Be Mine at Christmas(4)
Author: Brenda Novak

In any event, it was turning out to be a long, cold year. After his older brother, Ray, and his wife had pulled up stakes and moved to Reno last October, Matt was beginning to feel a little like a stubborn holdout—which was how he’d begun to view the town. He wasn’t experiencing much of the Christmas spirit today, despite the snow, the lights that trimmed the buildings, already twinkling in the storm-darkened sky, the music.

“I should move to Arizona,” he said, sipping some of the foam off the top of his beer. “If I lived in the desert, I’d never have to shovel another walk.”

McGinness didn’t look up. He was too busy settling his giant, bear-like hands around the half-pound burger he’d ordered for lunch. “Good idea.”

Matt glanced at him sharply. “Did you just agree with me?”

“Then I’d get your job, right?” he said, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

Tipping back his chair, Matt scowled. “You could at least act as if you’d be sorry to see me go. I’ve been your chief for what, ten years?”

“I’d miss you,” he said, but shrugged. “In between spending the extra money I’d be making off my raise, of course.”

Matt righted his chair. “Remind me to fire you when we get back.”

“Why are you putting it off that long?”

“It’s your turn to pay for lunch, remember?”

McGinness swallowed his first bite and managed a grin. “Come on, you’re not going anywhere, Chief. This place is in your blood.” He took another bite and spoke with his mouth full. “And then there’s Kim.”

Matt started in on his French dip sandwich. “What does Kim have to do with anything?”

“She keeps your bed warm at night, doesn’t she?”

Not anymore. The moment she’d begun talking about marriage, he’d backed off. He wasn’t eager to make their relationship permanent, and getting any closer risked a messy breakup. He’d had a couple of messy breakups in his life, enough to know that even one was too many. “I like Kim. She’s a nice woman. But there’s something missing,” he admitted.

“Like your ability to commit?” McGinness stuffed a couple of fries into his mouth.

“You’re a regular comedian today, you know that, Lew?” Matt said.

“Just trying to be helpful.”

Matt was about to tell him to shut up and eat when the door opened and a woman stepped into the saloon. She had shiny black hair cut in a style that hit a fraction of an inch below her chin—definitely too sophisticated for these parts—and a smooth, olive complexion. She also had a girl with her, who appeared to be twelve or thirteen years old. But it was the woman who caught his attention. She was gorgeous, but that wasn’t it. He was pretty confident he recognized her.

He leaned over to get a better look. Sure enough. It’d been thirteen years since he’d seen her, but he was almost positive she was the girl who’d come to live with Stephanie Cunningham when they were in junior high. What was her name? Angela? That was it—Angela Forrester.

“What’s the matter?” McGinness asked.

“Nothing.” Matt quickly controlled his expression. He didn’t want to say anything that might make Lewis gawk at her and draw the woman’s attention. Their last exchange hadn’t been good. She’d been there the night Stephanie had caused him to lose the only girl he’d ever really loved. He was fairly sure Angela was partly responsible. But he didn’t know how she’d participated or why, and the last thing he wanted to do was relive the humiliation and embarrassment. Luckily, Stephanie had moved away only a few weeks after that incident and had never contacted him again.

“Let’s go,” he said, tossing twenty-five bucks on the table.

McGinness held on to the rest of his hamburger as though he’d rather part with his left hand. “What?”

Matt fixed his gaze on his plate before Angela could catch him watching her. “Never mind,” he muttered, settling back in his seat. “Just hurry so we can get the hell out of here, okay?”

MEMORIES PELTED ANGELA like the snow blowing thickly outside. She’d missed Virginia City more than she’d realized. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, reveling in the familiar scents of food, coffee, pine trees and wet leather. Because of the cold, Denver could smell fresh and clean in winter—but no place smelled as authentically “Old Fashioned Christmas” as Virginia City. Maybe that was because it hadn’t changed much since it had been rebuilt after the great fire of 1875. Standing in the largest federally designated historical district in America made Angela feel as if she’d just stepped out of a time machine. She’d gone back into her own history. To Christmas, the way it used to be.

“It’s great here, isn’t it?” she breathed to Kayla as they crossed to an empty table.

“I like it,” Kayla replied, but she kept glancing over to another table, where two firemen were having lunch.

“What is it?” Angela asked above a lively piano rendition of “Deck the Halls.”

“That man was staring at you when we walked in.”

Angela opened her mouth to say that after so long, chances were slim they’d know each other. But then she caught a better glimpse of him and felt her jaw drop. Surely they couldn’t have run into Matthew Jackson the moment they’d pulled into town….

“Do you know him?” Kayla asked, peering closely at her.

Angela had no idea what to say. They’d chosen a table less than fifteen feet from Kayla’s father!

“Angie?” she prompted.

Angela found her voice. “Yes, I—I knew him as a…a guy in high school.” Although she had to acknowledge that he’d improved quite a bit. With dark whiskers covering his prominent jaw, and smile lines bracketing his mouth and eyes, he’d matured into a man who appeared rather rough-hewn. And while his sandy-colored hair had darkened, the unusual ice-blue color of his eyes hadn’t changed at all.

“He’s handsome, isn’t he?” Kayla whispered.

He was so handsome Angela almost couldn’t stop staring. And it wasn’t just his face. He’d put on maybe thirty pounds since graduation, but none of it had gone to his middle. He filled out that uniform to perfection, looking larger than she remembered him, and far more powerful.

Angela tried to gather her wits, but she was suddenly so nervous she was afraid to remain in the same restaurant. He doesn’t know, she told herself.