Sparrow stopped at the bottom of the freshly shoveled and salted walkway that led up to Chloe’s front door. She’d painted it robin’s egg blue and hung a wreath for the holidays. He cocked his head. If you could call a bunch of bare branches twisted and tangled in a circular-ish way a wreath. She liked to craft things. While they didn’t always turn out, she was enthusiastic about her projects.
He bounded up the steps and knocked on her door, eager to move on with the day and with them. Girlfriend was one step closer to wife.
Chloe opened the door, and Jack took a moment to take her in. She had short blonde hair that was curly and often flew out in all directions. That was one of the first things he noticed about her when they met. He thought she was fun and a little wild. Maybe quirky in a good way. At any length, she’d caught his attention. The next thing that set her apart was her pointy little nose. He’d known no one with a nose quite so sharp. It worked for her–a beautiful accent to her large blue eyes. Eyes so blue they could be cobalt–the color of the shirt he’d picked out this morning. He smiled, remembering how he’d ordered it online because it reminded him of Chloe.
“Hello, Beautiful.” He leaned in and kissed her cheek.
Chloe’s button mouth dipped into a frown as her eyes looked beyond him to the sleigh. “What are they doing here?” She didn’t reach up to hug or kiss him back, her voice tetchy.
Jack looked over his shoulder. Pax and Drake waved from the sleigh, big cheesy grins on their faces. He’d hear about the kiss hello–about how whooped he was over this woman. “I needed the extra weight in the back of the sleigh.” He hooked a thumb toward them. He felt like an idiot, though he wasn’t sure why.
Chloe's lower lip poked out. “Does every date we go on have to be chaperoned?” She reached her tiny hands out and laid them on his chest. “You asked me to go on a romantic sleigh ride. I thought we’d be alone.”
“We will. I’ll drop them off at the feed store.” He smiled down at her. “I brought a holiday basket for Mrs. Broadhead too. Mom asked us to swing by her place and drop it off.” Mrs. Broadhead lost her husband that summer and lived alone; her kids scattered all over the country. She’d taught Drake piano until he graduated high school.
Chloe’s face screwed up tight. “Do we have to?”
He leaned back, surprised by her cantankerous attitude today. It was Christmas. The season of giving and all that. “Mom would have done it, but Dad’s still sick,” he tried to explain.
Sick was an understatement. Pneumonia had wrapped its icy fingers around Dad and hung on. He’d been to the hospital twice, and if he wasn’t coughing, he was sleeping. On the one hand, Mom was beside herself with worry; on the other, she was determined that he’d be better before Christmas Eve and able to play Santa.
Jack took Chloe’s hand in his. “I wanted to share this moment with you, Chloe.” He let his hopes for their future shine through, praying she understood he was in this for the long run. He frowned as her heater kicked on in the house, and a blast of warm air hit his face. “Do you want to grab your coat? I don’t want to let all the warm air out of your place.”
Chloe shifted her weight, moving away from him. “Jack,” she said softly. “I don’t know what you think is going on here, but I have to tell you something.”
“Anything. You can always talk to me.”
She nodded once, as if she’d made up her mind about something. “I’m not ready to become a rancher’s girlfriend.”
Jack blinked. “We’ve been going out for three months. We don’t see other people. I kind of thought we were already…” he trailed off as her eyes hardened. “Not that I was taking you for granted.” Backpedaling was not attractive, but he wasn’t sure what else to do.
“It’s not you, Jack. I promise. It’s the ranch.”
Jack’s mouth fell open. “The ranch?”
She took her hand out of his and slammed it on her hip. “You don’t even raise normal animals–you raisereindeer.”
“What’s wrong with reindeer?” Especially his reindeer. The Nicholas family was Santa’s trusted caretaker for the herd that provided reindeer to the North Pole. They were amazing creatures with personalities, humor, pride, and hopes of joining Santa’s crew one day. Only a few could fly, but the others were amazing in their own right. Like Sparrow, who pulled them into town today–she enjoyed getting off the ranch and preening for pictures. If she had a social media page, it would be full of selfies.
“Reindeer are fine if that’s what you want in life and don’t mind the smell. But… I want more, Jack. And you can’t give it to me. I thought with the movie people coming, you could see that there’s a great big world out there, and we could explore it together. But I’m afraid you never will.” She bit her bottom lip. “I’m sorry I dumped this all on you. I think it’s better if we don’t see each other anymore.”
“Wait.” Jack pressed his hand against the door to keep her from shutting it. Her comment about the movie reminded him he didn’t have all day to ride around town–the crew was due this afternoon. “Chloe, don’t I get to say something?”
She narrowed her eyes. “I’m trying to let you down easy, Jack. Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
Jack’s hand slipped off the door, and he stared at her. “So we’re done then?”
She smirked. “It’s not like you’ll be dateless for long. You have a reputation for running through women. Put a notch on your fence post for me.” She slammed the door in his face.
Jack jerked back. “A reputation? I have a reputation?” Sure, he’d dated a lot in the last two years, but that was him trying to find someone. How else was he going to get married? He had to put himself out there, right?
He stormed back to the sleigh. Sparrow lifted an eyebrow, and he could hear her say:You should have listened to me.
“Don’t be so smug,” he mumbled as he ran his hand down her warm neck before climbing in and taking up the leather reins.
His brothers looked everywhere but at him. Good. He wasn’t sure how much they heard, and he didn’t feel like filling in the details. He called to Sparrow, and the sleigh slid forward and then picked up speed. Sure, now she wanted to run. That was fine; he did too.
Chloe’s words raced through his mind.
