The Pastor's Christmas Courtship Read online

  “That would certainly keep you busy.”

  Drew grinned, obviously lapping up her attention. “Never a dull moment, that’s for sure.”

  Fortunately, the waitress returned at that moment to take their orders, then the conversation drifted to how Canyon Springs, about thirty minutes from Hunter Ridge, had grown in recent years. A new equestrian center was drawing visitors to special events, the Lazy D Campground and RV Park had plans for expansion, and several new shops were popping up on Main Street. The annual regional charity fund-raising dinner was to take place here in town on Friday night. Garrett’s cousin Grady and Grady’s fiancée, Sunshine, would be representing the Hunter's Hideway clan this year.

  As they ate lunch, the topic evolved into the good old days of growing up in their own small town. There was a great deal of laughter and poking fun as they reminisced, and Garrett felt himself relaxing despite Drew’s challenge that if Garrett wasn’t interested in Jodi, he himself might be.

  His buddy was ribbing him, right?

  “So, Jodi,” Drew ventured as he poised to finish off his roast beef sandwich, “you said you’re here to work on the cabin? That may be the line you’re feeding folks, but I have a sneaking suspicion there’s more to it than that.”

  Apparently Garrett wasn’t the only one wondering where Drew was going with this, because Jodi raised a startled gaze to his friend.

  * * *

  Her throat suddenly dry, Jodi reached for her water glass.

  “You know,” Drew prodded, with a chuckle, “that you might actually have missed me and the good pastor here? That you couldn’t wait to get back and renew our acquaintance?”

  What was it with her? She had to stop reading things into simple conversation. She’d almost passed out yesterday when Garrett made that remark about her losing a baby. Baby Jesus, for crying out loud. She’d taken his words out of context. And being around the pregnant Kara Kenton that morning had filled her with regrets. Why was it all coming to the surface again? Because Garrett was a pastor now—official guardian of all things moral and good?

  But jumping to the conclusion that Drew had zeroed in on her inner turmoil? She was losing it big-time. Nevertheless, she managed a laugh. “You caught me, Drew. I haven’t had anyone around in years to give me anywhere as near a hard time as the two of you do.”

  She glanced at Garrett, who seemed to be watching her closely. Had he sensed she hadn’t come clean in her glib response to his friend? Looking up at the clock on the wall, she placed her napkin to the side of her plate. “I’m sorry to dash off, but I have a busy afternoon ahead. Sorting to do and more phone calls to make.”

  Drew gave her a curious look. “Phone calls?”

  “I’m soliciting donations for the church Christmas project.”

  “Our church Christmas project?”

  She nodded, and Drew slowly turned to stare at Garrett. “I can see what you’re getting out of this, buddy. But what’s in it for her?”

  “He’s helping clean the cabin,” Jodi said, for some reason compelled to jump to Garrett’s defense.

  Drew hiked a brow, his tone dry. “He’s cleaning the cabin?”

  “He’s making arrangements for someone to,” she clarified.

  “Figures.”

  Garrett gave his friend an annoyed look. “I intend to help—delivering firewood and replacing smoke alarms and cleaning out the shed. But the reason she’s organizing the project is that no one else at the church would volunteer to do it at this late date, and I have my hands full with other responsibilities.”

  Drew smirked, then turned again to Jodi. “You didn’t have anything better to do with your time?”

  “Call me sentimental. I’m told that when my grandma spent the holidays in town, she liked to be involved in this particular ministry.”

  Drew nailed Garrett with a frown. “You made that up, didn’t you? To get Jodi to help.”

  She laughed. “No, he didn’t. Grandma’s friends assure me she enjoyed being a part of it. I want to honor her memory by filling in.”

  Maybe helping would somehow make amends to Grandma, too, for her own failings and unwed state of pregnancy. And win brownie points with Garrett? Good luck with that one.

