A Texas Christmas Wish

She put the car in Reverse and hit the gas, but all that happened was the whirling sound of a spinning tire. She gripped the steering wheel and tried again, pressing harder on the gas pedal.

“Whoa. You’re just digging in deeper. Go forward.”

She gritted her teeth against his short demand and reached up to shift gears. His hand stopped her. The touch startled her, and she jerked back.

He didn’t even seem to notice her reaction. “Hold on. Let me put one of those branches in front of the tire.” Without waiting for her to agree, he sprang out of the car. Running hunched over, he gathered some of the larger limbs that covered the ground on the edge of the cedar break. Climbing back into the car, he nodded. “Now go forward. Keep the pressure on the pedal nice and steady.”

Holding her breath and sending a quick prayer, she followed his instructions. After a few bounces, they were back on the road. She couldn’t help giving him a big grin. “Thank you.”

“Well, it was my fault you ended up in the ditch.”

With a slow U-turn on the highway, she headed back toward his plane.

“Are you going to be able to drive the plane to the airport?”

“Yeah. I think a wing is damaged, but it can move across the ground without a problem. The Kirkpatricks aren’t going to be happy. I think I ran through their fence a couple of times back in high school.” With one hand on the door, he turned to face her. “You don’t mind following me to the hangar, do you? I’ll need a ride to town.”

“Town? You’re not going to the ranch?”

“You don’t need to drive all the way out there.” He glanced over her stacked and labeled boxes. “You look busy. Do you need help?”

He didn’t know she had been hired to stay with his dad? She made herself stop chewing on the inside of her cheek. She hadn’t even introduced herself.

“I’m Karly Kalakona. I was hired as the new housekeeper and to care for your dad after he had the stroke. I’m heading to the ranch anyway, so it’s not a problem. I’ve never been to the ranch, so it would be great if you could show me where to go. I mean I know where the ranch is, but once on the ranch I have no clue.” Stop rambling, idiot. No, she reminded herself, no more name-calling. Be kind to yourself.

She held her expression neutral as his eyes narrowed. The space in her old Volvo seemed to get smaller and warmer. The heavy raindrops hitting the roof was the only sound for what seemed like hours. Taking his hand off the door, he turned and looked straight at her. Karly pushed her dark hair back.

“You’re moving into my dad’s house?” His friendly tone had been replaced by a sharp edge. “Who hired you?”

“Uh...Pastor John Levi. He was married to your sister, Carol, right? He told me he still helps your dad with the ranch.” Silence. Tyler stared out the windshield. She was getting the feeling he was not happy. “Is there a problem?”

He shook his head. “I just thought...” Instead of finishing the sentence, he sighed and looked back at her. “How do you know John?”

“A little less than a year ago I started attending his church, and a few months later they helped me get out of a bad situation. When your father had his stroke, Pastor John asked if I would be a live-in assistant. Your father had always been a great support to me so I really wanted to repay all the help I found here in Clear Water.”

“You look really young for a nurse.”

“I’m not a nurse.”

“Do you have nursing exper—?” Flashes of lightning flooded the car with white light, followed by a rolling boom of thunder. Bryce cried out, covering his ears. She reached for him again.

“It’s okay, baby. We’re safe.”

“Hey, big guy, have you ever gone bowling?”

Bryce looked up at Tyler and shook his head. Karly couldn’t keep from raising her eyebrows. Bowling? What did that have to do with anything?

“Well, I’ll have to take you so you know that’s what it sounds like. A giant marble ball hitting a bunch of wooden pins. Sounds scary, but it’s actually loads of fun.”

“Really? I wanna go, Momma. I wanna go bowling.” He looked at his new hero. “When are we going?”

“Now, Bryce, I don’t know. We have a lot of things to do and you just got your braces off.” She cut a glance to Tyler. “Between the surgeries and physical therapy, we have to be careful of the activities we pick.” She didn’t want Bryce disappointed in the things he couldn’t do. She wanted him to focus on what he could safely accomplish. “We have to get moved into our new home and get you back in school.”

“Yes, ma’am.” His narrow shoulders slumped. Well, at least he wasn’t crying.

“Sorry, big guy. Your mom’s right. We gotta get you all settled in. Then we can make plans. Right now, I’ve got to get my plane to the hangar.”

Her son perked back up. “Can I ride in your airplane?”

Tyler considered her. His eyebrows rose.

Great, he was going to make her be the bad guy again. “Sorry, sweetheart, you would have to get out in the rain. I need you to stay with me in the car.”

Tyler reached across the back of his seat and tugged at Bryce’s foot. “Hey, we’ll do it another day. I promise.” He grabbed the door handle, jumped out of the safety of her car and darted through the rainstorm to his plane.

She had a feeling she might be headed down a road she had not planned. With a sigh, she watched her son focus on every move Tyler made. Karly saw a joy on his small face that she hadn’t seen in a good while.

Her son should know by now that a pretty package wrapped in easy smiles and good manners could be masking a monster.

Unfortunately, Tyler Childress would not be the first man to break his promise to them.

* * *

Blinded by heavy rain, Tyler pushed the Piper back from the tangled fence. Hopefully, none of the Kirkpatricks’ stock would test the damaged wire. He needed to call Henry and let him know. Yeah, so much for proving to his dad he had managed to become a responsible adult.

He could hear Dub Childress’s voice now. Don’t start with the excuses, son. Somewhere along the way your choices put you in this position.

The argument already played in his head. An argument he needed to avoid. Yes, he’d procrastinated coming home, had buzzed the house one too many times and flew needless circles over town. By the time he’d headed to the airstrip, the storm had hit and livestock had escaped one of the ranches, blocking the only way to land.

So no excuses, Dad. It was my fault I ran a young mother and her child off the road.

With the plane turned in the right direction, he climbed up and pulled the door shut to the cockpit. He wished he could just stay there—his favorite place in the world. A place he was in total control.

Behind the seat he pulled out a towel. With a quick rub through his hair, he tried to stop the dripping, at least. He had so much mud on him, keeping the interior clean was a lost cause. Much like his relationship with his dad. Maybe this time he would manage...

Eyes closed, he stopped the pointless words. Clear Water was the last place he wanted to be. He knew he should have been here sooner, but every time he and his dad walked into the same room there was a fight. His mother had said it was because they were so much alike. He didn’t buy that.

He was nothing like his dad. Obstinate didn’t even begin to describe the old rancher. He was as hard to move as the rock that held the hills steady. Now that his mother and sister were dead and buried, there wasn’t anyone to soften the blows between them.

His fingers tightened around the controls. How did his father do it? How did he stay at the ranch and live in the home where memories of his mother and sister were in every corner? The silence of things they would never say, or moments they would never see, contaminated everything.

Tyler rolled his head back and took in a lungful of air. When had he become so melodramatic? He needed to get the plane in the hangar, call Henry about the fence, not to mention find out why his dad and John had gone ahead and hired someone without waiting for him. He had told them they needed a certified nurse.

Instead, he found a single mom barely out of her teens and a kid with special needs moving in on the ranch. One of John’s lost sheep. His dad would do anything for John Levi, the perfect man who had married his sister.

Karly and Bryce had charity case written all over them. So how was he going to handle this without a fight? Could he kick a single mom and her kid into the streets?

Easing the battered wings over the cedar post, he turned the plane onto the narrow asphalt road that led to the county airport. He had vowed not to say or do anything to get his dad upset, but that plan was already rolling downhill and picking up speed.