Page 113 of Run, Run Rudolph
Mom’s tire tracks were still in my driveway from her earlier arrival, as was the rectangular levelling of snow where her car’s undercarriage had dragged through the drifts. But there were no tracks from Haden’s truck. Had he really not been here, or had the wind filled in the tire ruts while I’d slept?
The idea that he hadn’t seen Rudolph, or laughed with me over Blitzen, or kissed me after playing Nerf gun tag in the hardware store made me glum. I leaned my arm on the door and rested my head against it.
“I was thinking about you, and your lack of a male companion,” my mom started.
I groaned. “Please, no.”
“I was thinking,” she repeated firmly, “how Kade was never quite right for you. The two of you just never quite clicked in the way I’d like to see. He didn’t get to know you properly. Not in the way a partner should.”
I blinked once, twice. Had she really just said that?
I lifted my head to look at her. This was not a normal conversation with my mom. Something had definitely been set back incorrectly when Estelle had time-hopped me out of my sticky magical problem last night.
“Say that again?” I requested.
“You need a man who’ll stick up for you, and help you reach your own goals.”
My mind immediately thought of Haden, and all the ways he’d stood by me last night. Everything from unsuccessfully refusing to let me shield him from Mrs. Claus in court, to paying for all of our supplies and x-raying Rudolph.
“I do?” I asked.
“Yes. Someone who understands you, and who’ll have your back. Maybe someone like…” She laughed, her hands coming off the steering wheel for one precious second of terror as the car slipped a few inches to the right, caught in the fresh snow, before correcting itself back into the packed-down snowy tracks. “Silly idea.”
I sat up. Who did she have in mind for me? I could tell by her tone it wasn’t Teddy, the borderline alcoholic bachelor she was certain would turn himself around if he just dated the right woman. Or if it was someone I might already have in mind. “Tell me who.”
“Oh, it’s silly.” Her cheeks flushed. “But I was thinking how you and Haden always get along with your little smirks that drive everyone crazy and?—”
“We smirk?” That sounded annoying.
“Oh, I can’t describe your connection. I think you’re a bit of an introvert, Tamara. And he’s a bit more your speed. And while I know he’s a lot older than you, he does like horses.”
I laughed, the feeling like rusted barbed wire vibrating in my chest. “Well, he is a vet.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Do you think he likes me? You know, like that?” I asked, feeling pretty much as though I’d reverted back to being an insecure teenager again, but unable to help myself. Kade seemed to have been able to see the attraction between Haden and me, or at least, suspected it. If my mom recognized it, too, it gave me some hope that even if Haden had forgotten last night, we might be able to start something anew.
“And can you slow down?” I needed more time to explore this conversation, and we were nearly at Oma’s.
“It’s fine. The roads aren’t that bad. Not like last night. I heard five people hit the ditch, and Teddy claimed he saw reindeer!” My mom laughed and shook her head. “What I’m trying to say is that you’re a strong woman, Tamara. You need to make the decisions that are right for you. But I do understand how awkward things might be, given that you dated his younger brother.”
“Do you think it’s possible, though? That he might think of me in that way? Do you think his family would be on board?”
“Well, I don’t think Kade is quite ready to give up on you yet. He misses the way you love him. He doesn’t have that same depth in his relationships with others.” She laughed. “So, you might need to wish for some outside help on that one.”
I leaned against the door, feeling unsettled by her word choice. “Sadly, my fairy godmother’s cut me off.”
My mom laughed again before growing more serious as she pulled into her mother’s driveway. “Well, I hope that you find love, and that everything works out well for you. That’s my Christmas wish for you.”
Christmas Eve brunch was the same as it was every year. Oma had made pancakes, sausages, eggs, and a mother’s helper casserole, which went in the oven and had eggs and bread. It was a recipe she promised she’d pass down to me when the time was right. I assumed that meant when I had a family of my own. Although, my mom was still waiting for her turn at the hostess reins, so maybe it was a promise as empty as my heart.
“Plug in the tree, dear,” Oma commanded. “I’ll check on the casserole.” She took in my lacklustre enthusiasm and added, “I made your special dessert.” She patted my cheek.
“Thanks, Oma.”
I did as she asked, and plugged in the tree in her living room, lighting up its giant multi-coloured bulbs that had been popular sometime in the seventies or eighties.
My phone buzzed with a text, and my heart leapt. Haden? Was he starting to remember last night?
