I don’t need to decide right now. Outside the window, the world is sparkling like diamonds. The winter wonderland is calling me. I dress warmly in my HoudZou, thick leggings, and my red boots. And my Santa hat, of course.
Outside, the freezing air wakes me right up. The air is clean and fresh but cold enough to turn my nose into an icicle. I trudge through the thick drifts to the end of the deck and lean on the railing by the Christmas tree. Without the lights on, it looks like a regular tree, but it’s still beautiful.
And Piers didn’t seem to hate it last night. We made a new memory.
I’ve cared for you. I’ve always cared for you, I just didn’t know it.
I wish I could call my mom, get her advice. She was always unlucky in love, but she did tell me to find someone who made me laugh, someone who would do anything for me. ‘Don’t settle,’ she said.
Piers does make me laugh, even when he’s roasting me. And he certainly went out of his way to trap me here.
The real thing I can’t wrap my head around is why he wants me. He’s brilliant, sexy, Hollywood handsome. What do I have to offer him?
You’re the only one who can take me.
But I’m just his assistant.
Don’t do that. Don’t put yourself down before anyone else can.
Maybe I need therapy.
I’m pondering this when the sound of jingling bells fills the air. I think I’m imagining it when I glimpse something brown and red moving through the fir trees.
What the…?
I walk down the stairs to get a closer look and end up knee deep in the snow right as four huge brown deer trot into view. They’re pulling a bright red sleigh, and the jingling sound is from the bells on their harnesses and antlers.
“Whoa, there,” a gruff voice calls, and the sleigh slides to a stop. The sleigh driver is a big and brawny white man wearing a thick burgundy coat edged with white fur. His head is covered by a huge brown fur hat, the sort an old-timey trapper would wear. It matches his big, bristling beard, which is brown with a few white patches.
He pulls out a piece of paper and frowns at it, then looks up at the house while rubbing his beard with a gloved hand.
“Hello?” I call.
His face splits into a grin. “Hello there.” His voice booms out. “Merry Christmas. Are you Wellesley Creech?”
I nearly fall over. “Um, yes? That’s me.”
He stuffs the paper back in his pocket. “Just who I was looking for. I heard you need a ride to the airport. Whoa, Ruddy.” This last part he says to one of the big deer, who snorted at me and pawed the snow. “Hang on,” Beard Man says. He jumps down and pulls a big burlap sack out of the back of his sleigh. He reaches in and pulls out a fat carrot. “Rudy’s a good sort, but she gets antsy if I don’t give her snacks.”
Rudy? My mouth falls open, but I close it quickly before my tongue freezes. “Are these reindeer?”
“They sure are.” He tromps around in his big black boots, feeding each of them a carrot. “Snows a bit deep for a sleigh ride, but they wanted out of the barn.”
“So you came to pick me up?” I still can’t believe it. Piers mentioned something about figuring out a way to get me back to the city for Christmas, but I told him to just go to bed.
“Heard your boss had you up here, making you work through Christmas. Can’t have that.” He frowns.
“Um, no, it’s okay. He… meant well.”I kept imagining you alone, missing your mom, and I couldn’t bear it.
Rudy shakes her head, making the bells on her antlers jingle. She’s not convinced.
Beard Man puts a hand on Rudy’s neck to calm her. “So are you ready? If you grab your things, I can have you at the helipad by noon.”
This is what I wanted, right? A trip back to NYC. To my cold little apartment and moldy leftovers. No Piers. Just the ache of missing my mom.
Is that what I really want?
Or… do I want to stay in a mansion with a man who professes to be crazy about me?
