He wouldn’t hurt anyone but me.
Chapter Two
Clara
Bastion quickly unloaded the trees and drove off. By then, Hogan had left. Probably off to close up his shop down the block. The lump in my throat grew spikes at the thought of him walking past all the pretty shop windows, all the carolers and vendors selling hot cider and roasted chestnuts as he thought of all the ways he was going to punish me.
Stupid Bastion. He thought he was being protective but he was just making everything worse. Though, even if Bastion hadn’tgiven me that gift, Hogan would just find some other reason to be jealous. An innocent hello or a head nod from another man could set him off.
I used to think about running away. All the time. Not anymore. Not after I’d forgotten to delete my internet search history and he saw I was looking at apartments in Seattle.
His threats to hunt me down and kill me if I ever tried to leave him terrified me to my marrow, but it was more than fear keeping me here.
My mom had loved this town with all her heart, especially during Christmas. Staying here, immersing myself in the magic of wintertime was my way of being close to her. Besides, I couldn’t give up on my dream.
When I was growing up, my parents had owned an ornament shop called Kringle’s. My dad had to sell it to pay for her chemo when she’d gotten sick. The building was a cheesy gift shop now that catered to the tourists that came in for the Christmas season.
The building was big. I couldn’t afford to buy it back, but I was able to buy the smaller one across the street. One day I’d make enough money with my business to buy back the old building to set up my shop. For now, I settled for the view of Kringle’s across the street from my storefront window.
I closed up shop, grabbing my wreath and Bastion’s present before leaving. I’d give almost anything to be able to stay in the shop all night. Hell, I’d gladly live in the little office at the back of my store if I could. But I'd stayed overnight exactly once—It hadn’t even been on purpose. I’d accidentally fallen asleep in my chair one night entering my daily sales into the accounting program. Hogan flew off the handle, accusing me of cheating on him. It hadn’t mattered that I had footage from my security camera, proving I’d been alone in my office all night.
The fucker had hit me anyway.
I climbed into my Subaru and watched the tourists and locals packing the streets, marveling at all the Christmas lights and beautiful storefront window displays. I opened my glove box and moved to shove Bastion’s present inside. The compartment’s little light bulb made the bow sparkle.
I doubted I’d get much of a present from Hogan. He said my engagement ring was so expensive, it was basically my present for the foreseeable future. Apart from the box of oranges my dad had sent in the mail and the little gifts some of my regulars dropped off, I doubted I’d get much of anything this year. That made Bastion’s gift exciting. What could it be? Despite owning a christmas tree farm, Bastion wasn’t exactly big on the holiday.
His parents were gone too, and this time of year seemed hard on him. Not that he’d ever say that, but he wasn’t the only one who could read between the lines.
I opened the package delicately, thinking I might make some cute paper bows out of the salvaged wrapping paper. Maybe I’d buy a present for him, something small if I could keep Hogan from finding out, and put the bow on it.
My throat tightened when I pulled out a book. It was a romance novel, a Christmas-themed one. I read the blurb, and the lump in my throat continued to swell. It was a spicy retelling of The Nutcracker.
I flipped through the book, and my breath latched in my chest when I noticed the inside cover had a note.
“Clara, I know you love books. Notice you reading them all the time. You always insisted on playing Clara in the school’s Christmas play of The Nutcracker because your mom had named you after the main character. I’m sure you have a million copies around so thought I’d get you something a little different.
I heard the heroine in this retelling is a badass. The rat king gets the girl, but he doesn’t have to save her. Clara saves herself. Figure you’d like it.”
I read the last couple of lines several times over before hugging the book to my chest.
Clara saves herself.
I sat in my car, staring down the darkened driveway that led to Hogan’s farm house. Most nights, I’d park by the wooden sign readingHogan’s Happy Hogsin big red letters with a painted character of my fiancé dressed up in a Krampus costume.
I never sat at the end of the driveway for long. He knew the shop closed promptly at five, and while it took twenty-seven minutes to get to his farm from town using the main road, I’d found a short-cut that only took twenty. That bought me seven precious minutes to myself, which I used to mentally prepare myself for an evening with Hogan and his unpredictable temper.
My attention landed on the wreath in the passenger seat.
The handsome, annoyingly-observant, Christmas-hating Bastion had been right.
I tried to make everything as perfect as I could outside my horrible relationship. Laser-focusing on the things I could control, making them exactly how I wanted, was a much-needed distraction.
I pulled out the wire twist ties I’d been keeping in the glove compartment, and my new book caught yet another long beat of my attention before I stepped out of the car and into the cold.
It had started to snow.
I smiled to myself, the first genuine smile I’d worn all day. My mom loved the snow.
