Page 3 of Run, Run Rudolph
As I circled the beast, I located the blinking red light. It wasn’t a lost taillight. Not at all.
The blinking red light was on the end of the reindeer’s nose.
The magical world was back. Back in my life, where it didn’t belong. Where I didn’t want it.
With a shaky voice, I commanded my phone to call Char as I ran back to the warmth of my car. If anybody would know what to do, as well as not to immediately jump to the conclusion that I was crazy, it was my best friend since ninth grade. The day we’d met, she’d saved me from a very scary spider, nonchalantly scooping it into her hands—her bare hands—and saving me. We’d been best friends ever since.
And right now, I needed her spider-scooping hands and level head.
We’d dealt with some rather unreal things last summer, thanks to her fairy godmother, but nothing quite like this. There’d never been magic in Eagle Ridge. This small town had always been perfectly, safely boring.
I bit my bottom lip and dropped into the driver’s seat as Char picked up, closing the door behind me to keep the heat inside the cab.
“It’s piña colada time!” cooed my friend, obviously enjoying the open bar at the all-inclusive Mexican resort she and her boyfriend James had gone to for Christmas. His family had basically adopted Char, and his parents had overlapped their own trip so the four of them could spend a few days together over the holiday. She lowered her voice, suddenly serious. “I think she’s going to break up with him.”
Samantha. She must be reading the GAL PAL texts.
“Are you drunk?” I asked, my voice wavering.
“Yes. And giving Samantha the best romantic advice ever, right James?”
My phone binged with another text to the group chat. I skimmed Char’s message and sighed. That was not good advice for our commitment-phobic friend. Not even close.
In the background, I heard a deep male voice say through the phone, “Merry Christmas, Tamara!”
“Merry Christmas, James. And family.”
“He can’t hear you, and his parents are still at supper. You’re not on speaker.”
“Char, I need you. And I need you completely focused because I hit something with Benjamin!”
Benjamin, my car, had bumped a lot of things in his time, but never any wildlife. Not even gophers, though everybody else in town hit them. Especially in the summer, when they swarmed the roads like little devils.
But shh. Don’t tell that to my cute gopher buddy, Felipe. He’d moved into the top floor of the old boarding house the five of us gals had been renting in Calgary, and we’d promptly adopted him. When we’d all gone our separate ways last summer, I’d brought Felipe with me, figuring the country air would do him good. But apparently he was an indoor creature now, with absolutely no desire to go back outdoors. He was an odd little animal. He was even friends with my cat.
Back to my current situation, and the deer sprawled on the road.
There was a short pause on the other end of the line, then a giggle.
“I’m serious, Char.”
There must’ve been something in my tone because her amusement vanished, and she replied very soberly, “Start at the beginning.”
“I hit Rudolph. He’s on the road.”
“How do you know it’s him?” Char asked, the music in the background of the call fading. My guess was she was finding somewhere more private, so she could be the bestie I always counted on. Here for me. Always. Even though she was in Mexico toasting her ta-tas in the sun while I was in Canada, freezing mine.
Then again, she could be slipping somewhere private because Estelle had made it clear we weren’t to discuss the magical world with non-believers. Which happened to be two of our close friends—Samantha and Gabby.
Likely, James didn’t know about Estelle, or the magical world. And hitting Rudolph? That was right up there with discussing fairy godmothers.
I found it funny that our interactions with fairy godmothers and ogres hadn’t been the thing to send Char to therapy. It had been her strong fear of love and stability. And her desire not to mess it all up once she’d finally managed to snag it. But look at her now. Happy, and in a healthy relationship. What I wouldn’t give for something like that.
Well, I wouldn’t give money to Char’s fairy godmother Estelle to make it happen.
“How do you know it’s him?” Char repeated.
“His nose blinks red.”
