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He opened the door to his Jeep. “Everything, Lexie. Everything. Hop in—I’ll give you a ride.”
“But then I won’t have a ride home,” I said. “And I’ll need you to come get me.”
“That’s not a problem.”
“It is to me. Safety 101, always have an escape route.”
“You think you’re going to need to escape from the Kringle Inn and Christmas Tree Farm?”
“I don’t know the kind of shit that happens up here in the Arctic. What if there’s a bear attack?”
“That won’t happen.”
“An avalanche.”
“The mountains are several miles away.”
He stood there beside his open passenger door and I opened my driver-side door and we were in a good old-fashioned standoff.
“Fine,” he said on a huff and shut the passenger-side door. “But I’m following you to make sure you don’t end up in a ditch.”
“Suit yourself husband. It’s a free country.”
He jerked at the word husband and then a little smile crossed his face.
“Yes it is, wife. Yes it is.”
I climbed into my car and turned on the heat. Baby Girl in my bag was scowling at me.
“I know. I know,” I said. Last night after I went to bed I gave myself a firm talking-to about flirting with Ethan. As in, I would not. I loved flirting and he was a natural flirt but that road only led to trouble, as my mother would say. And that whole husband/wife routine was prime flirting.
I’d almost kissed him last night. And, let’s be real, a kiss would have been the start of it. I almost fucked him last night and I’d promised Henny and myself I definitely wouldn’t do that.
You fall in love so easy, Henny had reminded me. And she knew. She was with me in middle school and high school when I threw my heart around like it was nothing. She’d picked me up off the pavement after my self-respect had been stomped on by guys who didn’t even deserve my attention. And you love jerks. You just do. They’re like catnip to you.
Ethan didn’t seem to be a jerk, but sometimes jerks hid behind science teacher clothes.
After the car warmed up a little, I put it in Reverse and headed back toward the inn. It was a straight shot through the cute downtown that was all decked out for Christmas. There was a little square that was all sectioned off, and again, it looked so much like a movie set I wondered if something was being filmed.
I wanted to stop and poke around in the stores. Henny needed a gift and I wasn’t done shopping for mom, either, and my Secret Santa was Heidi from Denmark, so maybe I could find something for her here.
Behind me Ethan honked his horn and I rolled away from the stop sign.
I’d packed some clothes, even though I hadn’t been planning on staying. But a girl never traveled anywhere without a costume change or two. And thank god I’d brought a pair of leggings. They weren’t warm but they went down to my ankles. With my cowboy boot and a red sweatshirt crop top that slipped off my shoulder and gave excellent Flash Dance vibes, I figured I’d do as the front desk girl at the Kringle Inn.
I parked at the far edge of the lot and Ethan parked beside me. He unrolled his window when I got out. “I need to make one call and then I’ll come in and introduce you to my sister and Paul, and my brother if he’s around.”
“No problem,” I said.
“Do you want to wait—”
“And freeze my face off? No. Baby Girl is getting hypothermia.” I turned and made my way across the parking lot, only to walk through the front door where the two members of my kid’s sewing club were waiting for me.
“There you are!” Chelsea said. Her hair was combed into two perfect pigtails. The center part was so sharp you could slice bread with it.
“We were waiting for you,” Ben said. He had a pair of black sweatpants on and a long baggy black tee-shirt. But as I got closer to him, I realized he always had a tiny bit of mascara on.
Well, Ben, go on with your glamorous self.
“Okay,” I said. “First thing, Baby Girl needs a walk and I need to see what kind of sewing supplies I can find—”
“I have supplies,” Ben said and lifted a canvas tote bag. I peeked inside and saw all kinds of fabric and a wrist pin cushion and shears and a tape measure.
“Ben, you are an absolute wonder,” I said. “Give Baby Girl a walk and we’ll meet in that little room over there.” I pointed at the room off the lobby.
They ran out the door with Baby Girl jumping around their ankles. I took off my coats, immediately got nipple hard-ons. Ran back into the office and started a pot of coffee in the ancient coffee maker. They should have a little espresso machine for the guests and the front desk girl. Front desk girls deserved espresso coffees.
