Page 22 of Snowed in at Santa's Lodge
And, during that time, Ragnar managed to get the lodge almost ready to go. I helped when I could, and local friends of his who came by and helped, including people he’d known from childhood and reconnected with.
It was kind of a really cool town. It didn’t take much to get to a big-box store if I wanted to, but I preferred going into the general store and having the guy behind the deli counter knowing exactly how I like my turkey sliced. Or stopping by the coffee shop and having them automatically making my hot chocolate halfway between adult temperature and kid-friendly so that I could drink it right away without me having to explain it.
And, oddly enough, I loved that the mechanic knew me. I didn’t have the worries I had going to a random shop, when the mechanics saw an omega and thought they were easy pickings for some expensive work that didn’t really need doing. And, better than that, the owner wouldn’t let me skip anything that hewouldn’t let his own omega skip but also didn’t push me to do things he knew could wait.
Yeah, small towns had their benefits.
“Hey, Frosty, you want to go sit on the porch?”
Whack, whack, whack.His tail slammed into my leg.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
I grabbed a bottle of iced tea from the fridge. We’d taken to making it and pre-filling reusable bottles so that I could just snag it and go. Coffee was not a thing this pregnancy, and the iced tea hit the spot perfectly.
“Where do you think Daddy is?”
Frosty responded the way he usually did, with a lick.
“Yeah? I think so too.”
We went out to the porch, Frosty dashing off it and running in circles, his favorite pastime. I took a long sip of iced tea. It was already summer, and while this wasn’t the hottest part of the country, no one accused the place of being cool. I sat in the rocker and slowly moved back and forth.
Ragnar had left early that morning. He’d told me where he was going but wasn’t even halfway out the door before I’d forgotten. Pregnancy brain was real.
I could’ve easily texted him and asked him. I wasn’t too embarrassed to let him know that I didn’t remember things. He was my mate. He knew everything about me.
The only time I got embarrassed was when he whipped out his silver tongue and started complimenting me or bringing up the things that had me thinking about naughty time, which wasn’t naughty at all but because we teased about the “naughty list” one time, it kind of stuck.
Frosty jumped back on the steps and curled up at my feet.
“You’re brave. This is a rocking chair, so maybe it’s not brave. Maybe it’s foolish.”
Frosty licked my ankle.
“Okay, then, foolish it is.”
I reached down to rub his head then closed my eyes and slowly rocked back and forth, enjoying the little breeze passing through.
My mate’s truck pulled in not too long after that.
“Hey, I missed you.” I pushed myself up and waddled down to see him.
“I missed you, too, love.”
His lips brushed mine in a kiss that was far too quick.
“Sorry I took longer than I said this morning.”
“Don’t worry about that. I forgot what you said when you were partway out the door. I wasn’t sure if you were coming home after dinnertime or where you even went.”
“I went to pick up the crib. It came in.”
“You went to pick up the crib? How did that fall out of my brain?”
“Hormones.” He half shrugged then kissed me again, this time letting it deepen. Best mate ever. “Can you hold the door open for me while I carry this inside?”
I followed him to the back of the truck. “Or I could help you with this. There’s no way you can carry it on your own.”
