Sleigh Bells Ring in Romance Page 4

  Jess chuckled and nodded. They discussed things both Janet and Blayne had done that made them laugh.

  Doris pretended not to notice when Jess winced in pain, but to his credit he didn’t try to pull away from her or utter a word of complaint.

  When she finished, a fine sheen of sweat covered his forehead and upper lip. She got a clean dishtowel and handed it to him, then settled a fresh ice pack on his knee while she got his dinner ready. After she served him a bowl of green salad with the vinaigrette dressing he liked and poured him a glass of milk, she heated up a plate of chicken and dumplings with spiced apple slices on the side.

  Although she’d planned to go home and eat with Brooke and Blayne, Jess gave her such a pleading look, she warmed a plate of food and sat across from him while he ate and iced his knee.

  Rather than continue insulting each other, Doris asked if he remembered the Thanksgiving Janet had dressed Blayne up like a turkey, complete with an assortment of chicken feathers glued to his shirt for a costume and made him sing a silly song with her.

  By the time they finished eating the meal, Doris felt a bit of the kinship she used to feel toward Jess returning. She had no problem being friends with the man, if he’d leave it at that. Her concern rested in him wanting to take things further.

  If he wanted a wife, she knew a dozen women in town who’d eagerly drag him down the aisle.

  Doris grinned to herself as she did the dishes, wondering what those women would really do if Jess said yes to one of them. Here they were in their seventies. Weren’t they too old for thoughts of hugs and kisses and… She cut off her train of thought before it went any further off track and glanced over her shoulder at Jess.

  “Do you need a ride into Romance for the therapist appointment tomorrow?”

  “I can have one of the boys drive me in,” Jess said, taking the ice off his knee and setting it on the table.

  “I have to run into town for groceries anyway. It wouldn’t be out of my way to take you.” Doris could have easily asked Brooke to pick up the handful of items she needed, but she didn’t want Jess to have to go to his appointment with one of the ranch hands. They were all busy with work as it was, and she had an idea he didn’t like appearing weak or injured in front of them.

  “Thanks, Doris. I appreciate the offer and I’ll take you up on it.” He gave her a long look then smirked. “You learn how to drive any better than you used to? The last time I rode in a vehicle with you, you nearly took out the Mackall’s mailbox and drove up on the curb by Della’s Diner.”

  Doris tossed a towel at him, catching him in the face. He laughed and dropped the towel on the table on top of the ice.

  “If you’ll recall, there were wasps in the car, coming out of the vents and you weren’t paying any more attention to the road than I was.” She stuck the ice pack back in the freezer, gathered the dishes she’d brought back into the box, then set a resealable bag full of cookies on the counter and a large piece of chocolate cake next to it. “If you want this cake, you’ll have to get up and walk over here yourself.”

  Jess lumbered to his feet and used his walker to make his way over to the counter.

  As he towered over her, Doris decided it might have been better if he’d remained seated at the table. He seemed far less threatening there than he did standing beside her as his warmth and presence seemed to envelope her.

  Nervous, she shoved the cake and fork toward him and shifted to the other side of the counter.

  “I better head home. Do you need anything before I go?” she asked, yanking on her coat and wrapping a scarf around her neck against the cold night air.

  “You mean you aren’t gonna stay and tuck me in and read me a bedtime story?” He batted his eyelashes at her and made such a goofy face, she couldn’t help but laugh.

  “No, you dunderhead. Behave yourself and I’ll see you in the morning. We better plan to leave about eight-thirty since your appointment is at nine.”

  “I’ll be ready.”

  Doris picked up her box and opened the door. Before she stepped outside, she felt Jess’s hand on her arm.

  She stood in the open doorway, frosty air swirling around them, and looked at him. A flicker of something in his eyes made her want to run out to her car, but she stiffened her spine and waited for him to speak.

  “Thank you, Doris, for being a good friend.”

