Surviving Love - K.F. Breene Page 0,99

and squealing pack of kids.

“She’s really shy, huh?” Pam asked, shaking her head at her four boys elbowing each other for position within the pack of kids.

“She warms up to people after a while, but she’s too young to really get what Santa is about. She knows he’s exciting, but try to get her to sit on his lap and no way. She wants nothing to do with him.”

“That’s probably good, though. Being wary of strangers. I wish my boys were that smart.”

Denise laughed and tried once again to coax her daughter into the fun.

Mikey, jostling with his brothers within the mass, looked next to him to the place Sara usually occupied. Not seeing her, he glanced around, Santa forgotten for the moment. He spied her sitting with the adults, quiet and fearful, hiding from the scary stranger in red.

“Oh good, here comes Mikey,” Denise said, ready to nudge her daughter again.

Mikey gave the adults a quick glance before holding his hand out for a cringing Sara. “C’mon.”

Sara’s little hand reached out and took his, allowing him to pull her out of her seat and lead her toward the excited children and laughing Santa.

“It amazes me,” Denise said, watching her daughter led into a place she dreaded to go a moment before. “She’ll brave anything as long as he’s holding her hand. I try to get her to go, her own mother, and she tries to hide in a plant or something.”

Pam laughed and shifted her seat. “Young love, I tell you. You don’t matter as much as he does. At least I’ll have a partner in crime at the Christmas parties after they get married.”

“Oh, Jack would love that!”

The two women laughed as Mikey dragged Sara around the floor, trying to get closer to Santa.

Chapter 22

Sara rolled to a stop at the lower ranch house in her new car. Before she got out, she took a moment to hang out in the luxury. Cushy seats, buttons, heaters, navigation—this machine had all the bells and whistles. What’s more, Mikey would’ve made it absolutely and totally hers. He tried to sign it over that morning! Instead, she’d allowed him to put her name on it so they could share it.

She sighed and closed her eyes with the memory of waking up with a smile and snuggled a little deeper into his thick arms. He’d kissed her neck softly and whispered that he loved her. Such bliss.

She’d never, ever felt like this before. This deep, soul-lifting feeling that made her feel buoyant was the best kind of surprise. She realized that Phil hadn’t been her first love. Even now, his memory was fading. It had always been Mikey. Mikey had touched her heart before anyone else. Touched it, clutched it, and now held it in a loving embrace. He was her rock.

She breathed out a smile.

And now to work.

She stepped out of the car holding her pen and notepad. The dilapidated hovel some of the ranch staff used for occasional housing crouched on a hillside, the only flat part of the lot carved out for the house. Dirty windows and chipping brown paint gave the impression no one cared about this place any more than they might a tent. Sara had the distinct impression the upkeep was done only when needed. Rain started dripping through the roof? Patch it up and move on.

Sara could not imagine spending any time in this shack. Mikey, Jake, and Greg apparently didn’t share the same sentiment, because this was where they stayed when they decided to be close to the ranch. Boys would live in anything.

She let herself into the musty-smelling building and took a left across the dirty entryway floor. Mikey said he was usually the only person who stayed in it on a Thursday, and since he’d been with her in his house, it should be empty. That was the only reason she came without him. She didn’t need to see any half-naked men wandering around scratching their balls.

No one needed to see that, actually.

The living area consisted of a table, small kitchen, and a couple chairs around a wood stove, and had been moderately cleaned and tidied up. The floor still had some spots of dirt tracked from one side to the other, but for the most part, someone had put things away and wiped things down.

Probably Mikey.

She smiled to herself as she checked the cabinets in the kitchen, taking stock of the inventory. Her brain filled in the bare areas with what