Page 83 of Run, Run Rudolph
“They’re not well?” She was eyeing the list with a practiced eye, and I felt a stirring of doubt. Her eyes met mine. They were cold, hard, and totally unimpressed with me.
“They’re not well,” I repeated slowly. Maybe we weren’t being as clandestine as I’d assumed. Maybe she could look at the listed ingredients and figure out exactly what we were up to.
But there was no way she could guess that it was for a reindeer.
Right?
“Are you part of this?” she asked casually, as she passed Kade on her way to the shelf along the far wall. Her tone was much friendlier with him, and about nine hundred degrees warmer.
“It’s a surprise,” he said, dropping his arms and grinning.
“A surprise?” She was drinking him in, her body leaning toward his.
He leaned an elbow on a nearby shelf. “For Christmas.”
“Really? That’s interesting. What kind of surprise?” She’d completely forgotten her task of filling the basket and had sidled up beside Kade. She was pretty when she wasn’t scowling. She had great hair—the kind that always had that slightly voluminous tousled look—and what I think you’d call Cupid’s bow lips. I bet she could do a sexy pout without appearing farcical.
“I’m not sure.” Kade shifted, looking my way.
Oh, boy. We did not want anyone asking for details about this.
“Is that everything?” I asked Jannifer, peering into her basket.
She shot me a dirty scowl.
Honestly, we didn’t have time for her to flirt around the bush—or in this case, an oblivious Kade. We had a major holiday to save.
“Kade, weren’t you asking me earlier if I knew what Jannifer was doing for Christmas Eve?”
He shot me a scrunched-face look of confusion, and I didn’t dare glance at Haden. I was close enough I could smell his wonderful earthy cologne, that hint of pine and manhood that was so him, and feared one look and he would distract me from my mission. I could practically see him shaking his head at me for meddling where I shouldn’t.
Some wingman he was.
But we had a timeline to adhere to. Jannifer liked Kade, Kade was single. Two birds. One stone. We had to get to it and get out of here.
“Are you free tomorrow?” I asked Jannifer.
“Why? Do you want to throw a bag of chips at me?” She tipped her head to the side. “Because, if so, I’m busy.”
I gulped air, trying to find words that wouldn’t express my sudden rage. Beside me, Kade let out a burst of laughter. He didn’t even try to squelch it, out of politeness.
“I think you two should meet up for coffee,” I said between gritted teeth. I turned to Kade. “Does that work for you?” He was struggling to breathe through his laughter. “Great. Pick her up at, say, three?”
Nowhere in town would be open for them to go have coffee on Christmas Eve. Everything would be closed for days. But that really wasn’t my problem.
Jannifer was staring at me.
“What? It’s the least he can do after dragging you out of bed.” I tried to take the basket from Jannifer, but she tugged it tight to her body. However, she was now eyeing me in a way that suggested that maybe she wouldn’t be slicing my tires anytime soon.
What a win.
“I’ll throw in a bottle of Vitamin C, because this time of year, with all of these family gatherings, there are so many germs. Keeps your immunity up.” She went to the shelf, and knocked a couple more plastic bottles into the basket, then re-consulted the list before moving to the cash register. She fired it up and put all of the bottles on the counter in a tidy row.
“Um. Thanks.” I smoothed the tape over one of the posters tacked to the front of her checkout counter.
“You’re different, you know.” She was peering at me like I might be a doppelgänger, and not the real Tamara Madden she’d grown up with.
I inhaled deeply, summoning patience. If one more person told me I’d changed…
