Holidays on the Ranch (Burnt Boot, Texas #1)(68)

“This is my Christmas present.” Verdie stopped beside a round display of purses, wallets, key rings, and belts.

“What? That fancy purse?” Callie asked.

“No, just getting to shop for presents. I haven’t done this in years. Even before Patrick died, we got to where we just sent gift cards to the grandkids. We didn’t know what they liked, what sizes they wore, or even what kind of music they listened to. And truth be told right here and now, Patrick said he wasn’t buying that shit that sounded like a truckload of squealing hogs collided with a truckload of china dishes.”

Finn chuckled. “That’s what my grandpa says.”

“Well, let’s get to it,” Verdie said. “I’m buying the kids boots. They all need a pair, and I checked their sizes before I left the house.”

Callie could feel Finn’s eyes on her.

She shrugged. “You can’t fight city hall.”

“What are you two fighting about?” Verdie asked.

“She wouldn’t let me buy Martin a pair of boots,” he answered.

Verdie stopped in her tracks. “Are you crazy, girl? Burnt Boot is country livin’, and that means boots, jeans, and belts with silver lacin’ and silver buckles for church. Old wore-out boots, faded jeans, and work belts for school.”

“I didn’t want him to be a cowboy,” Callie said.

“Then you shouldn’t have brought him to Burnt Boot, Texas. Both of y’all come on and help me pick out four pairs of kids’ boots. I feel like I done died and went to heaven,” Verdie said. “Oh, and Olivia needs some Sunday shoes, too, so we might have to go on down to Denton after lunch. I figured we’d eat dinner today at that Cracker Barrel right there beside the outlet mall. I do like their ham steaks, and we’ll have worked up an appetite by then.”

Callie pushed a strand of dark hair back behind her ear and looked up into Finn’s blue eyes. “So what are you buying now that they’ll have cowboy boots from Verdie?”

“Rubber boots they can use for work boots until they get those too worn in for church. Verdie will go for fancy. I’ll go for tough, but they get their rubber boots today, not for Christmas,” he said. “And you?”

“Belts. Might as well jump in the deep end if I’m going to swim in the water at all.” She smiled. “And Olivia needs that pink pearl-snap shirt over there.”

He dropped a kiss on the top of her head and said above the music and the noise of the conversation all around them, “We’ve got a convert, Verdie.”

“Praise the Lord. What do you think of these for Martin?” She held up a pair of black cowboy boots with rounded toes and a walking heel.

“He will love them,” Callie said.

“These are for Sunday,” Verdie said. “It’s a toss-up between this one and this one.” The one in her other hand was black eel with a hand-stitched top and a price tag of over two hundred dollars.

Callie gasped. “Good Lord, Verdie. He’ll outgrow them in no time, and that’s too much money for a pair of boots for anyone.”

“My thinkin’ exactly. So we’ll have three pair like this. They all wear different sizes with Ricky having the smallest foot and Martin having the biggest one. Way I figure it is when they outgrow them, they can be passed down for work boots.”

A sales clerk appeared from the backside of a round rack and held out her hands. “I’d be glad to wrap those for you, ma’am. No charge for anything if you spend more than twenty dollars in the store.”

Verdie loaded her down with three boxes. “Thank you. I’ll have these three pair, and you come on back when you get that done, because we’ll have some more picked out. What do you think of these for Olivia, Callie?” She held up a pair of brown boots with white tops and a brown cross cut into the leather. All the fancy stitching was done in pink and they had a thin leather pink insert around the top and down the sides.

“They are beautiful,” Callie said. “And they match that shirt and belt I want to buy for her.”

It took three trips for Finn to take all the packages to the truck, and the back seat was half-full when they left the store.

“Be right back,” Finn said, and he went back into the store.

Callie watched him as long as she could. The way he walked—with that tight little strut, his arms straight at his sides rather than swinging, his shoulders squared, and his head held high—made her knees go weak, and she was sitting down, for God’s sake.

In an attempt to corral her thoughts, she unfastened her seat belt and turned around to face Verdie, who barely had enough room to sit surrounded by all the brightly wrapped packages.

“How in the hell are we going to take them kids shopping?” Verdie asked.

“Same way we take them to church.” Callie turned back to face the front and checked her reflection in the mirror behind the sun visor. Yep, she was pink, but at least the hives hadn’t set in like they usually did when she spent too much money. It wasn’t that she’d come to Burnt Boot broke, but she had a constant fear that the lack of start-over money would make her stay in a place when she wanted to leave.

“Think, Callie,” Verdie said.

“Oh!”

“Yes. Oh! We’re crammed in this thing with all of us, and I don’t have the old work truck tagged or insured to take off the ranch property. We need a van,” Verdie said.