A Very Maverick Christmas. Rachel Lee

find time?”

      “I worked extra hard the last few days.”

      She dared to eye him. “Not with barbed wire, I presume.”

      He laughed. “Nope. Hay. And you know what? That’s almost as bad when it finds its way inside your clothes. Prickly and itchy.”

      “But no danger of stitches.”

      He looked up from the package he was wrapping, and their gazes engaged. Julie felt as if the air had vanished from the room.

      “No stitches,” he agreed. Then, “Julie?”

      “Jennifer.”

      He looked startled, but probably no more than she. Where had that come from? She stared at him without seeing him as her mind once again jumped on the hamster wheel. Jennifer? Somehow that sounded right, better than Julie. My God, was that her real name? But for once, something felt as if it fit.

      “Julie?” he repeated. “What’s wrong?”

      She shook herself out of the moment, promising herself she could ponder this revelation later. “Sorry,” she said. “It’s just that I used to go by Jennifer. I don’t know how it came about, it just did. I haven’t used it here.” Because she didn’t know it. “I shouldn’t have blurted that.”

      “Well, if it’s the name you prefer, I don’t mind using it.” His smile was friendly as he returned to wrapping. “Jennifer it is. I like it. Or can I call you Jenn? I like that, too.”

      Only then did it strike her how many people were going to wonder about this name change. How many questions she might have to answer. Oh, God, she needed to stop blurting things like that. Not that there were too many of them so far.

      “Oh, just stick with Julie,” she dared to say. “If I go changing my name now, everyone’s going to get confused.”

      “I doubt it. It’s your nickname. I think most of your friends would like knowing that.”

      “I don’t know. It seems stupid after all this time to come out with that.”

      “Let me handle it.”

      She was glad to, but wondered why he should even bother. Or why she should let him. God, she’d like to find some backbone and take control of this roller-coaster ride she lived on.

      Then she reminded herself that she’d had the gumption to move clear across the country on her search to make a new place for herself in an entirely strange town. That wasn’t cowardly. She only grew skittish when dealing with people who came close, close enough to figure out that something was wrong with her.

      Maybe she should stop making such a big deal out of that. Maybe it was high time she let go of all her anxieties, stiffened her shoulders and let the chips fall wherever.

      It sounded good. Not so easy to do.

      The room was becoming truly crowded with people now, everyone talking and wrapping presents. Exactly the kind of situation that made Julie nervous. She returned greetings pleasantly enough and began to wonder how soon she could gracefully bow out. Wrapping gifts for the troops and their families seemed important, so she forced herself to attend only to the work. Still no Caleb or Nick.

      Vanessa returned with coffee in a covered cup, and Mallory and Lily returned only long enough to bid everyone farewell. “Bedtime for the pip-squeak,” Mallory said.

      “I am not a pip-squeak,” Lily insisted. “I don’t squeak much.”

      Mallory squatted. “No, you don’t. And it was meant to be affectionate, not a bad name.”

      Lily frowned. “I don’t like the way it sounds.” Then she looked at Julie-Jennifer and Braden. “You keep making friends,” she said. And an instant later she was skipping toward the coatroom with her aunt in tow.

      Vanessa’s cell phone rang, and a frown lowered on her face. “Well, I’m outta here, too,” she said after she disconnected. “There’s a problem at the hotel. See you later.”

      “Watching that woman work on the hotel design is purely an experience,” Braden remarked. “She sees things I’d miss.”

      “Artistic eye.” Or maybe Jonah needed her. Now she was alone at the table with him, and her discomfort grew. Surely someone else would join them? But they were almost done with the rack of gifts that had been given to them. Nobody, it seemed, had to do that much. Many hands and all that.

      “Say,” he said as he reached for the last gift, this one a set of scented soaps. “Why don’t we try the coffee thing again, Jenn? I hate to head home without my latte.”

      Considering how she’d fled the last time, she might have said no. But temptation was standing there in a fantastically gorgeous package, and he had just called her Jenn. Hearing that name on his lips warmed some place inside her that hadn’t felt warm in a long time. She couldn’t resist, though some wiser part of her cried that she might be making a big mistake. Blowing her cover. Revealing her inadequacies.

      “Sure,” she heard herself say. “I’d like that.” Who was running her mouth now? Julie or Jennifer?

      “Good.” He wrapped paper around the last package and asked her to hold it with her finger while he reached for the tape. “I was afraid I’d offended you last time.”

      “Me? No!” The thought horrified her. “No, Braden. I just had...something I needed to do.”

      He turned his head, and his eyes smiled at her. “I’m glad to know that. I don’t usually send people into headlong flight to get away from me.”

      She felt her cheeks burn. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel like that.”

      “Which you just proved by agreeing to go out with me again. Hey, lady, it’s my evening out, my day off. I’d enjoy it a lot more with your company.”

      A very kind and flattering thing to say, and pleasant heat shot through her. Maybe she was walking on a tightrope, but in this instance, the fall might even be fun.

      Twenty minutes later they once again sat in the donut shop. It being Saturday night, it was packed, but they managed to grab one of the few small tables. Once again they both ordered the same things.

      “I’ve been talking to Homer Gilmore,” Braden said. “Do you know who he is?”

      “I’ve seen him around, but no one seems to know his story.”

      “No one does, at least, no one I’ve talked to,” Braden agreed. “I’m working on getting him a place to stay, maybe at the church, before he freezes to death out there.”

      Jenn—she really did feel better thinking of herself that way, perhaps another piece of the mystery solved?—shook her head. “He seems sad. I hear he doesn’t even say anything intelligible.”

      “That’s part of the problem. He wanders around mumbling unintelligible stuff, and nobody knows what to make of him. He seems harmless. I mean, he’s been hanging around and hasn’t really bothered anybody, unless mumbling crazy things to people is bothersome.”

      Jenn felt herself warm to him even more. “It’s kind of you to try to find a place for him to stay.”

      “Not really. He deserves at least as much care as any stray, don’t you think?”

      Considering she was a stray of sorts herself, she nodded. “Don’t diminish what you’re doing. I don’t see anyone else running around trying to find the guy a home.”

      He leaned back as they were served and gave her a crooked smile. “If Winona’s right, I need to get cracking.”

      “She’s still predicting that blizzard?”

      “Not only that, but every time she gives a prediction, it seems to have grown bigger and worse. Which brings me to a question. Are you going to be