He shuddered dramatically. “I’ll be here.”
She smiled—a real, honest-to-goodness smile with teeth and everything that turned his brain to mush.
Maybe he didn’t have the whole picture, but he’d gotten a glimpse of things around here, and perhaps he was supposed to do more than just find Snowflake.
Maybe he was supposed to help this small family have a Merry Christmas.
If there was one thing a Nicholas could do, it was merry up the holidays.
Chapter Twelve
“Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells …” sang the dancing Santas as Mitzi walked by. They’d sold four of the 45 on the shelf. She wanted to turn off their motion sensors and stop the madness, but Carla thought they’d sell better if people saw them swinging their hips from side to side. “Movement draws the eye,” she’d insisted.
“And causes a headache,” Mitzi muttered under her breath. She worked around the shelf, doing all she could not to pass in front of the little bearded guys. The noise level was bad enough when customers came through, and if they brought kids? She might as well have bought stock in the aspirin company.
“So what was the big emergency last night?” Carla asked. She wore a bright red sweater with a white reindeer outline on it. As far as Christmas sweaters went, it was pretty tame—especially for Carla. The woman would dress in tinsel if she could.
“I, uh—” Mitzi scrambled to come up with a way to tell the truth without telling all of it. She wasn’t sure how she felt about Forest staying overnight. At the time, it’d seemed like the right thing to do; he’d needed care and observation. But in the bright light of day, she realized how it might look to people in town. “I had to help an injured man.”
“Who?” Carla’s eyes were down as she counted paintbrushes.
“He’s new in town. He, uh, his arm was cracked. I took him to the Instacare.”
Carla’s head came up. “You’re a real-life good Samaritan.”
It would have been a good deed—if she wasn’t the one who’d broken him in the first place. “No. I was just doing what needed to be done.” She hurried away, her stomach twisting. Her ex was full of lies, and she despised them. Maybe that was why she hadn’t allowed a man close to her heart in two years. Maybe she didn’t trust men in general.
Except … she’d let one sleep in her house last night. And the crazy thing about that? She’d slept too. She hadn’t stayed up fretting over what he was doing, if he was going through her purse or sneaking out to do who knows what. Granted, she didn’t have a claim on Forest, so she wouldn’t have a reason to trust him with her heart.
What if it had been another man? What if it was Ely? A shiver ran over her. Nope. Ely would never have been allowed over the threshold—no matter how broken or bruised. Okay, maybe if he was injured beyond the point of putting the moves on her. With Ely, she always felt like he was one second away from pressing his advantage.
She didn’t feel that way with Forest. With him, she felt safe. Which was strange, because he didn’t like her all that much. Maybe that was the reason she didn’t mind him being around. If he wasn’t trying to worm his way into her heart, then he wasn’t a threat.
She frowned. Something wasn’t right about that logic. As she unloaded boxes of PVC fittings, she mulled over the problem to try and figure out what she didn’t like about the idea of Forestnottrying to kiss her.
The bell over the door rang, and the Santas started up their offbeat song. She sighed and headed to the front to see if she could be of service to their new customer. Turning the corner, she caught Forest standing in front of the dancing Santas, a bright, happy grin on his face. He was moving his good arm in the air and shaking his behind in a perfect imitation of the horrible mechanical gyrations.
And boy, did he make that look good.
Her heart raced, thumping in her ears and drowning out “Jingle Bells.” Her body flushed with awareness and her eyes dropped to his wiggling backside.
Carla appeared next to her. “Told ya movement drew the eye.” She winked and gave Mitzi a shove.
Blushing furiously—thank you, fair skin and freckles!—Mitzi stumbled forward two steps. “He-hey. Umm.” Her brain was a blank.
Forest looked over his shoulder, caught sight of her, dropped his arm, and spun around. “These guys are great. I gotta have one.” He reached for a Santa wearing a cowboy hat. “You know what? Make that two. Mom will love this.”
Mitzi opened her mouth and then shut it again. Was he for real? This big tough wrangler, wearing a chocolate-colored cowboy hat, worn jeans, and a heavy coat, was buying a present for his mom. Be still her rapidly beating heart—was there anything sweeter on the planet?
Forest’s forehead wrinkled. “Is everything okay?”
She hugged herself, feeling silly. “I was just hoping that Billy cares about me like that when he grows up.”
Forest smiled easily. “He will. You’re a great mom.”
She stared at him.
“What?” He wiped at his face as if he had crumbs on his beard.
