Tall, Dark, Texas Ranger / Once Upon A Christmas Eve. Patricia Thayer

      The boy looked over his shoulder. “Yeah, see if you can keep up.”

      Lilly looked at her daughter. “Are you going to let them win?”

      Her beautiful child got an ugly look on her face. “I don’t care.”

      Lilly started moving, but kept well back behind the guys. “Look, Kasey, I get you’re angry with me. But when you don’t obey the rules, there are consequences.”

      “I know. You run things like a prison around here. I have no freedom.”

      “I don’t think I did at thirteen, either. But you are still young and you went to a place that was off-limits. It’s my job as a mother to protect you.”

      “Fine. I get it, but I don’t have to like it.” She marched up ahead, past the guys. Robbie took off after his sister and Coop dropped back with Lilly.

      “I take it she’s still angry with you.”

      She nodded. “My mother says it’s payback for how I treated her.”

      “You’re doing the right thing. Stay on her because it’s tough out there.”

      Lilly frowned. “Is there something you’re not telling me? Something more that happened at the arcade?”

      He shook his head. “It’s just the element that hangs out there isn’t the best.”

      Coop glanced around the tree-lined street, and the manicured lawns and hedges. It seemed like the perfect place to live and raise a family, but looks could be deceiving. “At that age they think they can conquer the world, that nothing can harm them.”

      “I remember those days. Yet, this town doesn’t have the problems that large cities do. We all know each other and watch out for each other.”

      An older woman standing on her porch called Lilly’s name and waved.

      “Hello, Miss Olivia. How are you feeling today?”

      The fragile looking, gray-haired woman came down the steps as Lilly went to her. They exchanged a hug and he could see her hands were crippled with arthritis.

      “I’ve heard your mother’s working at the quilt shop these days.”

      “She’s filling in for Jenny.”

      A big smile appeared. “Oh, yes, she had her baby, didn’t she?”

      She nodded. “Sean Michael will be christened next Sunday at church. I bet you can get a look at him then.”

      “I’ll make sure my sister takes me.” Miss Olivia patted her hand.

      “How is Miss Emily these days?”

      A loud sigh. “Sister complains a lot, but she’s well. I’ll mention that you asked about her.” Her expression changed. “I never got the chance to tell you how sorry I am for your loss. Michael was always a kind person to me.”

      Coop could see that Lilly was uncomfortable. “Thank you,” she said and took her hand away.

      That’s when Miss Olivia took an interest in him. “And who is this young man?”

      “Noah Cooper, ma’am.” He shook her hand. “I’m a carpenter on the Casali housing project. I’m renting Beth Staley’s cottage.”

      “Isn’t that nice.” She glanced between the two. “A pleasure to meet you, Noah.”

      “Well, we should be going,” Lilly said, pointing to the kids already nearly a block away. “I promised Robbie and Kasey ice cream.”

      “Then ya’ll run along,” she told them.

      Coop didn’t need to be asked twice as he followed Lilly. “I take it she’s been your neighbor a long time.”

      “Before I was born. She never married and argues with her sister all the time. She’s only a few years older than Mom, but has to rely on her sister to get around.” She gave him a sideways glance. “But she can dial a phone pretty well, and with the information you gave her, you’ll be the talk of the town by tomorrow.”

      Going inside Shaffer’s Ice Cream Parlor was like stepping back in time to the 1950s. The Happy Days TV show, Western style.

      Robbie and Kasey were already sitting on high stools at the counter, going over the selections on the wall. If ever Coop felt out of his element, this place would do it. His hangout had been a pool hall.

      This would be the childhood every kid wanted, and those who were lucky enough to get it didn’t even have a clue how wonderful their lives were.

      From a street kid’s perspective, one who had to beg, borrow or steal to survive, he knew he’d have been chased out of a place like this. As a teenager, he’d hung out in a pool hall to hustle players, or just helped clean up the place for money.

      Coop sat down beside Kasey. She tensed and glared at him.

      He ignored it as the teenage waiter appeared. “Hello, Mrs. Perry.”

      “Hello, Tim. Good to see you’re working this summer.”

      “Saving for a car.”

      “Are you that ancient?”

      The boy’s ears reddened. “I was sixteen last month.”

      “Now, I’m feeling old.”

      He turned his attention to his other customers, namely Kasey. “What are you going to have?”

      “Vanilla,” Kasey told him.

      Coop frowned. “Vanilla? That seems rather dull from someone so …” He looked at the girl’s scrubbed face, a hint of freckles across her pert nose. Those big blue-green eyes. She was the image of her mother. “So daring. So vibrant.”

      Although Kasey tried to hide it, the compliment affected her. “Sometimes I get Peach or Raspberry sherbet.”

      He nodded. “I’d go for the Raspberry sherbet.”

      “I want Chocolate Chip,” Robbie said to the waiter.

      “And I’ll have Mint Chocolate Chip,” Lilly announced.

      “What about you, Coop?” Robbie asked.

      “Cherry Pecan.”

      While they were waiting as the boy scooped up the cones, the bell chimed over the door. Coop glanced toward the entrance to see a dark-haired woman walk in. He immediately recognized Stephanie Perry from the case files.

      In her mid-twenties, she had a husky voice and dressed in a pair of jeans about a size too small, emphasizing her wide hips. She might have been attractive, but her heavy layer of makeup made her look hard.

      He tensed as the woman made her way to the counter. “Lilly, I need to talk to you.”

      Lilly swung around and frowned. “Suddenly you want to talk. No, we have nothing to say, Stephanie.”

      “There’s a lot to say. You have some of Mike’s things and I want them back.”

      Lilly didn’t want to air any dirty laundry in front of the kids or the rest of the town. She stood and walked across the store and her ex-sister-in-law followed. “I don’t like you attacking me, especially in front of my children.”

      Stephanie folded her arms over her breasts. “Then give me Mike’s things.”

      “And for the hundredth time, I don’t have anything of his. When he moved out, he took almost everything. When I moved out, I only took my things, Mike came by and took the rest. What exactly are you looking for?”

      Mike’s sister glanced away. “Papers from the business. They must have been in his home office.”

      “I left Mike’s home office alone. So I don’t know what happened to his papers after