Bring Me Home for Christmas

  And here she and Denny stood, on the porch at Jack’s Bar, staring each other down. Trying to get a grip on this strange reunion.

  “We’re going to have to go back in there, have a drink and some laughs, eat Preacher’s dinner,” Denny said to her. “We’re going to have to call a truce. Let bygones be bygones. Whatever.”

  “Fine,” she said. “I’m not the one acting like there’s a problem.”

  “You took me by surprise,” he said. “I shouldn’t have been so rude. Sorry. But it was a guys’ trip and you are definitely not a guy.”

  Well. At least he noticed that. Because she was noticing him—that square, unshaven jaw, crazy hair that looked so thick it should probably be thinned, dark brown eyes, wide shoulders. The way his jeans fit over his narrow hips and long legs. It made her feel warm. Note to self, remember this reaction. There’s no logical reason for this, but it’s still happening. I feel him all over me. Damn it all.

  “I kind of insisted, and Rich thought it would be okay, if I wasn’t any trouble. I can hold my own in outdoor sports.”

  “You pressured him,” Denny said.

  “I’m the oldest—he can’t say no to me. I told him I really wanted a break and that I’d fit in fine.”

  “Yeah. Sure.”

  “Is this how you call a truce? By needling me and trying to make me feel like I’m invading your territory? The other guys seem to be okay with it.”

  “Look, Becca, we should have talked first, all right? Obviously there are some hard feelings between us.”

  She stuffed her hands back in her pockets. “Well, I was the one who got dumped and I’m not holding a grudge.”

  “I said I was sorry and you dumped me right back. You have to admit, I apologized.”

  She smirked and shook her head sadly. “That you did. That you did.”

  “What else could I have done?”

  “Well, I wonder,” she said. “Did it ever occur to you that you might have to do more than apologize? You could’ve tried twice, I guess. Or, hey—maybe even three times. You could’ve sent flowers or something. You could’ve tried to get the point across that you really were sorry and that you weren’t out of your mind anymore. But you were on the next train out of San Diego. Now, I’m cold. I’m going back in by the fire. I’m going to drink my wine, have a good meal, laugh with my new friends. If you want to be miserable, have at it. I really couldn’t care less.” She turned and went back into the bar.

  And Denny thought, I could have changed everything with flowers?

  They had a little camaraderie over dinner; some reminiscing among the guys, some jokes. The subject of Denny and Becca was strictly avoided. Denny was just a little more quiet than usual, but no one seemed to notice. Probably because Becca was adorable, funny and just slightly flirtatious.

  Denny wanted to shake her.

  No one was more relieved than Denny when it was time for everyone to say good-night and retire to their respective rooms. This event was not shaping up the way he expected.

  Troy and Dirk went off to their cabin by the river and Denny and Rich went with Becca down the street to Denny’s efficiency over the Fitchs’ garage. “I’ll show Becca the room and pack a few things,” Denny said. “I can give her my keys and leave her my truck just in case, but she won’t need it.”

  “Sure,” Rich said. “I’ll wait here. But let’s move it, huh? I’ve been up since before four….”

  “Five minutes,” he said, heading inside.

  Becca was already halfway up the stairs, struggling with a very large suitcase. He took the stairs two at a time and said, “I’ll get that.”

  “No, please. I insist on pulling my own weight.”

  “Come on, gimme,” he said, grabbing the suitcase out of her hand.

  He nearly toppled down the stairs. It weighed a ton. “Jesus,” he swore. “What have you got in this thing?”

  “Clothes. Warm clothes. A couple of jackets. Boots.”

  “And bricks?”

  “I was doing fine,” she said. “Let me have it.”

  “No, I’ve got it,” he insisted. He winced as he hefted it, but he was not about to pull it up on its wheels, one step at a time, as she had been doing.

  She skipped up the stairs ahead of him, getting out of his way, and waited at the top. “Thank you, Denny,” she said. “Very thoughtful.”

  He opened the door.

  “Oh.” She laughed. “I was waiting for you to unlock it.”

  “Hardly anything is locked around here.” He flipped on the light just inside the door and dropped her bag.

