Christmas Nights(24)

“Yeah, guess so. I bet you wish I could give a guaranteed answer, huh?”

“Yup. That’s okay. I’ll figure it out.”

He turned down Janie’s driveway and slowed to a stop. “Are you going to the dance?” he asked as he turned the truck off.

Stella looked over at him before nodding slowly. “It’s my senior year. If I don’t go this year, I’ll never know if I would have had fun or not.”

“Damn good reason to go.”

Stella’s face split in a grin. “Damn right!”

Janie spoke. “Stella, don’t start swearing left and right. Okay?”

“Travis swears! You just heard him,” Stella countered with a sly grin.

He bit back a chuckle as he unbuckled his seat belt and glanced to Janie with a rueful grin. “Sorry ‘bout that.”

Janie shook her head with a laugh. “It’s okay. I swear too, but Stella has a little too much fun getting going with it.”

Stella started to climb out on her own. “Stella! Wait until one of us can help you out,” Janie said quickly.

Stella leaned back with an elaborate sigh. “Fine.”

Travis got out and quickly jogged around to help Stella. Awhile later, he found himself leaning on the kitchen counter, sipping hot chocolate Stella had made. She was putting away her homework, while Janie loaded the dishwasher. His eyes were drawn to the glittering lights on the Christmas tree in the living room beyond the stairs. Stella had finished decorating the tree before she started her homework. The home had lights strung festively along the windows and the stair railing. It felt so comfortable to be here, he didn’t want to leave, but he figured he needed to find a way to make a graceful exit when Stella looked across the counter at him. “So when are you gonna stop pretending you’re not dating my mom and just stay over one night?”

Her sly comment caught Travis off guard and he choked on a sip of hot chocolate. Stella burst out laughing. “I’m not little you know, and I’m definitely not stupid.”

He glanced to Janie who closed the dishwasher and put a hand on her hip. “Oh Stella.” She laughed softly and shook her head.

Stella shrugged, completely unabashed with her observation. “You’re grown ups, so act like it.”

At that, she clambered off the stool and grabbed her crutches before heading for the stairs. Travis stared over at Janie whose cheeks were flushed.





Chapter 16





Janie rubbed her hands together and knocked her boots on the floor, tapping the snow loose. A whoosh of cold air swirled around her as the door to Misty Mountain Café closed behind her. It had been snowing steadily since last night. She’d woken this morning to learn classes were canceled, not because of the snow, but because the boiler broke at the elementary school. Snow didn’t stop much of anything in Alaska, but lack of heat did. She glanced around the coffee shop to see if her mother had arrived yet. When she didn’t see her, she went to stand in the back of the line. The air was scented with gingerbread and the café decorated with lights and a small Christmas tree on one of the tables. As she waited, her mind spun to last night. Travis had ended up spending the night. Just thinking about it sent a flush over her skin. It felt so good, so damn good, to fall asleep curled up against him. His body was all hard muscle and heat. She was already wondering when she’d see him again, which gave her pause inside. A whopping total of two nights with him and thinking about a night without him almost pained her physically.

She tried to force her thoughts off of him with a look around. Scanning the coffee shop, she saw a few familiar faces. Misty Mountain Café had been around for years and was a local favorite. They served phenomenal coffee and yummy baked goods. Housed in a renovated Quonset hut, the coffee shop made the space warm and homey with artwork on the walls, bright tablecloths and an the ever-present scent of baked goods filling the space. She finally made it to the front of the line and ordered her coffee, along with her mother’s favorite. The simple act of ordering coffee made her think of Travis because he’d offered to start coffee this morning when she began the task, and then got sidetracked feeding Pansy and helping Stella get some materials together for a science project.

Her mind flashed forward a little earlier to when she’d woken up. He’d been spooned behind her. She’d felt completely encompassed in his warmth and strength and would have happily stayed there all day. The moment she’d shifted her hips, she’d felt the velvet heat of his shaft against her. “Ignore it,” he’d said, his voice gruff with sleep.

