Page 105 of A Heartfelt Christmas Promise
“Not at all.” He pressed his lips together. “I like running into you.”
“You know you’ve already proven how cool this town is to me. You don’t have to go to all this trouble.”
“I didn’t send that deer to run out in front of you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. Guys around here wouldn’t risk losing good venison.”
“Ah. Well, that’s good to know,” she said playfully.
“You know if you’d been even an hour later they’d have had all the roads cleared and you wouldn’t have had any problem at all.”
“Timing is everything.”
“Yes,” he said. “It sure is.” He cleared his throat. “I’m going to use Ben to help them get your car out of the ditch. We’ll take it to James’s Pit Stop down the road. He can fix anything. The chief will give you a ride home.”
“Thanks, Mike.”
“Glad you’re okay. You scared me for a second there.”
She nodded slowly, her eyes wide.Thank you,she mouthed, but the words didn’t come out.
He closed the passenger door and then patted it twice before he went over and unhitched Ben and walked him over to the car.
This wasn’t Ben’s first car pull. He’d pulled cars from ditches for years. It was like a hobby for him.
They made quick work of getting the car out of the ditch; then Mike pulled out his phone and called James. “Hey man, car in the ditch. We’re going to leave it at the shop. More job security for you.”
“Like I need that.”
“Let me know what it’ll take once you check it out. I’ll take care of it.”
“Sure thing, man.”
When Mike turned around, the chief had already pulled away.
Mike rehitched Ben to the sleigh. “A hero again,” he said to him as he got back in the sleigh. “You’re a good horse, Ben.”
He gave Ben the signal and they went silently off toward the house. Mike put everything away and checked on things in the barn before going up to the house. When he led Big Ben to his stall, Scooter was curled up in the middle of the stall waiting on him. Ben leaned down nose-to-nose with the little guy.
Scooter scurried off to safety under the hanging corner water system until Ben came in and slurped three full bowls. The water seemed to disappear as soon as he drank. Fresh water swirled back in, refilling it quickly.
Mike closed the stall door and leaned over the side watching him. “Good job today, Ben.”
Ben lifted his head, his soft eyes looking pleased with the day as well. He leaned back down toward Scooter, who then shook the water from the top of his head that Ben had just dripped on him.
Mike watched the two together. Like old buddies. He left them be, pausing as he exited the barn, wondering what Vanessa had thought when she’d walked through here the other day. He hoped she’d come to the open house. It looked pretty all lit up at night.
He slid the door closed, and walked up to the house.
He stomped the snow from his boots and left them at the back door. “Hey, Misty. I’m back.”
He peeled off his jackets and hung them in the mudroom to dry.
In the kitchen, he grabbed a sausage ball and popped it into his mouth, then walked into the living room expecting to see Misty sprawled out on the leather couch watching television, since school was out until the first week of January.
Clicking through the channels, he stopped on the weather channel to see if the storm system was finally about past. It was supposed to be a fast mover, and it had been dropping two inches an hour for several hours. Faster than anyone could keep clear. Tomorrow would be a busy day of digging out.
