Page 32 of A Mustang River Christmas

He looked deep in thought for a moment. “Yes. You can.”

“I’ve never really liked Christmas,” she said.

“Never?”

“No. My parents always got me what they wanted to get me. It was like they would stuff their obligations into the holiday. And it’s not even about gifts, it really isn’t. I knew people who never got much of anything for Christmas, and they still had a happy family holiday. It’s more just feeling like they didn’t get me. I don’t know. I just wonder how things would’ve been different if I’d had a warmer family. If I would’ve had different goals for my life. I’m happy with where I am professionally. That’s actually the first time I’ve been able to say that... Ever. Because I always wanted my own restaurant, and then when I lost it I thought I was going to die. So don’t get me wrong, I am happy with where my life has taken me. But I’ve just been wondering some things and... I just wonder how it would be different.”

“I wonder that sometimes too. I wonder if I would’ve had better coping skills. If I’d had different parents. I wonder if maybe I would’ve been able to handle setbacks better, I wonder if I would’ve been able to handle my injury without... But then, I just think also maybe I was one of those people. Just unlucky. You get hooked on pain pills faster than other people, and then you have to be on a short substance leash for the rest of your life. It just is what it is, I guess.”

Sitting there on the blanket with him, she could only marvel at the fact that they’d found each other here at the ranch. Because they really were so similar. And they were both... Kind of lonely. But they had all these things in common, so maybe... Maybe they didn’t need to feel quite so lonely.

“What did you want for Christmas that you didn’t get?” she asked.

“Me? Oh... I think I wanted a horse. Not a real one, like, one of those Breyer horses,” he said. “My dad got me army men instead. I don’t think he thought a model horse was manly. But I always kind of wanted to be a cowboy.”

“And look at you now.”

“I guess so.”

“You have quite a lot of your dreams, actually, Pike Malone. In spite of it all.”

Silence fell between them. “What about you?”

“I always wanted an Easy-Bake Oven.” She laughed. “Now I just cook all the time.”

“We really are a pair,” he said.

“We really are.”

And then he took her back to the hotel, back to her room. Where there were no restrictions on what they could do.

Chapter Nine

The events at the ranch brought so many people touring through the hotel. And they brought a whole bunch of new people out to the restaurant. Pike felt proud. Both of the gingerbread house, and of Laney. Probably most of all of Laney. Of course, Chloe helping out with the food only made his pride grow exponentially more.

They made a good team.

Watching the two of them cook together made him... It made him feel some kind of hope that he couldn’t quite untangle or explain.

He was hanging out in the hotel, watching people examine the gingerbread house, answering questions as he could, when Cody came in.

“Hey,” Cody said. “This is just incredible. Marlowe was telling me how amazing it was, but I didn’t have any concept of the scale.”

“Thanks, Cody,” Pike said.

“You know, I looked you up when I hired you. I always knew that you had a past you were choosing not to share. I also figured since you chose not to share it, it wasn’t my business to bring it up.”

“You still Googled it,” Pike said.

“Sure, I can’t have secret serial killers on my staff. A secret pastry chef is acceptable.”

“Yeah. Well. It’s been good to get back to it.”

“You’re wasted working on the ranch.”

“I’m not, Cody,” Pike said. “Because I enjoy it. But, it’s been nice to do a bit of this too. And I think I’ll probably want to keep doing stuff like this when I can.”

“That’s great,” Cody said. “We’d love to take advantage of you.”