  “You’re welcome. Now be a good boy and let me leave before you freeze. You might not be smart enough to stay out of the cold, but I am.”

  Jess spluttered something in protest, but she couldn’t hear it as she slammed the door shut and marched out to her car with a broad smile on her face.

  Chapter Five

  Jess hummed as he took a shower, planning to be completely ready before Doris arrived to drive him into town.

  He grinned, thinking of all the insults the two of them exchanged yesterday. At some point, he’d sensed a shift in her being hostile toward him to actually enjoying the banter. Perhaps all was not yet lost where she was concerned.

  Irked he was in the position of needing her assistance, he would suffer through it. If their friendship returned to the easy footing it had always known, he’d gladly endure another knee replacement surgery although his other knee was perfectly fine. The one he’d had operated on had given him pain for almost twenty years. A horse he was riding stepped in a hole and went down on top of him, doing a number on his knee. Since then, the cold and rain had given him fits even if he refused to limp or let on that it bothered him.

  The last time Janet was home she made him go to the doctor and accompanied him to make sure she didn’t miss any pertinent details. She was surprised to hear the doctor say he’d recommended the knee replacement numerous occasions, but Jess never had time for it. Janet had made him schedule the surgery right then and there. She’d promised to come back when he had the surgery.

  True to her word, she showed up two days before his surgery and helped him do a hundred little chores he wanted taken care of before he was down and out for weeks on end. While he was at the hospital, she baked and cleaned and put scads of single serving meals in the freezer.

  Then three days after he came home, she announced she had to return to Salt Lake City and Doris Grundy would oversee his care.

  Jess didn’t know whether to be mad at Janet or send her a special gift of gratitude for leaving him at the mercy of his neighbor.

  If the thawing trend continued with Doris’s frosty behavior, he might just send his daughter a big bouquet of flowers. Shoot, he could even have Brooke mail her one of her fancy blown glass vases. While he was thinking about it, he made a mental note to ask Brooke for ideas for a Christmas gift for his daughter and granddaughter.

  Jess let the steam of the shower relax his tense muscles, thinking of how much he’d enjoyed talking to Doris last night as they shared dinner. It reminded him of old times when they were nothing more than good friends. Perhaps the way to win Doris was from a place of friendship that could turn into something more.

  He looked through the clear glass of the shower door to the shower chair he planned to haul out to the garage later. Although Janet had insisted he use the chair, he hated it. He’d set it out of the way when he stepped into the shower that morning. Anything that gave him a sense of being an invalid was on his list of things to get rid of as quickly as possible.

  Today was the shower chair. Soon, he hoped to get rid of the elevated toilet seat that made him feel like a toddler being potty trained.

  If his appointment with the doctor went well next week, he planned to ask for a cane instead of the blasted walker. The thing was too short for him, even though Janet had lengthened it as far as it would go. Evidently most people who used them were not a few inches over six-feet.

  Jess squirted shampoo into the palm of his hand and rubbed it over his head. Eyes closed, he set the bottle back on the shelf but heard the soap plop onto the floor. He moved under the shower head to get the shampoo out of his hair, b
ut his foot came down on the bar of soap. One moment he was upright, the next he was bouncing off the side of the tiled wall. He yelped as pain radiated from his knee and shampoo dripped into his eyes.

  His next yelp was one of surprise when the bathroom door banged open and Doris Grundy raced inside.

  Her eyes widened to the size of teacup saucers when she realized he was in the shower. She took a step forward then froze, as though she couldn’t decide if she should help him or leave. He grabbed the closest thing he could find and held it strategically in front of him.

  “Are you okay? I heard you yell,” she said, yanking off her gloves and stuffing them inside the pockets of her coat.

  “I dropped the soap and hit my knee, but I’m fine.” Jess blew suds of shampoo off his nose and blinked at the stinging sensation in his eyes. “What are you doing here so early? It’s not even close to eight.”

  “Well, I brought over some breakfast for you and I thought you might need help with your shoes and… what not.”

