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“Enjoy.” No doubt she would...since it would be all about her.
“You, too.”
Trudie skipped the pie at Gus’s and entered the airstrip, relieved to be out of the cold but mostly thrilled to be away from Elsa. Dwight and Jefferson sat next to the pot-bellied stove, the chess board between them, knee-deep in a game and a lively discussion.
Merrilee, on the phone, held up her index finger in the universal give-me-a-minute-or-two gesture. Trudie nodded and stopped off at the beverage center, which usually had sweets to choose from as well. Yes. There was a plate of cookies—gingerbread—and muffins. She grabbed a cookie...and then another, and poured a cup of coffee. She pretended the gingerbread woman was Elsa and promptly bit the head off with a macabre satisfaction.
Still munching, coffee in hand, Trudie crossed the room. She didn’t want Merrilee to feel rushed with her phone call and Trudie wasn’t in any kind of hurry. She had plenty of time until her meeting with Alyce.
Alberta, the Gypsy Queen and Dwight’s “bride”—which was pretty cute considering Dwight was an octogenarian and Alberta couldn’t be far behind—sat on the love seat talking to a brunette Trudie had never met. A Christmas tree covered in moose ornaments stood between the love seat and the back door of the airstrip. The decoration that Trudie had loved since she was a kid was the full-size moose statue decked out in a Santa costume. That moose always left her smiling.
Silk poinsettias attached to hair combs decorated Alberta’s flame-red hair. She was wearing a red, green and black plaid jacket trimmed in gold tinsel down the front, the neckline and sleeves, and had paired it with full-legged gauchos in a Santa-in-his-sleigh print. Green vinyl boots—sweet mercy, Trudie had never seen a pair of green vinyl boots in her life—completed the ensemble. Alberta was colorful in every aspect of the word and then some. She motioned Trudie over as if she was directing a plane landing on a runway. Trudie knew Alberta from way back.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas played on the television in the corner. It struck Trudie as fairly appropriate considering she’d just run into Elsa in the parking lot. You had to love dark humor.
“What’s shaking, sugar?” Alberta said. “How ya been?” It was obviously a rhetorical question since Alberta didn’t pause to draw a breath before she continued talking. “I want you to meet someone. This is Tansy Wellington. She’s a love professional, too.”
Wow, wow and oh, wow. Trudie was unashamedly a fangirl. She did, however, try not to gush. “I love your column,” she said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Trudie had thought more than once about writing to Tansy on her blog advice column when Knox and Elsa had first gotten together. She also remembered reading about an incident this past fall when a deranged woman had tried to kill Tansy. It had been a watered-down Fatal Attraction, Alaska-style.
The petite brunette smiled and pushed her dark-rimmed glasses more firmly onto her nose. “It’s nice to meet you as well.”
“Take a load off and fill us in,” Alberta said, motioning toward the overstuffed armchair. Trudie sank into the thick cushion and Alberta cocked her head to one side, rather like a colorful bird. “I saw you with Knox earlier and then I saw her highness. What’s up with that love triangle?”
“There’s no love triangle,” Trudie said.
She sipped at her coffee as Alberta’s painted-on eyebrows hiked an inch up her forehead at Trudie’s declaration. “If you say so.”
Tansy spoke up. “Are you talking about the tall blonde woman, Miss Snow Queen, and the dark-haired man who was with her?”
“Right,” Alberta said. “Those two...and of course,” she indicated Trudie, “this one.”
Tansy nodded. “They were checking in earlier when my flight arrived. My fiancé has a survivalist training camp up north. I fly in periodically and stay with my sister and her family,” she said specifically to Trudie. “I wasn’t about to miss Chrismoose. Liam and Dirk—his cousin works with him—can survive without me for the next week. No pun intended.”
Trudie laughed, instantly liking the columnist.
Tansy eyed Trudie through her spectacles. “Have you ever written to me?”
“No, but I did think about it a couple of times.”
