive your car back up, and you can ride into town with us.”

      His comfortable, take-charge manner both put her at ease and annoyed her. It was nice to think of someone else driving on the slippery roads—and it was really nice to think of coffee—but she didn’t know Carson. Or rather, she only knew of him, and none of what she’d heard from Pam was positive.

      Besides, she didn’t want to be that wimpy woman who needed a man to drive her around.

      His hand was still out for the keys, but she held on to them.

      A smile quirked the corner of his mouth. “If you want to drive it back up yourself, go for it,” he said, “although I’ve been itching to get behind the wheel of a cherry-red Camaro since I was seventeen.”

      She suspected it was a ruse to make her comfortable letting him drive and help her save face. Okay, that was nice of him. She handed him the keys.

      * * *

      Carson was glad they ended up taking Lily to town. Beyond Penny’s request, he found himself curious about the shy photographer. She said she was working on a college project, and he had surmised from all the camera equipment that it involved photography. But that was all he knew.

      He was about to ask when she turned to him. “So, how long have you and the twins lived in this area?” she asked.

      “We moved here when they were born,” he said. “We’ve always lived in Colorado, various parts, but a job opened up here at just the point when we were ready for a more stable life. How about you? Where are you from?”

      “Most recently, Phoenix.” Lily didn’t elaborate but instead asked another question. “Do you like the job?”

      He got the odd feeling she was trying to ask him questions to deflect attention from herself. “I do. It’s a wonderful church and community. Not without its problems—there’s a lot of poverty—but people are good-hearted here. It’s an old-fashioned community. Neighbors look after neighbors.” Great. He sounded like his grandfather, hearty and wholesome and focused on his own small town. Not fun and exciting.

      Pam had always criticized him for being boring.

      But how could he not be? He’d grown up on the straight and narrow, with strict parents. Now he was a pastor and a frazzled single dad.

      What chance did he have to be full of scintillating conversation, when his biggest social activity all season had been helping at the kids’ classroom holiday party?

      “And how about you girls?” Lily turned in the seat to look back at them. “How do you like your town?”

      “There’s an ice cream store,” Skye said matter-of-factly, as if that were the feature that determined the worth of a town.

      “And our teacher, Ms. Garcia, is so nice.” Sunny launched into her favorite theme. “She brings her dogs to school sometimes. And when we told her we want a dog, too, she said one of her dogs is having puppies!”

      Not this again. “If we ever did get a dog,” Carson said, “we would get one from the shelter. Not a puppy.”

      “That’s okay, Daddy,” Skye said. “We like all dogs. We don’t have to СКАЧАТЬ