12 Christmas Romances To Melt Your Heart (51 page)

S
adie only had
five chestnuts left, and she wasn’t going to make the same mistake she had the night before. Instead of an indoor open fire in Uncle Henry’s living room, she went out back to the fire pit.

But she was going to check off the stupid chestnut thing if it killed her. She already wouldn’t be able to do the snowman thing. No snow in Somewhere.

She needed to get through the list and through the heartbreak, because she had a lot of work to get done, and she couldn’t afford to take days off sitting around daydreaming about firefighters. Maybe she could work Christmas Day, after the list was done.

The heavy sweater kept enough of the chill at bay that she wasn’t shivering when she started the fire. But by the time it was big enough to roast the chestnuts, she felt the tiniest shiver.

“Howdy there!” a deep voice called from behind her and Sadie allowed herself a momentary thrill. Had Hudson come back?

But when she turned around, it was just her neighbor. Big, kind-faced man in a cowboy hat with a giant black mustache bristling like a broom. She couldn’t place his name, although she remembered meeting him with Uncle Henry once.

Sadie waved back. “Hi.”

“Merry Christmas.” He came toward her and Sadie pulled the sweater tighter, but the man stopped at the tree on the edge of his property and flipped a switch that lit up his whole house.

“You, too.”

“Say, you tell Henry we’re all pulling for him,” the man said.

Sadie offered a nervous smile. She didn’t like to talk about Uncle Henry’s business dealings—and tried not to be privy to them, if she could help it—but everyone in town had been so friendly when they spoke of him.

“I will,” she said. “I’m sure he’ll be back after the New Year.”

“Whatcha got goin’ there?” He stepped into Henry’s yard and pointed at the fire.

“I’m roasting chestnuts.”

“Well, look at that. Sure, you are.” His smile was wide and his arms expansive. “That’s why I love this town. You never know what people will do.”

She nodded and picked up the roaster. Maybe if she started looking busy, he’d leave her alone. Although, if he did leave, he might start the…

From the house, a woman’s voice called, “Okay, Stewart. I’m turning it on.”

He whirled around. “Give ‘er a go, Marian.”

The music started up and the lights began to blink. This time, however, the music was different. Something with trumpets and saxophones. It sounded big-band-ish. The first time around, it would be entertaining, but by midnight, she had no doubt she would want to put her eyes out.

With that thought, Hudson’s smiling face floated through her mind and she smiled. It had been fun trading jabs, and he’d been as annoyed by the lights and the show as she had.

Comforting.

Stewart stood with a wide stance, hands on his hips, and watched the blinking, blasting spectacle he’d created. He glanced back with a big smile.

“Now that’s something.” He moved his elbow as though he meant to jab her with it, but he was standing too far away. “Cost me a pretty penny, but it’s all worth it.”

“It is something.” Sadie tightened her lips so she wouldn’t laugh out loud.

“Well, we’re headed out to Enamorada. I think Marian is saving all her cooking for Christmas Eve.” Stewart chuckled. “Say, what are you doing for Christmas?”

Sadie almost shrugged, but she felt an invitation coming on, so she offered her biggest, sweetest smile. “I’m headed to Houston tomorrow, so I won’t even be here for Christmas.”

“Yeah? Well, if you find yourself here and want some company, it’s just me and the wife for Christmas Day. We’d love to have you over.”

She had to chew her lip to keep from accepting the invite. Part of her wished Uncle Henry was here, and part of her wanted to be alone and lick her wounds.

“Thanks so much,” she said. “And Merry Christmas again.”

Stewart walked off with an awkward smile, as though he wasn’t sure how to handle a rejected invitation. But he did leave her alone. Sadie lowered the roaster closer to the fire. By the time Stewart’s headlights flashed out of his driveway, the chestnuts started to smoke a bit. Their savory, earthy smell was harder to place outside, where it competed with the heavy scent of wood fire—both hers, which had more of a campfire smell, and the scent of the wood stove piping out its smoke into the air.

There were very few smells in the world that Sadie preferred to a wood-burning stove. Her parents always had one, and Uncle Henry’s reminded her of that, so many years ago. She would probably light a fire in this house every day until she had to move, or until the weather turned warmer—whichever came first.

