An Impossible Gift by Dawn M. Turner

Author:Dawn M. Turner [Turner, Dawn M]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Contemporary Christian Romance, Novella, Christmas
Publisher: Dawn M. Turner

- 9 -

More relaxed than she’d been before lunch, Charley leaned back in the bucket seat and glanced at the driver. Lunch had been pleasant, then she’d run into Bath & Body Works at the mall while Dillon stayed with the truck to protect her boxes. They’d left the mall minutes earlier, headed south on Highway 92. “I thought you wanted to buy actual product for your sister, not a gift card.”

“Cheaper and easier to mail a card.” Dillon shrugged. “Also, Cindy can buy exactly what she wants or needs. I don’t have to worry about getting the wrong thing.” He flashed her a smile. “I really appreciate you going into the store for me.”

“Um… you do realize, of course, that you could’ve gotten one at Safeway, right?” She’d seen gifts cards for a variety of stores and restaurants on a display at the grocery store when she’d been in there a couple of times.

His brows rose, then he frowned. “Now you tell me.”

She snorted softly. Let the man drive. Don’t distract him. Some Sierra Vista drivers had an annoying tendency to stop for green lights. The area between the mall and the turn-off to Hamburg was worse in some ways. There were few lights that way, but cars seemed inclined to pull out of the housing subdivisions along there right in front of oncoming vehicles. It hadn’t taken her long to learn both points of caution.

Several comfortably quiet minutes later, Dillon negotiated the right turn at The Mesquite Tree restaurant onto Ramsey Canyon Road, which would become Toll Road and lead into Hamburg as it wound higher into the Huachuca Mountains. Low-growing trees gave way to taller, denser vegetation.

Charley smiled, enjoying the view. “It’s beautiful up here. Not so brown and sparse as the lower desert. Nice surprise actually.”

“I know what you mean. When I left Florida, I never expected to find forests like this.” Dillon slowed the truck and pointed. “Look. Coues White-tailed Deer.”

She glanced in the direction he’d indicated. Probably twenty yards away, beyond a five-foot wire fence, a half-dozen animals sunned themselves and grazed in knee-high grass, barely seeming to notice the truck’s passing. “Way nicer than a bobcat.” She grinned at Dillon, who chuckled.

“You wouldn’t say that if a deer had totaled your car.”

“Probably true.”

He refocused on the road, accelerating the truck. “Chase Donovan is a park ranger in these mountains. Have you met him or his wife, Jordan?”

Charley shook her head.

“You will soon, I’m sure. Anyway, I’ve gone on numerous hikes with Chase. He’s a wealth of information about the local flora and fauna. The trees you saw lower down were mostly mesquites and Emory oaks. As you go higher, they transition to a few species of pine and other varieties of oak. Some junipers are in the mix, too. Not to mention cacti, yucca, and agaves. Around Hamburg, it’s mostly oaks, pines, fir, and aspen.”

The road snaked up the mountain, passing dangerously close to a stream, causing a flicker of anxiety. Trust Dillon’s driving.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.