The Twins' Family Christmas Read online

  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 get a mala... Mala...”

  “Malamute?” Lily glanced over at Carson. “A malamute puppy would be adorable, but a lot of work. And hair.”

  “Exactly.” Carson turned the truck onto Esperanza Springs’s Main Street. “Look at the decorations, girls,” he said in an effort to distract them from their dog quest.

  It worked. Even though it was early in the afternoon, it was a gray enough day that the streetlights had lit up. The town resembled a Christmas card scene.

  “So beautiful,” Lily murmured, leaning forward and staring out the window, elbows on knees.

  “You said you live in Phoenix?” he asked.

  “Yeah.” She wrinkled her nose. “We have Christmas decorations, but where I live, they tend to be giant inflatable cartoon characters and lights wrapped around the trunks of palm trees. This is prettier.”

  Carson pulled the truck into a parking space just down from the hardware store. Across the street, the Mountain High Bakery was doing a surprisingly brisk business—people picking up their Christmas desserts, no doubt. In front of La Boca Feliz, Valeria Perez folded the signboard and picked it up, shaking her head at an approaching couple with an apologetic smile. Closing down for the day: good. That meant Valeria would be able to attend church with the rest of her family.

  “Oh, wow, look!” Sunny bounced in her seat. “Mrs. Barnes’s new dog has reindeer antlers on!”

  “Can we go pet it, Daddy? Can we?” Skye leaned forward to beg.

  “In a minute. Get out on Lily’s side.” He came around and opened Lily’s door. Growing up as the only child of older parents had certainly had its drawbacks, like making him into a total nerd, but at least he had learned old-fashioned manners. His women friends always praised him for that. Usually in the process of making it clear that he was just a friend, no more.

  And why did that matter? He automatically held out a hand to help Lily down from the high truck seat. He didn’t look at her, not wanting her to read his thoughts.

  Once he’d helped her down and dropped her hand almost as fast as she pulled it away, he opened the back door of the truck. The girls tumbled out and rushed to Mrs. Barnes, an older member of the congregation known for pressing other church members into service doing things they didn’t want to do. At a ranch fund-raiser last summer, she had come to meddle but had ended up falling in love with one of the senior dogs. Now Bosco plodded slowly beside her, indeed sporting a pair of light-up antlers.

  “Girls,” he warned, a hand on each one’s shoulder. “Make sure you ask Mrs. Barnes if it’s okay to pet Bosco.” He knew it was, but he also wanted the twins to practice safety around other people’s dogs. Plus, he knew that Mrs. Barnes enjoyed talking about Bosco, reveling in the attention and status her dog brought her. Indeed, several other people had already clustered around to admire the dog in his costume.

  “Dogs sure do a lot for people,” Lily said, closer than he had expected.

  He looked at her and saw that a smile tugged at the corner of
her mouth.

  “Oh, no,” he said, mock-serious, “you’re not going to throw me under the bus. I am not getting a dog.”

  She raised mittened hands, laughing openly now. “Did I tell you to get a dog?” she asked innocently.

  Her cheeks were flushed in the cold, and strands of blond hair escaped from the furry hood of her jacket. Her lips curved upward, and her wide eyes sparkled, and Carson’s heart picked up its pace.

  Time to get businesslike. “The hardware store is right there,” he said, gesturing toward Donegal’s Hardware. “Come on, girls, let’s leave Mrs. Barnes to her errands. We have a few of our own to do.”

  “What are you buying, Miss Lily?” Sunny tucked a hand into Lily’s.

  Not to be outdone, Skye took Lily’s other hand.

  They walked ahead of Carson, and the sight made his heart lurch.

  Maybe this was a very bad idea. Carson didn’t need the girls getting attached to some model-perfect photographer who would be here only a few days. He’d noticed that they tended to be drawn to young women, probably because they missed their own mother. They’d been four when she died, so their memories were patchy, but despite Carson’s best efforts to be both mother and father, some part of them knew what was missing in their lives.

  “I’m buying coffee and a coffee maker,” Lily said, “because I love coffee so much, and there isn’t one at the cabin.”

  “You’re like our daddy!” Skye tugged at her hand. “Daddy isn’t very nice if he hasn’t had his coffee.”

  Lily laughed back at him, and he couldn’t keep his own mouth from lifting into a smile. Their eyes met.

  Color rose into her cheeks, and she looked away, and then the girls tugged her into the store.

  Inside, tinsel and ornaments hung from the ceiling and Christmas music played. Long lines of customers waited at the two front registers, some holding wrapping paper and others bags of salt. Two men both approached the last snow shovel in a rack, and then one waved his hand in good-natured defeat. “You can have it,” he said, “if you’ll come over and shovel my walks when the snow starts.”

  “Deal,” the other man said, laughing.

  Lily and the twins had disappeared, so Carson took advantage of the opportunity to pick out two boxes of ornaments. They had a few, but not enough to make even their small artificial tree look as colorful as six-year-olds demanded.

  Of course, Carson ran into several of his parishioners, and by the time he’d greeted them, Lily and the twins emerged from the back of the store. “Success!” Lily said, holding up a box with a coffee maker in it.

  “And I have something for you.” With a fake-gallant gesture, he poured her a paper cup of free, hardware-store coffee and handed it over.

  “You’re my hero,” she said, taking the cup and inhaling appreciatively. She took a sip and her eyes met his.

  He started to feel giddy.

  When they reached the counter with their purchases, Marla Jones, the cashier, reached over the counter to shake Lily’s hand. “So you’re Penny’s niece? Penny told me you were staying up at the ranch.”

  Lily’s smile was a little shy. “I’m just here for a few days, to photograph the dogs. My senior project.”

  “You know,” Marla said, “I’d like to talk to you about going back to school for photography. I’d really like to finish my degree, but I’m worried that I’m too old.”

