Teacher's Christmas Cowboy (Trinity Falls Sweet Romance - Icicle Christmas #5)

As if on cue, a familiar voice called out a greeting.

“There you are,” Ginny cried happily from across the street. “Are you excited to ride the fire truck?”

“It’s okay, you can go to her since the streets are closed,” Cora told Sylvester, who had begun wiggling in place the moment he laid eyes on his grandmother.

He let go of her hand and darted across the street to wrap his arms around Ginny’s middle, and she smiled so hard that her eyes closed as she hugged him back.

Cora followed, unable to help her own smile at the two of them. Whether or not Ginny forgave her for Jared being here today, she was so good for Sylvester. Their move to get closer to her had been the right decision.

She made a mental note that when all this stuff at the house and with Jimmy was done, the two of them were going to spend more afternoons with Grandma Davies.

But before she could reach them, another greeting had her turning back around.

“Hi, Cora,” Jared said, his deep voice warming her skin, in spite of the chill in the air.

He wore his cowboy hat, as usual, and a fleece-lined corduroy jacket. His blue eyes twinkled, and she could see the smile peeking through his beard.

“Hi,” she said a little breathlessly.

“I see Sylvester found his grandma,” Jared said, looking across the street.

Cora turned back, and saw that Ginny and Sylvester appeared to be talking a mile a minute.

“I guess we should get over there before they have all their fun without us,” she said.

“Sounds good,” Jared said.

They headed over together, Cora feeling a bit like she was marching toward the gallows. But if Ginny Davies had any bad feelings about the situation, she hid them well.

“Jared Webb,” Ginny said fondly, looking way up at the strapping man. “It’s so nice to see you. Sylvester tells me that you’ve been reading some books with him.”

“Sylvester should run a book club,” Jared said right away. “He really knows how to pick a good one. It’s nice to see you, Ginny.”

“We were thinking about taking a ride on the fire truck, weren’t we, Sylvester?” she said, turning back to her grandson.

“Great thinking,” Jared said. “This early in the day, Santa Claus will be riding on there, and he’ll still have plenty of candy canes to give out.”

“Can I, Mom?” Sylvester asked excitedly.

“Sure,” she told him. “We’ll all go together.”

“Yes,” Sylvester said, jumping up and down and offering Jared a fist bump.

Jared bumped his fist gently to Sylvester’s and they all headed over to the municipal lot, where kids were running between tables of offerings, and a line had formed for firetruck rides.

The truck came back around the corner just as they took their places in line.

A little girl in front of them told her grown-ups it was too loud, and the family bid a hasty retreat. Cora glanced down at Sylvester to see what he made of the siren sounding and the people riding way up on top.

But he looked excited and happy, at least for now. If he changed his mind, she could always just walk away as easily as the other family had. She and Arthur had decided when he was small to honor his fears and let him do things when he was ready. The result was that he was usually very brave, knowing he could always bail out without judgement.

Kids clutching candy canes climbed down from the truck looking delighted.

“Ho, ho, ho,” a deep voice called out from above. “Merry Christmas!”

Sylvester’s eyes widened slightly as he watched the kids coming down the ladder and heard the loud voice. But soon the twinkly-eyed older lady who was in charge of the line was sending them all up.

“Do you want to do this?” Cora bent to ask him quietly as they waited for everyone in front of them to climb up.