Page 36 of Grinchland
The display was in downtown Kirkland. I heard Silas sigh as we drove by the sign that announced the Ice Sculpture Garden was ten miles away. I glanced over at him, but he was already looking at me expectantly. Like he was just waiting for me to come up with some ridiculous reason why he shouldn’t be angry. How ice sculptures didn’t have to be Christmas related.
And I did just that. As soon as we were parked and walking toward the entrance, I explained to him that ice sculptures were used for all kinds of things. Weddings. Dinner parties. Graduations. They were used on cruises. And none of those things screamed Christmas.
He kept his lips drawn into a tight line as he listened to me. He didn’t believe me, but thankfully, he seemed to appreciate the effort I put into my reasoning.
I made sure to point out every ice sculpture that wasn’t Christmas themed. The horse. The castle. The shirtless man with a scarf around his neck. That one had us both staring at it with our heads tipped back wondering who was the one that signed off on that proposal.
By the end of the display, Silas had joined in with me, making note of all the non-Christmas sculptures.
We were exhausted by the time we got back to my car. Since the town we were in was on the other side of Grinchland, we had forty minutes until we were back home. Isabelle promptly fell asleep in the back after being on the road for five minutes. That left Silas and me to drive in silence.
I kept peeking over at him, wondering what he was thinking. Was he mad at me? He didn’t look mad. His expression was soft and his body language was relaxed. It was a night and day difference to how he reacted when I first met him on my porch.
But Silas’s body language didn’t always accurately depict his thoughts. Did he feel like I’d hoodwinked him into doing Christmas things with his daughter? I’d really tried to pick innocuous things for us to do. Ones that would check off my Christmas bucket list while reminding him why this time of year was special. My goal was still to get him to repeal his ban on Christmas, and I was determined to emerge triumphant at the end of these seven days.
I just wished there was a way of finding out if he was disappointed in me without asking point-blank.
“Tired?” I settled on an easy question to break the ice between us.
I could feel his gaze shift to me, but I decided to keep my focus on the road. He sighed. “Yeah.” Then he glanced over his shoulder. “But not as tired as Belly.” He paused, a soft smile spreading across his lips before he turned forward again.
“I hope it’s a good tired,” I said as I turned on my blinker and merged onto the highway. Once I was going the same speed as the other cars, I settled back in my seat.
“It’s an okay tired.”
An okay tired, I was okay with that. There was a lull as I tried to come up with something else to talk about.
“Is there a plan for tomorrow?”
His sudden question startled me, and I almost swallowed my tongue. I blinked, wondering if I’d heard his question right. When I glanced over, he was looking at me like he expected me to answer.
I’d heard right. It was just so startling because it didn’t hold the same level of annoyance he’d had in the past.
“I have a few things planned…if you want.” I still wasn’t sure if he was serious or joking. I was waiting for him to yell, “Psych!” before telling me that there was no chance he’d ever want to spend time with me.
“I’m guessing it’s ‘not’ Christmas related?” he asked, putting air quotes around the word not.
I wasn’t sure if he was serious, so I decided to take it as a joke.
I smiled and winked. “Yep. It’s not Christmas related.”
He studied me, confusion coating his gaze. “So it’s not Christmas related?”
Now I was getting confused as well. “No. I made you a promise that if it involves Isabelle, it won’t be Christmas related.” I glanced over at him. “I keep my promises.”
He held my gaze before he nodded. “I believe you.”
I turned my attention fully to the road so I could process what had just happened. There were a few moments today, when I caught Silas watching me, that he didn’t look disgusted or annoyed like he had in the past. Instead, he just looked…lost. Like he didn’t know what to think.
I tried to write it off as boredom. After all, just because Isabelle and I were enjoying ourselves, it didn’t mean Silas had the same enthusiasm. But then he’d say something, or do something, and I’d wonder if maybe I was getting through to him.
I wished I knew what had happened in his past for him to cancel Christmas. He seemed to tolerate my justifications for why today’s activities weren’t Christmas specific—even though I knew he thought it was ridiculous—so he had some level of acceptance for the holiday.
Without knowing the real reason, I felt like I was shooting in the dark. Trying to make two pieces come together when I couldn’t figure out the path to get them there.
As the principal, Maria had to know. She seemed like the perfect person to ask. Monday morning I was going to march right into her office and refuse to leave until she told me.
But there was a day and a half until school resumed, and I still had tomorrow’s festivities to get through. I’d plan something from my Christmas bucket list and hope it wasn’t the thing that would send Silas into a spiral where he’d call off this entire bet and walk away.
