Page 8 of The Mountain that Saved Christmas

“Can we just focus on the road and discuss call names when we stop?” Red's rumbles over the airwaves.

“Aww, Redmond. Are you road ragin' already?” Colt teases.

Toby growls. “Over. You gotta say over… over.”

“Copy that,” Colt replies.

“Copy that,over,” Toby sighs.

There's a rustling over the air before Dee's Australian twang fills the air. “OK. Now that I've wrestled the walkie-talkie away from my hubby, let's get this convo back on track, shall we?”

After that, one after the other, everyone with control of their radio replies the same thing.

“You forgot to say over… over,” making usalllaugh.

“Copy that, Christmas three,” Dee announces. “Star and Lan, you can be four. Colt and Lee, five. Tobes and I will be six, and Gramma Ruthie, you can be–”

“We thought we should have a name more befittin' for usrespectableladies, over,” Ruthie replies.

“What were ya thinkin', Ruthie? Over,” Dee asks, her voice full of amusement.

Silence falls over the line but soon enough, we all have our answer.

“Sally forth,” Ruthie replies, sounding pleased as punch.

I can't help the laughter that bubbles out of me. “Sally forth it is. Welcome to the gang, ladies. Over,” I reply.

“Looks like we got ourselves a convoy,over,” Red replies, sounding more country than I've ever heard him.

“You stealin' lines from movies now, Red?” Colt asks. “I love that movie, by the way. Over.”

Red chuckles. “Surprised you knew that one, young'un. Over.”

As Red and Colt swap quotes from the Convoy movie, I grin at my husband before he lifts my hand and brushes his lips over my knuckles, sending a delicious shiver through me. His smirk turns wicked and his hungry eyes rake over me like a caress.

My One still affects me with one look after all these years. There's no doubt the mountain spirit knew what she was doingwhen she called me back to Spring Haven and into Rhett Graham's life, that's for sure!

“Now that's all sorted, how 'bout we get these Christmas road trip challenges underway? The valley lookout is about twenty miles out. We'll meet there. Be ready for Dee and I to kick all of y'all butts. See y'all then. Christmas six, over and out,” Toby advises.

Rhett gently squeezes my fingers. “Ready to get your decoratin' on, princess?”

“Oh yeah. This truck is gonna be tinseled out by the time I've finished with it,” I reply.

“Lucky I love you and your Christmas obsession.”

I lean over and kiss his cheek before snuggling under his arm and settling into his side. “You'd love me regardless.”

“Copythat, princess.”

Thirty minutes later, we're all gathered at the Valley lookout, the mountains we left back home standing tall in the distance with snow-capped peaks as far as the eye can see. The valley itself is a mixture of green and white, too beautiful for words.

Tearing my gaze away, I turn back and walk toward the group who all stand in a circle looking toward Toby and Ruthie who are standing front and center.

“OK. Y'all wanted some Christmas challenges, now it's time to showjusthow festive y'all are,” Ruthie says.

“You forgot to sayover,” Mags teases, earning a round of groans and chuckles and maybe a glare from Toby who seems to be taking this road trip and the challengesveryseriously.

“Anyway,” Toby says. “We'll all have ten minutes to use whatever we've got or can find to decorate our trucks. Miss Dottie has volunteered to be the impartial judge this time around.” Dottie's beaming smile is so big and bright that you can't help but grin back. “When she says go, you can start.”

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