Christmas at Home (Spikes & Spurs #5) - Carolyn Brown Page 0,45
know the basics. By the time I was that age, Momma and Dad were leaving me and my brothers to run the place when they went places like rodeos and off to Graceland for their anniversary,” Creed said.
“Lawton and Eva, that’s her dad and mom, divorced when she was four. Eva took her to Oklahoma and she only comes to Canyon Rose Ranch in the summers and for three weeks at Christmas. Sometimes she sneaks down for a couple of days during her spring break and maybe a day at Thanksgiving. When she’s at the ranch she’s the adored pet, not a working ranch rookie.”
Creed whistled through his teeth. “Whew!”
“Yep! And there’s more. Eva hates the canyon. Didn’t like it when she married Lawton according to what little I know, but she managed to stick it out for a little more than four years. Story is that Lawton was the quarterback and Eva was the head cheerleader. They got pregnant toward the end of their senior year and married soon as they graduated.”
“Mercy!” Creed said.
“April will have a hell of a lot to learn if and when she quits school. And she’ll have to wade through Eva to get to the ranch.”
“How old is she?”
“Twenty. She’ll have two years of college finished in May.”
Creed stopped petting Angel and she left him for Sage’s lap.
“Fickle critter,” he said. “Can I keep a kitten here when you get your own place and move to the back of the property?”
“You can take a kitten with you when you go home to Ringgold. Oh, and speaking of going somewhere, April says if the roads get cleared off that Lawton is going ahead with the Christmas party at the ranch.”
“You are downright mean, Sage. I’m not going back to Ringgold and you just don’t want to share your kittens.”
“You got it, cowboy!”
* * *
Time had stood still the past several days. Sage had painted. She’d lived, slept, ate, and gotten to know Creed. Minutes drug by like a slow old turtle in the hot summertime. Hours sped by with the speed of lightning.
Limbo. I feel like I’m floating around in space.
It was hard to believe that just a week ago she was setting up in Denver for her final showing, the excitement mounting as the first people arrived to look at her work. There had been a room full of canyon pictures, most of them at least two feet by three feet in size. She’d figured out that the massive size of the canyon required a big picture even if the central focus was nothing more than an eagle or a lone wolf.
One critic said that he felt like he could crawl into the picture and smell the heat off the canyon walls. She knew what he was talking about as she stole a glance toward Creed. She could feel the heat all the way across the room. She was a moth and he was an open flame. She should not go any closer or her wings were going to catch on fire. Keeping her distance was the only way that she’d ever talk Grand into keeping the ranch.
He caught her before she could blink. “What? Do I have chocolate between my lip and nose?”
“No,” she said quickly and went back to work.
“Well, I’ve wasted enough time and I’ve gotten warm all the way to my bones so I’m going back out to plow some more snow. Maybe I’ll push it out of the way up the lane next so we can get out when the roads are clear. I’ll be back in time to help get some dinner on the table. Want some more snow ice cream this afternoon?”
She shook her head. “Grand says if you have it more than once a snow it isn’t special anymore. I’ve got a chicken thawing out for supper. I was thinkin’ dumplins, but if you don’t like that idea I could fry it.”
“My favorite food in the whole world is dumplins. We only talk Momma into making them on Easter and Thanksgiving. She’s as stingy with her dumplins as you are with your recipe for snow ice cream,” he said.
“Then dumplins it is. And honey, my recipe is so complicated that you’d never get it right.”
“You’d better not leave it behind when you move or I’ll find it!” He stretched the kinks from his neck and back when he stood up. Then he crossed the room and wrapped his arms around her from behind. “I like that