Page 92 of The Coppersmith Farmhouse (Jamison Valley 1)
To see that she was the only woman for me.
“Georgia, look at me,” I ordered from across the island. “You are strong enough. When I need you, you’re there. Not once have you let me down.”
“Yes, but—”
“No,” I said. “You are. You might not see it now, but you will. And besides, this will all settle. Things right now are . . . crazy. It’s not like this normally.”
“But Jess—”
“Stop,” I said, rounding the island.
Taking her face in my hands, I pressed my forehead to hers.
“Please just give it time. Please? You’ll see,” I whispered.
Her breath whooshed out in a long sigh. Her shoulders relaxed and she leaned her head into my hands.
“Okay,” she whispered.
I bent lower, brushing my lips against hers.
Time. We needed time. And I needed to take back control of Prescott. Then she’d see that her fears were for nothing.
We’d get back to the boring times. To the days when we’d be lucky to have two traffic stops in a week. I never thought I’d miss those days but fuck did I ever.
Georgia wouldn’t have anything to worry about as soon I put an end to all of this shit with the pill dealer and with Wes. And I would. Now more than ever, I was determined to pin Wes down. He wasn’t going to get away with wrecking my town and scaring my girls.
The days of November went by in a happy blur.
I was giving Jess the time he’d asked for, trying not to worry and trusting that he would keep Rowen and I safe.
Jess had spent the majority of his working days in the mountains, searching for signs of traffic to Wes’s meth house. He’d put in grueling days, hiking trails and searching for signs in the snowy hills. Unfortunately, he hadn’t found a trace. Yet.
Thanksgiving was the only day he’d taken off, so I’d put together a huge feast. We’d had Noelle over to spend the day with us. I’d been happy to have her there to visit with because apparently, Thanksgiving also meant watching football. Though I had come to enjoy the social aspect of the Mustang games, watching football on TV was excruciating.
So while Jess had lazed on the living room couch, us girls had planned where to put my Christmas decorations. Today, for the first time ever, I was skipping my honored Black Friday morning shopping tradition. That’s how excited I was to decorate my farmhouse.
“It’s bullshit. You know that? Complete effing BS. These big box stores keep trying to shove it down our throats earlier and earlier every year. Christmas displays up before Halloween. They can’t even leave Halloween alone! I mean, at least wait until November. And then take them down in January. These people that leave multicolored lights up in their windows and on their gutters until Valentine’s Day are nuts. I mean, it’s just pure effing greedy that stores put Christmas stuff up too early and pure effing lazy when people can’t get their stuff down when the holidays are over.”
I was talking to myself about the appropriate timing of Christmas decoration and un-decoration.
While I was blabbing to no one, I was standing on a very tall ladder, holding a huge, heavy evergreen garland that I was stringing up on the overhang of the front porch. The garland matched the big wreath I’d already put on the front door.
Since I was talking to myself and carrying a heavy garland and a hammer all while standing on a very tall ladder, I wasn’t paying much attention to my footing.
And because I wasn’t paying much attention to my footing, I soon found myself no longer standing on the very tall ladder. Instead, I was on my ass, on the ground, in the snow. The bottom of the ladder right in front of my face.
My wrist throbbed because I had used it to break my fall. The heavy garland and hammer were no longer in my hands but in the snow, along with my ass.
Eff.
“Aren’t you women supposed to be shopping on Black Friday, Gigi? Not falling off ladders?” Dr. Peterson had just finished wrapping my sprained wrist in the ER.
“To hell with Black Friday. I take my Christmas decorating very seriously, Dr. Peterson. Shopping must wait.” I smiled.
He grunted a laugh. “I guess so.”
I had learned my lesson from the rattlesnake incident and called Jess as soon as I could drag my ass off the ground. He’d had Roe with him at the sporting goods store downtown. They had left shortly before I started decorating to pick out a sled for Rowen.
