A Baby for Dry Creek and A Dry Creek Christmas. Janet Tronstad
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an unfit mother.”
“And if that doesn’t work, he’s trying to scare her into giving up Justin,” Reno added. “Someone set fire to Chrissy’s mother’s house just before we left L.A.”
“You’re kidding?” Linda said as she looked from Reno to Chrissy. “Some lawyer would do that?”
Reno nodded. “He might not do anything himself, but he’d pay people to cause some damage.”
“Wow.” Linda frowned. “He’s serious. I thought he was just some kind of crazy guy who wrote letters to stir up trouble.”
“I still have the letter,” Reno said as he patted his shirt pocket. “I’m keeping it in case we want to get a restraining order on him or something.”
“It’s not the lawyer I’m worried about—it’s the people he hires that scare me,” Chrissy said. “I’m glad Justin isn’t old enough to walk or crawl. I’d be a nervous wreck every time he went out to play.”
“Oh, surely the lawyer will give up after a while. He can’t care that much,” Linda said.
“It’s Jared’s mother who cares. And she never gives up. Oh—” Chrissy stopped in surprise and turned toward Reno. “I never thought about that—that’s why you didn’t want me to take the job at Lester’s and stay at his place, since he’s not married. You were worried Mrs. Bard might use it against me in a custody battle.”
Reno grunted. He should have thought of that. “You can never be too careful.”
“Well, you don’t need to worry about Mrs. Bard when you’re in Dry Creek,” Linda said firmly. “We’ll take care of you and Justin. We keep an eye out for strangers.” Linda paused. “Well, except for a few times when things have gotten out of hand.”
Reno grimaced. He could tell from the look on Linda’s face that she was remembering the time a stranger had come to Dry Creek and dressed up as Santa Claus so he could get close enough to the woman who was playing the angel in the church Christmas pageant to try to shoot her. Come to think of it, Linda had felt sorry for the man in the Santa Claus costume and given him a free spaghetti dinner from the café before the pageant.
Linda looked at Reno. “I guess she’d be better off out at your ranch.”
Reno nodded. “My dog, Hunter, doesn’t let strangers get too close unless I give him the all-clear sign.”
And I’ll be there, Reno thought. He remembered that what had saved the angel was that Pastor Matthew had risked his life to save hers. Even Reno had been touched by their story of love and happiness.
“I don’t really think the lawyer would send someone up here. Do you?” Chrissy asked as she looked from Reno to Linda. Justin seemed to sense his mother’s fear, and started to fuss.
“Of course not,” Reno said quickly as he scowled at Linda.
“You’re perfectly safe here,” Linda added when Reno finished.
“It’s just that I keep hearing that music playing in my head,” Chrissy said as she put Justin to her shoulder and looked over at Reno. “Remember after the fire, there was that black car with a few guys in it, and they were playing those old songs from the sixties—it sounded like a CD or something. I remember because they were playing that song—how does it go…the Mrs. something one—”
“Mrs. Robinson?” Linda asked as she stood up from the table. “I don’t believe it. They’ve called here.”
“Who?” Chrissy asked as she started patting Justin on his back.
“Some guy called asking how to get to Dry Creek, and he had that music playing in the background. I think he was on a cell phone—we don’t always get good reception here if someone is on a cell. Usually we don’t even get the call, but sometimes it comes through and sounds faint like this one.”
“They called here?” Chrissy looked over at Reno.
Linda nodded. “We finally got the phone for the café listed under Dry Creek Café, Dry Creek, Montana. We thought we should ask for reservations for our new dinner section.” Linda motioned to the three tables in front of the window. “I’m so sorry. We never would have gotten a listing if we’d known.”
“Did he say where he was when he called?” Reno walked over to the window and looked out at the road leading into Dry Creek. He saw a puff of dust in the distance, but it looked like a pickup.
“He asked for directions from Salt Lake City,” Linda said, and then looked over at Chrissy. “And I invited him to try the café while he was in town. He said they would, so he must have someone with him.”
“We should call the police,” Chrissy said, and then bit her lip. She stopped patting Justin on the back, and he started to cry. “Of course we can’t do that. No one’s done anything. It’s not a crime to play sixties music.”
“We’ll tell our deputy sheriff anyway. He can keep an eye out for strangers,” Reno said as he held his arms out to take Justin. “And we’ll tell the men at the hardware store. Not much gets by Elmer and Jacob.”
Chrissy gave the baby to Reno, and she stood up and started to pace.
“You’re safe here,” Linda said. “We have a neighborhood watch program going—well, not the official thing, but we watch who comes and goes. Not that there’re many strangers anyway.”
“I do feel safer here than in Los Angeles,” Chrissy admitted. It made sense that there would be fewer strangers here and fewer chances for mischief. “My nerves just need to settle down.”
Chrissy stopped pacing at the window. She could see the Dry Creek church across the street, and the Big Sheep Mountains were in the distance. The Montana landscape didn’t offer many places for a criminal to hide. She should feel safe here.
Then she glanced over at Reno. He was rubbing Justin’s back.
Maybe she was relaxing too soon. The lawyer wasn’t the only man she needed to worry about while she was here.
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