  Denny went to the trunk at the foot of his bed and pulled out a military duffel. He went to the bathroom and got his shaving kit. While he was in there, he pulled out a clean towel for Becca, tossing his towel from the morning into the hamper. When he came out of the bathroom, she was standing in the middle of the room, checking it out. “There are clean sheets under the sink in the bathroom,” he said.

  She looked around the room with interest. “This is very…cute.”

  The bedspread was floral, the upholstery on the chair and ottoman was striped with some birds on it, the curtains yellow-and-white striped. The walls were yellow with white trim. “Mrs. Fitch decorated this room. She offered to butch it up a little but I told her not to bother. I’ve been looking around for something a little more…permanent. Larger.”

  “Permanent?” she asked.

  “That’s right,” he said, opening the chest of drawers to find his thermal underwear. It was going to be cold, wet and miserable at 4:00 a.m.

  “Rich said you were planning to stay here awhile.”

  “A long while,” he said. “I like it here.” He shoved the shaving kit, underwear, jeans and sweat shirt into the bag.

  “You’re not coming back to San Diego?” she asked.

  He gave a shrug. “What for?” he asked.

  “Won’t you miss it? The sunshine and beach and wonderful weather?”

  The look that came into his eyes was unmistakably sad. “There’s a lot about San Diego I’ll miss, Becca. But not the beach or the weather.” He hefted the bag over one shoulder and grabbed the twelve-gauge shotgun that leaned up against the wall.

  “Really, Denny? You’d never come back?”

  “What would I go back to San Diego for? We’re meeting at 4:00 a.m. at the bar tomorrow, Becca. Don’t make us wait for you. Dress in camouflage. You brought camouflage, right?”

  “Right,” she said.

  “See you in the morning,” he said, going out the door.

  “Whew,” she said when the door closed. This was a bad idea. He hates me! Her next thought was, If I hadn’t come up here, I’d never have seen him again!

  After brushing her teeth, washing her face and putting on some warm pajamas, she crawled into bed. She hadn’t bothered with the clean sheets, but she should have. She caught Denny’s scent on the linens and she remembered it far too distinctly. It was that perfect combination from both of them—her flowery scent combined with his masculine musk. It was so long ago she was astonished she could still summon it in her mind, but it came back to her effortlessly.

  A tear escaped. They’re going to come after me with a net, she thought. What if she was still in love with him? And he hated her? How the hell was she going to have a life?

  This is going to be torture, she thought. Pure torture.

  Denny and Rich were all ready at the bar at 4:00 a.m. when Troy and Dirk arrived. Denny had Jack’s decoys and a duck boat in the back of Big Richie’s truck, a couple of thermoses of coffee and a box of sandwiches Preacher had gotten ready the night before.

  “Jack’s from Sacramento and did a lot of hunting around there with his dad. He says you’re going to find it even better up here,” he told Troy and Dirk. “Colder, but better. He and Preacher prefer deer hunting, but they go out for a little fowl sometimes, so he showed me a great blind back in Trinity, not too far from here. You can follow us. We’re going to meet one of the
neighbors out there—Muriel St. Claire. She’s a big waterfowl hunter and she’s bringing at least one of her dogs. Where’s Becca?”

  “Right here,” she said from behind them.

  He turned to look at her and grinned. She had high rubber boots over her army-green jeans, wore a brown turtleneck under a camouflage vest and covered her golden hair with a khaki hat. Hah! This was not a last-minute deal! “Where’s your gun?” he asked.

  “I left it in Rich’s truck last night,” she said.

  “You’re dressed perfect, Becca,” he pointed out to her.

  “Why, thank you, Dennis. I looked up what to wear on Google.”

  “Very smart,” he said. He knew his girl. Okay, she hadn’t been his girl in a long time, but she couldn’t have changed that much. She was into clothes in a big way; work or school clothes; going out to dinner clothes; club clothes, beach clothes, biking or hiking or skiing clothes. Very girlie things. Did she really expect him to believe she had rubber boots and a camouflage vest lying around waiting for her first duck-hunting excursion? So…she had an agenda. “Let’s go,” he said. “Becca, stick close to your brother. Ride with us.”

