Читать книгу Stranded With Santa - Janet Tronstad - Страница 12

“I haven’t had a chance to get to town much yet,” Jenny said defensively as she stepped through the kitchen doorway behind the man. She hadn’t minded when Delores Norris had come inside and sat on one of the folding chairs. But a strange man was different. “I’ve been meaning to find some used furniture or something.”

The man set the box and a foil-wrapped pie down on the kitchen counter and started patting his pockets.

The kitchen counter was covered with tiles so old the white had turned yellow, but Jenny had scrubbed the grout clean. The floor, too, was spotlessly clean even though the linoleum was cracked. No one could say the place was dirty, she reminded herself, even if they could say it lacked almost everything else to recommend it.

“I’ve asked about garage sales—then I’ll be able to buy a few things,” Jenny continued before realizing the man was not only not listening, but he hadn’t even taken a good look around. He probably didn’t realize that all that stood in the kitchen was a broom in one corner and the folding card table and chairs that sat square in the middle.

“I must have another candy cane here someplace.” The Santa man turned and held up one candy cane. The plastic around the red-and-white cane was wrinkled and looked as if it had been slept on. “I’m sure I couldn’t have given them all out already.”

The man continued patting his pockets a little frantically. “I gave one for each of the cats—that was five—and a few extra when she said one of the cats was going to have kittens—and then she gave me that plate of cookies, and I had to give her some for that—but I should still have—”

Zach made another pass at checking the pocket on his right. The suit only had the two large pockets, and they had both been full of candy canes. He shouldn’t have given so many to Mrs. Goussley and her cats. Not when two children were waiting at the end of the route. “Maybe one dropped out in the truck. I’ll go see.”

Zach smiled at the kids to show they could trust him. The boy smiled back, so excited he was almost spinning. The girl eyed Zach suspiciously. No smile there. She clearly had her doubts about him and the promised candy cane. Well, he didn’t blame her. At least she wasn’t whining about it.

Zach walked toward the door. “I’ll go with you,” Jenny said, as she turned to the two children. “You two stay here.”

“But, Mom, I gotta—”

“Stay here,” the woman interrupted the young boy. “We’ll be right back. I want to talk to Santa.”

“But, Mom,” the boy persisted. “I gotta—”

“Later. I need to talk to Santa alone.” The young woman used her best mother voice. Gentle but firm.

Zach forgot all about the candy canes. Maybe Santa did have a little sex appeal if an attractive young woman was willing to take a walk in freezing temperatures just to talk to him privately. But he knew that a woman like her was trouble. He’d feel hog-tied after the second date. He’d have to tell her he was just passing through.

Zach took another look at the woman’s face and hesitated. Maybe he was being too cautious about dating. Just because a second date was out of the question, that didn’t mean a first date was impossible. Even a woman like that wouldn’t have expectations on a first date, would she? A first date was a test with no commitment whatsoever. And that’s all it would be. One date. He could put off starting down to Vegas until morning and still make it. Maybe he should ask her out for dinner tonight. He didn’t see any restaurants in Deep Gulch, but people must go out somewhere.

“Where do people go around here for fun?” Zach asked as he opened the door for the woman.

It was only four o’clock in the afternoon, but the cold pinched at Zach’s nose and he was grateful for the warmth of that beard on his face. The temperature had dipped a few degrees just in the time they had been inside. A full-fledged storm was coming.

“Fun?” The woman looked at him blankly. She crossed her arms against the cold and walked out the door, headed toward the postal truck.

Zach closed the door and hurried to follow. He could see the goose bumps on her neck in the strip between her collar and her hair. Pinpricks of snow still swirled around in the wind. “You need to wear something heavier than that flannel shirt when you’re outside.”

The woman walked faster. Her teeth chattered so he could hardly make out her words. “It’ll do.”

Zach opened the passenger door to the postal truck. The handle was icy to his touch. “Here. Sit inside.”

Zach closed the passenger door and quickly walked around to the driver’s side.

“You’ve heard of the North Pole?” the woman asked when Zach was inside and seated.

“That some kind of night club?” Zach was feeling more hopeful. Now they were talking fun. She didn’t look like the kind of a woman to go to some pole-dancing night club, but you never could tell. Maybe he wouldn’t even need to go to Vegas to find some Christmas cheer. Pole dancing was as good as the showgirl stuff anyday.

