Page 48 of Not Your Average Vixen
Delores straightened one of the stockings. “Your sister had the same reaction when she’d arrived. She said your family loved coming here for the holidays.”
Bridget nodded. “We did.”
“And your parents were married at the Kringle Chapel?” Mrs. Claus’s doppelgänger continued.
“Yes, they met when they were English professors at the University of Colorado. They’d invited my grandmother to spend their first Christmas here and chose to come to the Kringle Mountain House instead of staying in their cramped apartment in the city. They fell in love with this place and got married here a year later. But I haven’t been back since I was a teenager.”
“That’s a lovely story, dear, and we’re so happy to have you here celebrating not only Christmas but your sister’s wedding. The town of Kringle may be a bit different now than what you remember.”
Bridget walked down the center of the room, grazing her fingertips along the length of the rustic table as she stared at the mountains framed by the floor-to-ceiling windows lining the back of the mountain house, and he couldn’t help remembering her doing the same thing last night when they’d entered his suite.
Was that only last night? It felt like the two of them had been tangled together for eons—not hours.
“It’s perfect. It’s absolutely perfect,” she said, glancing over her shoulder at Delores as her eyes shined with emotion.
“Is this them, Mrs. D? Robin and Vespa?”
He turned to see a young man saunter in from the kitchen. In sunglasses, a red and white slouching Santa beanie sitting cockeyed on his head and zipped into an oversized hoodie covered in poinsettias, or some other green pointy plant, he was the poster kid for grunge Christmas. The guy lowered his shades to get a better look at them, then quickly slid his glasses back in place.
“It’s Birdie and Scooter, dear,” Delores corrected.
The young man nodded slowly. “But robins are birds, and Vespas are scooters.”
Delores grinned at the guy as if he didn’t seem totally out of his mind. “This is Tanner Baker. He works part-time doing odd jobs at the Kringle Mountain House and in the kitchen at Kringle Acres.”
“Right on! And I also dabble in agricultural pursuits,” the kid answered, sounding as if he’d spent the last decade locked in a room watchingPoint Breakand mastering the tone and cadence of pseudo-surf speak.
Delores grinned at the guy. “Our young Tanner is a Colorado renaissance man. Are your brownies and gummy bears ready, dear?”
“Bears are done, and three more minutes on the Baker’s delight brownies, Mrs. D,” he answered, procuring a plastic bag teeming with gummy bears and popping one into his mouth.
“Very good, and please leave the oven on, dear. Our guests are baking cookies for the residents at Kringle Acres.”
Tanner popped another gummy into his mouth. “Sweet, let me know if you need me to hook you up with any special ingredients.”
Bridget glanced between the peculiar pair, then looked up at him. Her questioning expression seemed to ask if they’d entered into an alternate universe.
He was wondering the same thing.
He gave her a little shrug. They were miles away from the closest major ski resort, and these out of the way towns were often packed with interesting characters.
Bridget turned to the holiday odd couple and pasted on a grin. “I think we should be fine, but thank you for offering. Dan said everything I’d asked for had been delivered. Did my baking equipment make it to you? I shipped it last week. I’ll need it to make the wedding cake.”
Delores nodded. “It did, but we don’t have the refrigerator space here for you to make and store the wedding cake.”
He bit back a grin. There it was—the first sign this wedding was doomed!
Bridget gasped. “But I have an email from you confirming the exact measurements of your freezer.”
He crossed his arms, feeling pretty damn good.
Rudolph one. Dasher zero.
“Don’t worry, dear. There is freezer space, just not here.”
That adorable crinkle between her eyebrows made an appearance. “I don’t understand.”
Delores adjusted her Mrs. Claus glasses. “About a month ago, the little bakery in our town closed. But the power is still on, and everything works. You’re welcome to use the facility to prepare the wedding cake. It’s down the street from the Kringle Acres Retirement Community.”
