Page 34 of Hiding for the Holidays
“Fuck, Clara, are you okay?” I ask quickly, moving to help her untangle herself and stand.
“Just a little embarrassed. You guys scared me. What are you doing here?” She asks, dusting herself off as she glances at us.
“I was worried about you.”
She frowns up at me. “Did you follow me?”
“Uh..” I scrub my hand down the back of my neck as I avoid her stare. “Sorta?”
“What are you doing here?” Leo asks as he tries to push me aside to stand closer to her.
“You’re cleaning the train,” Asher states. I glance over my shoulder at him and see he’s holding the bottle she threw at us. It’s clearly some sort of cleaner.
“Yeah,” she says, reaching between us to take it from him. “I clean the train when it’s in Silent Pines.”
“How often is that?” Leo asks, taking a seat beside where she’s standing.
“Every fourth night.”
“And how long does it take you?” Asher asks, moving to my side.
She shrugs. “Most of the time it’s around six hours, last time though, it took me eight. It depends how dirty it is.”
“Eight hours?” I ask in surprise as I try to do the math in my head. “You worked here the night after we moved all the gym equipment around?”
She nods, picking up a rag she dropped on the floor.
“Did you sleep at all that night?” Asher asks, sounding upset.
“No, but it’s fine. I need the money.”
“You’re running yourself too thin. You can’t skip sleep, Clara,” I tell her, placing my hand on her shoulder so she knows I’m serious.
“I know. I was only planning on doing a couple more shifts anyway, until I had enough for…” she trails off, her cheeks turning pink as she turns away, wiping at a seat.
“Enough for what?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Come on, shortcake. Tell us,” Leo says, grabbing her hand and tugging her in front of him.
“I wanted to buy a good winter jacket. Even the ones in the secondhand store are expensive. At least for me.”
A big smile covers my face, making me feel pleased with myself. “Well, in that case you can quit right now.”
“What do you mean?” she asks, frowning at me.
“I’ve got a coat for you in my car.”
“You do?” She and Leo ask in unison.
“Yeah, I picked it up for you earlier tonight.”
“Grant… that’s really kind, but you can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“It’s too much.”
