A Baby for Dry Creek and A Dry Creek Christmas. Janet Tronstad

actually arriving here.

      Reno had entertained her with stories of what had been happening in Dry Creek since she’d been there last. She learned about his new calves and Mrs. Hargrove’s arthritis that was sometimes so bad she couldn’t peel potatoes. He told her about Lester dressing up as Elvis on April Fools’ day and the Friday sundae night at the café.

      He even told her about going to church again and what that had meant to him. He talked about forgiving his mother for leaving the family all those years ago. He told her he’d never quite understood about grace when he’d been a young boy, but now that he was a man he felt humbled by it. He wasn’t so much forgiving his mother, he said, as trying to see her as she was, the way God might see her.

      Chrissy didn’t quite understand what he was saying, but she couldn’t doubt his sincerity.

      For the first time ever, Chrissy began to wonder if God could be real. She’d had people talk to her about God before, but never with the matter-of-fact directness Reno had. He talked of God as naturally as he would the sky or the mountains. Chrissy knew beyond a doubt that God was real for him, because Reno didn’t make a big deal of trying to convince her of anything. Reno talked about God with the same warmth he used when he talked about Mrs. Hargrove or his sister, Nicki.

      As Reno was telling her about the different things that were happening, he’d pass along greetings to her from various people in Dry Creek. He said that Elmer had asked him to tell her he’d buy her a cup of coffee when she came to town. And Linda from the café had asked Reno to tell her she was looking forward to Chrissy coming to town.

      During all the days when they talked, Reno had not indicated anyone had a negative thought about her coming to the area. But Dry Creek was a small, conservative town. She was sure she’d find her share of turned shoulders and unwilling welcomes. It had been just eighteen years since her mother had had a bad experience in a small town because she was an unmarried mother, and eighteen years wasn’t that long ago.

      “I should comb my hair,” Chrissy said. As she recalled, churchwomen were big on combed hair. “Or roll it into a bun or something.”

      “Your hair looks fine,” Reno said.

      “You’re right. It’s this orange dress they’ll think is strange. No one wears an orange dress this bright. They’ll think I’m nuts.”

      “They know about the fire. Nobody cares what you’re wearing. Besides, Linda wears those kinds of colors all the time.”

      Chrissy reached for her purse anyway. A touch of light lipstick couldn’t hurt.

      “We’re here.” Reno slowed the car to a crawl. “We might as well get something to eat at the café.”

      Chrissy forced herself to look out the windows of the car and take a deep breath. The people of this town had been friendly to her when she’d been here last fall. If the fact that since then she’d had a baby without the benefit of marriage made any of them treat her any differently, then they were the losers, not her.

      “There’s not as many houses as I remember.” Chrissy forced herself to concentrate. She could do this. “The town’s smaller than I thought.”

      “Yeah,” Reno said curtly. “One café. One store. Seventeen houses. Seventeen and a half, if you count the Andersons’ basement. One church. That’s it. No growth expected. Not even a post office.”

      Chrissy lifted her head. She’d taken on bigger challenges and done fine.

      Reno watched Chrissy get ready to face Dry Creek and his heart sank. She looked as if she was getting ready to walk the plank. Was it really that bad to live in a small town like Dry Creek? “It’s not like you’ll need to be here forever.”

      “Huh?”

      “I mean, the lawyer is going to give up sooner or later. Then you can move back to Las Vegas.”

      “Oh.”

      “Or L.A. if that’s where you want to go,” Reno said as he parked the car in front of the café and took the keys out of the ignition.

      “But I don’t have a job in L.A. anymore.” Chrissy reached over to unbuckle Justin from his car seat.

      Speaking of jobs reminded Reno that he hadn’t called Mrs. Hargrove since he’d talked to her when they stopped in Las Vegas. He hoped she had remembered to put a notice on the bulletin board in the café asking for a live-in housekeeper.

      Reno opened the back door for Chrissy. “Here, let me hold Justin while you get out. And he’ll need a blanket. It’s a little chilly out here.” Reno had held Justin many times over the past couple of days, but he continued to be surprised every time Chrissy handed him the baby at how small Justin really was. This time was no exception. Chrissy had assured Reno several times that Justin was a healthy weight for his young age, but Reno still wanted Dr. Norris to check Justin out.

      “Remember, if you take a job, you need to ask for this Thursday off so we can take Justin to the doctor in Miles City.”

      “I can’t ask for a day off the first week of the job.” Chrissy stepped out of the car and stretched. “We’ll have to postpone the doctor’s visit until the next week.”

      “Well, we’ll wait and see.” Reno didn’t say that Mrs. Hargrove wouldn’t care what day Chrissy took off. After all, he wasn’t supposed to know about the job that was posted inside on the bulletin board.

      “He sure is an agreeable little guy,” Reno said as he looked down at the baby. “Look at him smiling.”

      “Babies that young don’t smile. Its just gas. It says so in the baby books.”

      “Those books don’t know everything. I can tell by the look in his eyes that he’s smiling at me.” Reno hated to give the baby back to Chrissy. It suddenly hit him that this was probably the last time he would get to hold the little one. “He knows I’m the one who taught him how to make a fist.”

      “I think that’s pretty natural. So he can suck his thumb.”

      “Yeah, but I showed him how to hold his fingers so he can get a good grip on a baseball when he’s older.”

      Chrissy smiled as she held out her arms for Justin. “He’ll appreciate that.”

      Reno gave the baby to her. “If you ever need someone to watch him, let me know.”

      Reno figured he was due some visitation rights. After all, he’d changed Justin’s diapers several times on the road. That should give him some rights.

      “Thanks. I’ll remember that.”

      Chrissy squared her shoulders as she cradled Justin to her. Reno figured she was preparing herself to face Dry Creek. He only hoped she would give the place a chance.

      Chapter Six

      Chrissy stepped through the door that Reno held open for her and entered the Dry Creek Café with her baby cradled in her arms. She took a deep breath. It was midmorning and she’d made it home. She remembered the smell of baking biscuits and coffee from when she’d been here before. And the black-and-white checked floor had been in her dreams on more than one night. Six or seven tables were scattered around the café like before.

      But something was different. Three tables were pushed next to the large window overlooking the street. Lace half curtains covered the bottom of the large window and matched the white tablecloths covering each of the three tables. In the place where bottles of ketchup sat on the other tables, silver vases stood filled with pink silk flowers. Matching pink napkins were placed beside the silverware on those tables. A wide aisle separated the three tables from the rest of the more casual ones.

      Chrissy nodded. That was clever. It made the place feel as if had two restaurants instead of just one.

      “Linda thinks we need more class,” Reno said as he turned to leave the café again. “I’m going to bring