  What not, indeed! Mortified at being caught in such a compromising situation, Doris made it worse when she cocked her head and grinned at him.

  “I wouldn’t have taken you for a pink piglet kind of fella, Jess.”

  He glanced down to see he held a ridiculous pink bath sponge with a smiling piglet face in front of him. “Mallory sent it as a joke when she heard about Pigtails, the little pig I brought home last month.”

  “Blayne mentioned you bought a pig to fatten up, but Janet said she didn’t think you had it in you to eat it. If your little bath sponge is any indication, she’s probably right.”

  “I’ll have you know…” Jess lost his train of thought when Doris continued smiling at him with humor dancing in those magnificent sapphire eyes of hers. “Do you think I could finish my shower now?”

  “Do you need the chair that Janet most likely put in there for you to use?” she asked, taking a step closer to the shower.

  “No, I don’t.”

  Doris gave him one more glance then turned her back to him. “Are you sure you’re not hurt? I could have Blayne come help you.”

  “I don’t need any help.” He grabbed the bar of soap and hurriedly washed the shampoo from his hair and let the water soothe his burning eyes.

  “I thought maybe when we go to town you might like to…” Doris’s voice sounded strange and she didn’t finish her thought. Jess glanced over to see her watching his every move in the mirror above the sink.

  “You perverted old woman! Get out of my bathroom!” he hollered at her, but couldn’t quite hide his grin.

  Her cheeks bloomed with color, but she held his gaze in the mirror. “Thanks for the morning show. I’ll have to tell the girls at book club all about this.” Defiantly, she tossed her snowy white hair. “I now have answers to two of their most pressing questions. They’ll be quite impressed.”

  “Out!” he bellowed and watched her move toward the doorway.

  Heat seared up his neck and stained his cheeks with embarrassment, but he couldn’t stop smiling. Doris left the bathroom, her giggles floating back to him. That woman. He would never have expected her to peep at him.

  Then again, she was serving as his nursemaid of sorts. If the situation was reversed, Jess wouldn’t have waited for permission to enter a room if he heard her scream in pain. He would have charged right in to see what was wrong and how he could fix it.

  He wasn’t sure if the pleased look on her face was from what she saw before he grabbed the piggy sponge or because of the idiotic pink sponge. Bless that Mallory for sending gag gifts to her ol’ grandpa.

  Doris scurried to the kitchen and opened the back door, fanning her overheated face. Mercy! She got more of an eyeful of her neighbor than she’d wanted. She knew Jess kept in shape from the hard work he did on the ranch, but she had no idea he looked so good beneath his western shirts. No wonder Julia had been so over-the-moon in love with him.

  Chiding herself for thinking about such things at her age, she let the frosty air cool her searing cheeks.

  She’d barely arrived and set a basket of food on the counter when she heard him yell in pain. She didn’t think about where he was or what he was doing, she just reacted. Heart pounding, she’d raced on pure instinct into the master bedroom and flung open the bathroom door.

  And there was Jess, in all his glory, looking as shocked to see her as she was to find him in the shower.

  Then he’d whipped that little pink piggy sponge in front of him and Doris had to bite her cheek to keep from breaking into peals of laughter. The cute little snout and sweet smile of the pig taunted her as Jess held it in a strategic position.

  She giggled as she closed the back door and removed her coat, hanging it on a hook next to Jess’s outerwear.

  Doris made coffee and gazed around the kitchen. From the first time she’d seen the house Jess had built for Julia, she’d loved the simple, open floor plan. Not that she didn’t like the historic house at the Rockin’ G, but there were so many reminders there of her nasty mother-in-law. She’d often wished Glen hadn’t been so set on investing money in restoring the old house instead of building something new.

  Julia and Jess had lived in a tiny little two-bedroom house for years. When Janet was in high school and started having more friends over, Jess arrived home one day with a book of house plans and told Julia to pick out what she wanted.

