Page 16 of Run, Run Rudolph
“Enough!” Comet barked. “We are a team.”
I began backing away from the brewing fight, patting my parka, wondering which pocket I’d dropped my phone into. My bulky coat was far from flattering, but it was warm and had a plethora of giant pockets, making it ideal for Canadian winters. I found a wad of clean tissue, lip balm, cat treats, Benjamin’s fob, numerous hair elastics, a gas points card I used as a windshield scraper, and then finally my phone. I waved it in the air. “I’ll just go over there and….”
I marched myself to the other end of the barn, scrolling through my contacts until I found the name of the local, large-breed veterinarian. I closed my eyes and sighed in defeat. Haden Powell.
Did I even have enough in my bank account to pay him? I wasn’t totally broke, but what did it cost to fix up a magical being, especially as an after-hours emergency? Maybe I could ask Haden to work as fast as humanly possible, and then kick him out. That was probably the best plan—just hurry him along to save both my wallet and our tentative friendship.
Friendship? It wasn’t even that anymore. If it ever had been. More like once was (one-sided, of course), never to be again, and relegated to acquaintances who knew each other fairly well. Was there a word for that type of relationship?
Sighing, I skipped over Haden’s personal number, opting to try his clinic first. Pretty much every cat, dog, goat, horse, sheep and cow in the county were all getting way more check-ups these days than the average Canadian animal did, and would until the man was married off. But I bet nobody had ever brought him a reindeer emergency before.
While I waited for the clinic’s after-hours recording to pick up, where I assumed I could leave a message, I put my phone on speaker and read through the GAL PAL texting string. My friends didn’t have anything helpful to offer in regard to my reindeer problem, so I scanned through Samantha’s current list of relationship issues. None of them would be big in my world, and I started to grumble over her lack of gratitude. She had no idea how lucky she was to have such a sweet boyfriend who wanted to keep her.
Although, I did understand her annoyance with him not getting her parents a gift even though they were spending Christmas Day with them. Samantha came from money and manners, and while she acted like a regular gal, and not a woman who was independently wealthy, she had a tendency to forget herself and brought hostess gifts to friends’ houses, even when said friend still used a cardboard box as their coffee table.
I hoped Malachi was currently running out to pick out a gift.
I was annoyed at how easily Samantha found great men, but never kept any of them. Meanwhile, I was floundering about as a single woman—probably for the rest of my life.
Me
He loves you. Nothing of this matters.
Gabby
I agree. It’s hard to find a man who loves you back.
Poor Gabs. She was in love with her bestie, Lamonte, and her feelings weren’t returned. She said she’d moved on, but I think she’d just done a good job of burying how she felt. When it came to love, she was in the same boat as I was. So single it hurt.
Josie
Listen to really loud, angry music. You’ll be fine.
She attached a link to a playlist, which I was pretty sure was the one she sent me when Kade and I broke up. Music was her solution to everything.
Me
Love’s hard to find. Hard to keep. Malachi doesn’t have to be perfect. None of us are.
I could see the line of dots indicating that Samantha was typing up a reply—probably something that would annoy me and my lonely heart even further, so I typed one last thing as fast as I could and jumped out of the thread.
Me
Char—still waiting to hear from Santa. Reindeer said to call Haden.
I should have sent the text to only Char. Now, next time I opened the group chat, I’d have an annoyed Samantha still complaining about how much her boyfriend loved her, and Samantha or Gabby mocking me for believing in magic.
What if Haden actually got my message and came here? My heart thumped at the thought of spending one-on-one time with Haden, and without a distraction, such as his brother, to hide behind. I avoided Haden as much as I could, along with that penetrating gaze of his that went right through me like an x-ray machine, seeing everything. And I meant everything.
So it was wholly unfair, seeing as he looked at everyone with shuttered eyes, allowing nobody to see even one speck of his kind-hearted soul.
Realizing that the clinic’s emergency line was waiting for me to record my message, I quickly explained that I’d hit a deer, and that I had it in my barn, and could Haden come look at it.
Mulling over the recording I’d left, I winced. It sounded like I was going to be here, waiting for him in nothing but lingerie, tempting Mr. Hot Bachelor to visit my little love trap.
I was certain he already thought I was loony. Now, saying I’d hit a deer, had brought it home, and was requesting Haden, specifically? Yeah, that was bad.
No, he knew me.
