Page 11 of Stuck in Christmas

“Are you okay?” Concern marred Eli’s handsome face.

“No. I’m not okay. I think I’m stuck in a nightmare,” I confessed shakily.

“A nightmare?” His brow furrowed as he processed my words.

“Yes,” I whispered.

“There are much worse places than Bonnie’s to be ‘stuck’ for Christmas,” he ground out, those blue eyes flashing with fire.

I held up my hands between us. “I didn’t mean it that way.”

“I get it.” Eli shrugged and turned, walking away with an air of finality.

“Eli. I didn’t mean it like that,” I called after him, but the echo of my words seemed to dissolve in the air.

I stepped to follow him, but my foot slid into a previously unseen puddle. Time slowed as I flailed my arms, praying to whoever would listen that I would just fall on the dang floor rather than…

…face first into the snowbank outside.

Part Four

Five

“Son of a biscuit,” I swore, rolling over into the cold, crunching snow. Some partially-melted slush snuck in through the waistband of my pants and the top of my shoes. For a moment, I considered just laying there until the end of the world, but something I hadn’t noticed before occurred to me just then.

Every time I ended up in the snowbank, I was in the same condition I was when I fell in the snowbank in the first place.

I had to pee. And I was hungry.

Joe’s face appeared above me. “Miss? Miss? Are you alright?”

I blinked at him, wondering if I was in one of those movies where you think you’re the detective sent to discover what happened at an insane asylum, but it turns out you’re one of the patients.

“I can’t tell anymore,” I murmured, my breath puffing in the chilly air.

“Maybe it would help if you got out of that snow?” he suggested gently as if coaxing a skittish animal.

“Would it? Would it really?” The sarcasm dripped from my voice

“Miss—”

“Renee.” I waved.

“Miss Renee,” he said, the corners of his mouth twitching. “I sure would feel better if you let me help you out of that snow.”

I sighed, then held out my hand. “Fine.”

He pulled me out of the snowbank, and we shuffled into Bonnie’s. Those infernal jingle bells seemed to get louder every freaking time. I briefly wondered if I’d hear those bells until I died, which could be tomorrow at the rate I was going.

“Who might this be?” Bonnie asked Joe.

“Bonnie. What are you doing out of bed?” Joe raced to his wife’s side.

“She had to watch over Eli as he made her famous peach pie,” I answered as my stomach rumbled. It reminded me that even though I had eaten moments ago in a previous time loop, apparently, only my mind came through with everything intact. My stomach had to start over like everything else.

I turned and pushed through the kitchen door, entering the cozy space. The scent of freshly baked goods enveloped me, the mouth-watering peach and butter from the pie and something much more - masculine.

“Hello there,” Eli said. He seemed surprised to see me like he always does. Those blue eyes sparkled slightly as he took in my disheveled appearance. I rolled my eyes. Let’s see how great he looked after falling into four consecutive snowbanks.

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