“Svensson Investment will invest,” Hunter said.
“We’re going to what?” Greg spat.
“Conditional on the following. One, you provide a detailed itemized spreadsheet of your capital investments and revenue projections, and two, Matt, you move that reindeer onto your property because I know as soon as my younger brothers or, God forbid, my wife sees that reindeer in his sweater, he’s going to move into my property and will be there forever.”
43
Merrie
“Prancer, you have a home!” I cooed to the reindeer. He and Kringle were smooshed into the back seat of Matt’s SUV as he drove down the country road to the Wynter Estate.
“You have a new forever home. Well,” I amended, “forever until Matt sells it.”
“Soon, I hope,” I said. “You need to find a reindeer rescue for Prancer to live.”
Matt pulled up to the side of the house, jumped out, and opened the trunk.
“Do you have somewhere warm to keep him?” I asked, worried about poor Prancer.
“He’s a reindeer. His people live in the tundra. I think he’ll be fine outside.”
“He can’t sleep outside,” I said as Prancer maneuvered his head with the impressive set of antlers out of the trunk then unfolded the rest of his body.
I adjusted Prancer’s sweater.
Matt shook his head. “I had the stable renovated too. Hensley wanted horses, so…”
Ugh. I felt terrible.
“I’m sorry,” I said awkwardly. “I’m sorry for messing up your important meeting and for making you come back to this house.”
I kicked at the snow at my feet.
And this is why you can’t be in a relationship. You don’t know how to act like a normal adult.
But instead of yelling at me, Matt stepped close to me and put one hand on my arm. The other he used to tilt my chin up to look at him.
“I have four major investing firms pledging to sign on to my Series A funding round. That is way more than I thought I would have originally.” He brushed the snow off a frizzy piece of my hair.
“And the house, well, it will be out of my life soon, just like my ex. And then it won’t be a problem anymore.”
I looked up at the large house. The light gray stone against the snowy winter sky made the estate look like an ice fortress.
“It’s such a beautiful house.” I sighed as Matt gave Prancer a shove through a portico between the main and east wing of the estate house toward the stables in the rear.
“Maybe,” Matt said. “But it has terrible memories.”
“So, make new ones.”
The stables were built from the same light gray stone as the house. Matt grabbed a bale of hay stacked near the front, took out a knife, and cut the twine holding it together.
“This isn’t for eating,” I scolded Prancer as he grabbed a mouthful of hay. “You’re supposed to sleep in this.”
I helped Matt throw out the hay for the reindeer in one of the large wood-paneled stalls. Then we left Kringle and the reindeer in the stable with some water.
Matt seemed lost deep in thought. I felt terrible that I had ruined his day, especially after he had let me crash at his house and use his shower and had actually participated in the bake-off and bought me dinner.
Geez, you’re really running up your tab with thisguy, I told myself.