  “You should! It’s been a great experience for me. And there are lots of older students at colleges these days.”

  “Do you mind if I get your number? It’s Liliana...what was your last name?”

  “Watkins,” she said.

  Shock exploded like a bomb in Carson’s chest. He must have made some weird sound, because she glanced over at him. When she saw his reaction, her eyes widened, and she turned quickly away.

  The clerk rang up Lily’s purchases, still chatting, and then punched her number into Lily’s phone. Meanwhile, all the implications slammed into Carson. Lily was Liliana Watkins? Pam’s party-happy roommate? The one with all the boyfriends? He shook his head, but he couldn’t shake the pieces into place.

  Why was Liliana at the ranch? Was she here to dry out? To bring a message from Pam? Most important, was it safe for his girls to be around her?

  His eyes narrowed. Had Penny known the connection between Lily and Pam when she’d asked Carson to check on her?

  Lily grabbed her purchase and her change, gave a quick, artificial smile to Marla and then hurried toward the door.

  He wasn’t letting her escape. “Hey, wait up,” he called after her as he handed cash to Marla.

  Lily hesitated, then turned.

  Carson took his change and strode over to where she was standing. “I need to talk to you later, after church,” he said.

  “Okay.” She looked pale, but she didn’t ask him why. For some reason, that angered him.

  The girls were calling to him, talking to Marla, collecting his bags. “I’d like to get some information from you, Liliana,” he said, keeping his voice low, “about Pam.”

  Chapter Three

  A short while later, Lily stood in the foyer of the small church while Carson talked to a parishioner, and the girls excitedly greeted their friends.

  Anxiety twisted her stomach. He knew.

  Carson Blair had obviously just realized that she’d been Pam’s friend and roommate, and now she had to decide how to deal. And she had to figure it out soon, before the church service ended.

  Just the fact that she hadn’t said anything when she’d met them made her seem guilty of wrongdoing. She should have copped to the truth right away. Should have smiled easily and said, “Hey, what a coincidence, I think I knew your wife.”

  But she’d kept quiet. How was she going to explain that?

  Out of all the things he was likely to think and wonder about, one was the most worrisome: Did he know she’d been right there with Pam at the end? How much did he know about his wife’s death?

  “Come see our costume!” Little Sunny tugged at Lily’s hand, bringing her back to the present. They walked farther into the small, white-adobe-fronted church building. Evergreen boughs emitted their pungent aroma, and a large Christmas tree dominated the corner of the lobby. Adults talked and laughed and hung up coats while kids ran around. From the sanctuary, a choir practiced a jazzed-up version of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”; the music stopped midline, there was some talk and laughter, and then the group sang the same line again and continued on.

  “Over here!” Skye beckoned, and Sunny tugged, and Lily followed them down a hallway to a classroom where barely organized chaos reigned.

  “We’re two parts of a camel,” Skye explained. “I was the front in the dress ’hearsal last week, so Sunny gets to be the front today.” The contraption they held up made Lily smile; someone had affixed a brown sheet to a horse-on-a-stick, and a complicated arrangement of pillows made for the hump. Two holes allowed the girls’ heads to stick up through it, creating visibility and a very odd-looking camel.

  “Can you help them into it?” a young woman, obviously pregnant, called over her shoulder. She was kneeling, trying to place a flowing head covering over a shepherd boy who kept trying to twist away. “I’m Barb, by the way,” she added.

  “Um, sure.” Lily knelt beside the twins and, despite their confusing instructions, got the costume situated on them. Immediately, they began prancing around, running into another child just as Carson appeared in the doorway.

  “Skye! Sunny!” He lifted his hands in warning. “Slow down.”

  “Daddy!” They rushed over and struggled to embrace him, their camel costume twisting askew, as if they hadn’t just parted from him ten minutes before.

  Wow, he was handsome. And she’d felt a spark between them earlier, in the street, when they’d teased about getting a dog.

 
What was that all about? Getting attracted to Pam’s husband was just plain wrong.

  “You look great.” He hugged them both quickly and readjusted their costume. “I want you to go over there and sit with the others until it’s time to come out and do your show.” He guided them toward the calmest corner of the room, where several other child actors milled around.

  “I’m sorry things are so wild, Pastor Blair,” Barb said. “I’m trying to get everyone dressed, but it’s hard. We’ll be ready when it’s time.”

  “Isn’t Missy here?”

  She shook her head. “Her little one’s sick. But I’m sure I can handle it.”

  “If you tell me what to do,” Lily heard herself say, “I can help.”

  “Thank you!” Carson gave her a smile that warmed her to her toes, and then someone called him from behind. He turned toward an agitated-looking acolyte who was holding a broken candle. He spoke to her gently, and they walked off down the hall.

  “I’d appreciate your help.” Barb gave her a harried smile. “If you can just keep the kids entertained while I get these last couple dressed, and help me get them to the sanctuary, we’ll be good.”

  Keep kids entertained? How did you do that? She wasn’t a mom or an aunt, and she didn’t have many friends with kids.

  As she looked at them, her mind a blank, the group began to nudge and push one another in the small, crowded room.

  Inspiration hit. “All right, we’re going to take pictures,” she said, pulling out her phone. “First, everyone stand up.”

  Like well-practiced models, they instantly struck poses, and she snapped several photos.

  “Now everyone look sad.”

  They giggled and tried to do it without success.

  “Now individual photos. Quietest kids go first.”

  They continued doing photo sessions, and Lily actually got some good shots that the parents would love, including candids of the kids who were still being helped into their costumes.

  What seemed like only a few minutes later, a gray-haired man appeared in the doorway. “You kids are up next,” he said, and the children shrieked and lined up, following Barb’s harried instructions.