“I won’t,” she said.
“You two have a fine Christmas Eve, hear now?” And Bert Two sauntered out into the parking lot.
“What offer? And where did you meet him?” Trey felt a stab of jealousy that he pushed back down.
“Adelia’s Delights. And he’s just being neighborly like folks do in Wildcat Bluff.”
“He and his dad don’t have the best reputations in the county.”
“I’ve wondered if their building fires might be tied in with the tree farm fires.”
“Could be. But Bert’s building fires started before the first tree farm fire or my troubles.”
“Guess there’s no way to know yet.”
“Let it go for now. Engines are revving up for the hayride.”
He clasped Misty’s hand and led her to his big Ranger ATV that could seat four people. Red and black with open sides and roll bars, the four-wheeler was his baby. It’d take on cross-country or streets and roads with nary a whimper. It wasn’t a speed demon, but it was a workhorse. He couldn’t have managed the ranch without it or his other ATVs. Some days a horse was the way to go on the ranch, but other occasions required a four-wheeler.
He settled Misty onto the passenger black leather bucket seat in front before he walked around to the storage bed in back. He pulled two cold bottles of milk out of the strapped-on cooler. He walked around, sat down, and handed her a bottle.
“Thanks.”
“Milk is the best cure for chili heat.”
“Double thanks.” She took a long drink of milk. “What a relief!”
“Know the feeling.” He chuckled, and then took a hefty slug before he set the bottle in a cup holder.
When the ATVs in front started forward, Trey turned on his engine. As the hayriders moved away from the cafeteria, they started singing in front and others picked up the song in a rolling wave till it reached the back of the line.
“They’re singing?” Misty glanced at Trey in surprise as she set her bottle in a cup holder.
He grinned. “Didn’t I tell you? This isn’t just a hayride. Wildcat Bluff is waiting to hear our Christmas caroling.”
Chapter 38
Misty laughed out loud with delight and clapped her hands. She’d never have dreamed she’d be having so much fun on Christmas Eve. She certainly wouldn’t have thought of caroling. Trey raised his voice in a deep baritone. She joined him with her soprano as she tried to remember songs she hadn’t sung since childhood such as “Silent Night” and “White Christmas.”
How her parents would’ve loved Christmas in the Country. She waited for the usual pain at their memory to bring tears to her eyes. Instead, she felt tenderness and love for all they’d given her and all they’d shared before the fire. She wished they could be with her now. Aunt Camilla, too.
Misty took a deep breath, feeling her lungs easily expand in contrast to the contraction she’d felt for so long. She’d healed in an unlikely place called Wildcat Bluff—thanks to its wonderful people, enduring spirit, and a cowboy named Trey Duval.
Trey must have sensed her thinking about him, for he glanced over with a hot glint in his eyes that promised more sizzling nights in their future. He took his right hand off the steering wheel and held it out to her. When she clasped his long, strong fingers, she felt as if she were cementing the bond they’d forged from the first moment they’d met on Wildcat Road.
When their train of hayriders wound around to Old Town, Misty was amazed to see folks standing outside on the boardwalk and waiting for Christmas caroling. Businesses were still open with inviting holiday lights glimmering in windows and along the roofline above the boardwalk. A country band of men dressed in plaid shirts with jeans and women in long, colorful skirts played mandolin, fiddle, banjo, guitar, harmonica, and squeeze box in front of Adelia’s Delights.
Kent led them to the far end of Main Street where he stopped so the ATVs pulling colorful trailers with laughing and waving hayriders could line up behind him in front of the boardwalk. Trey brought up the rear and braked at the entrance to Gene’s Boot Hospital.
Soon the band broke into a lively “Winter Wonderland.” Folks on the boardwalk joined in the song, clapping their hands, and the Christmas carolers raised their voices to add to the fun. Their joyful singing filled the night and spread out over the town like the bright jewels of stars across the night sky.