  “That’s generous of you.” Drew cut another look at Garrett. “But don’t go letting this guy take advantage of the goodness of your heart. He may be a preacher now, and with the way God’s been blessing the socks off his ministry here, we’ll be stuck with him for a good long while. But that’s not yet made him eligible for sainthood.”

  “Far from it,” Garrett mumbled the admission.

  “I promise I’ll keep him in his place, Drew.” Amused at Garrett’s apparent discomfiture and Drew’s obvious glee, she stood and Garrett instantly rose to help her into her coat. “I guess I’ll see you two around.”

  “Guaranteed.” Drew’s comment was underlined with a smile, but she caught Garrett’s unexpected frown.

  Garrett lowered his voice as he walked her to the door. “Let’s see about getting together tomorrow afternoon. Inventorying what’s been donated so far.”

  Did he not feel that constant undercurrent running between them? That vibe of tension? No, of course he didn’t. It was her own one-sided take on things. A pitiful hope that wouldn’t die a merciful death. “I’ll have to see what my schedule looks like.”

  Outside, the sun had once again disappeared behind gray-bottomed clouds. She’d enjoyed lunch with the comrades of her youth, but she felt like such a phony.

  Drew was devoting his life to aiding ministries worldwide. Garrett was the pastor of a growing church, although she still had a hard time getting her head around that one. Both were men living life with faith-filled purpose. They weren’t pretending to have it all together. Weren’t hiding secrets that stained their soul. Nor were they masking doubts as to God’s love or a bone-deep certainty that He was greatly disappointed in them.

  She’d just climbed inside her loaner truck and shut the door when her cell phone chimed a tune.

  “You’ve got to jump on this, Jodi.” Her friend and former coworker Brooke Calvetti’s voice vibrated with excitement. “I heard today that they’re posting two more openings here for project managers. Full-time positions with beaucoup benefits. All virtual. Working from home like I am from wherever you want to plunk down your bod.”

  Like Jodi, Brooke had worked at SmithSmith since college graduation. In fact, they’d first become acquainted at the company’s new-employee orientation. But when a few months ago rumblings started about offshoring their positions, Brooke hadn’t hesitated. She’d given notice and was now settling into life at a new company. Unfortunately, her abrupt departure had put more pressure on Jodi to accept a position to train and supervise the new overseas workers.

  “It sounds as if you’re liking the new job.”

  “Liking it? Are you kidding me? I love it. You’ve got to get your application in. Now. With the way the economy’s been, people are going to pounce on this.”

  But where would she go to set up a home base? While she loved Philadelphia, it was a long way from family. She’d had sporadic experience working from home in Philly after starting at SmithSmith—the timing being such that she could conveniently keep her morning sickness under the radar. So she was familiar with the pros and cons of it. Both the freedom and the isolation.

  It would be nice not to travel great distances at peak holiday seasons—she hadn’t made it home for Thanksgiving in years. Missed some Christmases, too, when planes were grounded in a snowstorm. But even though working from home in the future would mean she might not have to deal with a commute in bumper-to-bumper traffic across the sprawling metropolis of Arizona’s Valley of the Sun, the thought of baking-hot summers in Phoenix didn’t appeal. She hated being trapped inside air-conditioned buildings, too.

&n
bsp; Denver? San Diego, maybe?

  “Have you looked at their website?” Brooke persisted. “This company is everything it claims and then more. You owe it to yourself to check it out.”

  “I’ll take a look tonight. I promise.” And she would. Sticking her head in the sand hoping that something would change at SmithSmith so she wouldn’t have to make a decision would be foolish. As her mother always said, choosing not to make a decision was a decision in and of itself.

  “Just think, Jodi, you can move wherever you want to and only have to fly to the corporate office maybe quarterly at most.”

  That sounded good. Maybe too good to be true. After all, the grass always looked greener on the other side, and Brooke had barely climbed over the fence.

  Jodi gazed down Canyon Springs’ main street, at the holiday decorations and the bustle of activity. Cities offered so much, but there was something appealing about a small town. At that moment, she spied Garrett and Drew coming out of Camilla’s Café and regret tugged at her heart.

