My Kind of Christmas (Virgin River #20)(57)

“Of course he’s rested. He probably hates to even get out of bed these days!”

“Oh, Luke,” Shelby said. “Let’s get you home before you say something stupid.”

“I’m just making an honest observation,” he grumbled. “I should really talk to him....”

* * *

Since that first night together, Angie and Patrick hadn’t spent a night apart. He loved falling into bed with her, loved waking up with her. He knew how much his heart would ache when they ended this, and he worried that it was going to scar hers. But she always reminded him that, even if they did have a future together, he would be deployed often. And she had plans of her own. So Patrick tried, somewhat successfully, to take this comforting routine at face value and not to think about it too much.

Right now, his relationship with Angie out in the open, life was good. They could spend time with his brothers and her family, have a beer or dinner at the bar without ruffling Jack’s avuncular feathers. In fact, in the past week, Jack had become downright friendly.

Angie worked every day, though Mel encouraged her to take as much time to play as she wanted. But Angie was setting up a surgery and wanted to be one hundred percent involved. Megan was scheduled for the operation in one week—on the seventeenth. Angie planned to travel to Davis with her, to get her own hotel room so that after the doctor saw Megan, she could bring her home. Megan’s mother would stay in Megan’s room all night, along with Dr. Hernandez’s nurse.

Paddy begged his way along.

“I’m not sure it’s proper,” she said.

“We’ll get two rooms if you want,” he said. “We won’t use them, but we can get them. Let me do the driving.”

They’d had such a wonderful weekend together, first with the group at the Victorian and then a day of adventurous snowmobiling. And always, no matter what went on during the day, they had that time together alone at night. And there hadn’t been anymore nightmares.

But Patrick still called Marie daily, promising to be with her for Christmas when grief might hit her hardest.

On this particular day, he went to Fortuna to shop. He wanted to stock his refrigerator for that night. He was planning to meet Angie at the bar along with others from town. They’d have a beer or glass of wine, then she’d follow him home and he’d make her a special dinner—Italian beef that had been simmering in the Crock-Pot all afternoon, drowning in spices and gravy, potatoes whipped into silk, peas and carrots. He grabbed a chocolate cake, her favorite wine, his favorite beer, eggs, milk and a few other staples.

He had loved cooking for Leigh, too, but she never seemed to care much, always preferring dinner at a restaurant. Angie, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy everything he made for her and spending the time alone together.

Heading for his car in the grocery store parking lot, he heard a sound that stopped him in midstride. It was that telltale click of a dead battery. Click, click, click. And then a woman got out of her car and lifted the hood. She was a tall woman around fifty years old who looked good in jeans. She had short auburn hair and wore a leather jacket. She stared at the engine. Patrick had seen this before—she thought her problem might jump out at her.

He walked over, holding his two bags of groceries. “Battery,” he said simply.

“I know,” she returned, irritably. “Why now? I’m headed to my brother’s and I’m almost there. I wanted to grab a few things—gifts for his family—and now the car won’t start.”

“Is he close by?”

She shook her head. “Another half hour or so up the mountain. But I can call him....”

“Here’s what we can do,” Patrick said. “I can give you a jump and you can either carry on, let your brother help you. Or, I can follow you to the auto supply and put in a new battery for you. I have a toolbox in the Jeep.” He gave a shrug. “If you need a new battery, which I’m pretty sure you will, you’re going to have to come all the way back here to buy it, anyway.”

“I have Triple-A…”

“It’ll take them longer to get here than it will take us to buy and install a new battery. Let’s just do it.”

She smiled very attractively. “I could pay you for your help,” she said.

“I’m already paid pretty well. And I have a little time to kill. Let me bring around the Jeep, get your engine going and we’ll get this done in no time.”

She laughed and shook her head. “Just when you start to lose faith in human nature… You’re very kind to help with this. Thank you.”

“It’s no trouble. I wouldn’t leave you stranded. I’ll be right back.”

He stowed his groceries in the Jeep and swung around to park directly in front of her. He hooked up the jumper cables and, in no time flat, he had her car running.

“The auto supply is right up the street. Just follow me. This should be simple enough.”

Less than a five-minute drive later, they were in the store together and he was helping her pick out a new battery. Although this didn’t take long, they did have a chance to talk a little. She was visiting family for a few days; he was sitting out some leave near his brothers. He was a Navy pilot, she was a teacher. She said she hadn’t been able to convince her husband to come along and was going to make sure he heard about this. He said putting in a battery was simple, if she wanted to learn.