Her hips had seemed to have a mind of their own though and arched into him. Next thing she knew, he’d spun her over and kissed her senseless. In several heated moments, so hot and so intense that she blushed right now, he’d mapped her body with his lips and sank inside of her. Her climax had burst through her with such force, she’d been limp in the aftermath. They’d stumbled into the shower, and she’d somehow pulled herself together to walk downstairs as if it were any other day.

Stella was surprising Janie with her frank acceptance of the situation. In the years since she’d fostered and then adopted Stella, she hadn’t gone on a single date, so she couldn’t have known how Stella would handle it. Watching how Stella looked to Travis for guidance warmed her. Janie’s name was called, snapping her out of her brief reverie. She glanced up to find the barista spinning away from the counter after setting two coffees down. After picking them up, she snagged a table by the windows and waited for her mother. Disconcerting though it was, thinking about Travis was more comfortable than thinking about Randy’s reappearance in Diamond Creek.

After the haze of passion had worn off and Stella had hitched a ride to school with a friend’s mother, Janie had looked to Travis when he was tugging on his coat. “Will you check with Darren for any updates on Randy?” she’d asked.

Those blue eyes of his slammed into hers. He’d simply stepped across the kitchen and curled his strong hands around hers. “Already planned on it. Look, I know we didn’t talk about it…”

“It’s okay. I’d have guessed you heard about him. Diamond Creek’s pretty small, so it’s kinda hard to avoid gossip.”

His eyes still holding hers, he’d nodded. “Right. Well, I’ll check in with Darren as soon as I get to the station. No matter what, I don’t think you and your mom need to worry about him this time.”

She gave her head a shake, staring out into the falling snow. She didn’t like that Randy was like an old thorn burrowed under her skin—one of lingering worry and dull pain. She just wanted to know he couldn’t try to push his way back into her mother’s life. She swung her eyes up when she heard her mother’s voice.

“Hey Mom,” Janie said with a small wave, seeing her mother pause near the entrance to greet someone.

Her mother glanced her way and returned the wave. She finished chatting and then headed toward Janie, slipping into the chair across from her.

“Got your coffee already,” Janie said as she slid the coffee cup across the table.

“Oh perfect!” Her mother took a sip and sighed. “So good and warm. It’s freezing out there today.”

“I know. With the wind up and the snow coming down, it looks like we’re in for a long, cold day. But it’s winter, so I suppose we should expect this,” Janie replied with a shrug.

Her mother rolled her eyes. “Of course, but it doesn’t mean we can’t complain about the cold.”

Janie laughed softly and took a swallow of her own coffee, savoring the bitter flavor. She’d steeled herself to get through this conversation, so she eyed her mother and jumped right in. “I wanted to grab coffee with you anyway, but I also had something to discuss.”

Her mother arched a brow. “Oh? Are you going to give me the scoop on you and Travis?”

Her mother’s question sent a flush to her cheeks. “Maybe, but that’s not what I wanted to talk about.” It was so tempting, oh so tempting, to let the conversation go in another direction, but she knew if she didn’t tell her mother about Randy, she’d hear it from another channel. She took another sip of coffee and steeled herself. “Randy was arrested yesterday,” she said flatly.

Her mother’s eyes widened and then a familiar expression stole over her face. Janie never forgot the practiced blankness on her mother’s face from those years when Randy blotted their life. That’s what she saw now—the careful control, the wiping of all emotion. Any expression misinterpreted by Randy could lead to an abusive rant or violence. She swallowed against a flash of anger at seeing the old expression on her mother’s face.

She reached across the table and gripped her mother’s hand. “Mom, he’s in jail. Probably for a long time now.”

Her mother’s hand, initially still inside hers, squeezed back. “You really think so?”

Janie quickly summarized what she knew of the events leading to Randy’s arrest. Her mother nodded along, her eyes widening when Janie mentioned Randy assaulted Charlie. “Oh no! Do you know if Charlie’s okay?”