They worked in silence, what she hadn’t said hanging between them even though both of them tried to push it aside like a shower curtain.
Drake wanted to know what pain she hid behind her can-do attitude and homesteader skills. But it wasn’t his to explore, and he certainly didn’t want to expose old wounds and make her hurt in the process.
Some things were better left in the past. Right?
Instead of probing, he’d let her keep her secrets and be grateful they’d gotten along so well today.
So far. There was always the chance that he’d strike a sensitive spot and they’d be back to arguing and cold shoulders before Felix had a chance to stretch his legs. That’s part of what made Clove a challenge. She wasn’t cut and dry, easy to read, or black and white. He liked that. He liked her and he wanted to spend some more time working alongside her.
He’d like to see what she could do, if she’d let him be a part of it.
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
Clove crossed her arms and glared at Drake as he held his sides and laughed. He even had the audacity to pretend to wipe a laughter-induced tear from the corner of his eye.
“A chain link what?” he asked between gasping for breaths.
Clove shoved him. He was so weak with amusement on her behalf that he stumbled two steps to the right. “How am I supposed to know how you keep flying reindeer from getting away?”
Felix ducked away from her, embarrassed by her question.Try to act like you’ve been to the dance before, will you?
“You are not supposed to know human slang and expressions. Where did you learn that anyway?” she chastened him.
“Everyone knows Vince Lombardi, right bro?” Drake fist bumped Felix’s shoulder. Felix huffed a yes.
Clove mentally raced to place the name—football coach? She couldn’t remember, but wasn’t about to ask. They were already laughing at her for asking if they had a chain link roof on their field or something. She stomped Grandma’s snow shoes as she walked. How Grandma managed to pack so much to run away, she didn’t know. Drake also had a set that he’d kept in the stock trailer. She was delighted when he pulled them out, noting one more thing they had in common.
Working on the trailer and then the dog sled was good for her mind. She enjoyed coming up with solutions and working around a problem with what was on hand. Otis had a lot of tools which made shimming the sled easy. They had to wait for the glue to dry before they worked on it again and the fresh air did wonders for her sinuses after the diesel fuel laced air in the shop.
Drake pulled himself together. “We have an indoor barn with individual stalls for each of the flying reindeer. We find that they have bigger personalities than the non-fliers and prefer their own space over bunking together.” Drake filled in the blanks. “We have a huge indoor training facility that allows us to work with them while flying without anyone seeing what we, or they, are up to. When they’re ready to fly with the sleigh, we fly at night over the more than three-hundred acres we own.”
Clove nodded. The images she’d seen in the videos last night made more sense.
A large four-wheel-drive truck drove slowly by. The kids in the back seat pressed their noses to the glass to look at Felix. He lifted his jaw, striking a pose for them. Clove chuckled at his antics. “You ham.” She rubbed his cheek fondly.
The town wasn’t much. They’d already been down to the convenience store for snacks to take back to the B&B. Drake carried the plastic bags. Judy agreed to feed them two meals a day, and she served dinner at four, but they’d decided that having a few things on hand would be a good idea. Drake bought a lot more than she could imagine them eating in the next day or two, but she figured that he had to fuel all that muscle with something.
Felix liked the longer walk. He rambled through the woods back home on his own, with her and with Grandma. “You’ve been real patient with our stop here. You’re such a good reindeer,” she cooed. He seemed to slide into her praise like someone going downhill on a sled. After hearing the way Drake complimented Felix, she’d decided she needed to up her reindeer owning game. She gave Felix an extra pat.
A police car pulled up behind them, its lights flashing, and drove at a snail’s pace. Behind it was another truck. “Is he pulling us over?” she asked.
“I think so.” Drake gave her an amused smile. “Should we pull out of traffic?”
She snorted a laugh. “If you can call this traffic.” There weren’t any cars on the road and they werewalkingon the side.
The officer stopped and got slowly out of his car. The driver of the pickup wasn’t so methodical. He stepped down two sets of running boards and hurried over.
Clove leaned toward Drake. “Is his lift higher than yours?”
“Bite your tongue,” Drake growled, making her laugh.
“Easy there,” she soothed. “Your truck’s prettier.”
“Darn right it is.”
The truck-guy got to them first. He didn’t stop, though. Instead, he reached for Felix’s lead rope and tugged, trying to bring Felix to him. Felix pulled back, hopping on his front feet and dragging the man and Clove with him.
“Whoa!” Drake grabbed the guy and pulled him back. “You do not grab a lead rope like that.”
