Then he heard women’s voices—definitely Gracie, his granddaughter. Was she showing this cabin to Bertie? But when the other woman spoke, it wasn’t the voice of his least favorite drill sergeant.
Who was that?
Did it matter? He was Santa, about to be caught breaking and entering.
He stayed quiet, alert, and prayed his stomach didn’t growl and give him away, because this was embarrassing.
The voices drifted in from the living room. Gracie’s tone was polite but tight, the way she sounded when she was trying very hard to stay civil.
“I think you’ll find everything you need. Let me show you the main bedroom and ensuite.”
“As long as I can get an Uber to get over to see Marshall, I’m good. Thank you.”
“Well, Olivia can stay here with you…”
Oh, it was Olivia’s mother, who’d apparently just checked in at the lodge.
“I’m not here just to see Olivia,” the woman said, her voice a little sharp as a suitcase rolled by the door, inches from Red.
He winced and waited. Gracie would be furious if she opened the door and found him standing there.
“I’ll let you get comfortable, Bianca,” Gracie replied, her voice moving toward the front of the cabin. “My mother, MJ, and my Aunt Cindy are available for whatever you need. Goodbye!”
He heard the front door close, the sound of his granddaughter hightailing it away from…Bianca, did she say? He could well imagine Gracie’s strawberry-blond hair flying as she made her escape, her whiskey-colored eyes flashing, her freckled cheeks flushed as always. She sure sounded…impatient.
Judging from the way he’d noticed Gracie dancing with Marshall at the wedding, that impatience was understandable if Bianca was the ex.
But what in tarnation was she doing staying here? Well, Olivia did just tell him she wasn’t going to California, so there must have been a change of plans. Not a good one for Gracie, he decided.
He crouched a little, the Santa belt digging into his stomach. How the heck long would he be trapped in here?
He waited, counting silently to ten. Then twenty.
He could still hear movement—soft thuds, the rustle of clothing, a suitcase unzipping again, the flush of the ensuite toilet, then water running.
Red groaned quietly, realizing he’d missed his chance to escape. He couldn’t just pop out of the hall bath now—she’d scream bloody murder to find Santa hiding in her cabin.
He eyed the small frosted-glass window behind the toilet. Dang! They’d taken out the old latch he’d installed a hundred years ago and replaced it with permanent glass. Now what?
“Well…I had to call you, Tara,” Bianca said, her voice drifting in from outside the door, likely on the phone. “There’s been a…tiny hiccup, but it doesn’t really change anything. We’re still…moving forward.”
Just don’t move forward into the hall bathroom.Please.
“Well, he wouldn’t let me stay at his house,” she said to…someone. “I can’t imagine why, since there’s plenty of room and I could tell by the way he was looking at me that he was so happy I was there. Oh, yes. Over the moon, I’d say.”
Really?Very slowly, very quietly, Red lowered himself to sit on top of the toilet seat—glad his daughters had spent the extra money for a substantial potty seat and not one of those flimsy things that buckled like a Tupperware lid.
Stuffing down his qualms about eavesdropping—it wasn’t like he had a choice—he sat quietly and listened to the fake-bright voice that some women used when gossiping.
“You are so right, girl, yes!” she cooed, sounding more like Olivia than a grown woman. “Of course, he will spend every chance he can with me. You know he didn’t want that divorce.” A long pause followed, and for a minute, Red forgot he was hiding out in a bathroom snooping on a guest.
Because this was…interesting.
“I know, I know,” she continued, making Red wish she’d put the call on her speaker phone so he could follow the whole thing. “Of course he’s still single. He’ll never get over me. He looks at me like he’s never been around a woman.” She gave a high-pitched laugh. “I was always his weakness and I’m gonna be again, Tara. You watch. Once I let him know he can have me again, he won’t stand a chance.”
Red’s blood pressure rose.
“I told you, this is my best shot. My only shot! You’re my sister, Tara! Do you want me to go to jail?”