  If only Garrett hadn’t always seen her as his little sister.

  If only she hadn’t messed her life up when she’d moved to Philadelphia.

  If only...she hadn’t come back to Hunter Ridge.

  Chapter Six

  Still no answer. Pausing in the buffeting wind outside the Hunter Ridge Artists’ Cooperative midmorning Wednesday, Garrett pocketed his cell phone. Every time he tried to touch base with his office assistant to get further direction on the Christmas project, Melody’s number went to messaging. He sure hoped it wasn’t because her father had taken a turn for the worse.

  Maybe it was just as well, though, that he not be sticking his nose into something he’d relinquished to Jodi’s oversight. She might not appreciate his interference. But yesterday she sounded stymied by the lack of progress, and while she told Drew she volunteered to honor her grandmother, she’d graciously refrained from admitting to his buddy that she’d been pressured by him.

  Pulling open the wreath-decorated door to the Artists’ Co-op, a bell chimed as he stepped inside. He was immediately greeted with a friendly wave by Sunshine Carston, his cousin Grady’s fiancée, who managed the place and who, after the first of the year, would take a seat on the town council.

  “How may I help you, Pastor McCrae?” Her brown eyes sparkled as she brushed back a strand of shoulder-length jet-black hair. “Christmas shopping?”

  “Sort of.” He drew in the faint scent of oil paints and leather mingling with a holiday-ish pinch of cinnamon. “Actually, I’m trying to find a replacement piece for a nativity set. A baby Jesus, to be exact.”

  Just as a backup. Jodi’s grandma’s figurine would probably be found before Christmas Day. But although he’d teased her about how baby Jesus had always turned up in the past, for a flashing moment Jodi had appeared genuinely distressed when he told her he couldn’t find the baby in the box with the other pieces.

  “Is it broken? Maybe one of our artists can fix it for you.”

  “Missing.”

  “AWOL Jesus. Not good.” Sunshine motioned him over to a display glass in the middle of the store. “Something like this?”

  He leaned in to study several sets of figurines of the holy family. While striking, unfortunately all held a Southwestern-flavored simplicity rendered in terra-cotta and turquoise colors. Very unlike the traditional set belonging to Jodi’s grandmother. The pieces here, too, were significantly smaller than those at the cabin. Mrs. Thorpe’s Joseph was a good nine or ten inches tall. And carved from wood.

  “Beautiful work, but not quite what I’m looking for.”

  Sunshine grimaced. “I hate to lose local business, but you might try an internet search.”

  “Last resort, but thanks for the suggestion.”

  He’d just stepped back outside when coming toward him with a determined step was Jodi, her coat hood pulled up against the cold. Their eyes met, and his spirits inexplicably lifted as she came to a halt next to him.

  “What brings you out on this blustery day, Jodi?”

  She let out a sigh. “I searched all over the cabin last night and still haven’t found Grandma’s baby Jesus. I can’t have my nieces and nephew waking up to an empty manger. My sisters would never forgive me for that. Any ideas on where I might be able to find a replacement?”

  He tipped his head toward the Artists’ Co-op, but was reluctant to admit he was engaged in a similar pursuit. “You won’t find what you’re looking for in there.”

  “I never realized how unique Grandma’s set is—and how large.”

  “Who will take possession of it once the cabin is sold?”

  “We wouldn’t want to split up the figurines. I guess...” A wrinkle furrowed her brow. “I guess if Mom and Dad don’t want it at their place, it would go to Ronda or Star. You know, because they have children who will eventually inherit that piece of our grandparents’ legacy.”

  She didn’t look happy about that realization, though, and he wished he hadn’t asked. Of the three girls, Jodi always seemed the most fascinated with the elaborate crèche scene even at an early age.

  “I don’t really have a place in my apartment to put something that big,” she admitted. “And I certainly won’t if I’m forced to accept an offer to transfer within the company I work for.”

