Sweet Joymaker (Indigo Bay Christmas Romances #3) - Jean Oram Page 0,34
were already perfect, and she just had her head stuck in the logistics. Maybe she needed to listen to Kit and allow the future to be where it was supposed to—in the future.
Look at her son Levi, and his girlfriend. Laura was from New York City, and a fashion model by trade. Levi was from out in the boonies, his life devoted to the family ranch. Yet somehow the two of them were making it work, logistics be damned.
And Maria had raised him. Surely she could make something work between herself and a man who lived just a few miles away.
“Okay,” she said over the wind.
Clint pointed toward a small pullout ahead on the sandy shore. “Here?”
“No. Okay.” She put special emphasis on the word, knowing he’d understand.
He let up on the throttle as the meaning sank in. “Okay?”
She tightened her arms around him. She wasn’t ready to say he was her boyfriend, and it felt odd to say they were dating. But that’s what she wanted. When she went home, she wanted more moments and afternoons just like this one, even though there’d be no ocean, no salty air, no scooter. But there would be the most important thing—Clint. He made each day interesting and special. And they could have moments like this anywhere, if they tried. Even in Sweetheart Creek.
“Let’s date. Slow and steady, though,” she warned, hoping to temper his enthusiasm before he ran away with his expectations.
“Slow and steady? What does that look like?”
“We’ll figure it out later. Let’s enjoy playing hooky, and then you can take me out for supper, instead of tomorrow night.”
“You know the best part of playing hooky is making out somewhere, right?”
She laughed, her entire body feeling lighter and freer than it had in years. There was something very special about her sweet joymaker, Clint Walker.
“Hello?” Maria said, after picking up her phone. She was almost ready to go out for supper with Clint. Okay, it was a date. She wouldn’t kid herself any longer, and was unable to disguise the happiness in her voice even though caller ID informed her it was her ex-husband on the other end of the line.
“Maria?” he asked, as though unable to identify her, despite having shared forty years of marriage. The past year apart sure must have been a kicker if he had trouble recognizing her voice. Or maybe he just didn’t expect her to sound happy.
That was a sobering thought.
“Yes, Roy?” she said with exaggerated patience, a tone he was well familiar with, suggesting she wasn’t in the mood for dickering.
“You just sounded different,” he said defensively. “I’m calling about Christmas.”
Christmas… Should she get Clint a gift? Maybe it was too soon. Definitely too soon to spend the holiday together.
“It’s on the twenty-fifth,” she said, biting the inside of her cheek to prevent herself from laughing at her own attitude. “It’s on a Friday this year.”
“I know when it is.” She could tell by his sharpness that her joyful mood had put him off his own.
No doubt the man knew she was in Indigo Bay at the moment, and was probably wondering what she was up to, and whether she was visiting his family and spreading lies. Because, sadly, that was what her ex-husband had become: suspicious. Their divorce, though taking her by surprise, had been mutual, and she had no plans to taint the waters with his family after so many years of having his back.
“Well then?” she asked kindly. “Are you wondering what you should get me?”
“I’m calling to ask what you’re going to do about Christmas,” Roy scolded. “What are we going to do about the boys?”
“I’ll buy them gifts from myself and I’m sure you will do the same.”
“I meant Christmas Day. Where will you be?”
“I will be at the ranch, just like I am every year.” She’d missed spending only one Christmas morning there—last year. She’d moved into town just before the holidays, and Christmas morning alone in town had nearly done her in, waiting for it to be time to join her family on the ranch for supper.
When Roy had moved off the ranch in June to marry Sophia, Maria’s first instinct had been to move back. However, she’d refrained until autumn, knowing by then that Sweet Meadows Ranch was truly what she wanted and where she was meant to be.
“You can’t kick me out of my home on Christmas Day,” Roy protested.
“You left by your own volition. You are now living in a new home, with