Page 82 of Run, Run Rudolph
Haden and I hung back while Kade chatted up Jannifer, where she was standing by her store’s front door, jingling her keys like she was searching for the right one. She was watching us all, no doubt trying to figure out what was really going on.
She wasn’t wearing any makeup, and her calf-length parka revealed the cuffs of her pyjama pants. Wordlessly, she unlocked the store, made her way through the dark room like an expert, flicking on lights, then turning off the store’s alarm.
Seriously? Was she afraid of break-ins? Who’d bust their way in for a bunch of supplements? Broke bodybuilders? Besides, nobody used cash anymore, so it wasn’t as if money was left on the premises each night. Honestly, it was probably a difficult time in history to be a regular thief. Especially with Lady MacBeth smoking on the rooftop a few buildings down.
Kade stopped just inside the door and looked around as the lights came on, catching my eye and then performing a fake cringing jump away from me when he realized he was beside a rack of organic vegetable chips. With wide eyes, he took a giant step away from them, staring at me in manufactured fear. Haden glared at him, inserting himself between us.
“How are you feeling, Tamara?” Kade asked in a tremulous voice, peeking around his brother’s wide shoulders. “Not mad for any reason, are you?”
“Want me to kill him for you? I promise to dig the hole deep enough nobody ever finds him,” Haden muttered.
I shook my head, feeling steamed. Seriously. You throw a couple of bags of chips at a guy, and he never lets it go. Okay, so I sorta whipped them at him while yelling insults at the top of my lungs. Not my finest moment.
“Too bad we didn’t break up in the canned good aisle,” I muttered to Kade.
Haden choked on a laugh.
Kade, cheeks pink, crossed his arms and glowered at us. “I don’t like it when the two of you hang out.”
“Too bad,” Haden growled. “We’ve decided we’re besties.”
“Best friends for life,” I chirped, shaking off a mitt so I could lift a crooked pinkie finger in the air, hooking it on Haden’s like some sort of secret handshake.
“You guys are really annoying when you’re together,” Kade complained, but I could see the corner of his mouth quirk upward, the start of an unwanted smile.
“We try,” Haden said lightly.
I went to drop Haden’s finger, knowing we were pushing on Kade again. But Haden gently twisted his grip, catching my hand in his so he could pull me to him. I felt my eyes widen, and my mouth fall open. Was he going to drop me into a backward dip and kiss me right here in front of everyone? But instead, he lifted his arm, spinning me in a tight circle, then out, before back into his arms. I felt like a dancer on stage, graceful despite my clunky winter boots.
With a small smile, even more special than an in-cahoots one, he said tenderly, “‘Curiosity keeps leading us down new paths’.”
“Liking the Walt Disney quote,” Jannifer said.
“Lame-o nerd,” Kade grumbled. “Tamara doesn’t like showoffs, you know.”
Haden still had his gaze locked on mine. He gave my hand a squeeze before releasing it while saying, “Curiosity is never a bother.”
I held in a sigh. Haden thought I was special, and was telling me I’d never been a bother, unlike his brother’s claim. This, right here, was the most romantic thing I’d ever experienced.
The room was silent for a moment, nobody quite knowing what to say. Haden had made a declaration. To me, it was one of love and affection, but what the others saw, I wasn’t sure. All I knew was that Kade would likely get downright upset if he figured out that his brother and I had romantic feelings toward each other. It wasn’t his business, and he’d learn about us soon enough. But right now, I wanted to savour being with Haden and the tender bloom of affection between us without a dark cloud marching in and putting a damper on it all.
I hurried over to Jannifer, clearing my throat.
“Thanks for doing this, Jann.” She gave me a severe look, and I quickly added “—ifer. Jannifer.” I cleared my throat. “I—we—really appreciate it.”
She grunted frostily, her eyes darting to the brothers who were waiting near the door. They both had their arms crossed, and were glowering at each other.
“What do you need?” Jannifer asked. I held up the list from Hugo. She gave me a strange look, then grabbed a small basket. “When did you take up alternative medicine?”
“Um. Just…I. Um.”
Still casting me a suspicious look, she began walking down her aisles, flipping bottles of pills into a growing collection as she went. It didn’t even seem as though she was paying any attention to what she was doing. Either she knew her store like the back of her hand, or I was learning the truth about herbal supplements—it didn’t matter what the label said, as long as you believed it was going to help you, it would.
“Uh. It’s actually for a friend.”
Her gaze was cold. “You don’t believe in alternative medicine?”
“I—it’s for a friend,” I repeated.
