her mother back to say goodbye. Instead, she’d phone from the motel. She’d booked the place online and used her credit card to pay for it, so hopefully they were holding a room even though she was late checking in. Pocketing the phone, she stood and held out a hand. “I guess we’d better head back to the car, pal. It’s getting dark. Maybe we can see Santa another time.”
Joey looked toward the dais just as a lean man with sandy-blond hair and broad shoulders emerged from behind the curtained area. Santa’s changing room, she assumed. Instead of a red suit, he wore jeans, thick-soled work boots, a gray T-shirt and zippered sweatshirt with the sleeves pushed back on his well-muscled forearms. The sweatshirt bore a logo she couldn’t make out.
“Oh, good, you’re still here,” he said, jogging toward them. His smile struck her as friendly and real. He seemed nice. Too nice to be the recipient of the news she was there to deliver.
“We were just leaving. It sure gets dark fast around here.”
“Yeah, I know. Mom said she thought she saw you walk up. Are you staying nearby?”
“The Trail’s End Motel. But we walked here from the diner. The waitress said it was only a couple of blocks away, but they were really big blocks.”
He gave her a rueful grin. “Yep, this is Texas. Everything’s bigger. I’m guessing you’re not from around here.”
“Oregon,” she said, watching for some kind of reaction.
“Wow. Long way from home. Can I give you a lift to your car? River Bluff isn’t exactly famous for its sidewalks.”
A voice in her head warned against hopping into a car with a stranger, but she made a snap decision. “Sure. Thanks.” He was the man she’d come here to find. Although he didn’t know that or he might not have been quite so kind and generous. “I take it you’re off duty?”
“Till six-thirty tomorrow. The regular you-know-who broke his hip. I’m a last-minute replacement.”
Tessa was touched by his acknowledging Joey’s presence, although she could tell Joey wasn’t paying attention to either of them. When the little boy ran out of steam, he had a tendency to drop, wherever he was.
“Is your car nearby?”
He pointed to a dust-coated silver Forerunner parked a couple of yards away. It was one of the last vehicles left in the lot, which was probably quite big when it wasn’t filled with a holiday bazaar and a fake North Pole.
“Hey, Joey, can I carry you? Your aunt looks like she’s ready to call it a day, too.” He looked at Tessa before holding out his arms to her nephew. “Um…not that you aren’t beautiful. Just tired,” he stammered. “I’ll shut up now. My sister, Annie, says I only open my mouth to switch feet.”
Tessa laughed. “It’s okay. I’m not offended. Joey, sweetheart, can this nice man carry you?”
He shook his head and plastered his body to her leg. Tessa leaned down and picked him up. Joey shyly buried his face in the crook of her neck, refusing to even acknowledge Cole.
“No problem. I’ll open the door for you.” He started away, then stopped and reversed direction. He held out his hand. “I’m Cole Lawry, by the way.”
She couldn’t quite manage to shake his hand, but she wiggled her fingers. “Tessa Jamison. This is my nephew, Joey Barnes. His mother—my sister—is Sunny Barnes.”
He repeated the name, his expression thoughtful. “Why does that sound famil—” His eyes widened. “Do you mean the same Sunny who used to work at BJM Realty?”
Tessa nodded.
“Are you kidding? I haven’t seen her in a couple of years. And you said she’s in the hospital? What happened? Is she going to be okay?”
Too many questions to answer while holding twenty-five pounds of dead weight. “Can we talk in the car?”
“Oh, of course,” he answered. “I’m sorry. You just took me by surprise.” As he hurried ahead of her, she noticed a slight hitch to his gait. A few seconds later, he was helping her into the four-wheel-drive vehicle.
“Can you hop up on the seat with him in your arms? How ’bout if I hold your purse?”
She shifted Joey to the right so she could extend her left arm. The relief was tangible as he slid the strap from her shoulder. “Thanks.”
“No problem. What do you have in here? Gold bars?” he asked, jiggling the bag with exaggerated effort.
“Spoken like a true nonparent. I was the same until Joey came along. Now, I have a standing appointment with a chiropractor every two weeks.”
He wedged the bag on the floor behind the seat. “Good to know. I’m going to be an uncle in a few months. My sister is expecting her first child.”
“Will this be your mom’s first grandchild?”
He nodded. “She’s over the moon.”
“That was my mother on the phone a minute ago. She and Joey are really close. She’s with Sunny at the hospital.”
He moved in to steady her as she settled into the passenger seat. She could smell peppermint on his breath. From the candy canes he’d been giving out, she guessed.
“Thanks,” she said, pulling up her legs. The interior of the truck appeared much cleaner than she’d expected.
He grabbed the door but didn’t close it. His sandy brows came together in a pensive frown. “Just out of curiosity, how’d you happen to wind up in River Bluff tonight?” Before she could answer, he said, “Oh wait, you’re probably headed to the commune. That’s where Sunny was living when I met her. What’s the name of her friend? Andrea… Emily…”
“Amelia,” Tessa supplied.
“Right. It’s only a few miles south of here. I could draw you a map.”
Tessa looked at him. She was too tired to get into this, but putting things off had never worked for her in the past, so she took a deep breath and said, “I do want to see Amelia to tell her about Sunny, but that’s not the reason I’m here. I came to River Bluff looking for you.”
“Me. Really? Why?”
“Because I need to know if you’re Joey’s father.”
CHAPTER TWO
COLE STRUGGLED TO make sense of what she was saying. Me? A father? To Sunny’s kid? But in order for that to be true, he and Sunny would have had to make love. Which they never did. Right?
He shivered as a thought occurred to him. There was that one night when he and Sunny had bumped into each other at the bar. A low point in his life when he’d tried to drown his troubles. He’d been too drunk to drive home. Sunny had been a friend, she’d put him up for the night. But nothing happened. He was sure of it. Almost positive.
“You think this little boy is mine?” he asked, staring at the profile of the child asleep on his aunt’s shoulder. “That’s a serious
