“Here it is!” Rory rattled off a phone number and Drake rushed to enter it into his phone. Then he went back to finish texting.
Drake: Not sure. Waiting to talk to the mechanic. I’ll let you know when I know.
He wished he could give her more information, but with Clove in the picture, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to make it out of the state with Felix, let alone all the way back to North Dakota.
“You’ll want to call him first thing in the morning.” Rory took out a package of kisses and ripped it open, offering one to Drake.
He took it absently. “Morning?” It was dark as ink out there. His phone read after nine. “Any place to stay in town?” He had portable panels in the trailer that would make a nice pen for Felix. Not that they’d keep him grounded if he decided to fly out, but people tended to feel better when the reindeer stood behind a fence.
“Judy, two streets up that way, has a couple rooms she rents out on that AirB&B thing. She might have an opening. There’s a sign in her front yard.”
Drake made a mental note and gathered up his hat.
“Any damage to my property?” asked Rory.
Drake shook his head. “Your metal pole is just fine. Maybe a little scuffed.”
Rory nodded once. “It’s fine steel. Got it off of a tank someone was taking apart. Can’t remember what part of the tank it was, but it was a good buy. I painted it bright yellow, so it was hard to miss.”
Drake’s face flamed with embarrassment. He lifted a hand in goodbye as he ducked back outside. The icy wind raced down his coat collar and he shivered, shoving his hat on his head to keep warm.
Instead of going to Clove’s side of the truck, where she might reprimand him again, he approached Hannah’s. She rolled down the window and warm air spilled onto his cheeks, reminding him of everything he was missing. “There’s a B&B not far from here where we can settle in for the night. My treat.” He put on a smile, but it felt as forced as holiday cheer in cell block 43.
“Why don’t we just go home? I have my SUV.” Clove pointed across the street.
Drake closed his eyes and reminded himself to be nice. The voice sounded an awful lot like his sainted mother’s. “The trailer won’t make it that far. I’m going to have to pull it off to the side here and hope Rory doesn’t mind it spending the night, because I can’t call the repair guy until tomorrow morning.”
Clove drew her lips in and her eyebrows down. “But you could drive us home.”
“All of you but Felix.” He turned to Hannah and felt himself soften a bit. She was more than a willing partner in his reindeer heist, and she’d been nothing but supportive. “I didn’t think you’d want to leave him behind.”
Hannah patted his cheek. “That’s very kind of you.”
A strangled sound of protest escaped from Clove's pressed lips. Maybe escaped was the wrong phrase. It was more like a forced noise from the back of her throat. He locked eyes with her, daring her to argue with his plan.
She apparently couldn’t help herself. “We can get Felix home. It’s dark enough that he could…” she trailed off, her eyes flitting from him to Hannah.
“Fly?” he spat out. “You want him toflyhome?”
Her eyes rounded.
“Yeah. I know he can fly.” He should calm down. He should school his voice and not let the grouch inside of him take over. He would do all of that if this woman wasn’t glaring at him like he’d stolen the last candy cane from her child. “I know he can fly and that he talks to you and that you say you want to protect him, but you’re really hiding behind him like a coward.”
She gasped, her already big blue eyes going wide.
A voice of reason inside of him shouted for him to stop, but he was a snowball rolling downhill and gathering speed.
“If you want Felix to fly home, be my guest. Flying reindeer reports on the local knees and spreading all over the county will be easy to dismiss when everyone knows you’re the only one with a reindeer. How do you think I found Felix?”
Her eyes darted from side to side as she remembered their conversation at the coffee stop. Her recall was so quick, he wondered if she’d been thinking about those few moments as much as he had and they were fresh in her mind.
He pushed away from the door, the honesty and truth in his thoughts causing a physical reaction to her inside of him. He yearned to take her in his arms and soothe all the places where she was pricked and poked into becoming the woman who looked so lost.
His mom said that he had a way of seeing things in people they didn’t want to see in themselves, and that’s why they got upset when he pointed them out. He’d called out Caleb when he said he didn’t like Faith–told him he liked her more than he was willing to admit and that he was running scared from her. They’re married and have a kid now, so it all worked out.
He’d told his date to the junior prom that he knew she didn’t want to go with him, but thought he was better than sitting at home. She was mad and embarrassed until he said it was fine, but would appreciate it if she’d stop pretending to be interested in him and just be his friend. They danced and laughed and she sent him a Christmas card every year–she lives in Idaho.
Living honestly wasn’t always easy, but it seemed to pay off in the long run. Apparently, pointing out that Clove hid behind Felix had been the wrong thing to do and he wasn’t sure how he was going to get over the ice block she’d put between them.
