Drake took the nanosecond Colter used to refill his lungs to explain their situation. “We need to get Felix to the reindeer reserve, but Hoffman doesn’t want him leaving town.” He had a hard time calling the sheriff by his first name.
Otis scratched under his heavy beard. “Why don’t you just leave him here? It’s not like he’s hurting anyone. We can set up a coral or keep him in the shop if it gets too cold.”
“Too cold for a reindeer?” Gabriella teased her dad.
He chuckled to himself.
Drake glanced at Clove. Was she going to tell Otis? Was he? Obviously, he didn’t believe Colter’s story about him flying off the roof.
Felix rolled his eyes:I’ll tell him.
“No–.” Clove was too late.
Felix bounded twice and then he was off, flying smoothly over the open area, banking right when he got to the trees and then coming back around to land in the same set of prints he’d started in.
Otis blinked and rubbed his eyes. “Did you see that?” he asked Colter, who had jumped into his arms.
Colter laughed and nodded. “Grandpa! I told you he could fly.”
“You see why we can’t leave him behind?” Drake grinned at Felix. “He’s kind of special.”
Kind of?Felix snorted.
Clove giggled and stepped over to rub Felix under the chin. “You’re my special reindeer. My favorite and most handsome reindeer.”
He leaned into her ministrations and compliments, letting his tongue roll out, making them all laugh.
The sun popped out above the trees, blinding them with the reminder that time ticked away.
“We should get inside,” Drake offered.
Otis nodded. “Let’s head to the workshop.”
Gabriella checked her phone. “I need to get to work. Can you or Mom take Colter to school this morning? He’s already late.” She hurried over and pecked a kiss on Otis’s cheek and then gave one to Colter, too. “Someone will talk to him about keeping secrets?” She pointed at Felix.
Drake nodded. “Man-to-man. We’ve got this.”
Drake could have showered her with roses and fancy dinners and it wouldn’t have had half the effect on her that seeing him take Colter by the hand, getting on one knee in the snow so they were on the same level, and explaining the responsibility of caring for Santa’s reindeer, including keeping them secret, was something he trusted Colter to do.
Clove’s heart melted for this wrangler. He took Colter into his confidence and treated him like he was capable of keeping this secret. Colter thrust out his chest, feeling trusted and special. For a kid whose dad left, the validation and inclusion were huge.
The fear that had thrown her back in time to the space of hurt and abandonment when she thought Felix left melted completely away. Drake promised he wouldn’t leave. She’d wanted to believe him and had talked herself into doing just that–but in this moment, the effort to believe him was taken away. She trusted him so much more than she’d ever trusted another soul.
Even Grandma, she’d worried, would leave at some point. Not on purpose, but because she would get older. How much love had she missed out on because fear blocked the door to her heart?
Without the fear standing there, she felt raw, exposed, and as bare as a Christmas tree without ornaments or lights.
Colter crossed his heart and ran to Felix, wanting every moment with the enchanted reindeer he could squeeze out of this day. “Come on. I’ll show you Grandpa’s shop.” Felix followed after him and Otis took up the rear.
Drake turned, catching Clove watching him. He put his hand over his heart in a silent promise and she was undone.
Her heart-door flew open and the realization that she was falling in love with his wrangler hit her with such force she couldn’t even lift her feet to move to him.
Love.
The feeling was warm and comforting like cocoa, exciting like sledding down a hill at full speed, safe like walking in the front door of your home at night, and hopeful like a child writing a letter to Santa.
It was too much and not enough all at the same time.
