Then, I changed tack. “So you really came all this way because of that silly letter I wrote? What did you want to happen when you got here?”
“Oh, I didn’t have a plan. It’s just supposed to be anadventure. My friend Jan talked me into it. And she said it was important not to get attached to an outcome. According to her, that’s rule number one about adventures.”
“Adventure. So, that’s what you’re doing? Looking for an adventure?”
She nodded. “I think I already found it. Even if it’s just a cup of tea with a stranger. This is the wildest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
Somehow, Robin managed to look sexy and innocent all at the same time. Did she have any idea of the effect she was having on me?
The kettle whistled, and I got up to fix us both a batch of tea. “You like elderberry tea? I gather the herbs myself every year.”
“I’ve never had it before, but it sounds like fun.”
I poured us both a cup and sat down. “I drink it every day in the winter. It’s supposed to keep your immunity up.”
She grinned and took a sip.
“So, what are your plans? Considering it’s Christmas Eve,” I asked her.
“Mm. Well, I haven’t thought that far ahead. I’m not spending Christmas at home this year, obviously. I’ll miss the Reindeer Festival we host every year. But I have about two weeks off from work. So I, uh, plan to find a motel in town and maybe do somesightseeing. The square was dressed up prettily when I drove past it. Do they have lights at night? I might go see them.”
My mind ping-ponged around everything she’d just said. Motel room. Two weeks. Christmas crap. Reindeer.
Then I blurted out, “Do you want to spend Christmas Eve here? I mean, not to spend the night. I’m not trying to insinuate anything. I just mean, uh, well, fuck.”
I ran out of words and went silent on her.
She didn’t seem to mind the fact that I couldn’t string two words together in her presence. She just seemed delighted. Like this was her natural state of being, a ray of sunshine beaming on my gloomy patch of woods.
“What were your plans for today before I showed up?”
I shrugged a shoulder. “You were looking at it, hon.”
Her eyebrows lifted in surprise. “You were going to chop wood all day?”
“Naw. I would have stopped for breakfast at some point. Then lunch.”
“But what about your family?” she pointed at the picture on my mantle. “Don’t you see them on Christmas Eve?”
My sister was always asking me to come over, but I felt like I was intruding on her private family time. And my friend Ryder was having a Christmas party. He threw one every year. But I hadn’t planned to attend that either.
So I told her, “I just keep it simple. I see my family on Christmas Day. That’s enough togetherness time, right?”
Her eyes dimmed, and it was the first time her cheery expression cracked a little. “So you just stay home by yourself on Christmas Eve?”
Robin made it seem like that was a national tragedy. Then she perked back up, her enthusiasm too buoyant to be stifled for long.
She told me in a flurry of words, “I always make therounds. I see everyone I care about on Christmas Eve. Cocoa and I stop at about a dozen different places.”
My leg twitched.
Shit.It was almost time for my medication. That was the sign.
“Uh, I should get breakfast. I got pills to take. You want breakfast?”
Robin gave me a tiny head nod. “I’d love that.”
While I pulled out the bacon and eggs, I broke every personal rule I had and made my offer a second time. “You want to spend Christmas Eve with me? There’s a Winter Wonderland Festival at the town square. And a friend of mine is having a party. Maybe we could…”
