Second Chance Christmas. Tanya Michaels

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      Chapter Three

      Wednesday was a busy day on the mountain. Justin had reported for work at seven-thirty in the morning, starting with a rundown on the day’s weather conditions and post assignments. Shortly after tourists began hitting the slopes, a skier had broken her wrist. Justin took her by toboggan to get medical attention. After an early lunch, he assisted with some training and taught a CPR class. The entire day felt like one fast-paced blur of activity, and before he knew it, he was in his SUV headed to Arden’s for dinner.

      His sister, like his ex-girlfriend, was also engaged to be married. Soon Arden would become Mrs. Garrett Frost. Garrett spent as much time in Cielo Peak as he could, but his family’s ranch a couple of hours to the east required his attention. Whenever Garrett couldn’t be in town, Justin made it a point to check in on Arden and two-month-old Hope. Plus, Arden was a terrific cook. It was no hardship to exchange the occasional night of his bachelor lifestyle for one of her home-cooked meals and the chance to cuddle his niece.

      As much as Justin loved baby Hope, the day she’d been born had been one of the scariest of his life. Arden and Garrett had been temporarily estranged, and the cowboy hadn’t been anywhere near Cielo Peak when Arden went into premature labor. Justin had been with her at the hospital while doctors explained the complications and dangers she faced. He’d been terrified he was about to lose another loved one.

      When he was ten, his mom had died the week after Thanksgiving; his father passed away a few years later. Justin and Arden had been raised in part by an elderly aunt but mostly by their older brother, Colin. The Cade siblings had banded together in a tight family unit, which had expanded when Colin married. Tragedy lashed out at them again when a car accident took Colin’s wife and toddler son. If anything had happened to Arden...

      But she was fine, Justin reminded himself. His niece was a healthy, beautiful baby, and his sister was ecstatic about her February wedding. She made frequent jokes about how she and Garrett had approached their relationship backward, but Justin privately doubted she’d change a thing that had brought them to this point. She’d never been happier.

      When he turned onto Arden’s street, Justin’s mouth fell open in disbelief. Her entire house was outlined in twinkling white lights. The trees in the yard were adorned with red and green bulbs that blinked in a frenetic pattern. A spotlight shone on an inflatable polar bear that seemed nearly as tall as Justin’s six-foot-two height. A moving train circled the bear. Justin practically needed sunglasses to park in the driveway.

      Since Arden was expecting him and he never knew when the baby might be asleep, he let himself in without knocking. “It’s me,” he called softly. He followed the mouthwatering smell of roast beef and the rhythmic sound of a mechanized baby swing to the kitchen.

      Hope was safely harnessed into the reclining swing, watching the mobile of brightly colored animals above her head. Her eyelids were beginning to droop, though. She had the Cade eyes, the same deep blue-green that Justin and his siblings shared. Her hair was black like her father’s, a much darker shade than Arden’s or Justin’s brown hair.

      Justin dropped a quick kiss on his sister’s forehead, then jerked his thumb toward the front of the house. “Don’t you think your cowboy got a little carried away? It’s like the freaking Vegas Strip out there.”

      “Isn’t it great?” Arden beamed at him. “I admit, we probably went overboard, but...this is Hope’s first Christmas. We want to make it special.”

      And special was synonymous with able to see the house from space? He bit back the reminder that Hope was only two months old and wouldn’t even remember the seizure-inducing light show when she was older. Why allow his bah-humbug tendencies to ruin other people’s joy?

      Arden’s smile faded, and her voice took on an audible ache. “Speaking of Christmas...our brother is dodging me.”

      “Left him a message a couple of weeks ago. He didn’t return my call, either,” Justin commiserated.

      She banged a wooden spoon down next to the stove. “Thanksgiving was bad enough! Colin didn’t come to town, and you took the holiday shift at the ambulance station.”

      “I didn’t mind,” he assured her. “I would’ve been in the way here. You and Garrett were still adjusting to the baby, and you needed the bonding time with your future in-laws.”

      She wasn’t mollified. “No one’s Thanksgiving should be limited to a couple of turkey slices on nutritionally bankrupt white bread! You only got away with it because in November, I was exhausted and recovering from the C-section. I was in no condition to pitch a fit. But I swear, if you and Colin aren’t both here for Christmas, I will throw an unholy tantrum the likes of which you’ve never seen. It’s more than Hope’s first Christmas. It’s my last one as a Cade. As much as I can’t wait to marry Garrett, moving to the ranch will change things.”

      “It’s not your last anything.” He hugged her. “You’ll always be a Cade.”

      “Will you try to talk to Colin? For me?”

      Justin stifled a sigh. She was asking him—the guy who wanted to rip December off the calendar and skip straight into the New Year—to be her ambassador for a big family celebration? “All right. I’ll get him here even if I have to track him down and toss him into the trunk of my SUV.”

      “Thank you.” With that settled, she handed him a platter of roasted carrots and potatoes to carry to the table.

      Throughout the meal, they chatted about their jobs. Arden, a professional photographer, regaled him with anecdotes of her afternoon trying to take a four-generation family portrait.

      “There were twenty-eight of them! They wouldn’t fit in my studio, and it’s too cold to shoot outside. We got to use the Cielo Peak performance hall because the family makes annual contributions and one of the sisters plays in the jazz ensemble. The great-grandfather nodded off twice while I was trying to arrange everyone. Between trying to keep him awake and trying to keep the toddler from fussing, it was the most challenging job I’ve had since the Cavanaugh wedding where the bride wanted a picture with her СКАЧАТЬ