“Huh?” the woman looked bewildered.

“The doc could watch the kids,” Zach thought out loud. He felt a little bad about the kids, but the old doctor would treat them fine. He probably even had more of those candy canes. The kids could do without their mother for one night. Shoot, some kids would be glad to spend a night apart from their mother.

“The North Pole,” the woman repeated as if she had doubts about his mental abilities. “You know—that place where Santa Claus makes his toys.”

“Oh.” So much for pole dancing. Zach reached up and turned on the heat. The engine was still warm and gave off a soft wave of hot air. “I didn’t know you meant that North Pole. Sure, I know it.”

“Well, Andy is going to give you a letter to deliver to Santa Claus at the North Pole. Just go along with it, okay?”

“Sure,” Zach shrugged. “I’ll tell him I ride my horse, Thunder, right up there every night.”

Jenny frowned. “Don’t overdo it. He’s four, but he’s not gullible.”

Zach refrained from pointing out that the boy still believed in Santa Claus. “Anything you say.”

Zach smiled.

Jenny frowned.

Zach got a glimpse of himself in the rearview mirror and frowned, too. No wonder the woman was still cool to him. He looked like a lunatic. His beard was crooked and, instead of hair, it looked as if it were made of yarn that some cat had chewed. Zach pulled the beard down past his chin and let it settle around his neck. He pushed the Santa hat far enough back on his head so that she could see his hair. That should make her relax.

It didn’t.

Jenny’s frown turned to an expression of alarm. “You look just like that…that cowboy on the cereal box.”

Zach relaxed. He was home free. She’d seen the Ranger boxes. “He’s me—I mean, I’m him.”

“But you can’t be.”

Jenny tried not to stare at the man’s face. His cheekbones were high; his eyebrows black and fierce looking when he wasn’t smiling. It was the middle of winter and his tan was only partially faded. The golden flecks in his brown eyes saved his face from being too severe. Nothing saved it from being the handsomest face she had ever seen.

Jenny had dreamed of that face ever since Andy had convinced her to buy the first box of that cereal a year ago. She must have bought three dozen boxes this last year alone. And that wasn’t the worst of it. She’d been talking to the box.

Jenny was a private person and she didn’t admit her unhappiness to anyone. But, one morning at a solitary breakfast, she’d poured out her troubles to the face on the back of the box and she’d been talking to it ever since. Only the face on the box knew of her disappointment with her marriage. To the rest of the world, her marriage was fine and her husband was the good-natured man he appeared to be to others. But the box knew the truth.

She’d told that box things she wouldn’t have admitted to a priest, and now it sat before her. She felt betrayed. Pictures on cereal boxes were not supposed to spring to life in front of your eyes.

“—you just can’t be him.”

“Well, everybody’s got to be somebody.”

Jenny panicked. Not only was the face here, it was—unless she missed her guess—also teasing her. Maybe even flirting with her. It was awful—like the Pope asking you out on a date. “You’ll have to go.”

Okay, Zach thought to himself. Definitely not a pole dancer. Which was fine. He had his good time waiting in Vegas. “Just give me a minute to find another one of those candy canes and I’ll be happy to head out. I need to get back before the storm hits anyway.”

Jenny looked up. “I thought you said you’d take a picture with Andy.”

“I did, but I thought you were, well, in a hurry for me to leave.”

“No, I’m just, well, I don’t want to take more of your time. But a picture only takes a second.”

Jenny forced herself to look the man in the face. It wasn’t his fault she’d started talking to his picture.

“Okay. Fine. Whatever you want.”

Jenny forced herself to smile. “It’s just that you’re the only Santa around.”

Zach grunted. “No problem.”

“And I appreciate you bringing out everything for Delores. And the candy canes, too. That was very nice of you.”

“Delores bought the canes. I’m just passing them out for her.”

“Still…”

Zach noted that the woman’s face had relaxed. The goose bumps had left. The air inside the truck wasn’t white with trails of exhaled air. “Not a problem. I’ll even tell that boy of yours I’ll take his letter to Santa.”

“I’m sorry I can’t—I mean, I don’t date anyway—not that you were asking me out.” Jenny stopped in embarrassment.

“Oh, but I was asking you out. At least I was heading in that general direction.”