After too many turns through the big band song, the Nutcracker came back. Had this happened the previous night, too? No, it had started with the orchestral piece, because it would get quiet at the beginning of each rotation, and Sadie would think it had finally turned off, but then the orchestra hits would shock her back to the Christmas reality.

The hits of sound through the speakers hidden under bushes in Stewart’s yard brought Hudson’s face sailing through her memory again. And other things, like the new door and the new French press… he was a good man. Or he seemed like one.

Or was it just that everyone would seem like a good man compared with Kyle?

Sadie pulled open the roaster and checked on the chestnuts. The shells seemed to be peeling away at the top, where she’d put X’s in them, just as they were supposed to.

She let the fire burn while she walked the chestnuts to the back porch and transferred the steaming little pods onto a plate with a big pair of grill tongs.

The roaster would be hot for a long time yet, so she set it on the stone patio to cool off, and turned back toward the fire pit. She looked around the yard for the shovel. Alton Brown had said to keep the shovel handy to put out the fire, but she couldn’t remember if she’d brought it out of the garage or not.

Sadie jogged around the house and keyed in the code on one of the garage doors. While she waited for it to open, she tried to ignore the blink of lights next door, but they were insistent. She finally turned her head to take in Stewart’s spectacle, but the blinking hadn’t been coming from his house.

Stewart and Marian’s house was set back on their lot, and everything that blinked was away, off the street. The blinking was somewhere else. She narrowed her vision a bit. Next door to Stewart’s house was a front-set home with a big, vaulted, three-section picture window that stuck out from the side like a conservatory. The Christmas tree flickered through the glass.

Sadie took a step into the garage and looked away, but something made her look back. The tree wasn’t lit. It was flickering.

She ran out of the garage and down the street. It wasn’t flickering with candles or lights. There were flames in there. As she approached the house, the flames licked slowly up one side of the tree and came around the front where she could see them more pronounced.

That tree was on fire!

Her phone almost slipped through her fingers when she pulled it out of the long cardigan’s pocket. She hit the emergency button on her phone and dialed 9-1-1.

Sadie’s hands shook and she held the phone to her ear.

“9-1-1, what is your emergency?”

“A fire… there’s a fire…” Sadie reached the porch next to the bay window where the flames licked up the inside of the tree. Her heart locked in high gear, thudding against her chest like it fuelled her.

“Where y’at, honey?” The operator’s Bayou accent shook Sadie out of the thrall of her adrenaline.

“At the end of Old Taylor Road. I don’t know the address.” She looked all around the dark exterior and couldn’t find the house numbers. “Right next to the big Christmas display.”

The operator promised her she’d send the fire crew, but Sadie was already looking for the front door. She pounded, rang the doorbell. No answer.

A faint buzz of the woman’s voice came over her phone, but Sadie couldn’t make out the words over the Nutcracker music. She backed up onto the porch and looked in the window, putting the phone back to her ear.

“It looks like they’re gone. But their house is on fire.”

The woman told her to stay in the yard and wait for the firemen, but Sadie was already pounding on the door again and dropped the phone. The door looked fairly sturdy, but she would try.

She backed up on the porch and took a run at the front door, lowering her shoulder. It didn’t move, and instead, she bounced backwards and into the railing.

Sadie kicked at the door, and couldn’t budge the thing. The shovel! If she could go find the shovel, she could probably get the door open.

She vaulted the porch and landed on the ground at a run. Somewhere in the corner of Stewart’s yard, someone took off running ahead of her. They kept looking over their shoulder.

“Hey! Stop! Help me!” she yelled. But they kept running.

Was that the fire-starter? Would they have stayed around to watch? Why wouldn’t they have left? It couldn’t be.

“You!” she yelled again. The figure turned to look back at her, and before she could say anything else, he was caught on a string of lights that hung between two trees on the far side of Stewart’s yard. He was on his back, on the ground, and she heard his cry of surprise.

She grabbed the shovel from inside the open garage and ran back to where he was trying to disentangle himself and get up.

“Stop,” she ordered, approaching with the shovel in the air. “I’m warning you.”

The figure was slighter than she expected. He couldn’t have been much older than her nephew, Alex, who was in high school. He tried to unwind the Christmas lights, but when he’d fallen, he’d gotten tangled up and dragged them along.

“I said stop.” The closer she got, the more her heart exploded in her chest. From somewhere down the hill, she could hear the sirens.

