Page 97 of Run, Run Rudolph
Haden returned, jogging as he held up the key. “Got it!”
I caught the smile that was for me. Only me. Nobody else. This was real. I could feel it. He was himself, and so was I. Everything we were feeling was heartstoppingly real. No spells required.
“Why does Justin carry night vision goggles?” I asked as we entered the hunting section. “It chills me that armed people are out in the dark, trying to shoot things. What if they mistake me for a buck?”
“I’m pretty sure you look different than a buck.”
“I don’t know, night vision goggles just feel so over the top. Who’s giving animals an advantage? What if some doofus sees a green blob, and gets trigger-happy? Then the next thing we know, someone like me is pushing up daisies.”
I turned to the case filled with compasses and fancy gadgets, feeling jittery after our close call with Mrs. Claus, and the fact that we were now surrounded by weaponry. Someone like Josie was equipped for this, but not me. She and her friends were always doing Live Action Role Playing skits where they had mock battles. Me? Again, I liked a cosy blanket, a cup of coffee and a good book or horse magazine so I could dream about becoming a barrel racer from the safety of my living room. Not LARPing followed up by real life action.
“You’d avenge me if I got hit?” I asked Haden. “Right?”
“Of course,” Haden replied seriously, placing one hand over the spot where his heart resided under layers of winter coat. “You’d do the same for me, too, right?”
“Darn right! Especially now that I know the codes to get in here. I’ll be able to arm myself properly for a thorough avenging mission.” I gave him a gleeful, slightly manic smile, and pretended to check out the gun rack behind us. Honestly, I had no idea what I was looking at. They all looked very heavy…and dangerous.
“You know you can’t come in here without permission, right?”
“Relax. Don’t get your panties in a twist. Could you imagine me hunting someone down?”
“Yes.”
I giggled and placed a hand against my chest, sobering myself. “Me? Innocent, little old me?”
“You kept one of Santa’s elves locked in the trunk today for how many hours? Not to mention you mowed down Rudolph, and threatened to do the same to my brother.”
I opened my mouth to defend myself, but he continued on, imitating my earlier excuse. “My cat sneaks into my trunk.”
“Hey! I had to hide Snarky from you!” I gave him a playful shove and, to my delight, he caught my hand. I wasn’t sure how to encourage him to keep touching me, so I stepped into his space like I was truly captured, and he wrapped his arms around my waist like I belonged in his embrace.
“And, for the record,” I said, “it’s your fault he was in there so long. He was hiding from you.”
“So, let me get this straight. You’d rather freeze an elf than trust me?”
“There is no one in town that I’d trust more with this problem than you.”
His lips curved into a smile, his eyes dancing. “You know I’m just messing with you.”
I snorted in disgust and pushed him away. “You’re the worst.”
Much to my disappointment, he let me go. “Really? I’m the worst?” He gave me puppy eyes. “Because I thought there was no one else you’d trust the way you trust me?”
Grumbling to myself, I scanned the various displays. “Are you sure Justin has night vision goggles? And what do we do when he comes to work tomorrow, and we’ve cleaned him out?”
Oh, and how were we going to get these goggles back to the reindeer without getting ourselves killed in the process?
“I’ll leave him a note,” Haden said, “or shoot him a text in the morning.”
I fiddled with a toy bow and arrow with suction cups for tips in a nearby wire bin. An idea came to me as I causally suggested, “You should probably leave him a note now so you don’t forget. You know how snippy he gets if you forget.”
“One time. It was one time.”
“Mm.”
With a sigh, Haden turned. “Be right back.”
In high school, he’d let himself into the store one night to get a tow rope to haul a friend out of a muddy ditch. He’d left a note for his uncle, Justin’s dad, who’d owned the shop at the time. The note had gotten lost, and Justin had been blamed. By the time Haden remembered to follow up with his uncle on how much he owed him, Justin had already served several days of extra chores. It was a bit of a sore spot with Justin, although I think he enjoyed holding it over his cousin’s head.