  “You may be relocating?”

  “I’ve been asked to take an overseas commitment. My company is offshoring a number of divisions, and as a primary project manager for one of those segments, I’m expected to be on-site as well. India.”

  “That’s a big change.”

  “One I’m not real excited about. I’ve made trips there on business before and think it’s a beautiful and diverse country. But living outside the US for any length of time isn’t for me.” She tucked a stray strand of red-gold hair back under her hood. “I’m one of the fortunate few who are being given an option to remain with the company. A lot of people are being laid off. But I’m beginning to rethink my options.”

  “I hope it works out.”

  A sudden gust of wind blew back Jodi’s hood and, without thinking, he reached out both hands and pulled it up. Snugged it around her pretty face.

  Her startled gaze met his, and lost in the beauty of her eyes, he slowly and self-consciously withdrew his hands. Stepped back. “Nippy out here.”

  “It is.”

  Conscious that anyone seeing them might wonder what they were doing standing outside staring at each other, he cleared his throat. “Things coming along on the cabin?”

  “Slowly. Grandma’s most personal things, of course, were removed years ago. But it’s still slow going. Lots of memories to wade through.”

  “I imagine that’s true. Good memories, fortunately.”

  “I’m blessed in that respect. A lot of families don’t have that kind of foundation.”

  “Your grandma would be very proud of who you’ve become, Jodi.”

  She looked to him doubtfully as she braced herself against another blast of wind. “Why do you say that?”

  “You’re a fine young woman. Mature. Talented. You’ve worked hard to get where you are professionally, yet family—and God—still play a part in your life and influence your values and decisions.”

  She ducked her head slightly. Embarrassed at the praise? To avoid the wind? Or maybe he was coming across as too pastor-like, not her familiar childhood chum who’d have been more likely to tease her to tears than heap praises on her.

  “I try,” she admitted, thrusting her gloved hands into her jacket pockets.

  “Will I be seeing you this afternoon?”

  She gave him a blank look.

  “Remember? Yesterday at lunch? I said I’d help you inventory the donations.”

  “Oh, right. But I know you’re swamped with pasto
r stuff right now. That’s the whole reason you asked me to help out, remember?”

  He cracked a smile. “Maybe I’ll be ready for a break.”

  But how wise was it to find excuses to spend time with Jodi? Was he secretly hoping for a glimmer of evidence that her sisterly feelings for him had shifted? But with him preparing to leave town shortly, what could possibly come of it? Too much water under the bridge.

  She offered a smile of her own, albeit a slightly tight one. “Whatever works for you.”

  Maybe the way things ended when they were teenagers still made her uncomfortable. He wasn’t enamored with the thought of apologizing at this point, though. That reminder of how he’d overstepped his bounds might make her even more ill at ease.

  And if there was anything he didn’t want right now, it was to make Jodi uncomfortable around him, brotherly feelings or not.

  * * *

  Grandma would be proud of her? Not likely.

  Jodi carried a stack of baby blankets to one of the tables in the church’s fellowship hall and set them down among the other accumulating donations. Grandma wouldn’t have turned her back on her, but she’d have been deeply disappointed in her oldest granddaughter. Saddened and hurt that she’d so thoughtlessly distanced herself from her family values and the commitment she’d pledged to God in her early teens.

  No, Garrett, Grandma would not be proud.

  And what would Grandma now think of the fact that even after the humiliation Garrett had dealt her when she was sixteen, she couldn’t get him out of her head a dozen years later? She felt skittish around him. Acted weird. He’d merely done something nice this morning in pulling her windblown hood back up, yet she’d frozen like a deer in the headlights. He’d probably helped her get her hood back on dozens of times when they were growing up. Of course, back then he’d have pulled it down over her face.

  But it was ridiculous to be crushing on him at her age. And even if he did show interest, there was no way once he learned of her past, discovered the status of her faltering faith, that he’d remain interested. Besides, she still hadn’t figured out where Sofia Ramos fit into the picture.