Cowboy Boots for Christmas (7 page)

Martin thought he was far too old to sit on Santa’s knee, but he stood beside him and whispered in his ear, had his picture taken, and carried it close to his heart for the next half hour as they waited for the next tree to light up.

Finn looked at the picture and asked, “What did you tell Santa you wanted this year?”

“Can’t tell. That’s between me and Santa.” Martin grinned.

Finn leaned down until his mouth was against Callie’s ear and asked, “Are you going to get your picture taken with him?”

“He’s not wearing cowboy boots, and his eyes are green,” Callie said.

“And what would you ask for if you could sit on his knee?” Finn asked.

“That would be between me and Santa,” she answered.

“Want to know what I asked for?” Betsy bumped Callie out of the way with a well-slung hip shot and looped her arms around Finn’s neck.

He didn’t have time to shake his head, nod, or even blink before she rolled up on her toes and kissed him right smack on the lips. When he pulled away and took a step backward, she laughed.

“Now I believe that Santa delivers,” she said with a grin. “I sat on his lap and asked him to bring me a hot cowboy with a cute little ass and promised if he would I’d mark him with a kiss. Oh, hello, Cathy.”

“That’s Callie,” she said coldly.

“Cathy. Callie. It doesn’t matter. You’re just the housekeeper.” Betsy grinned and walked away.

“Where’s a mouse when you need one?” Callie grumbled.

“Sorry about that,” Finn said.

“Did it taste like apple pie?” Callie asked.

The scowl on his face answered her before he said, “Yes, and I don’t like apple pie.”

The flash of the camera kept lighting up the bar until Betsy announced that the lighting of the tree would be taking place in five minutes. “Santa will do the honors this year, but he’ll be back in here for more pictures and to listen to more Christmas wishes right after the tree is lit. Let’s go watch the most beautiful tree in Burnt Boot light up, folks.”

Santa Claus adjusted his fake fat and stuffed belly before he waddled out the door with a whole crew behind him. Callie heard whispers of disappointment that the Brennans hadn’t planned anything in retaliation for the earlier fiasco. After that little scene with Betsy, she was ready to join the Brennans’ side. Then she remembered the way Honey had acted and decided she’d rather shoot the whole bunch of them—Gallaghers and Brennans both. What kind of people ruined Christmas, anyway?

Santa Claus crawled up on the flatbed trailer and raised his arms. The star on top of the tree weaved back and forth as the north wind picked up. The roar of a nearby train added its noise to the mixture.

“I didn’t realize there was a train track anywhere near here,” Callie said.

“First time I’ve heard one,” Finn said.

“Train track?” Polly said behind them. “That’s not a train. It’s an airplane. There must be something big in the works here, like elves parachuting out of the sky.”

Her comment went through the crowd faster than the speed of light, and everyone was looking up when Santa tapped on the microphone and said, “Ho, ho, ho! Time to light up the tree so here we go!”

He snapped the two cords together, and someone yelled from the back of the crowd, “Holy shit! That’s not a plane or a train. It’s a damn stampede.”

The crowd started to panic for the second time that night, running toward their vehicles for safety when two big black trucks roared down the street right toward the cattle. The herd turned in front of the trucks and came hell-bent right into the parking lot. The big tree went down in a blur. It didn’t even slow them down, and the flatbed was smack in the middle of their path.

Santa dropped to his knees and covered his head. For the most part the cattle split in two directions, but one rangy old bull tucked his front legs and landed on the flatbed with Santa, raised his tail, and dropped a load of fresh bullshit right there. Tired from the whole stampede, long silver icicles stuck to his winter coat and tail, he stopped beside Santa, hooked his horn in the white beard, and shook his big black head a couple of times. The beard fell over one eye like a punk rocker’s long hair and frightened the old boy so badly that he stomped his way off the truck, leaving two ruined speakers behind.

“They’ve got Gallagher brands, but I bet that was two Brennan trucks that turned them,” Gladys said. “Now the Gallaghers have to gather up their own cattle that ruined their part of Christmas. The Brennans didn’t do too bad for a spur-of-the-minute stunt.”

“Anybody hurt?” Polly yelled.

“No, but I’m layin’ low the next few weeks. Looks like Burnt Boot is in for a war,” a voice said at the back of the parking lot.

