“We’re notthatfar out in the boonies,” Ransom teased. “I’ll walk you out.”
They headed to the living room, and she took one last look at the kids curled up on the sofa and the dogs gathered around the fire. Henrietta was in the pool with her pups and the others were spread out around it, as if in solidarity.
“Come back and say hi tomorrow,” Ransom said. “I have no idea if Mom and Aunt Rhonda will make it, but I think we’ll have some other guests.”
“Thanks,” she told him, knowing as she pulled on her boots and coat that she wouldn’t.
The best thing I can do is stay far, far away from Ransom Wright,she thought to herself sadly as she headed outside.
“See you later,” she called over her shoulder.
As she picked her way down the shoveled path between the pines, all she wanted to do was turn back and see if he was still standing there, watching over her.
But she kept her eyes on the path in front of her.
No good ever came of dwelling on the past.
22
RANSOM
Ransom sat by the fireplace with the kids on Christmas Day, feeling a little awkward, a little sad, and a lot grateful.
Willow and Jensen sat on the sofa behind him, with Jensen’s little boy, Henry, asleep on Willow’s chest. The three of them looked so happy and content.
Surprising his baby sister by inviting her boyfriend over for Christmas had made Ransom feel really good, even though seeing the two of them together was definitely weird, since her boyfriend was also his best friend.
He was learning that it was one thing to talk about acceptance and another to walk the walk.
But if he wanted to open his heart to the people who mattered most to him and make a good example for Travis and Mae, then he was going to have to get a lot more comfortable feeling uncomfortable.
And it was especially nice for the kids to have their aunt here, since Mom and Aunt Rhonda hadn’t made it down after all.
“Why isn’t Hailey here?” Mae asked suddenly, crawling into Ransom’s lap.
“Oh,” he said. “Well, I’m sure she’s got things to do today, and she’s happy to be home again.”
“Hailey?” Willow asked quietly from the sofa.
“Yeah,” he said. “Her power went out and Henrietta had her pups in her barn. She wound up trekking over here with Henrietta and the puppies the night the storm started.”
“But she’s afraid of dogs,” Willow said. “Likereallyafraid.”
“Yeah,” Ransom said. “But not anymore, I guess, at least not of Henrietta.”
“She must care about you a lot to face her fears that way,” Jensen said.
“She used to be his girlfriend,” Travis pointed out.
“But then theybroke up,” Mae added sadly.
“Okay, okay,” Ransom said. “We don’t have to talk about that.”
“You do know you can always just get back together, right?” Willow reminded him with a smile in her voice.
“She’s seeing someone,” Ransom told her, shrugging. “I’m not going to get in her way. I hurt her once. And what do I have to offer compared to some TV star?”
“You have us,” Travis said solemnly.
