Hometown Christmas Gift. Kat Brookes

brows arched upward. “My help?” Something told him he didn’t want to hear what the other man had to say.

      “I’m not going to be able to be there for my sister and her son right now,” he said, and Jackson could tell it was tearing him apart. “At least, not like I’d planned to be. But I’m hoping they’ll be able to have the next best thing—you.”

      Me? he thought, feeling the urge to back himself right out of Justin’s office. The last thing Lainie wanted to do was spend time around him. “Justin, you know I would do anything for you. But how am I supposed to help Lainie with her son?”

      “You’re an uncle,” his friend explained. “You’ve had experience with kids.”

      “Limited,” he countered.

      “More than me,” Justin pointed out, effectively winning the debate.

      “Have you forgotten about my bad leg?”

      Justin arched a brow. “You can’t be serious.”

      He was. But not because it would keep him from doing things with Justin’s nephew. It was having Lainie see him limp around on his damaged leg, knowing he could never be the man she’d once been so determined to give her heart to.

      “Look,” his friend said, his tone serious, “if you’re too busy to help me out, or would just prefer not to, just say so. I’ll figure something out. I know you’ve just finished up the rodeo season and you’re probably worn thin.”

      True. He was still recovering from spending weeks on end, traveling from state to state with the broncs he and his brothers had contracted out to various rodeos. But this was his best friend asking for his help. More importantly, Lainie needed it, even if he was fairly certain she wouldn’t want it. And Justin had enough on his plate as it was. He shouldn’t have to be worrying about his sister as well.

      Shoving his own reservations back, Jackson said with a sigh of resignation, “No need to look elsewhere. I’ll do it.”

      Relief swept over the sheriff’s face in the form of a wide smile. “Thanks. I owe you one. My sister’s happiness means the world to me.”

      It meant the world to him, too, but Jackson wasn’t so sure Lainie knew that. Probably for the best, he decided, because they could never go back to the way things were before he’d broken her heart.

       Chapter Two

      “Morning,” Lainie said in greeting as her brother, finally coming in from the night shift he’d had to work, stepped into the kitchen. He was a sight for sore eyes after her trip home and a long, restless night, having cried herself to sleep the night before thanks to an emotional journey.

      “Sis,” Justin replied with an affectionate grin as he crossed the kitchen to where she stood at the stove frying up some bacon. He gave her a warm, welcoming bear hug and then released her as he took a step back. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be here with you last night.”

      She shrugged. “Life doesn’t always work out the way we plan for it to.” She knew that better than anyone. “Besides, Lucas and I were both spent. We went to bed early. Thank you for keeping me updated though. Sounds like things are more than a little bit crazy at work for you right now.” He’d called her the evening before to explain what had happened and to let her know he wouldn’t be making it home that night. Then he had texted her that morning to let her know he was finally on his way home and couldn’t wait to see her and his nephew.

      “To say the least. Deputy Vance and I were trying to get some sort of temporary schedule worked out.”

      “I hate the thought of you having driven home after working the night shift,” she said with a frown. “If only I could have helped you.” But she hadn’t driven since the night of the accident that killed Will. Didn’t think she ever would again, which was why she intended to look for a place in town. Lucas would be able to walk to school and she would be able to get to the grocery store, pharmacy, even the doctor, whatever either of them might need.

      “I was able to grab an hour or so of shut-eye in my office when Deputy Vance came in to relieve me. After that, I felt rested enough to make the short drive home.”

      “That makes me feel a little better,” she told him. “As anxious as I was to see you, I’m glad you stayed and got some much-needed rest before coming home.” She couldn’t bear it if something happened to him, too.

      “Some homecoming, huh?” he said with a frown.

      “It was probably for the best,” she admitted. “Lucas wasn’t in the best of moods when we got here yesterday.”

      Justin settled back against the kitchen counter, arms crossed in a casual stance. “Jackson said you and Lucas had words.”

      Lainie turned her attention back to the pan of crispy bacon atop the stove, a knot forming in her stomach. Just as she had feared, Jackson had been there long enough to hear at least part of the argument she was having with her son. “I wish you hadn’t sent him here with the key.”

      “You’d rather I left you standing outside in the cold?”

      She frowned. “No.”

      “You told me you wanted to wait until today to surprise Mom and Dad since you arrived early, and because you wanted to give Lucas a chance to settle in after the move. Therefore, my calling them to run over to Bent Creek to bring you their spare key was out of the question. So Jackson was the next-best thing.”

      Lainie sighed. “I’m sorry, Justin. I don’t mean to give you a hard time. Especially since you’re doing so much for Lucas and me, allowing us to stay here until we find a place of our own. But things are just...well, they’re awkward between Jackson and myself.” She’d also need to look for a job. While her husband had left them financially secure, she wanted to keep most of that money in the bank for unexpected expenses and for a college fund for her son.

      He nodded in understanding. “I’d imagine they would be. You haven’t really seen him or even spoken to him for years. What I don’t understand is why that is.”

      Lainie prayed to the Lord for the emotional strength this homecoming was going to require of her. But if it helped her son, she would endure anything that came her way—even her foolish young past where she’d thrown herself, heart included, at Jackson, only to be told he didn’t feel the same way.

      “Life changes and so do people,” she explained as she turned to the stove and began plucking the bacon out of the cast-iron frying pan with the tongs. She then placed the crispy strips onto the paper-towel-covered plate she’d put on the counter beside the stove. “Jackson is all about the rodeo,” she went on, praying the hurt she’d tried to keep bottled up where her brother’s best friend was concerned would remain where she’d placed it—buried deep. “And, of course, his family. Just as I’m not the same young girl who left Bent Creek all those years ago. I’ve grown up.” Grown wiser. “The focus in my life is on my family, too, but most especially on my son. And now, more than ever, it needs to stay that way. I can’t afford any distractions.”

      “Okay, so if I were to read a little deeper between the lines of that explanation, I think what you’re also saying is that you still haven’t gotten over Jackson,” her brother said, taking Lainie by surprise.

      Her head snapped around, her gaze meeting his. “Excuse me?”

      Justin grabbed a cup from the kitchen cupboard and poured himself some of the coffee Lainie had made when she’d first awoken that morning. “When you were little,” he said calmly, “you used to adore Jackson, following us around like a pesky shadow. As you got older, I would watch your face light up whenever he came over to visit.”

      “He was like my other brother,” she said, realizing as