Page 77 of Run, Run Rudolph
“And this will fix him up?” I asked, daring myself to place a possessive hand on Haden’s hip and lean into his personal space to read the list a second time. His posture softened, welcoming the contact, and a warm fuzziness flowed through me. “Your magic potion?”
“It’s not magic,” Hugo snapped. It seemed as though his warm mood was reserved for North Pole citizens only.
Although, I guess I did lock him in the trunk for an hour or two…
“It’ll help him heal faster?” I confirmed, trying again for a firm answer on what was what with this weird list of ingredients.
“It’s anti-inflammatory.” Snarky gave a shrug while tipping from side to side, as though mentally weighing out the other technical aspects of the drink he planned to make. I hoped there were no chances of it backfiring.
“And you’re sure it’s safe?” Haden confirmed, as if reading my mind.
“Yes!” Despite his certain tone, Hugo scratched his forehead with the end of his pencil, taking back the list to read it again. “It won’t do any harm, even if it’s off by a few ingredients.”
“Um?” I gave Haden a panicked look.
He shrugged. “It’s just a lot of botanicals.”
Wait. Botanicals.
No.
“You know, vitamins and such,” Haden added. “How is this a potion?”
“How did your x-ray help heal him?” Hugo replied.
“Good point.” Haden turned to me. “Shall we?”
I was already shaking my head back and forth.
No.
Eagle Ridge was a small town. There was only one place where you could buy the ‘botanicals’ on this list.
And all the shops were closed.
That meant we had to call in favours. Big favours. From people I never wanted to speak to again.
No, no, and no.
Haden turned to me as I backed away, almost tripping on a square bale. “What’s wrong? Where are you going?”
“Nope. Not me. We should wait for Mrs. Claus.”
“TM, we need this.”
“Nope.” He couldn’t sway me with that sweet nickname. I wasn’t budging. “I am not going.” I laid the tip of my index finger on the end of my cold nose, the childhood sign for ‘not it’. He could call me all the cute names he could think of, but I was not changing my mind. Not for anything. Not even if he kissed me and asked me out to dinner.
Well, actually for that, I’d cave like a house of cards in a windstorm.
“What are you doing?” Haden asked, his lips quirked as I kept my finger on my nose.
Hugo, watching me with big eyes, slowly repeated my action. Then he turned to Haden to see what would happen next.
“Last person to put their finger on their nose is it,” I explained. “That’s Haden. So he has to do it.”
Snarky snickered. Maybe I liked him after all.
“Do what?” Haden asked, his brow adorably scrunched in confusion.
