Bring Me Home for Christmas (Virgin River #16)(47)

And there were others—Paul Haggerty and his family. Denny’s landlady, Jo, and her husband. The preacher stopped by for a cup of coffee before heading home. Connie and Ron from the store across the street came out for dinner. Paige stole out of the kitchen with Dana and Chris to sit with their friends. There were a couple of ranchers who dropped by. The owner of a local orchard stopped in for a beer. The doctor Mel Sheridan worked with came over for a few minutes before going home for his dinner. Each time the door opened, Becca could see the gentle glow from the giant tree outside.

Becca met each one. When Denny introduced her as his girl, a teacher from San Diego, chatter started.

“We been trying to get a teacher around here for a long time,” someone said.

“We?” Jack asked. “Old Hope McCrea was looking but I don’t know that anyone else was, and Hope’s gone now.”

“Did she move?” Becca asked.

“In a manner of speaking,” Jack said. “She’s gone to the other side. Dead.”

“Oh,” Becca said. “I’m so sorry.”

Becca could tell Denny was itching to get her back to the privacy of his little room, but she was learning a few things about this town and she couldn’t be pried out of the bar. The children, even the first graders, were bussed to other towns to go to school. They all rode together, all ages. The driver dropped the youngest ones off first before going on to the middle school, then the high school. The ranchers and farmers from the outskirts of town drove their kids into Virgin River to catch the bus, which then took them to school, so for some of the kids it was at least an hour each way of travel. For kids like Megan, it could be a ten-hour day. And that for a child who wasn’t having an easy time of it.

The folks around here put in long days, it seemed. Her first alert had been from Lorraine Thickson. Listening to the farmers and ranchers, they all started early, had very physical days and hit the sack early. Then there was Mel and the doctor, Cameron Michaels—they served the town and were on call 24/7. Jack was not to be left out. “Cry me a river,” he said. “I get this place open by six and we never close before nine. Unless there’s a snowstorm. I live for those snowstorms! The best ones last for days!”

“I don’t live for them,” Mel said. “Roughly nine months after a big storm, we have babies…lots of babies.”

The bar was filled with laughter that verified she was accurate.

“I’ve been pushing for a school. At least for the little ones,” Jo Fitch told Becca. “I know we’re not a big enough town to rate our own high school, but I hate seeing those six-and seven-year-olds spending half the day on a bus.”

“Does the county listen?” Becca asked.

“Sure,” Jo said. “They gave us the bus. Molly’s been driving that bus for thirty years.”

“You’re gonna want to stay out of her way, too,” someone put in, and the whole gathering laughed.

“We could hire you, Becca,” Jack said. “As Hope used to say when she was trolling for a midwife, then a town cop, ‘Low pay, bad hours.’ But at least you’d get to fight the snowdrifts and forest fires with the rest of us!”

She laughed at him along with everyone else—he was joking, of course. The beauty of these mountains was growing on her, but she couldn’t imagine not living on the ocean. She’d been surfing and sailing since she was a child. In fact, that was about the only thing the thought of Cape Cod had going for it.

She was distracted yet again when she heard her name. “It was Becca’s idea.”

“What was my idea?” she asked.

“Watching all the holiday movies together,” Mel said. “Once school is out for Christmas vacation and we have babysitters for the little ones, we’re going to meet in Paige’s great room. She’s ordering the movies. I’ll get the decorations for the bar out tomorrow—if you weren’t on crutches, you could help. And this year, since we have a full-time preacher and full-time preacher’s wife, we’re getting together a children’s pageant. They’ve already started lining up the characters.”

“I can bring the sheep,” Buck Anderson offered.

“Thanks, Buck,” Jack said, “but we’re in need of a few camels. Got any of those lying around?”

“We got us a bull, but he’s on the mean side….”

While this big group of friends laughed, joked and planned, the bar began to fill up with people and Denny left her side to help serve and bus. Soon the place was packed.

“Wow,” Becca said to Mel. “I had no idea the bar could get so busy. Last week, it was quiet.”

“It’s the tree,” she said. “People come from miles to see the tree. Jack acts like he resents it—it’s a lot of work putting it up and his hours are longer than ever during the season, but it’s such a special tree and I know he’s secretly proud of it. He says he expects the wise men to drop by any second. That star. Have you ever in your life seen a more amazing star?”

“The whole thing is amazing.”

“This bar runs hot and cold. Jack built it mainly as a town watering hole and to serve as a place for hunters and fishermen, which is seasonal. Now he’s adding Christmas to his busy seasons because of that awesome tree. So, are you going to be around for some of our holiday plans? Like movie day and the cookie exchange and maybe the children’s pageant?”