Jenny couldn’t help but notice he sounded a little too cheerful for someone who had just been turned down.

“Well, I appreciate that. I’m just sorry I can’t accept.”

“It’s okay,” Zach felt around the side of his seat and found not one but two candy canes. Hallelujah! He’d soon be out of here. “I suppose you tried the cereal and didn’t like it—or you thought the manufacturer shouldn’t say it is the cereal real cowboys eat when everybody knows cowboys don’t eat anything but beans and trail dust.”

“No, actually, I like the cereal. And I think cowboys would like it if they had a chance to try it. It’s great—real nutty.”

Zach nodded and didn’t make the obvious comparison. “So you like the cereal. You just object to the box.”

Jenny nodded sheepishly. “I guess it is kind of odd.”

“No problem.” Zach smiled to show it was okay. He’d been bucked by broncs. He’d learned how to take his lumps in life. If the woman was that set against him, he’d let it be. Better times were waiting for him. “I’ll just take this other candy cane into the house and pick up the letter from—what’s the kid’s name again?”

“Andy.”

“So I’ll pick up the letter from Andy, do our bit with the camera and be on my way back to the doctor’s.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

Zach shrugged as he opened the driver’s door on the postal truck. “Don’t mention it.”

To show there were no hard feelings, Zach walked around and opened the passenger door, as well. “Some folks think the picture on the box is just some dress-up modeling job. But it isn’t. The cereal company asked to put my picture on the box because I won the All-Pro Championship in bronc riding last fall.”

“Oh, I didn’t think they used your picture because of your looks.” Jenny gracefully stepped out of the truck and almost immediately folded her arms in front of her for warmth.

Zach admitted complete defeat. Most women found him attractive. He wasn’t fool enough to go after one who didn’t. Especially not when he was out in the middle of nowhere and the sky was turning a serious gray.

“Storm’s coming,” Zach offered as they walked toward the house. He suddenly understood why Delores worried so much over this little family. He felt some of that same worry tugging at him. There wasn’t another house around for miles. “You got enough supplies stored up and everything? A winter storm in southern Montana can be a fierce thing.”

“I know that.”

Zach wondered how she could know that. He didn’t ask, but she must have caught the drift of his disbelieving thoughts.

“I may not have lived through one of the storms here, but even in Los Angeles they have guidebooks that talk about Montana.”

Zach groaned inside. She’d learned about Montana storms from a guidebook.

The few snowflakes that were falling had a dry sting to them. Zach knew that meant the coming storm would be cold enough to freeze a person. Some folks thought the large wet flakes signaled the worst storms, but they didn’t. The wet flakes generally meant more snow, but the dry ones foretold a swift and merciless drop in temperature. And with the wind that could be dangerous.

“The electrical will probably go out. Are you set for that?”

Jenny turned to look at him squarely and lifted her chin. She was standing on her porch and she could still feel the pinch of the cold in her nose. She could see the sky was going deep gray and she could hear the grumbling in the air. “We have a propane furnace. And I have some oil lamps if the lights go out.”

Zach grunted.

The door on the house popped open when they stepped near it. Andy, the little boy, had been waiting for them to come back and must have heard their steps on the porch.

“Hi, there, Andy.” Zach stepped inside behind Jenny. At least the little boy liked him.

Zach revised that opinion. The boy was looking at him like he’d sprouted a second head.

“Santa Claus?”

Zach grabbed for his chin. He’d forgotten the beard.

Jenny met his eyes in alarm. She took a quick breath. “Santa shaved.”

Zach slipped the beard back over his chin. But it was too late. The kid was bewildered.

Then the confusion on Andy’s face slowly cleared as though he finally understood a big secret. Zach felt a momentary pang, but then decided it was just as well the kid learned the truth about Santa Claus.

Zach looked over at Jenny. She was signaling him desperately to do something.

Zach figured there wasn’t much to be done.

“He’d find out someday anyway—now that he’s a big boy.” Zach threw the boy a bone. He knelt down until his eyes were level with the boy’s. “Isn’t that right? You’re a big boy and big boys can handle the truth about Santa Claus, can’t you?”

Andy nodded happily.

Zach threw Jenny a self-righteous look. He might not be a parent, but he did know some things about little boys. “You’re a real smart big boy to figure out Santa’s secret.”