“Let’s go home and get out of their fightin’. I came here thinkin’ a little town like this would be peaceful, but this is the last time I want to see any of their feuding shit,” Finn said.

“Now you know why that woman who sold Salt Draw wanted out of here,” Callie said.

Finn was in that state between dozing and sleep when he heard whining. When he opened his eyes, Shotgun was standing beside the bed, and he figured that the dog needed to make a trip outside. So he pulled on a pair of flannel pajama bottoms and a thermal shirt, shoved his feet down into his boots, and opened the door.

Shotgun didn’t race out into the hall but did a semi-low crawl.

Joe made noises like gunfire from his perch, where he alternately preened his tail feathers and pranced from one end to the other, shooting imaginary police. Weren’t birds supposed to sleep at night? Chickens tucked their heads under their wings and went to roost. Why didn’t that damn bird do the same?

“Take cover, Finn. They’re low. Don’t move,” Callie said in clipped words.

She was stretched out flat on her stomach with her hands over her head. “Maybe the ghillie suit will keep them from seeing us. Be still, Finn. Breathe easy. Don’t look up.”

Finn sat down beside her on the floor and gently touched her shoulder. He recognized the position. She was back in Afghanistan, and they were on a mission. She was wearing a camouflage ghillie suit, and they were covered in camo-netting. The enemy was flying low above them, and she was afraid they’d use thermal imaging to locate them.

She grabbed the place where he’d touched her and groaned. “I’m hit, Finn. Don’t know how bad, but it hurts like a son of a bitch.”

“Callie, wake up. It’s Joe doin’ the shootin’. I swear his owner must have watched cop shows nonstop.” He shook her shoulder.

“Don’t touch it,” she gasped.

“Callie, it’s a nightmare,” he whispered.

Her eyes flew open and scanned the area. She touched her head and then her arms.

“Shhh,” she said.

“You’re on my ranch in Salt Draw.” He pulled her up to a sitting position and shifted her into his lap. She was sweating bullets and shivering at the same time. He knew exactly what she’d been dreaming because he’d had the same nightmare too many times to count.

“Finn, I’m not going to die, am I?” she whispered.

“You are not hit. It was a bad dream.”

“It was so real,” she said.

He kissed her on the forehead and held her tighter. “I know. It was probably brought on by all the noise of the evening with the firecrackers and the stampede. I didn’t want to go to sleep either.”

She opened her eyes wider and scanned the room. “I haven’t had one in almost a month. I thought they were done with.”

She shivered again, and he grabbed the quilt and wrapped them both in it. “I’m not sure they’ll ever be gone. We saw a hell of a lot of bad stuff, Callie. It’s burned into our subconscious. Did you do the psych eval before they turned you loose?”

“It was required, and besides, they had to have it on file before they’d let me have Martin. I hate this feeling. My insides are quivering and my heart is still racing.”

“Just be still and watch the flames in the fireplace. That always helps me. That’s why I chose the room I did.” He gently massaged her tense shoulders. “Why were you on the sofa?”

“This is the second nightmare. The first one was right after I went to sleep. We were arguing about not getting to eat Christmas dinner, and then the bombs hit the base and there was blood everywhere. I woke up, crying because you had blood on you. I couldn’t go back to sleep in that room, so I came out here,” she said.

“Red punch pouring out over the floor and Christmas trees and firecrackers. It all went together to make a hell of a nightmare. Add that to Joe shooting up the whole living room with his gun noises, and it’s pretty good fodder for a nightmare,” he said.

“Hold me for a little while longer,” she said.

“As long as you need me, Callie. I’m right here.” He leaned his head forward and rested his chin on the top of her head.

“Call the coroner,” Joe squawked.

***

Callie wasn’t surprised when Martin showed up at the breakfast table clutching his stomach and saying he couldn’t go to school. She’d suffered with the same symptoms too many times to count when she’d been his age. But staying home another day wouldn’t help one bit.

“Time for the magic?” she asked.

He nodded.

Finn looked up from his morning coffee. “Magic?”

“Callie makes a magic cup of stuff that helps my stomach settle down when I’m afraid. Mama used to make it, but Callie does it better,” Martin explained.

“What’s in it?” Finn asked.

“A witch doesn’t reveal her secrets, not even during the Christmas season,” Callie said.

