For a blissful moment or two, I sat in the quiet snowfall, affixing my new wreath to the grill of my car until it was just right. I stood back to admire my handiwork, framed by the headlights of my car, when something shifting in the shadows snagged my attention from my task.
My eyes strained through the night. I could have sworn I’d seen…fur. Maybe one of Hogan’s hogs had gotten loose, sometimes that happened. Something told me it wasn’t that. I shrugged it off, deciding not to tell anyone. People saw shit out in these mountains all the time, and the entire town would write it off as a Krampus sighting every damn time.
It was stupid, considering this was Washington state. Bigfoot, maybe. But the Krampus? Even if monsters were real, the Krampus was supposed to frequent central Europe. Not the Cascade mountains. Still, every ‘sighting’ would pull in more tourists.
Nothing like a horned monster with a switch and the promise to punish the naughty to draw in the crowds. Sure, people came to Leavenworth for all the lights and the hot chocolate and the sledding. But regardless of the holidays, people were still perverts through and through.
A buzz in my jacket pocket drew my attention from the movement in the dark. My cell phone’s screen lit up with a series of deranged text messages.
Hogan
Where in the fuck are you?
Are you with that fucking vendor?
That vendor. This was a small town. Everyone knew everyone. And Hogan had known Bastion for years.
I saw you with him.
My chest filled with ice, and every breath I took turned painful. With shaking fingers, I tapped out my response.
Clara
He was just dropping off the last load of trees I ordered.
I know you didn’t have a delivery today.
He saw I was out. He delivered early.
Every place in town is sold out. So why did he pick you, of all the places that sell trees, to deliver early? What favor does he owe you? And what in the fuck is he doing giving you a present?
It was just a book.
It was pointless trying to explain the situation. Hogan never listened. He’d jump to conclusions, and there’d be no convincing him otherwise.
Get the fuck home right now.
There was a part of me—a big part of me—that wanted to climb back in the car and drive as far away as I could. But Hogan was just insane enough to track me down. Just one more night, then I’d look into escaping him tomorrow.
Then again, that’s what I always told myself.
Besides, what else was I supposed to do if I couldn’t bring myself to abandon my shop and my dream to relocate into my mom’s old building? This was a small town. No one was going to protect me from him. Even if everyone found out that the “honied ham man” and the florist weren’t such a perfect couple after all, it was doubtful they’d believe Hogan was capable of such brutality. He ensured never to leave a mark, at least not where anyone would see.
The town loved him. They didn’t know the real man behind the mask.
These days, that was the one thing we had in common. We were both great actors.
I pulled my Subaru into the driveway beside Hogan’s work truck, steeling myself for another beat before walking through the front door of the house.
To outside eyes, the little yellow farmhouse was cute. The perfect home. Especially with the Christmas lights on the eves and the wreath—another one I’d languished over—hanging from the red painted door.
I hated it. The inside smelled like old bacon grease no matter how many times I scrubbed the place clean.
I set my purse on the kitchen counter and walked to the fridge, opening it. I tried not to flinch when the football game from theliving room turned off and the groaning springs of Hogan’s old La-Z-Boy announced he was getting up.
Heavy footsteps drew closer. My breathing turned short and shallow with the monster’s approach.
“Look at me, Clara.”