“Leave me alone.” The boy shouted.

“Why are you running?”

He kept fussing, but couldn’t get his arm free. Sadie circled him with the shovel.

“If you’re not the person who started the fire, you need to stay until the firemen get here.”

“No way, lady.” He practically growled at her, flashing his teeth and pulling on his coat. “Get out of my way.”

Sadie smacked his side with the shovel. “You did this, didn’t you? You started that fire.”

“If you don’t get out of my way…” His voice cracked and he tried to run forward. The lights had him pinned in place by both shoulders, and Sadie hit him again.

“It was you!” She pointed to the house. “You’d better get back over to that house and put that fire out right now, or I’m going to hit you again.”

“Get off me, psycho bitch,” the kid yelled. He shimmied out of his coat and pushed her onto the ground. Sadie hit hard and tried to reach out with her shovel, but he was too far away for her to trip him.

Dammit. She should have hit him harder.

She dropped the shovel and pushed herself to her feet. The lights of the fire truck flashed like Stewart’s spectacle as they pulled up in front of her house.

Sadie ran out to the street, waving her arms and yelling for the firemen. One of them leaped off the truck and sprinted across the street toward her. She pointed at the next house and screamed, “Over there. The tree!”

The smoke was starting to billow out the window. They had to be able to see it. The fire truck pulled up in front of the house and the rest of the men jumped off the truck.

“Sadie!” The firefighter called.

Hudson. It was Hudson. She sank to her knees, tears streaming down her face, and had a hard time making words.

His hands were all over her body and she couldn’t help the relief that filled her with warmth as he put his arms around her. She collapsed against him and buried her face in his rough coat.

It was nice to feel warm again.

H
udson kept
Sadie near him as she rambled about the fire. He let her drag him back into the yard and show him a string of lights that held a big, red jacket like a prairie clothesline.

He left his arm around her shoulder while she babbled about a kid who ran away. But she wasn’t making sense.

“Sadie. Stop, and tell me again what happened.” He grabbed her arms and looked straight into her eyes. The lights blinked around them cast strange shadows over her features.

“I was getting a shovel.” She took a deep breath. “I saw the tree over in the… next to the lights… and then I went to get the shovel and I saw the kid.”

He glanced around the dark cluster of backyards. They backed up to open space all along this street, and he couldn’t see any other people. Just the coat.

“What kid?” he asked.

“There was a kid standing back here, and when I ran, he ran. Only he got caught.” She pointed to the jacket. “I tried to stop him.”

Hudson’s heart rushed, driving him forward and pushing his arms around her body. “You did what?” He held her and stroked her back. “What were you doing, Sadie?”

“I think he started the fire,” she said into his shoulder.

Hudson shook his head. “What?”

“I think he was trying to get away from the house. I told him to stop, but he wouldn’t, and then he got caught and left this.” She waved at the coat again.

Hudson ushered her to the coat and touched it with tentative fingers. “The kid left this?”

“Yes.”

“This wasn’t here before?”

“No, I saw him in it. He got caught in the lights.” She let out a bark of laughter. “The lights caught him.”

“Where is he now?”

Sadie pointed off toward the other houses. “I don’t know. He knocked me down, and…”

“He knocked you down?” Hudson sucked in a breath through his nose and closed his eyes.
Why didn’t she lead with this
? He pulled her into his body.

Damn. He was never going to let her go again.

“Hudson!” Aidan stood on the other side of the Griswold family lightmare and waved his arms. “We contained the fire. What’s going on back here?”

“I think we may have something from the arsonist over there.”

“Did you catch him?” Aidan ran toward them, but Hudson shook his head.

“Sadie saw him.” He slowly rotated his shoulders so Aidan could see Sadie’s face. Some crazy protective instinct crept up inside of him, and he pulled her closer.

Hudson pulled at the edge of the jacket. “He was wearing this, but got caught up in the lights and left it here.”

Aidan took off his gloves and grabbed the edge of the coat. He pushed open the pocket with one finger, but didn’t reach inside. “There’s something in here.”

“What is it?” Sadie stepped away from Hudson’s embrace, and he found himself resonating with a little frustration when she did.

“It looks like a phone.” Aidan put one glove back on and pulled the pocket open. “It’s one of those card-cases.” He removed it. “It’s got cards in it, on the back.”

