Christmas in Eternity Springs by Emily March

Author:Emily March
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Chapter Thirteen

It’s nice to work in the sunshine.

—JAX

A week of good weather, available subcontractors, supply orders that arrived in a timely manner, and three not insignificant checks for progress on projects he’d been hired to complete had put a spring in Jax’s steps on Friday morning. The fact that Claire and Nicholas had plowed through How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, The Polar Express, “’Twas the Night Before Christmas,” and “The Gift of the Magi” so far this week didn’t hurt his mood any.

Neither did the fact that he had a date tonight.

While varnish dried on the wood floor at Baby Bear and the framing crew tackled Papa Bear, Jax drove over to the Callahan compound on Hummingbird Lake. He went to work installing reclaimed wood on the walls of the dance hall to the notes of Texas country music loaded into the portable sound system that sat on what would be the stage once the building was finished. The physical work was just what he needed, and he was whistling along to Pat Green’s “Carry On” when the music abruptly switched off. “Buy you a beer, Lancaster?”

Jax turned toward the speaker. Brick Callahan looked like hell. “You okay, man?”

“Yeah.”

His expression said otherwise. Jax arched a brow and waited.

Brick scowled at him and said, “Okay, actually, my day has sucked. Seriously sucked. It’s Friday afternoon. You’re not on any hard deadline here. Clock out early. Come have a beer with me.”

Jax checked his watch. “I have an hour and ten minutes before I need to pick up Nicholas from school. You want to go to Murphy’s?”

“Nah. I’ll raid my dad’s refrigerator. Meet me down at the pier.”

“Okay.”

Jax pulled the tools from his tool belt, returned them to his toolbox, and stowed it in the bed of his truck. Then he strolled down to the pier that stretched out into Hummingbird Lake. He heard the bang of a screen door, and he glanced behind him to see Brick Callahan carrying a small cooler on a strap over one shoulder and a tackle box. In his opposite hand, he carried two fishing poles.

He didn’t say anything when he joined Jax at the end of the pier, simply handed him one of the poles, then set down the cooler and fished out a couple of microbrews.

Jax understood the peace that could be found in silence, so he didn’t press the issue. The men fished and drank their beer for a good ten minutes before Brick said, “Women.”

Aha. So that’s what this is about.

“I hear you, brother.”

“Scuttlebutt in town says you got divorced before your boy’s mother died. Is that true?”

“Yep.”

“Wasn’t it hard to do that with your kid?”

“It wasn’t my preference.” Jax grimaced as he recalled those soul-crushing days and his despair when he realized his efforts to retain shared custody were sunk. “Not my choice.”

“Funny how often it’s not our choice, isn’t it?” The bitterness in Brick’s voice said as much as his words did.

Jax rarely discussed his marriage, but something told him Brick needed to know he wasn’t alone.

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