Zach noticed the girl who stood beside her mother. She rolled her eyes as if Zach was hopeless.

Andy nodded eagerly and leaned forward to whisper. “I know the secret. Santa’s a cowboy—he’s you—Lightnin’ Lucas.”

“Well, now, that’s not exactly true.” Zach stalled. Maybe he didn’t understand a little boy’s mind as much as he thought he did. “I am Lightning Lucas—that’s true—but I’m just wearing a Santa suit. I’m a pretend Santa.”

“I have cowboy pajamas,” Andy nodded happily as he danced from one foot to the other. “That’s pretend. Want to see?”

“Sure, I guess.” Zach looked up at Jenny to get direction.

Jenny gave a reluctant nod. The pajamas had been Andy’s present last Christmas and they were still his most prized possession. “Why don’t you bring them out here and let Mr. Lucas see them when you give him your letter? I think he’ll still take it for you.”

Jenny lifted a questioning eyebrow at Zach.

Zach bristled. He was a man of his word. “Of course I’ll still take the letter. I’ll see the letter gets to the North Pole tonight. Before Santa leaves on his trip tomorrow. I’ll take it personally.”

“Can you fly?” Andy looked at him in awe. “Like the reindeer?”

Zach swallowed and shifted his weight onto his knee. “No, but I know the way to the North Pole and I can drive fast in my truck. Zoom. Zoom. Of course,” he said, fumbling, “nobody should drive fast.”

Zach hoped the kid forgot this conversation before he turned sixteen and got his driving permit.

“Will you take me with you?”

Zach looked over at the little boy looking at him with such shining trust. Like a shy deer, the boy had edged closer and closer to Zach as he knelt beside him until now the boy was practically leaning against Zach’s shoulder. Zach had to swallow again. “Not this time.”

“Why not? I’ll be good.”

Jenny looked down at the man and her boy and felt sad. Andy yearned for a father even more than he yearned to be a cowboy. Maybe after Christmas she should accept a date from that rancher up north who kept asking her out. Even if Jenny didn’t find him very exciting, he was stable.

Jenny had learned the hard way that exciting men weren’t the best family men. She had a second chance to provide a father for her children, and this time she was going to choose carefully. Her children had never known the warmth of a real father. If she married again, it would be for them.

“Of course you’ll be good,” Zach said. “But you see, well, you have to stay and help your mother. There’s a storm coming and she’ll need a big boy like you to help her.”

“Lisa’s bigger. She can help.”

Jenny looked at the helpless expression on Zach’s face and almost laughed. Not many men were a match for a determined four-year-old.

“Of course she can.” Zach searched the room for the girl and didn’t see her. He wondered where she had gone. “It’s just that—” Zach had an inspiration “—Santa’s too busy to see people before he takes his trip. He only talks to the elves.”

The boy looked up in sudden worry. “But my letter.”

“Oh, I’m sure he has time for letters.” Zach started to sweat. He decided he was better off facing a bucking bronc like Black Demon than a child like the one in front of him. He understood a thousand pounds of angry horse better than he did this little boy.

“I’m sure Santa reads all his mail,” Jenny explained. Andy had labored for a full afternoon on his Santa letter, patiently copying the letters Jenny had printed for him.

Jenny hoped that Mr. Lightning understood how precious the letter was he’d offered to deliver. Andy hadn’t thought of anything for days since he wrote that letter.

“Lisa can come, too.” The little boy leaned closer to Zach and confided, “She told me there’s no Santa at the North Pole.” The boy’s voice dropped to a whisper. “She has to do dishes for a month all by herself if I show her that Santa lives there. It’s a bet.”

Jenny saw her son’s blond head leaning close to the man’s dark one. The man’s arm had gone around her son’s shoulders and they were whispering about something she couldn’t make out. She knew children liked their secrets, but she wasn’t sure she wanted this cowboy to share them.

“Mr. Lucas needs to leave soon, Andy,” Jenny reminded her son as she picked up the camera from the counter. Lisa had insisted she was too old for a Santa picture, so Jenny only had to worry about Andy. “Why don’t you go get your letter for him, and I’ll take your picture while you give it to him.”

“It’s here,” Andy said as he moved away from Zach enough to pull a crumpled letter out of his pocket. He handed it up to Zach. “I’ve been saving it.”