Hudson pulled at Sadie’s arm. “Let me get her inside,” he said to Aidan. “Then I’ll come back.”

His friend’s gaze cast from Sadie to Hudson and back. A tiny smirk started in one corner of his mouth and spread across his face.

“Sure. You do that.” Aidan’s tone was full of sarcasm and Hudson almost punched him in the shoulder.

“Shut up, Aid. I’ll be right back.”

Hudson ushered Sadie to the back porch of her house while Aidan tried to take the jacket off the line of lights. Sadie opened the door, walked into the kitchen, and sat on the stool at the breakfast nook, all without any comment.

She was likely in shock, and it wouldn’t be wise to leave her alone for a few minutes. He pulled out the other stool and sat across from her, letting his knee touch hers.

He leaned forward. “Sadie.”

Her dark eyes snapped up to his and she breathed audibly. “Hudson.”

“Are you feeling okay?”

She laughed. “I’ve been better.”

“I’m sure you have.” He slid his gaze over her face, down her neck, down her body. She seemed to be physically fine, although she kept bringing one hand up to stroke her shoulder. He reached for the shoulder and she hit the back of her chair, a biting wince crossing her features.

“Is something wrong with your shoulder?” Hudson retreated his hand. “Did you hurt it when he pushed you down?”

Sadie’s fingers massaged her arm in a rhythm and she didn’t respond. She just stared at him. She wasn’t going to come out of this shock anytime soon.

Hudson stepped out onto the porch and waved Aidan down. His friend had finally gotten the jacket down, and he loped across the yard.

“I’m gonna stay here with her until the cops show up.”

“I think we’re going to stay, too.” Aidan held up the jacket. “This is pretty beat up. And it doesn’t smell like accelerant.”

“He wouldn’t need it. Even a watered tree is going to burn fast enough on its own.”

“But it did look like the others. Empty house, tree on display in the front room, entry through the back.” Aidan pointed along the back ridge, where the lit-up house sat farther afield on the property. “There are definitely tracks back there. It’s pretty wet.”

Hudson glanced back into the kitchen, where Sadie still sat motionless on the stool. “What are you going to tell the cops when they show up?”

“We’ll send someone in to talk to her. See if we can get the whole story.”

“She’s still in shock.”

“I’ll bet she is.” Aidan’s smile mirrored the humor in his tone, but Hudson didn’t care. He didn’t care if they made fun of him for the next year of his life. He wanted to stay with Sadie.

“She is.”

Aidan cracked him on the back. “She’ll survive with you here, bud.”

“Yeah, yeah. Laugh away.”

“Go on back in. It looks like she’s getting up.” Aidan pointed to the house and Hudson’s heart lurched. Sadie was on her feet and heading toward the living room.

Hudson ran after her and caught her just before she reached the front room.

“Where are you going?” He relaxed his grip when he saw her wince.

“I’ve got to find my phone.” Her unfocused eyes moved all over the walls and the carpet and fixed on the door. “I think I lost it when I called 9-1-1.”

Hudson eased his arms around her. “I’ll find your phone, Sadie. Just sit down with me. You’re still in shock.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re not fine.” He pulled her down onto the couch beside him—the one she’d slept on the night before. She felt so right, fitting against him like she did, and he stroked her good shoulder.

“But you will be,” he whispered, resting his chin on her forehead. “I promise.”

They stayed on the couch in silence for a long time. Hudson wasn’t sure he should speak, and Sadie just breathed and laid against his side. He let the rightness sink through him, all the way to his bones. He’d done his share of making fun of his friends for getting all focused on one girl, but suddenly he had more sympathy for them.

It wasn’t something a guy could control.

When a knock sounded at the back door, Hudson reluctantly rose and led Sadie back into the kitchen. He was so proud of her for not crying, and not dissolving into hysterics. He showed her off to Marcus when the deputy came into Sadie’s kitchen.

Sadie answered all of his questions, and Hudson just sat and listened, amazed at her calmness and clarity. By the time Marcus finished asking his questions, Hudson had decided for sure. He wanted to see more of Sadie Capshaw.

Like he wanted to be a fireman. Like he wanted to be a good man. Like he wanted to climb Kilimanjaro.

And he was going to fix her heartbreak if he had to become Santa Claus himself to do it.