  “Sure,” she said, jumping in the back of Rich’s extended cab.

  Denny took the wheel on Rich’s truck, since he knew the way, and within thirty minutes they arrived at a marshy lake in a designated hunting area in Trinity County. It was still foggy in the predawn hours; there were probably ducks on the lake. They pulled up right behind a big dually truck. Standing beside it with a couple of Labs, one brown and one yellow, was Muriel. A few other trucks pulled off up ahead indicated other hunters.

  Denny made the introductions. When Muriel shook Becca’s hand, she said, “Nice to have another woman along. I’m almost always the only one!”

  “Well, I’m a novice,” Becca said. “I’ve never been duck hunting before. How long have you been hunting?”

  “Since I was a girl,” Muriel said. “I grew up on a farm around here. My dad taught me to hunt when I was about twelve, but I’d been tagging along for a few years before that. This is Luce,” she said, introducing the chocolate Lab. “She’s an expert. Buff is still iffy—sometimes he retrieves, sometimes he just goes for a swim.” Muriel nodded at the rifle, still in the case. “I take it you shoot.”

  “Skeet,” Becca said. “I’m not sure how I’ll do with ducks.”

  “Ducks are bigger, but you don’t set them off by yelling ‘pull.’ Just stay quiet, pay attention, try to be invisible. Damn fowl have excellent vision, I swear. Coffee? Danish?”

  “Sure,” she said. “That would be great.”

  Muriel opened the passenger side of her truck and poured Becca a cup. “We have a few minutes before we get in the weeds. Your boys are unloading their boat and setting up their decoys. Are you going in the boat?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” Becca said.

  “One of the advantages to having a couple of dogs, I can stay on dry land and they’ll do the swimming.”

  “Doesn’t look to me like there’s enough room for everyone in that boat,” Becca said. She sipped her coffee.

  “I like this area,” Muriel said. “Lots of natural blinds. I get comfy with my thermos and my dogs and wait for the ducks to come to me.” She smiled. “What’s your excuse for doing this?”

  Becca gestured toward the men with her coffee cup. “See the big one? My twin, Richard. And the two guys carrying the boat to the water? Friends of Richie’s from the Marine Corps. And the really cute one? Denny. We used to be together. We broke up about three years ago.”

  “Really?” Muriel said. “You and Denny?”

  “We were just kids.”

  “Ah,” she said. “You’re not over him.”

  “I have a boyfriend,” Becca said, but she didn’t make eye contact with Muriel. “I think he’s getting real serious, too.”

  “So, you’re not over him,” Muriel said again.

  “It’s not relevant. He’s over me,” she said.

  Muriel sipped her coffee. “Gotcha,” she finally said.

  It was an hour before Becca realized who Muriel was—a well-known actress. She just didn’t look the same without makeup, her hair covered with a stocking cap and hood. “I’m sorry, Muriel,” she said softly. “I didn’t know you were that Muriel!”

  The woman just laughed softly.

  “Is this how a famous actress spends her spare time?” Becca asked.

  “I’m just a farm girl who learned to act, sweetheart.”

  Becca was so happy to have Muriel to follow. She imitated her behavior, sitting still and silent in the bushes. Thank God there was another woman to cover for her when the time came to go behind a bush to pee; at that moment, she wished she really was one of the guys! And she stood guard while one of the best-known actresses in Hollywood squatted behind a bush. “Talk about something for my Facebook page,” Becca joked.

  “Don’t even think about it, darling,” Muriel said with a smile that promised dire consequences and no sense of humor on that suggestion.

  It drizzled on and off through the early morning and even though everyone had rain slickers, Becca felt damp to her bones. There were a couple of flushes of birds, a few shots fired, but it wasn’t until 10:00 a.m. that Muriel bagged a mallard. Luce went out for the duck, brought it back to her mistress, and Muriel praised her Lab proudly, tossing the dead bird into the back of her truck.

  Becca hoped she didn’t hit anything. Though she was every inch an athlete who could keep up with the boys, she seriously didn’t want to touch a dead duck.