Alberta chimed in. “I’ve seen Elsa and Knox together and she’s not right for him,” she said to Tansy.
“I second that,” the advice columnist said. “I only saw them briefly this morning, but it was enough.”
“The vote’s unanimous.” Alberta offered up a snort of laughter.
“It doesn’t matter if the whole world knows it as long as he’s still somewhere in la-la land and can’t see it,” Trudie said.
Alberta and Tansy exchanged a look. Tansy dipped her head toward Alberta. “Your professional take?”
“He’s beginning to wake up. Men do that, you know, sort of fall under a woman’s spell. It doesn’t mean either one’s bad, just wrong for each other.” Alberta turned to Trudie. “Stay your course. He needs you.”
Trudie shook her head. She wasn’t going to get caught up in their love advice and matchmaking. She’d learned her lesson. “He’s not the same man I knew.”
“You’ll find him again,” Alberta said.
Trudie shook her head. “I’m not so sure.” The more important part was she wasn’t sure she wanted to, not in that way. She didn’t relish another dose of heartbreak and hurt.
“I’ve seen them together and I’ve seen the two of you together. Trust an old matchmaker on this.”
Tansy nodded in agreement. “Usually something cataclysmic occurs and things shift.”
“That happened when his grandmother died,” Alberta said. “I sense an equally important change now.”
They weren’t listening to her, so Trudie said it again. “I don’t know him anymore.”
“One way to fix that...” Alberta said with a smirk. “Get to know him again.”
“Funny, that’s what he said.”
“I vote for that plan of action as well,” Tansy said.
“We all seem to forget he’s got a girlfriend,” Trudie reminded them.
“I wouldn’t be too sure of that,” Alberta said. “You might want to try asking him. I’m not convinced.” She smirked.
“But he’s here with her.”
“I still say just ask.”
“I second that strategy,” Tansy said, sipping at a cup of tea.
“What, is this relationship by committee?” Trudie asked.
Alberta grinned unabashedly. “Absolutely. Sometimes falling in love takes a village.”
Tansy smiled. “Well, speaking from the voice of experience, Good Riddance is just the village for that job.”
5
“CAN YOU GET that branch? The one...right there, a little to the right.... Perfect.”
Knox glanced down at Trudie from where he was perched in a spruce tree, fetching the perfect branch for her. She’d gone with him to the bison ranch earlier. Now he was helping her collect the “materials” for her floral decorations.
Her blue-and-green striped knit cap bore a dusting of snow. In the waning light, her cheeks were rosy.
He could swear the sun was brighter, the snow whiter, and the air sweeter today than it had been in a really long time. And he’d been excruciatingly aware of her all day—the way her eyes sparkled, her scent, her warmth. It was as if he was in the grips of a fever. As agreed, he’d escorted Elsa to dinner last night, but he’d had little patience with her demands and chatter.
Trudie, the thought of Trudie, his desire for Trudie, had been a constant ache. He’d tossed and turned through a sleepless night, wanting another kiss, wanting her. In his fevered brain, he’d made love to her numerous times, numerous ways throughout the night. However, the ache was still with him. It had actually intensified as the day wore on.
He made the cut and handed the branch down to her. Even Jessup had caught the fever, although the dog’s was more holiday excitement. Jessup had set aside his snow aversion and was rolling around in the white stuff like a maniac.
“Your dog has lost his mind,” Trudie said, laughing at his antics.
Knox knew the feeling. “Maybe. But he seems pretty content.”
“He’s making canine snow angels.”
“If you say so.”
“I do.”
Knox hadn’t known what a snow angel was until Trudie had explained it to him the first winter he’d lived with Mormor. His grandmother would be happy that he and Trudie were hanging out together again.
“Thanks for coming with me this morning,” he said.
Trudie trudged through the drift to add the new branch to her collection in his truck bed. “Are you kidding? That was so cool.” She returned to the tree. “Just to see the operation and the setup was awesome.”
