Page 84 of Run, Run Rudolph
“In a good way. You’re more you.”
“I agree,” Haden said, his fresh outdoorsy scent enveloping me as he joined us at the counter. He had a soft smile, one that made me feel squishy inside, and I wasn’t sure where to look, how to act. He liked the way I’d changed? It felt like my face was turning red, and my arms were suddenly too long for my body.
It was going to take me a few days to get used to the way we were revealing our true feelings to each other. I had years of habits to undo, such as making sure I didn’t look at him too long, or didn’t allow myself to notice just how amazing his shoulders were or how kissable his lips were. Or acknowledging how sweet and kind and patient he was, and how lucky his animal patients were. Or indulging in those fantasies where we somehow ended up in the woods together, and I was injured and he had to use his veterinarian medical skills to take care of me…
Oh, wow. Who was I kidding? I’d been crushing on this man for eons, and had used a very heavy dose of denial to make myself believe otherwise.
“You hanging out with your Oma tomorrow?” Kade asked me, leaning against the counter and knocking over a stand of pamphlets.
Ugh. Seriously, I’d just set him up with Jannifer. How many bags of chips did a woman have to throw at this guy before he understood she was done? Chat up Jannifer! Not me.
Haden angled himself between Kade and me, waving his credit card in Jannifer’s direction. “Sorry, still have lots to do tonight.”
“Yes, lots,” I agreed. “Is that everything?” I asked Jannifer, hoping to speed up our exit before the truth came out about what we were up to. I could just imagine. These two would have us shipped off for a full psychiatric workup.
But what were we going to do when there was no Christmas surprise for Kade? Maybe we could tell him it all went wrong, and we’d had to throw it out?
“Everything on the list?” I confirmed when Jannifer continued to ignore me, running her handheld scanner over the barcodes on each bottle.
“All of it?” I repeated.
She shot me a dark look, not appearing nearly as pretty as she had earlier.
“Great, okay,” I chirped. “Thanks.”
Dang, but she was well-stocked for reindeer emergencies. I had to admire that.
“Need a bag?” she asked coolly. “They’re fifteen cents each.”
I opened my mouth to argue. I could see our grand tally stretching into the hundreds of dollars, and she couldn’t even throw in a cheap paper bag that had probably cost her a fraction of a cent?
Where had my friendly, I’m throwing-in-Vitamin-C Jannifer gone? Because if she forgot, and charged me for those extra vitamins as well as a bag, this woman and I were going to have words.
Haden, his wallet already open, smoothly crowded me out of the way, no doubt noting the way Jannifer and I were digging in, as we had so many times over the years when I’d been dating Kade. We’d never come to blows, but we’d come close. And drinks had maybe ‘accidentally’ been spilled on each other a time or two. Or three. Okay, four. But it was mostly her doing the spilling, and me having to go out and buy new shirts.
“However many bags you think we need, Jannifer,” he said evenly.
“I should pay.” I patted my parka pockets, horrified to realize I hadn’t even thought to grab my wallet before jumping into Haden’s truck.
“I got it.”
“But it’s?—”
Jannifer snatched Haden’s credit card and shoved it into her machine instead of letting him do it himself. “So your emergency is a surprise, or is your surprise an emergency?” She caught my uncomfortable expression and smirked. “Run someone over with your car?”
Kade coughed, holding up a hand to barely cover his smile.
“Yeah,” I said lightly, giving Kade a glare, daring him to pick on me and my driving. “Something like that. And I’m still in the mood to hit something else.”
Half an hour later, with Haden still chuckling over my parting remark to his brother, we had the bottles of vitamins, herbs, botanicals, and supplements (or whatever they all were) safely in Snarky’s tiny hands. While the elf worked, Haden and I sat at my kitchen table near the window overlooking the darkened backyard, eating my Christmas baking and sipping freshly brewed coffee. I’d tried to locate the abandoned thermos and cups from earlier, when I’d dropped them in the snow during the sleigh crash, but couldn’t find them.
It was a bit past one in the morning, and there still weren’t any signs of Mrs. Claus and the reindeer, which I found concerning.
Santa, however, was at least becoming a bit more coherent, and conversations with him were leading to fewer repeating loops. A part of me was holding out hope that everything would somehow resolve itself before dawn, and without needing Mrs. Claus and the rest of the reindeer crew to intervene.
I winced as Hugo, standing on a chair to make himself tall enough for my kitchen counter, tore apart more capsules, sending powder flying everywhere. To say he was a neat and tidy chemist would be a lie. I was going to have quite the mess to clean up later. But if it got Rudolph back on his feet, it would be well worth it.
“Oh, I wasn’t thinking,” I said to Haden, shutting my eyes at my error. “You switch to tea in the afternoons. I should make you a cup of tea instead.”
