Page 56 of The Holiday Gift

“I’m going to go change and tell Lou and Livvie that we’re having dinner here,” she announced.

She hurried away, leaving him alone with Faith—or as alone as they could be in a vast holiday-themed lodge still filled with about twenty other people.

“It really was a wonderful show,” he said.

“I can’t take any of the credit.”

He had to smile, remembering how busy she had been before and during the show. The previous year had been the same. She claimed she wanted nothing to do with the holiday show, then pitched in and did whatever was necessary to pull it off.

His smile slid away when he realized she was gazing at his mouth again.

Yeah. He decided he didn’t much care what people would think if he kissed her again right now.

She swallowed and looked away. “I need to, um, probably take Sparkle back to the barn for the night.”

Besides the musical number with Addie and her friends, the other highlight of the show had been when Celeste, under duress, read from her famous story “Sparkle and the Magic Snowball” to the captivated audience while therealSparkle stood next to her, looking for all the world as if he were reading the story over her shoulder.

“I’ll help,” he offered.

Both of them knew she didn’t need his help but after a moment, she shrugged and headed toward the front door and the enclosure where Sparkle hung out when he made appearances at the lodge.

Faith paused long enough to grab her coat off the rack by the door and toss his to him, then the two of them walked outside into the night.

The reindeer wandered over to greet them like old friends, the bells on his harness jingling merrily.

“Hey, Sparkle. How are you, pal?”

The reindeer lipped at his outstretched hand, making Chase wish he’d brought along an apple or something.

“I really don’t need your help,” Faith said. “He’s so easygoing this is a one-person job—if that. I could probably tell him to go to bed and he would wander over to the barn, flip the latch and head straight for his stall. He might even turn off the lights on his way.”

He had to smile at the whimsical image. “I’m here. Let’s do this so we can eat, too.”

With a sigh, she reached to unlatch the gate. Before she could, Ella Baker came out of the lodge, bundled against the cold and carrying an armload of sheet music.

“You’re not staying for dinner?” Faith asked after they exchanged greetings.

“I can’t. My dad is having a rough time right now so I need to take off. But thank you again for asking me to do this. I had so much fun. If you do it again next year and I’m still in town, I would love to help out.”

“That’s terrific!” Faith exclaimed. “I’ll let Hope know. I can guarantee she’ll be thrilled to hear this. Thank you!”

“I’m so sorry your sister couldn’t be here to see it,” Ella said. “I hope the live video worked so she could watch it at home.”

Hope was still taking it easy, Chase knew, though she’d had no other problems since that frightening day the week before.

“She saw it,” Faith assured her. “I talked to her right afterward and she absolutely loved it, just like everyone else did.”

“Oh, I’m so glad.” Ella smiled, then turned to him. “Chase, it’s really good to see you again. I didn’t have the chance to tell you this the other night but I had such a great time dancing with you. I’d love to do it again sometime.”

It was clearly an invitation and for a moment, he didn’t know what to say. Any other single guy in Pine Gulch would probably think he’d just won the lottery. Ella was lovely and seemed very nice. A relationship with her would probably be easy and uncomplicated—unlike certain other women he could mention.

The only trouble was, that particular woman in question had him so wrapped up in knots, he couldn’t untangle even a tiny thread of interest in Ella.

“I’m afraid opportunities to dance are few and far between around here,” he said, in what he hoped was a polite but clear message.

“You two could always go to the Renegade,” Faith suggested blithely. “They have a live band with dancing just about every Saturday night.”

For a moment, he could only stare at her. Seriously? She was pimping him out to take another woman dancing?

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