  “What are you going to do with that duck?” Becca asked her.

  “Eat it, hopefully.”

  “You’re a cook, too?”

  “Well, no. Not at all. I can barely slice cheese. But I very wisely found myself a guy who loves to cook and he’s brilliant at it.”

  “And will you pluck it and gut it?” Becca asked.

  “Well, I can, if it comes to that. But I think Walt will take over. He loves thinking he takes care of me.” She smiled. “And I love promoting that idea. I like to train the dogs and shoot a lot more than I like handling the game.”

  “It’s a relief to hear that. I was feeling a little out of place with the boys,” Becca said.

  Then they went back to sitting, silent and shivering, waiting for game. What about this is fun, exactly? Becca wondered. She heard soft masculine laughter now and then. What could possibly be entertaining them? The cold? The rain?

  At a little before noon, Muriel decided she’d had enough, bid everyone goodbye and took her dogs home. A little while later, Becca took refuge in her brother’s truck, drank more hot coffee and ate a sandwich. She turned on the truck to run the heater and within seconds Denny was there, telling her to kill the engine. The noise! She hadn’t gotten even an ounce of heat, but she turned the ignition off. She decided the guys could have as much wet, cold fun as they could stand, she was done for the day. She couldn’t feel her toes; her nose would never again be a normal color. At least it was a little warmer inside the truck, even without the heater. She leaned back and closed her eyes.

  She wasn’t sure how long she had dozed when the truck’s door on the driver’s side opened and caused her to wake. Smiling, Troy settled behind the wheel. “Just thought I’d grab a cup of coffee and a sandwich. You okay?”

  “Fine. Just got cold and hungry. Time for a break.”

  He reached into the back of the extended cab, into the picnic box Preacher had packed, and pulled out a sandwich. “So, what do you think of duck hunting so far?”

  “Honestly?” she asked. “A little on the, uh, boring side. Not to mention cold and wet.”

  He laughed and nodded in agreement. “Good weather for ducks, but not for us. I’d rather hunt on a clear day, but the cold doesn’t bother me. And when you actually hit your target, that’s when it’s cool. And we like to eat our kill,” he said, grinning, before taking a big bite of his sandwich.

  “How cav
eman of you,” she said. “Do you also like to pluck your kill?”

  “We let our women do that,” he teased. “We go out, club the beasts, drag them home and our women clean them, cook them and make our clothes out of their skins.”

  “And what tribe do you come from?” she asked, laughing at him. But he just chewed and his eyes twinkled. “Rich has mentioned you a hundred times, at least, but I don’t know that much about you. Besides being a Marine reservist, how do you earn a living?” she asked him.

  “I teach seventh-grade math. Geometry and pre-algebra.”

  “No kidding?” she asked, sitting straighter. “I teach!”

  “I know. We have a lot in common.”

  “I wonder why Rich didn’t tell me that,” she said.

  Troy laughed. “Let me guess—maybe it’s not way up there on his list of important conversational topics. I haven’t been teaching long. I did two years in the Corps, finished college, got called for Iraq again and came home to teach. I think I’ll get in a good stretch at home now.”

  “But why the Marines? I mean, why still the Marines?”

  He shrugged. “I love the Marine Corps.”

  “And if you get called again?”

  “I’ll go again,” he said easily.

  “And Dirk? Did I hear he worked construction…?”

  “Heavy equipment operator—a crane. Just like his dad and his brother.”

  “No interest in college for him?”

  Troy laughed. “I don’t think so, no. It takes about three teachers’ salaries to make one crane operator’s.”

  “Now, see, that’s just wrong. What’s more important—the future of your children or the construction of a building?”

  “You’re not looking at it the way they do,” he said. “It’s not the building that’s valued above the future of the children, it’s the guys in the hard hats under the crane who count on a really good operator. Their lives depend on it. They would be the fathers.”

  “Teachers are underpaid,” she pointed out to him.

  “As are cops, firefighters, librarians and just about everyone who is a public servant. I don’t know about you, but most of us don’t teach because it’ll make us rich.”