“And, Denny? If the idea of leaving this little town gets you down, just stop and think about why you’re leaving. It’s worth it, son, if you found the woman you love. You’re lucky. You found her young. Got a lot of years to look forward to.”

“Yeah,” he said with a smile. “Thanks, Jack.”

Denny turned and left the bar.

Jack poured himself another shot, though it was early for him to do that. He lifted his glass to the closed bar door and said, “No. Thank you.”

There was a soft and gentle snow falling when Denny walked back to his apartment. The town Christmas tree was going to look fantastic with the lights twinkling behind a fresh layer of lacy snow. Last year, they had to knock the snow off the branches to make sure they retrieved all the unit patches when they were ready to take the tree down. Mel counted and cataloged them afterward; to miss one felt almost personal.

He kicked the snow off his boots on the top step, then took them off before stepping into the room.

Becca was sitting up in the bed, leaning back against the pillows, one knee drawn up and circled with her arms. He leaned against the closed door, still holding his boots. She was so beautiful. Her face was shiny from being scrubbed free of makeup before bed—she was squeaky clean and would smell of soap and lotion and taste minty fresh from her toothpaste. Though they’d been intimate when they were together years ago and had managed a night together here and there, they’d never actually lived together before. He was surprised by how much he loved sharing these little rituals with her; their routine brought him such a feeling of comfort and stability.

He couldn’t figure out how he got so lucky, to have her love him. It was even harder to figure out how he’d been insane enough to let her get away once.

He put his boots down on the towel just inside the door and took off his jacket, hung it on the peg and headed for the bathroom. “Be right with you, honey.”

He washed his face, brushed his teeth and ran hot water over his hands to warm them. He got down to his boxers and T-shirt and left his folded jeans and shirt on top of his trunk. Then he sat cross-legged on the bed, facing her. “How about if we pack up tomorrow and head for San Diego Tuesday morning?” he asked.

“That would be wonderful, Denny. Thank you.”

“I’ll go out to Jilly Farms first thing in the morning to tell her I’m leaving.”

Becca frowned. “You haven’t told her yet? You told me last week you’d take me home by Christmas.”

“You had your own obligations around town and to be honest, I had to figure a few things out about leaving. There’s a lot of stuff to do in the greenhouses when the temperature drops like this. And Jack’s…well, the bar has been so busy with people driving up here to get a look at that tree, I wondered how he was going to get by without my help. But Jack’s the greatest. He totally understands. He said if he needs help he can always call on some of his friends, like Brie’s husband, Mike. He even joked that his friends are a lot cheaper than I am.”

“What if Jillian says she just can’t manage without your help?”

“She’s got Colin and Luke Riordan if she needs something in a hurry,” he said. “I got as much done out there as I could after we decided to head for San Diego. The only big worries for her right now are snow related. The passages from the house and sheds to the gardens have to be plowed and those greenhouses can’t withstand snow on the roofs—they could collapse. But just like with Jack at the bar, if she needs an extra hand or two, there are friends around.”

“You know, I could always catch a flight,” she said. “I mean, if you’re needed here. I know you have commitments…”

He put his hand against her cheek. “Do I look crazy? You’re my primary commitment.”

“I wouldn’t hold you to it, Denny.”

He leaned toward her to place a gentle kiss on her lips. “You’d better hold me to it. I’m counting on that. Now I have a question for you. I know you have your own apartment. Are you going to let me move in with you? Will that freak out your parents?”

“Huh?”

“I could stay with Rich,” he said. “But really, Becca. I just don’t want to let you too far out of my sight. I scared myself good the last time we got too far apart. Will your parents get all upset about that? If we live together? Because it’s going to take a while to find a job down there. Don’t worry, I have some money saved that we can put toward rent, but—”

“Live with me?” she asked. “You’re staying?”

“Where would I go?” he asked, completely confused.

“I thought you were just going to drive me home and come back here!”

“What gave you an idea like that?”

“I don’t know. Because you said how much you loved it here, because you wanted me to try it, because…because you didn’t say you were moving! You said you would take me home for Christmas.”

He stared at her for a moment. “Listen, if you’re not ready to take this to the next level, if you need a little more time before we start planning a whole lifetime together, I can just ask Rich if I can have his couch. But seriously, the way we can’t seem to keep our hands off each other, I bet I end up staying over at your—”

A squeal of laughter erupted from her and she threw her arms around his neck. Then she planted a kiss on him that quickly melted into a deeper, more demanding kiss. Their heads tilted, mouths opened, tongues dueled. Denny moved to embrace her; his hands slipped under her pajamas to stroke her n**ed back.

When their kiss finally broke, she laughed.

“See what I mean?” he asked. “We might just as well share the rent, since there’s no question we’re going to share the bed.” She giggled.

“And this is funny, how?” he asked.

She shook her head. “I didn’t get it,” she said. “I thought asking to go home was something you were going to do for me. I thought… We’re going to have to work on our communication.”