  Never one to put on airs or want more than she needed, Julia selected a very modest plan. Jess upgraded it, adding a spacious master suite and increasing the size of the living room and kitchen.

  Now that they were getting older, Doris liked that the house was all one level. The stairs at her house kept her in shape, but there were times when she purely hated running up and down them all day.

  But with Blayne, and now Brooke, there, they took care of more and more of the running. When Blayne got married, Doris moved from the upstairs bedroom she’d shared with Glen to a bedroom off the kitchen, wanting to give the newlyweds privacy.

  She recalled how hard it was to be young and in love and have a mother-in-law hovering around all the time. At some point, she knew she should consider moving out of the house, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Not yet.

  Leaning against the marble counter, Doris sipped a cup of coffee and thought of the unexpected, interesting start of her day. A giggle escaped her, followed by another as the look on Jess’s face floated through her mind.

  “Oh, stop cackling like a witch,” Jess said as he shuffled into the kitchen with his walker. Droplets of water clung to the ends of his thick hair, making it look darker. He had on a navy blue shirt with stripes of gray that matched his stormy eyes. His cheeks looked smooth and taut from being freshly shaved, and the scent of his aftershave made her think of snowy winter pines.

  He lifted one eyebrow in question and tipped his head toward the coffee pot. “You leave any of that bean juice for me?”

  “I think I could round up a cup. I brought banana bread and a breakfast casserole. Think you can choke that down before we need to leave?” Doris asked, pouring a cup of coffee and setting it in front of him before she placed a plate in the microwave to warm his food. She buttered two slices of banana bread and slid them onto a bread plate. She set it in front of him, retrieved the plate with the casserole and gave it to him, then took a seat at the table.

  “You already eat?” he asked.

  “I had breakfast with the kids about an hour ago,” she said, but bowed her head while Jess offered thanks for the meal.

  “This is good,” he said, biting into the banana bread. “You always were a good baker, Doris. Julia used to complain that she could never get her cakes as moist and light as yours.”

  “I had no idea,” Doris said, surprised by his words. “Julia was always so good at everything she did. I don’t think there’s anything she couldn’t do if she set her mind to it.”

  Jess chuckled. “She used to say the same thing about you.”

  Doris
looked up at Jess and felt giggles beginning to build in her throat so she glanced out the window and watched Jess’s ranch hands go about their morning chores. She saw one of the cowboys bend down and pick up a little pig. He said something to it before returning it to the warmth of the barn.

  “Pigtails must have made a mad escape. Pete just carried her back in the barn,” Doris said, motioning out the window.

  At the mention of the pig, red crept up Jess’s neck and stained his ears.

  Doris hid a grin behind her coffee cup. She could hardly wait until the next book club meeting to tell the girls what she’d seen. Then again, some things were better left unsaid.

  Chapter Six

  “How did you get lights up on your house, or did the boys do it?” Doris asked. She stood on the front walk and motioned to the strings of lights draped across the porch of the house.

  Jess grinned as he stepped outside and closed the door behind him. Since Doris had started coming over to take care of him the previous week, she’d mentioned several times how sad his house looked without any decorations.

  He’d asked the ranch hands to add a little holiday cheer to the place and they hadn’t even grumbled too loudly about hanging the lights and setting up the outdoor decorations. They’d worked hard the previous afternoon to get it done in time to surprise Doris when she came today to take him to his doctor appointment. If all went well, he’d return home without his stitches.

  “Magic,” he said. “Don’t you know Christmas is a time of wonder and anything is possible?”

  “I think it’s possible you’re full of hot air and horsefeathers,” Doris said, grinning at him. “I’ll just go with the idea that you forced your overworked ranch hands to hang the lights on the house, barn, and along the fence. They sure do look nice, though, especially on this overcast, foggy day. If I didn’t know better, I’d say it might snow.”

  Carefully, Jess made his way down the porch steps. “Now you’re just being fanciful. It hardly ever snows here. I think it’s just a typical winter day in Romance.”