Page 5 of Mountain Man Santa

She presses her lips firmly together, her eyes narrowing as I head in her direction with it. To-go boxes have become a part of our tradition. I give her one every time her shift ends. They started simple enough with cheery phrases or emojis. But over time, they transformed into crude love letters, barely scratching the surface of my feelings for her.

Knowing I can keep her safe, well-fed, and happy improves my whole day. Since I’m already down in the happiness department this morning, I lean into making her well-fed, giving her a box of housemade tiramisu—her favorite dessert. On the top of the box, I wrote in Sharpie:

Don’t…

When she flips up the lid, it reads:

Don’t give up on me or us… Give me a chance to explain. I need you, Shortie.

Her face softens, and her eyes warm as she looks at me before turning and walking out. She doesn’t smile or say anything, which is her MO when she has shit to process.

Staring through the back window of the kitchen, I watch until she gets safely in her car and drives away. As much as I feared what happened today with her brothers, it had to come out at some point.

Despite everything, the tenderness in her eyes reassures me she’ll come around eventually. She has to because with each passing day, I become more convinced I’ll never be able to live without her.

Chapter

Three

STACEY

“That weather doesn’t look too good,” Roxy says, staring out the windshield of my red Touareg at the dark horizon.

“I know.” I frown. “It doesn’t seem like anything can go right for Jerry anymore. I feel sorry for the guy, but then he also brings misery on himself...” I turn up the heat in my car, feeling silly for making Roxy come out here, but I haven’t seen her in forever, and I need someone to talk to badly.

“It’s fun being back here with everybody,” the sunshiny Wa-She-Shu beauty says, making her thick black braids shake as she talks. “I never thought I’d say I miss working at the diner, but I enjoyed chatting with everyone daily. As much as I love dogs and cats, they’re a little less talkative.”

She refers to her new line of work, the animal shelter she runs on Three Nations Reservation. I clear my throat, teasing, “So, you’re telling me you’re no Dr. Doolittle?”

“Not exactly, although the shelter recently got an African grey parrot named Mr. Moody who talks up a storm. He also does a ton of cursing, so we had to put up a warning signfor families coming through to listen to him at their own discretion.”

Chuckling, I ask, “Seriously? I’ve got to stop by soon to see this dirty-mouthed parrot.”

“You do,” she nods. “And there are so many adorable animals in need of homes. “That’s why I can’t be more thankful to Jerry for offering to hold our first fundraising event at the Silver Fork in February.”

“He’s a really amazing guy. So caring and generous with his time. So hardworking and dedicated to what he does. He may only serve diner food, but he doesn’t spare any expense or overlook any detail. And he’s so darn good-looking…like this big towering wall of muscle I can’t keep my eyes off.”

Roxy’s jaw drops, and her eyes round.

“What?” I ask, side-eyeing her.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you have the hots for Jerry Lee!”

“Absolutely not!” I exclaim, shaking my head. “Why would you say that anyway?”

“Because of the way you’re talking about him.”

I shake my head again. “I’m stating facts, but that doesn’t mean anything.”

“Generous, hardworking, dedicated, so darn good-looking, can’t keep my eyes off… What else could that possibly mean?”

I look down, fingering my apron.Time to quit playing stupid already.After all, the whole point of coming out here was to talk to Roxy about what happened and get her advice.

I take a deep breath, saying, “So, three weeks ago, Jerry and I were wrapping up the restaurant. You know, the usual. I finished cleaning tables and putting everything away, and I went into his office to ask if he needed anything else. Only I didn’t realize he had this sprig of mistletoe hanging over his door. I know, it’s a stupid, old-fashioned tradition. But I couldn’t really say ‘no’ tokissing him because, you know, it would be a lot more awkward if I refused. So, yeah, I let him kiss me…or maybe I kissed him. I don’t know for sure because everything kind of happened all at once, but I haven’t been able to get it off my mind ever since.”

Her eyebrows shoot into her hairline. “Okay, you should’ve called me immediately. You are seriously keeping me out of the loop.”

“I know. I’m sorry. But the whole thing caught me off guard, and it was a lot to process. I almost called you several times, but I wasn’t even sure how to explain it. I’d never allowed myself to think of Jerry that way before, being my boss and all. But when I say he’s a good kisser, it’s an understatement. I can still feel it in my toes.”

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