Merry Cowboy Christmas (Lucky Penny Ranch #3)(31)

Chapter Nine



Fiona hummed Christmas carols all day long as she waited on customers at the store and worked on the accounting in the back room. It had been years since she’d been home on the evening they decorated the tree, and her spirits were high, even when she had to enter miles and miles of numbers into the computer.

At noon, Katy went up to Nadine’s and brought back a couple of big juicy burgers and they had lunch together at the yellow table. “You are in one fine mood today,” Katy said.

“I can’t wait to decorate the tree, and Dora June said she was making cookies.” Fiona bit into the burger and groaned. “I love good burgers. This is amazing. Nadine should have put in a café years ago.”

“She’s doing a good business. Speaking of businesses—do you remember my friends Trudy and Janie?”

“Those are the women you went to supper with the other night, right?”

“Yes,” Katy said. “They’re both retired and they’re going to Florida for three months. They asked me to go with them. They’ve rented a condo right on the beach where a bunch of retired folks go for the winter. Trudy has done this for years but it’s Janie’s first time to go with her.”

“And?” Fiona held her breath.

Katy laughed. “Don’t panic. I told them no. I can’t be away from Audrey for three months or your grandmother, either.”

“But you could be away for a week or maybe even two. Are they flying?”

“No, they’re driving in Trudy’s van,” Katy answered.

“You want to go, don’t you?”

“I haven’t been away like that in…” Katy paused.

“Did you even have a honeymoon when you and Daddy married?” Fiona could never remember a time that her mother had been out of Dry Creek for more than a day.

“We went to Dallas for the weekend but he had to be back on the job Monday morning and I was helping Mama run this store so…” Katy shrugged.

Fiona shoved some paperwork to the side and reached across the table to lay a hand on her mother’s. “Go with them. Stay a week or two and then fly home. You can be back in plenty of time for Christmas, and I’ll see to it that Audrey gets lots of love and I’ll check on Granny every Sunday afternoon that you are gone.”

“But…”

Fiona gently squeezed Katy’s hand. “You told us girls no buts, so I’m sayin’ the same thing to you. I can hold down this place for a couple of weeks. Getting away will do you a world of good. When are they leaving?”

“Tomorrow,” Katy sighed.

“Perfect. The tree will be up. Granny can spend the evening with us, so you’ll get to have that time with her and then you can leave in the morning. That’s only two Sundays and I’ll visit her both of them, I promise, and take care of anything that comes up with her. You’re only a phone call away and if something drastic happens, you can be home in a few hours. Planes go from there to Dallas every day.”

“You should have been a lawyer rather than an accountant. You present a strong case.” Katy smiled.

“Then you’ll do it?”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Fair enough,” Fiona said.



Fiona was not one bit disappointed when she and Katy came home that evening. The lights coming from the windows of Audrey’s Place cast a yellow glow on the falling snow, creating a picture fit for a Christmas card. The warm house smelled like pine and sugar cookies mixed in with something chocolate and was that chicken? A blaze crackled in the fireplace and Christmas carols were playing. Fiona removed her coat, hat, and gloves and took it all in like a thirsty person who’d just crossed the desert with no water.

“Well, let’s get started decorating the tree?” Irene started to unbutton her coat.

“I’ll help you.” Fiona hurried to her grandmother’s side.

“Bein’ forgetful is a bitch, but it don’t make me helpless.” Irene pushed Fiona’s hand away. “I’m hungry. I hope there’s Christmas cookies with icing on them in the kitchen.”

“I bet there is.” Fiona stood back and let Irene hang up her own coat.

The whole family was there to help put up the decorations and supper was laid out buffet style on the dining room table. Chicken salad sandwiches, chips, three kinds of dip, and all kinds of cookies and finger foods. Dora June was bustling around like she did at a church supper, playing with Audrey one minute and fussing about no one eating enough the next.

“What in the devil are you doing here, Dora June?” Irene asked as she removed her coat and hat. She handed them to Fiona and went straight for the table, where she picked up a cookie. “Did you make these?”

“I’m staying here for a while,” Dora June answered. “My house burned down and Katy is letting us stay with her. And, yes, I did make the cookies.”

“You ain’t lost your touch.” Irene picked up a second one. “Allie, you need to take that baby into the living room. She won’t remember today when she’s old as I am but we will remember the look on her little face when the tree is lit up.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Allie crossed the room and hugged Irene. “How was your ride down here tonight? Were the roads clear?”