The camera flash went off as Jenny snapped a picture.

“I’ll deliver it express mail.” Zach blinked as he took the letter in his hand. The woman hadn’t even given him time to force a smile. “You can trust the U.S. Postal Service.” Zach saluted the boy even though, as far as he knew, the postal service had never had a salute of any kind. But it seemed to reassure the boy.

Zach stood up and looked at the woman. “If you want, you can try a second picture.”

Jenny looked at him.

“I wasn’t smiling.” Zach almost swore. It wasn’t his idea to have his picture in some family album, but if his picture was going to be there it seemed only right that he be smiling.

Jenny shrugged. “The beard covers most of your face anyway.”

Zach nodded. If the woman didn’t care if Santa was smiling, he shouldn’t care. It did make him wonder what Christmas was coming to, however. If anyone should be smiling at Christmas, it was Santa and his helpers. “It’s your picture.”

“Did you get my letter in the picture?” the boy asked.

The woman nodded.

“I drew the stamp myself.” The boy looked up at Zach. “Mom said it was all right.”

Zach bent down and shook the boy’s hand for further assurance. “It’s just the right kind of stamp.”

The kitchen had a window by the sink and one on the opposite wall. The sky was gray out of both windows, and Zach heard the rattle of the wind as it gathered force.

He watched as Jenny pulled the stub of a picture out of the camera.

“Here.” Jenny held the camera out to him.

Zach shook his head. “The doc said you were to keep it over the holidays in case you want to take more pictures.”

“Well, that’s kind of you.”

“Not me. It’s Delores.” Zach shuffled his feet. He wasn’t used to getting so much credit for things he didn’t even do.

“I better get out of here before the storm hits.” Zach pulled his Santa hat back on his head. No one had flipped any light switches, and the light coming into the windows was thin. Fortunately, he could hear the hum of the furnace and a floor vent blew a steady stream of warm air into the room. At least the family had heat.

Zach looked over at the woman who held a still-developing picture in her hand. “You’re sure you’ll be all right now in this storm? If you need to call anyone on the telephone to come sit this storm out with you, I’d do it now. The lines might go down anytime now.”

“Thanks. I’ll do that.” Jenny said. She smiled confidently as if she had someone to call.

Zach nodded. He figured that cereal box wasn’t the only reason the woman wouldn’t go out with him. She must have a boyfriend. Well, he shouldn’t be surprised. The doctor had as much as told him she did. Some rancher—what was his name? Max something.

“Well, I’ll leave, then,” Zach said as he walked toward the door. “I’ll close the door quick behind me so you keep your heat in.”

Jenny watched the man walk to the door. Suddenly she didn’t want him to leave. There was a blizzard coming and she didn’t know what to expect. Even a cereal-box cowboy was better than no one when it came to facing a storm. But she couldn’t ask him to stay. He was a stranger, for goodness sake. Just because she was used to telling her troubles to his face didn’t mean he had any obligation to her.

“You’ve got holiday plans?” she squeaked out as he put his hand on the doorknob.

He turned around and looked at her. “Vegas.”

“Oh. I see. Well, have fun.”

Jenny could kick herself. Of course, the man had plans. It was Christmas, after all. Everyone had plans.

“Thanks.” Zach hesitated. “I could change them if—”

“Of course you can’t change them.” Jenny stiffened her resolve. “I was just asking because I…I mean we…we have plans of our own and I was hoping you had plans, too.”

“I see. Thanks.” Zach turned the knob this time. No sense staying where someone had plans that didn’t include him.

Zach leaned into the wind as he walked to the postal truck. The sky was getting darker in the east. A spray of snowflakes hit his face, even with the beard pulled up. He noticed that he hadn’t closed the back door to the postal truck completely. He walked over and snapped it shut. He didn’t want a chill at his back while he raced this storm back to Deep Gulch.

Zach started the engine on the postal truck and released the brake. Time to get back. It was probably too late to beat the storm to the pass. Unless he missed his guess, he’d be sleeping in the horse trailer tonight while Thunder boarded at the doctor’s barn. In a few hours no one would be doing much driving. Zach just hoped he made it back to the doctor’s before the roads were snowed shut.

He could feel the hard boards of that trailer on his back already.

It was going to be some merry Christmas.