Page 27 of Grinchland
“I highly doubt that.” I snorted as I made my way back to the bin. “If you had a Christmas decoration, you would name it, it’s the law.” I narrowed my eyes. “And you have great respect for the law.” I made sure my voice was light even though the words I spoke were heavy.
He just stared at me.
“How about we make a wager?” I turned to face him with my hand extended.
He flicked his gaze down to my hand and then back up. “What did you have in mind?”
I tapped my chin, mentally running through my decorations. I’d managed to make most of them fit, I just couldn’t put up Pudgie the penguin. I’d run out of outlets.
“If you put up my inflatable penguin in your yard and you don’t feel the urge to name him by the end of the seven days, I’ll…” I glanced around the room, looking for something I could offer him. But he’d made it clear he absolutely didn’t want anything I owned.
“You’ll get Isabelle an invite to Catalina’s party.”
I glanced over at him. “What?”
He was staring at the ground with his hands shoved into the front pockets of his sweatpants. His jaw was set and I could tell that this bothered him.
“Catalina Turnbow. She’s having a party that all the kids in the class have been invited to, except Isabelle.” He paused. “I can have an abrasive personality, and her mom…isn’t too fond of me. I’m worried that’s why she’s excluded my daughter. If her fun, loving teacher is the one who raises a concern, maybe you can get Janice to invite Belly.”
Out of everything he could ask for, this was what he wanted? He had to know that I would never tolerate this kind of behavior from parents. Not inviting all the kids from a classroom was not okay.
“Yes, of course,” I said as I shook my head. “But you didn’t need to make it part of this deal. I would have done it regardless.”
He studied me for a moment and then shrugged. “I don’t like owing anyone anything.”
I paused. “Because you’re the mayor?”
“Something like that.”
Well, if that was what he wanted, then I could play this game. “All right. You put up the inflatable penguin in your yard for seven days. If at the end you haven’t named him, then I will talk to Catalina’s mom about why Isabelle was excluded from the party and remind her what common decency dictates.”
Silas paused, like he was mulling over what I’d offered, before he stepped forward and took my hand like this was a business deal he wanted to close. Tingles erupted across my skin, so I dropped my gaze, hoping he didn’t notice that his touch had brought a reaction out in me. After all, it wasn’t like it meant anything. I was just excited that my plan to change the Christmas-hating mayor into a contributing member of Whoville was working.
Needing to break the ice, I leaned toward him before he let go of my hand and whispered, “I’ll talk to her mom as soon as I see her.”
He stilled before he glanced down at me, bringing his face inches from mine. He held my gaze for a moment, and there was something there. An ache. A pain. A rawness that I related to. But it was gone with a blink.
“Thank you,” he said, his voice deep and gruff. He dropped my hand and took a step back. His gaze snapped to the bin. “Decorations?”
I nodded. “Decorations.”
THIRTEEN
SILAS
Something had shifted between me and Clara. Something that I never in my wildest dreams could have imagined. Something deep and abiding. And when I thought about it, it took my breath away. It startled me in a way I hadn’t anticipated.
It was the realization that Clara was even more Christmas crazed than she’d originally let on.
We were an hour in and still unloading her decorations onto every surface of Linda’s house. Despite the fact that the shelves were already bursting at the seams, more bins kept appearing with more decorations that needed homes. I felt like she was a magician pulling doves from a hat.
Clara hadn’t noticed me staring at her as she unclipped the lid to another bin and pulled it off. She was recounting the story behind the glass Christmas star that I’d just unpacked. Every item in her possession had a story to it. A memory so sacred that I could hear the reverence in her voice.
It was endearing that she cared so much. Especially since I spent most of my life trying not to care too much about anything. After I lost Nicole, I realized that everything could be taken away from me, so I tried not to get attached.
Houses could be sold. Things could be replaced. The only thing that mattered to me was Isabelle. She was the one caveat to my I don’t give a shit attitude. She was the one thing that kept my feet on the ground. Without her, I’d have moved to the mountains and lived the rest of my life in seclusion.
I was lost in my own thoughts when I realized that Clara was staring at me. I glanced over at her and then around the room, wondering what I had missed. When had she stopped talking? My ability to keep my mind grounded and my focus sharp had started to slip ever since this woman moved in next door.