She poured half a cup of milk in a mug, added a package of hot chocolate mix, a few drops of almond extract, and enough liquid coffee creamer to fill the cup. She stirred it well, stuck it in the microwave for one minute, and pulled it out.

That and two pieces of cinnamon toast completed the magic breakfast guaranteed to heal any nervous tummy. It worked when she was a little girl having to start all over in a different school every time she turned around, and it worked when she was about to go on a mission over there in the sand.

Martin sipped it, ate a bite of the toast, and nodded. “You will go with me, won’t you?”

“Of course I will. We have to fill out all the papers, but on Tuesday, you have to ride the bus,” she answered.

“I’m really scared, Callie.”

The lump in her throat got bigger instead of smaller.

Finn reached out and ruffled Martin’s hair. “I’m only a phone call away. I can be there in five minutes if you need me. There’s always a teacher close by so if anything spooks you, just run to her and tell her to call Salt Draw. And in the evenings when you come home, you’ve got two dogs, a parrot that never shuts up, and a cat that will be waiting for you as well as me and Callie.”

Martin nodded. “What do I do if somebody like that Keith boy picks a fight?”

“Bury the bastard in the backyard.” Joe hung upside down on the perch like he was dead.

Finn ignored the bird and gave Martin’s shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Here’s what the rules were at my house when I was a boy: You are in trouble if you start a fight. You are not to throw the first punch or goad someone into throwing it. But if there’s no way out and some kid hits you, then you do what you have to do. And then you tell the teacher to call Salt Draw. Callie will be sure to tell them her cell phone number and the ranch number.”

“Okay, then let’s get it over with, Callie. I’ve changed my mind about Christmas, though. What I really want is to never change schools again.” Martin sighed.

The lump grew so big that it almost closed her throat completely off. When she was a kid, she and her sister both asked for that same thing for Christmas almost every single year.

“Well, I’d say that it all begins with today, and if you don’t finish up that magic breakfast and get dressed, it can’t come true,” Finn said.

Martin gobbled down the rest of his toast and drained the cup of glorified hot chocolate before he ran off to his room to get dressed.

“Want me to go with y’all this morning? Might make him feel better,” he asked.

Standing at the kitchen sink with her back to him, Callie barely nodded.

“Are you all right?” He pushed the chair back and crossed the floor in a few long strides, put his hands on her shoulders, and turned her around to face him. Tears rolled down her cheeks like a river in the springtime, dripped off her jaw onto the dark green sweatshirt she wore, and left dime-sized wet dots.

Finn drew her close to his chest and patted her back. “He’ll be fine, Callie. He might have some arguments, but that’s just new-school stuff.”

“I know. I’ve been there,” she sobbed.

“He’ll make friends,” Finn said. “This is Burnt Boot, and it’s public school he’s going to. The feuding families have their own private schools.” He tipped her chin up and looked into her watery eyes. “We’re all starting over here, but we’ll be okay, Callie, I promise.”

His lips found hers in a sweet, passionate kiss that sealed his promise, and she believed that they would be okay. But first they had to get past this day. She clung to him as long as she could and then spun around toward the sink to dry her face on a tea towel when she heard Martin’s footsteps.

“I’m ready if you are, Callie,” he said.

“Finn was just asking if we’d like him to go with us this first day,” Callie said.

Martin raced the rest of the way across the floor and hugged Finn. “That would be great. You reckon you could come in the school with me, too, just so all the kids could see who you are?”

“I could do that,” Finn said.

Martin looped his backpack over his shoulders and squared up his shoulders. “I’m ready. Move ’em out, cowboys.”

***

Finn noticed that Martin was wearing his black work shoes when they got into the truck. They’d been cleaned up, but they showed signs of lots of wear and the laces were frayed. He didn’t blame the kid. He would have gone barefoot before he wore those ugly shoes with lime-green soles. Looking at them was probably what gave him a stomachache that morning to begin with.

When they got out of the truck, playground noise rattled the naked limbs of the old oak trees circling the area as if they could protect the children of Burnt Boot. Cold north wind didn’t faze the kids as they ran instead of walked and yelled instead of talked normally.

