Even as a kid, he’d known better than to make fun of her hair. He’d been a real gentleman and painted it blue in art class. She hadn’t noticed at first, and all he could see was the contrast between the blue paint and her red hair. Incredible. When she had noticed, she’d looked like she wanted to cut a hole in his Christmas stocking. But she’d looked at him. Noticed him. Learned his name. For him, the game was afoot.
He’d never thought about what his pranks were doing to her. He had been so clueless.
Dr. Manhattan slid an X-ray slide onto the light board and flipped it on. There, in black and white, was Forest’s forearm. “If you look closely, you’ll see a hairline fracture right there.” He ran his pen, cap on, over the line. Forest had to squint to make it out.
Mitzi had broken his arm.
There was no way he could tell his brothers about this. They’d never let him live down his stupidity—both for trying to break into a barn and for getting beaten up in the process. Falling out of a flying sleigh wasn’t even a good excuse for a broken bone around their place—because they should all know how to hang on by now. He should have known better. But he was looking for the easy out. Like his dad always said,Do it right the first time so you don’t have to go back and do it again.Well, he’d have a heck of a time getting Snowflake home now. She was hard to handle on a good day. Only one of Santa’s daughters even attempted it, and Stella Kringle was the best flier in the family—not to mention the craziest.
“I’m going to put you in a brace, not a cast. But I don’t want you to use it for three weeks.”
“Three weeks! That’s December 23rd.” He couldn’t wait three weeks to use his arm. Snowflake was a fast flier, inexperienced, and strong. He’d need both arms just to keep them from crashing into a mountain.
“Three weeks and you should be one hundred percent. But not a moment before, or you risk cracking it more and possibly even breaking the bone completely.”
Forest flopped back on the pillow.
“Don’t worry.” Dr. Manhattan headed for the door. “It will fly by.”
She left, and Forest let out a groan. The nurse came in and fitted him with a brace, and then he was on his way down the hall, wondering if Idaho had Ubers and how he was going to get to his truck. His arm throbbed, and he let it hang limp in the sling across his chest. He could feel his pulse around the break, and it wasn’t a good feeling.
When he got to the lobby, he came up short at the sight of Mitzi curled up in a chair, her head bobbing forward and the bun on the top of her head tipping at a crazy angle. She looked so peaceful, so unlike the stressed-out woman who’d brought him in. Time had done wonderful things for Mitzi. Her cheeks weren’t as chubby, and the smattering of freckles across her nose had thickened. He liked that look; freckles wereinteresting,and he could stare at them for hours. Her lips were a shade lighter than the freckles and full. And that hair! As a kid, it’d been bright orange, but it had mellowed into this deep rust color that made her one of a kind in his book.
She must have felt him watching her, because she slowly opened her eyes and took him in. He smiled and wiggled his fingers on his good hand. “Sorry to wake you.” He glanced at the clock on the wall and grimaced. It was well past midnight.
Mitzi dragged herself to her feet and yawned. “Are you all good?” She pointed to his arm.
He shook his head. “Hairline fracture. I’ll be fine.”
Her eyes widened and she came fully awake. “I broke you?”
He chuckled. “More like cracked me. But I’ll be fine in a couple weeks. Really.” He checked himself. This was a strange moment for him, feeling bad about making the woman who attacked him with a tire iron feel bad. His life had made a loop-de-loop.
Mitzi frowned. “Come on.”
He followed her out to her car, and they climbed in. The temperatures had dropped, and it took a moment for the car to start up. Then it took a moment longer for the heater to blow warm-ish air.
“We should have brought my truck.” His teeth chattered.
She shrugged. “We can get it in the morning.”
“The morning?”
“I promised the nurse I wouldn’t leave you alone tonight.”
“But—”
She held up a hand. “It’s late. I’m tired. Someone else tucked my son in tonight. If we couldnotargue—that’d be great.”
He bit back every reason she should drop him off at the B&B and leaned back in the cold seat. “Fine. But won’t your husband be upset about me coming over tonight?”
Her grip on the wheel tightened. “My ex doesn’t care what I do.”
They pulled onto the bumpy dirt road that led to her house.
She sighed. “However, my boss cares. She cares a lot and will ask so many questions. Especially if she sees me bring you home.”
“So …?” he prompted her.