“Well, I thought I might have to come back up here after Christmas for a few days to pack up and at least get Jillian on stable ground so she could manage without me. Those were a couple of the details I was trying to get organized in my head while you were finishing up your homework club, pageant practice and stuff. But when you get down to it, I don’t have that much to pack. And you came up here with one suitcase. Bottom line is, I can’t stand the idea of even spending a few days away from you if I don’t have to.”

“Good, because neither can I!”

“So here we are, two jobless people—ought to be interesting. I’ve saved money since living here—when you live in one furnished room and work two jobs, it’s not that hard. And there’s that money from the sale of my mom’s house when she died—that was going to go toward a house of my own. Now it will be a house of our own, but it might not come as fast, honey. With neither of us working yet and real estate so much more expensive in San Diego—”

“I don’t care,” she said. “I have a cute apartment. And I’ll get a job. I’ll do whatever I have to if I don’t get a teaching job. I have office experience, waitress experience—”

He stroked her pretty blond hair. “You should be with kids. I’ve seen you with them. There’s no question that’s were you belong.”

“I will be, but if it takes a while to find a teaching job, I’ll just work somewhere else while I’m looking.”

“You’re unbelievable, you know that?” he said. “I wondered why you weren’t all jazzed about going home. Crap, once again it was me—just because I didn’t say the right things!”

“Or I didn’t ask the right things,” she said. “I have to be honest, I was afraid to ask. I didn’t want to cry when you told me you just couldn’t come with me.”

“Listen, you’re first, Becca. I’m going to teach you to trust me again somehow. Right now, just remember you’re first. What you need is the top of the list. Always.” Then he laughed. “That Jack, sometimes the guy is brilliant, you know? I was telling him tonight that I was leaving—saying goodbye, really—and I told him that I had kind of liked the idea of growing a family in a place as clean and safe as this. He told me to remember that the safest place to grow a family is in a happy marriage. I’m going to make you happy, Becca, because I love you. You’re what keeps my heart beating.”

“Denny,” she said, her eyes welling up with happy tears.

He rubbed a thumb under one eye. “You didn’t want to cry, remember?”

“Then don’t be so wonderful all the time.” She sniffed. “Now what?”

His eyes took on a naughty gleam. “Well, the plans are set. The schedule is set.” He started unbuttoning her pajama top. “I guess I’ll just have to work you out for a while. In fact,” he said, putting his big hands on her small butt, “if you just climb up on my lap, you wouldn’t be putting any weight on that ankle…”

Fourteen

The routine of having Denny get up in the early morning, make her coffee and leave her curled up under the down quilt while he went off to work was an easy thing to adjust to. When the phone rang beside her bed, she eyed the clock as she rolled over. It was eight-thirty. She was surprised she’d slept so late, as excited as she was to pack up to leave. She reached for the phone and said hello.

“Becca,” Jack said. “Are you awake?”

“Sure,” she said.

Jack laughed. “No, you weren’t. Have you looked outside yet?”

“Why?” she asked, sitting up in bed.

“We had heavy snowfall during the night. I’m going to come down there and clean off the steps and salt them. When you’re ready to leave the apartment, you have to call me. The street is under almost two feet of snow. So, it’s nonnegotiable—you could break your other leg and your neck.”

She thought about that for a second. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to drive down there in Preacher’s truck to pick you up—Denny took mine out to the farm. When you get up, you’ll see a mound in the driveway—that’s Denny’s little truck. I’ll drive you to the bar or wherever you want to go. And dress warm. We have more snow forecast.”

“Why is Denny in your truck?”

“That Nissan of his wasn’t gonna make it all the way out there, even with chains. We’re not a priority for plowing—we generally do our own.”

“When will you be down here?” she asked.

“Ten minutes. It’ll take me twenty to clean off and salt your steps. You can go back to sleep, if you want to—I just didn’t want the noise to scare you.”

“Thirty minutes gives me plenty of time to dress and be ready to leave. But take your time. I don’t want you to have to wait for me.”

As Jack carried Becca down the snow-crusted stairs a half-hour later, she saw the mound of snow that had been Denny’s truck. A lot was going to have to happen to transform that igloo into a moving vehicle.

In all her trips to ski slopes, Becca had never seen anything quite like this. Even in the heaviest of snowfall in the mountains, this was her first time in a tiny town that was buried by snow. People were shoveling and snowblowing their way out of the homes and driveways, standing on ladders to shovel and scrape some of the weight off roofs. Kids were throwing snowballs, building forts and snowmen. Dogs were rollicking in the snow. There was exactly one narrow lane plowed down the street—just enough room for a vehicle, one at a time.

Becca couldn’t suppress a brief fantasy about being completely snowed in with Denny. Not in their little room above the garage, but in a house with a fireplace and a nice, functional kitchen. She’d be more than happy to lose a few days that way….