Warm air full of the smell of glue, kids, and fresh floor wax rushed out when Finn opened the big old-fashioned wooden door. The Christmas pictures taped to the windows and the smells that permeated from the hallways said that it was probably the same as other small Texas schools: maybe older than some but definitely not so different.

“Could I help y’all?” a lady asked.

“We’re here to enroll a new student. I’m Callie Brewster,” Callie said.

Finn could hear the nervousness in her voice, and he took her hand in his. “Callie and Martin here live on Salt Draw with me. I’m Finn O’Donnell.”

“What grade are you in, Martin?”

“Third,” he said shyly.

“I’ll take you to the elementary wing. That way you won’t have to go back out into the cold. I’m Gloria Dean, the first-grade teacher. I have a son in the third grade.” She led them down a long hallway, through a double set of modern glass doors, and into another wing.

“What’s his name?” Martin asked.

“Harry. He’s got red hair and lots of freckles. You’ll meet him today. Right down there is the office. See that sign hanging out there over the door?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You go on in there and talk to Miz Tamara. She’ll get you all enrolled. I’ll tell Harry that you’re here. He’ll be excited that the new student is a boy. There’s only five, counting you, in the class. There are seven girls, making an even dozen now in the third grade.”

Martin grabbed Callie’s other hand in a death grip. “Can’t you just homeschool me, Callie?”

The office door swung open before Callie could answer.

Tamara smiled brightly and motioned for them to come inside the office. “Come right on in here. We’ve been expecting to see y’all this morning. Gladys is my distant cousin and told me you’d be coming in. You can start classes today, but there will be some things like shot records that I’ll need by the end of the week.”

Callie pulled a manila folder from her big purse and handed it to Tamara. “This might cover it, but if it doesn’t, just let me know, and I’ll find the rest.”

“Oh, I see that you’ve done this before,” Tamara said. “Well, have a seat right there while I copy these off.”

Callie briefly explained the situation with Martin and the upcoming trial. “Finn is providing a safe house, but we’d rather not make any of this public. We just want Martin to fit in with the kids here in Burnt Boot.”

“We’re so far back in the woods here, I don’t see a problem, but we’ll keep a watch. How’s that?”

Finn nodded. “Thank you. Being a new kid in a small school is going to be tough enough without that business coming out.”

A buzzing noise was followed by kids flooding the hallway out in front of the office. One little red-haired boy waved at Martin. Finn could have shouted when he saw that the child was wearing black athletic shoes and not cowboy boots.

“That must be Harry,” Callie said.

“Seven girls,” Martin moaned.

***

A few snowflakes fell on the truck windshield on the way back to Salt Draw. The temperature had dropped low enough that they scooted off as fast as they hit.

“Looks like we’re in for a cold run this morning,” Finn said.

Callie groaned. “It’ll be like training camp all over again.”

“Terrorists don’t wait until the weather is perfect,” he said.

“But we’re civilians,” she argued.

“It’s up to you, Callie. I’m going. You can come with me or stay in the house. I’ve kept up with my training for two years, and it’s not going to get any better. Verdie told me this part of Texas was in for a real stinker of a winter if she had it figured right. That’s why she sold the ranch when she did. Said she didn’t want to fall and freeze to death before anyone came around to figure out why she wasn’t answering her phone.”

“I’m fighting this rather than thinking about Martin in a new school,” she said honestly.

He ran a palm up her arm. “He’s going to be all right.”

“I know that, but it might not be today.”

“No, today is going to be tough even if it goes well. Seven girls, for God’s sake.” He chuckled. “Stop worrying.”

“What if…” she started.

He reached across the seat and put a finger on her lips. “‘What if’ just creates worry. Let’s go run ten miles to loosen up our bodies and then work out for an hour. That’ll take your mind off everything. You probably won’t even make the first loop this morning, but when you get tired, you can turn around and come on back to the house. You’ll have to build up to capacity in my makeshift gym to keep up with me, so if you can’t do that this first day, it’s okay.”

She pushed his hand away. “Don’t bait me, Finn.”

“Don’t be a wuss, Brewster.” He parked the truck close to the back door. “I’ll be ready to run in five minutes. I’m not waiting on you.” He jogged around the truck and opened the door for her. When she bailed out, he grabbed her around the waist, spun her around to his chest, and laid one of the hottest kisses on her lips that she’d ever experienced.