Cowboy Christmas Jubilee by Dylann Crush

Author:Dylann Crush
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2018-09-11T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Jinx and Kenzie joined Cash in the long line for Santa. “You want more coffee?” Cash offered. “I’m going to go grab a refill.”

“Sure.” She handed him her cup, then leaned against the wall. Kenzie moved in closer, resting her shoulder against Jinx’s side. Jinx wrapped an arm loosely around her. This kid reminded her so much of herself as a child. At least before her dad died. Up until that point, she had been curious, had laughed a lot, and was always ready for a hug. Just like Kenzie. But then it all went to hell.

Not willing to let herself go there, she ran a hand over Kenzie’s hair. “You’ve got Christmas break coming up soon. What do you want to do over vacation?” All kids loved Christmas break, right?

“I want to ride my pony.”

Jinx nodded. “That sounds like fun.”

“And play with all my new toys.” Kenzie tapped her index finger to her lips, no doubt giving the question the level of seriousness it deserved in the mind of a seven-year-old. “Can we have a sleepover?”

“You want to invite some friends over to stay the night?” Jinx had never invited friends over to her place as a kid. She’d never really had good enough friends, plus the idea of exposing anyone else to her mom and the current deadbeat boyfriend almost gave her hives.

“Yeah. You.” Kenzie giggled and poked Jinx in the belly.

Cash returned, two fresh cups of coffee in hand. “Y’all haven’t moved much.”

“Jinx is going to spend the night, okay, Daddy?” Kenzie peered up at them, her gaze bouncing between them.

He’d been about to swallow a sip of coffee. Instead, he spurted brown liquid from his mouth and let it dribble down his chin. “Say what?” He lifted a thin paper napkin to wipe his chin clean.

“We can watch a movie and eat popcorn. It’ll be fun. Just like Aunt Darby and Uncle Waylon do when I go over there.”

“And when is this supposed to be happening?” Cash asked.

“Can we do it tonight? Oh, please!”

“Jinx has to work tonight, Tadpole. Some other time, okay?” He nudged her forward in line.

A sleepover… Jinx mulled the idea over, expecting to feel the telltale signs of an oncoming freak-out at the mere thought of spending an official night with Kenzie and Cash. Instead of the walls of her chest squeezing together, she took in a deep breath. Her lungs expanded. Her heart warmed at the thought of snuggling next to Cash on the sectional with Kenzie tucked between them. The fact that she wasn’t having a panic attack almost sent her reeling headfirst into a panic attack. As she listened to Cash tell a particularly bad holiday joke, she tried to figure out what that meant.

By the time they reached Santa, Cash had exhausted all his cheesy jokes and even a few he looked up on his phone. The man would stop at nothing to amuse his little girl. Jinx used to take up major real estate in someone’s heart like that.

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