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“Cox is one of the regulars.”
Martin eyed Nick for a second. He had a smirky, knowing expression on his handsome face. The penny dropped.
“Oh, you mean he sees them all the time?”
“Yup.” Nick nodded.
“Check it out, Nick,” Critter interjected. He shoved his phone past Martin so Nick could see the screen. “I’m famous.”
“What am I looking at?” Nick asked.
“Apparently the human-cougar is Critter’s sister,” Martin muttered.
Nick snorted. “This is your sister? Dude, you are a dead man.”
“That’s what I said—basically.” Magnus had abandoned the Sasquatch report and wandered over to their corner of the bar. “Lael is going to end you when she finds out.”
The door opened for a third—or was it fourth?—time and they all automatically looked to see who was coming inside. Except for Critter, who returned to monitoring his likes and shares.
“And maybe sooner, rather than later,” Magnus added.
NICK
Fact: The oldest minerals from Earth's crust discovered to date are thezircons found in Archean metamorphosed sedimentary rock from the Jack Hills of southwestern Australia.
“Well,” Nick said as he slid into the passenger seat next to Martin. “That was more fun than I expected today.”
Normally he’d have walked back to the cabins, but it was pissing down hard, so he figured he might as well accept a ride from Martin. He just wasn’t going to let himself get used to it.
“I feel a little bit sorry for Critter,” Martin said as he started his car.
“He brought it on himself,” Nick pointed out. “Although Lael is probably lucky. Seeing as she didn’t get hauled away for assault.”
The police hadn’t been forced to intervene, although Magnus had threatened to call them when Critter’s sister—who was close to sixty but kept herself in excellent shape—began beating on Critter’s back with her fists and kicking at his chair. And screaming. The screaming had been a bit much. After Magnus and Rufus had calmed her down, they all watched as Critter reluctantly deleted the post, cutting short his rise to fame.
“Are you doing anything for the holiday?” Martin asked out of the blue.
“Wha—oh, Christmas? No. Why?” Nick narrowed his eyes, watching the wipers flip back and forth, chasing raindrops across the windshield. “Are you going somewhere? Family coming to visit or something? You want me to find somewhere else to stay?”
“No, I don’t want, or need, you to find somewhere else. I was just asking, making conversation. My parents are dead and no, I’m not going anywhere.”
“Oh.” Nick felt the slightest bit foolish. “Uh, that’s good. Good to know.” Oh, shit. He squeezed his eyes shut. “Uh, not that your parents are dead. I didn’t mean that.”
Martin chuckled. “I figured not.”
They passed the Pizza Mart with its disturbing neon Santa glowing in the front window. Nick thought it was supposed to be tossing pizza dough, but that part had burned out so the Santa just kept bending down and straightening up for no apparent reason. Maybe he was giving one of the elves a blow job? Nobody ever accused Nick of not having a good imagination.
“When is it, anyway?” Since he didn’t care about the upcoming holiday, he had no idea when it happened other than soon. Half the time, he didn’t know what day it was.
“Monday.”
Nick’s curiosity got the better of him. “What are you going to do?” He didn’t have the impression that Martin celebrated, but what did he know?
“Sleep in. Drink coffee. Get a roaring fire going in the fireplace. Finish the mystery I’m reading. If you’re up for it, we can try and find some truly horrible TV. That’s kind of a Christmas tradition for me.”
“What, like the animated Rudolf or something? OrHe-Man and She-Ra’s Christmas Special—because I can assure you that show was an abomination. They might as well have lit several thousand dollars on fire. I don’t even know why Liam and I insisted on watching it.”
“Oh, you have so much to learn. That’s child’s play. I don’t mean bad holiday shows, I mean bad TV in general. And after making me watchCSI: Cyberthe other day, I’m thinking you need to watchStarsky and Hutch. The original, not the hideous remake with Ben Stiller. Which, to be fair, qualifies, but even I can’t stoop that low.”
