Jillian Hart - Precious Blessings

A cold winter’s landscape met his gaze through the picture window that faced the rugged range of the Montana Rockies, spanning the entire length of the horizon. The ice-capped peaks jutting against a white-gray sky were breathtaking and a change from Phoenix’s low camelbacks, which he’d seen all of his life. This Montana landscape wasn’t too hard on the eyes, but snow covered everything from the distant mountaintops to the shrubs outside the window. Miles and miles of snow.

Too much snow. Worse, a thick cloud layer was building across the entire dome of the sky. Just his luck that another six to eight inches were forecast to start falling by sundown. And if it did, then he could kiss his night goodbye.

He better put calling Mrs. Garcia on his to-do list. The sixty-something housekeeper stayed over in the guest room on the nights he worked in order to keep an eye on Hayden. He scribbled Mrs. Garcia on line ten, right below the reminder to call the lady from the Christian bookstore.

Miss Katherine McKaslin. He didn’t know what to think of her. He owed her. He didn’t like her, but he’d behaved badly last night. Yep, that’s the way it went. He always wound up coming across like a jerk whenever he was around a single woman. Which worked out just fine, he guessed, since he’d never been more than undecided when it came to the idea of marrying again.

This little shoplifting incident might have a serious silver lining—and that was the youth pastor he’d just spoken to. A friend of Miss McKaslin’s.

Why couldn’t he get her out of his mind? She was tall, slim, proper and lovely, definitely lovely. He didn’t want to like her. Besides, remembering how angry he’d been over her accusing Hayden—and then her being right about Hayden—was something he was never going to get past.

Not that he wanted to get past it.

Still, it wasn’t like he could forget the sympathetic look she’d given Hayden. Sympathetic, when Katherine had the right to be angry, or worse.

You owe her, man. And you know it.

His little girl could have found herself in juvenile detention if Katherine McKaslin had been unforgiving. But instead, the uptight, high-and-mighty shop lady had been nothing of the sort. Her kindness had handed him the best break he’d had in a while. The pastor he’d spoken to on the phone sounded like just the sort of help his little girl needed.

And that brand of decency was hard come by in this world.

By the time the first airy flakes of snow began to fall, he knew what he had to do.

In the quiet of the bookstore, Katherine leaned against the doorjamb to her brother’s office and tried to make sense of the male brain. “The dangerous winter storm warning isn’t just speculation. It’s fact. Have you looked out the window?”

“It’s a few flakes. Big deal.”

“It’s a perfect time to close the store, before the blizzard hits. Right?”

“What do we do about the customers who stop by later, depending on us to be open for them? I can’t be here. I’ve got a meeting at the church.” Decked out in his best suit, white shirt and tie, Spence gave his computer keyboard a few more taps. The printer in the corner started spitting and clattering. “We can’t disappoint our customers. It’s not good for business.”

“Fine, I’ll send everyone home and I’ll stay.”

“Alone? Like you did last night? You know I don’t approve of that. It’s not a safe world.”

“True, but I’m a capable adult who can take care of herself.” Really, she knew her brother cared, but there was only one harder-headed man on this earth, and that was their father, of course. Both of them could test a girl’s patience without the slightest effort. “Go to your meeting.”

“I can’t go if you’re going to be here alone.”

“Then we close now.” Katherine watched her big brother wrestle with that. “I’m going to go out onto the floor. Do you need anything before I go?”

“No. This spreadsheet you did for me is great.” Spence straightened his paisley tie as he rose from his leather chair. “I think they’ll be pleased.”

“Good.” She figured that was as close to an okay on closing the store early as she would get. “Drive carefully out there.”

She left her brother stewing over his financial worries and the lost revenue of closing early—as if anyone would be out shopping with the current weather warnings. Poor Spence. He took his responsibilities so seriously. Too seriously.

“Hey, kiddo.” She cornered the fiction aisle, where her younger sister was shelving books. “You need help with that cart?”

“Sure. You know what the Bible says, two can accomplish more than twice as much as one.” Ava straightened from her work with a wink. “You don’t look busy.”

“You know me, I never work.”

“I know. It’s terrible. You know what everyone says? That lazy Katherine. Next they’ll be commenting on that wild outfit.” Ava laughed, a light, easy trill.

“Aren’t you funny?” Okay, so she wasn’t a fashion plate. Katherine glanced at the black cable turtleneck sweater and her favorite pair of black wool trousers. Sensible, as always. “There’s a minus-ten-degree wind chill outside.”

“Hey, I know.” Ava chose a volume from the cart and turned to study the shelves. Her outfit of choice today was a smart safari jacket, a lace-edged purple Henley and a pair of jeans tucked into suede boots. She looked like she’d walked off a fashion magazine. “I heard you had a little incident last night.”

“The shoplifting? Yeah, but we got the figurines back.”

“I wasn’t talking about that. I heard a rumor that you caught a certain state trooper’s attention.”

“It’s ridiculous. Who did you hear that from?”

“Nobody. Well, Aubrey and me, we felt compelled to review the security tape. Then Aubrey bumped into Dean getting coffee this morning, you know, one of the responding officers last night?”

“Yeah, yeah.” It was a small city. Sometimes hardly more than a small town. “You and that sister of yours—”

“She’s your sister, too—”

“—have the wrong idea.”

“Which is?”

“Trust me. That man can’t stand me.” That had come across pretty clearly last night. “I don’t believe you got that from the tape. He was horrible. He—”

“Yeah, so you didn’t really notice him at all, huh?”

“Not at all.” Katherine grabbed a half dozen books from the cart and moved down the aisle. “I know what you’re doing. You’re trying to distract me from the fact that you left the crystals case unlocked.”

“My bad.” Ava didn’t look a bit remorseful, and she wasn’t doing a whole lot of shelving either. “So, back to the state trooper. Was his name Jack? Do I have that right?”

Yeah, she had the name right. But she was hard-pressed to explain why it felt like the lining of her rib cage contracted painfully whenever she thought of him. “It isn’t like that. He’s married, I’m sure. And why aren’t you shelving?”

“I’ll get to it.” Ava sidled close. “I happened to notice he wasn’t wearing a wedding ring.”

“And this is important because…?”

“I don’t want you to give up hope.”

Why did that make her ache inside, all the way down to her soul?

Because she had lost hope. Hope of ever finding the right man.

“He’s out there, I know it.” Ava slid a book into place. “I pray for you finding him every night.”

Her soul ached a little more. “I’m afraid you’re wasting your prayers. A lot of men just wouldn’t understand….”

There was the past left unsaid between them.

Ava’s hand found Katherine’s and gently squeezed. “You only need the right man to understand. To see what a great woman you are.” Her gaze shot over Katherine’s shoulder for a brief moment. “I bet he’s on his way to you right now. Maybe, so you won’t miss him, the Good Lord will send a sign. You know, like a handsome man bringing white roses.”