She was leaving. Finally. I waited for the rush of relief, but it never came. It would though, once I’d regained my solitude. This place would stop smelling like sugar cookies, and I wouldn’t have to listen to her hum Christmas carols while she helped my grandmother dry the dishes. Not that I was eavesdropping. I just happened to be walking past the kitchen after Operation Opossum Bait.
“I’ll call you a taxi. The hotel downtown should have a vacancy.”
Delia zipped her suitcase and offered me a grateful smile. It was warmer than I deserved and somehow seemed to sear itself in my mind. Along with the enticing image of her wearing a button-down green pajama top that clung to her curves, and a pair of candy cane stripped bottoms. A matching set of fuzzy slippers covered her feet.
“Thank you, but I won’t be needing the taxi.” She plucked her battered plant off the nightstand and wheeled her suitcase out of the room. I stood there stunned by her abrupt departure before I lurched after her down the hall. The image of her wearing cozy sleepwear was replaced with her wandering the icy road at night in the same pajamas, and I barely had the forethought to shut the opossum inside the room before she turned the corner.
“You can’t go outside like that! It’s five miles to town in freezing temperatures.” And I hadnotput rock salt on the drive like she’d suggested. Delia might not be wearing heels this time, but fuzzy slippers weren’t known for their traction. She wouldn’t even make it to the main road!
Delia slowed to a stop. “Your concern is noted, but unnecessary.”
“It’s not concern. It’s common sense!”
There was that smile again, but this time it was like she knew a secret. With a quick turn of the doorknob, and a slight kick from a fuzzy slipper, she stepped inside the darkened room behind her.
“I don’t need a taxi because I’m not leaving. I’m switching rooms. Good night, Jack. I trust you’ll take care of our little infestation.” Delia winked, then slammed the door in my face and twisted the deadbolt.
What. Just. Happened?
A light appeared beneath the gap in the door, and Delia started humming another holiday jingle as she presumably unpacked her suitcase. She was probably crooning to her stupid poinsettia, gently arranging the leaves of her special gift.Simon, ugh.What a ridiculous name for a plant. Her words pricked my armor again. How dare she accuse me of not knowing how to brighten someone’s day?
I could do a heck of a lot better than a lame seasonal shrub that was about five bucks a pop at the local big box store. If that was a gift from her boyfriend, then she needed to up her standards. Seeing how desperate she was to save the blasted thing made me think I was right.
My teeth ground together. Whether Delia had a boyfriend who failed at gift-giving shouldn’t matter. What mattered was my plan had failed. And now I needed a new one, or I’d be stuck with the Candy Cane Princess until Christmas. I scraped a hand through my hair, exhaustion weighing heavy on my shoulders.
How I’d become embroiled in this nonsense was beyond me! I was supposed to be counting down the days to ditching the farm and planning my escape, but instead, I was planning retaliation.
Trudging back to free my furry accomplice, I cycled through a few ideas. Wild animals were out and so were any more trojan horse fruit plates. Cutting the heat might make sleeping painfully cold, but in a win for Delia, her new room had a working fireplace and enough kindling to last the night.
No. It had to be something she couldn’t fix herself. An idea formed and with it came a jolt of satisfaction. Delia’s current room might be equipped with a fireplace, but Grandma Jean had been in the middle of overhauling the furnishings, most notably, removing the broken blinds.
Time to show Delia just how much I could brighten her day—well, make that night.
Chapter 5
Delia
It was well after midnight, and I’d only gotten a few moments of fitful sleep since I’d switched rooms. At this rate, the bags under my eyes wouldn’t fit in an airplane’s overhead bin. Every time I tried to sleep, I pictured the confident gleam in Jack’s eyes or his disapproval when he assumed I planned to walk into town in the middle of the night. As if I'd really parade through Wood Pine in my pajamas. But the worst expression, the one that seemed to stick like molten molasses in my mind was the scorching look he’d given me while I packed my suitcase.
I had not imagined it, even though anything heated coming from Jack had to be a fluke or maybe a medical emergency. But that had not stopped the air from lodging in my throat as his gaze traveled from my messy ponytail, all the way down to my fuzzy slippers.And wow… talk about toe-curling.His gaze had lingered longer than a witch at a Black Friday potion sale. Not even the opossum playing dead a few feet away could have broken that spell.
A laugh rumbled inside my chest as I fluffed the pillow behind my head and turned on my side to face the giant picture window. Bruised poinsettias, demolished charcuterie boards, and feral opossums were not romantic trimmings in my book. So what if Jack had shown me more interest in thirty seconds than Simon had shown me in three years? That didn’t mean anything. In fact, Jack was my ticket to Simon’s heart and the career of my dreams.
What I needed to do was bury any temptation beneath one of Sage’s accidental avalanches, and focus on the task at hand. Which would be easier if I could sleep! I forced my eyes closed and tried counting sheep.
One fluffy lamb…then two…
A blaze of white light seared through my eyelids. The sheep vanished as I pried my eyes open and quickly shielded them against the fluorescent assault. Beams of vivid light poured through the picture window, illuminating the room as if it were daytime.
I rolled out of bed and stumbled to the window, nearly tripping over my half-empty suitcase. My hands searched for a string to lower the blinds, but there wasn’t one. To my horror, none of the windows even had curtains. Another laugh, this one delirious, tore from my chest.Irony meet my best friend insomnia.
There had to be something I could use to block the light, but a quick search of the room, and its lack of amenities, made me realize it was pointless. I also realized I’d fallen prey to another one of Jack’s schemes.
Squinting through the glass, I made out a row of floodlights, all angled toward my room. What usually lit the tree farm so happy customers could pick out their tree past sunset, was now a spotlight of misery, keeping me from slumber. My fists clenched as I searched for Jack beyond the beacons of torment. He was out there, hiding in the shadows, likely celebrating his success.
Short-lived success.He had no idea he was dealing with a witch who valued her sleep. Something I’d had precious little of since checking into the inn. A smug grin sealed his fate as I inhaled a deep breath and channeled a well of magic. Zips of energy flowed down my arm, and with a sharp jab of my finger against the window, the first floodlight winked out. I muttered an incantation and a second jolt of magic extinguished the rest of them, one by one, until only the moon dared to shine its light. And considering its fullness and the lack of curtains in my room, even that celestial body was on my naughty list.
Take that, Jack.
