Still, it didn’t make for a restful night. Especially not after watching her body language change the second that blonde out-of-towner had leaned over the counter.
Christ, I hadn’t even done anything. I’d handed the woman a drink, smiled out of reflex, and suddenly Melanie had gone rigid and cold enough to frost the beer taps. Lydia had followed her outside, thank goodness, because the way she’d been glaring, I half-expected her to set my flannel on fire with her mind.
And yet… she’d never looked more adorable in her life. Cheeks flushed, lips pressed tight, muttering something under her breath as she stomped out the back door that led up to Lydia’s old apartment above the building. Wouldn’t even say goodnight.
So yeah. No sleep for me.
Now it was barely six in the morning, snow still falling thick as flour, and I was standing inThe Rusty Stagdragging tables around like a lunatic so Lydia could turn the place into the venue for the town’s annual Holiday Pancake Breakfast.
The sign on the door still saidBar,but this morning it might as well have saidDaycare for Grown Adults Who Love Santa.
I shoved two tables together and leaned on the edge to catch my breath.
“You know,” I muttered to no one, “if you’d told me ten years ago, I’d be making room for gingerbread men pancakes, I’d have laughed in your face.”
The heater kicked on with a groan. The smell of coffee had started to fill the place thanks to the industrial urn Lydia hauled out of the closet.
I yawned so hard my jaw cracked.
Footsteps sounded behind me.
“Morning, sunshine,” Callum said, stepping inside with a grin that was way too chipper for a man who’d also been roped into this madness.
“Don’t,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. “It’s too early for whatever that tone is.”
He snorted and clapped me on the shoulder. “You look like hell.”
“Feel like it too.”
“Didn’t sleep?”
“Not a wink.”
He started unfolding chairs beside me. “Lydia said to be here before the snowplows, and I thought she was kidding. But she meant it.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Apparently, holiday spirit doesn’t need rest.”
Callum shot me a sideways look. “You sure that’s what’s keeping you up? Holiday spirit?”
I sighed. “You’re not subtle, you know that?”
He grinned. “I don’t try to be. So, rough night?”
“Depends on how you define rough.”
“Melanie looked ready to commit homicide,” he said, smirking. “That’s one definition.”
I chuckled, shaking my head. “So, you noticed?”
“Oh, I noticed,” he said, stacking chairs like it was a competitive sport. “She froze you out so fast I almost got frostbite.”
“Yeah, well,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. “Guess I deserved it.”
Callum raised a brow. “What’d you do this time?”
“Apparently smiled at someone,” I said dryly. “Big crime in Reckless River.”
He laughed. “That blonde at the bar?”
