Page 1 of Blame It On The Reindeer

One

Jasmin

“What do you meanhe’s dead?” I asked, leaning forward to hang onto every word out of Sam’s mouth as I sipped my gingerbread latte.

“He died.” He shrugged, smiling and waving at the customer who was leaving. “I heard about it this morning. He passed about a week ago, but the family has been busy dealing with stuff, so they haven’t been in town much until today.”

“He can’t be dead.” I shook my head in disbelief as Sugarplum Lattes got in the full swing of their morning rush. There was a reason it was the busiest coffee shop in Sugarplum Falls, and it wasn’t just because the barista was incredibly handsome with dimples that could kill. No, people from neighboring towns came flocking to it for the incredible holiday-inspired drinks that Sam created this time of year, forcing the locals to come in early just to get their fix.

“Well, I hate to break it to you, but I’m pretty sure he is. Went in his sleep.”

Sam wiped down the counter and nodded at Andi, the owner of Sugarplum Sweets, before returning his attention to me.

“This is literally theworsttiming ever,” I mumbled, my coffee suddenly tasting bitter despite the extra syrup I’d requested. “How could he do this to me?”

“Well, technically, I don’t think hemeantto do it, nor was it directed at you. I mean, he was ninety years old, Jas. It was kind of bound to happen.” He leaned against the counter, crossingone ankle over the other while he kept an eye on the new employee running the register. I knew I only had a few minutes to chat with him before he’d have to take over with the line that was going to form.

“Yeah, but still—two weeksbefore Frosty Fest? That’s just downright mean. He could have at least tried to get through one more before he just quit. Doesn’t he know the bind he’s putting us in?”

“Again,” he said lightly with a laugh. “I don’t think he did this to you on purpose. He was old, and his health was getting worse. You remember how bad it was last year when it took him over three hours to make it the thirty minutes into town from his farm? His body was tired, Jas.”

“I know.” I exhaled heavily, feeling like a total jerk. “I’m sorry, I’m just stressed with things already going sideways with Frosty Fest, and this just takes the cake. How am I supposed to do this without any reindeer?”

“I heard his grandson is moving back to take over the farm,” Andi said, reaching past me to grab a straw from the counter. Sugarplum Sweets was a few shops over in the strip mall, so it didn’t surprise me that she was already getting filled in on the gossip this morning as well since most locals grabbed their coffee from Sam and then headed over for a pastry from Andi. “Maybe you could ask him to help out?”

“I think she has a better chance of meeting a knight in shining armor than getting Brody to help out,” Sam replied with a cheeky smile.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I narrowed my eyes, glaring at him.

“It means he’s a crotchety guy, and from what I’ve heard, he’s notour type.”

My eyebrows shot up as I gave Andi a questioning glance. She shrugged, equally confused. Apparently, she hadn’t heardallof the gossip yet.

“Like he’s into other men? Because I have no problem with that. Some of my best friends—”

“No,” Sam interrupted, holding his hand up to stop me. “He’s not theChristmastype.”

My jaw dropped open as I processed that disturbing bit of news. There were a lot of things in life I could handle disagreements over, but not liking Christmas wasn’t one of them.

“What? How is that possible?”

“I don’t know, but apparently, he’s not big on the holiday. From what his mom said, he’s more of the grinch type.”

“You can’t live in Sugarplum Falls andnotlike Christmas. That’s like blasphemy.” A shiver ran over my body as I thought about it. How could anyone not like Christmas? It was the best time of the year.

“Yet that’s exactly what I’m saying. It’s never been his thing, according to her.”

Sam tended to get the town’s gossip quicker than anyone—likely because he was so personable that he was easy to talk to, and everyone in a small town loved to talk about other people. But for me, this was proving to be beneficial because now I could try to get ahead of things before they got too far out of control. I didn’t want this year to be the year that I failed with Frosty Fest, but there were plenty of things already stacking against me. While it might be challenging to convince someone who hated Christmas to do something super Christmassy, I wasn’t going to give up that easily. I was born a fighter, and I wouldn’t go down without a fight. One way or another, I would have those reindeer.

“That’s it!” I exclaimed excitedly, a surge of clarity washing over me. “I’ll just talk to his mom. Surely, she’ll understand the importance of having the reindeer at Frosty Fest and will get him to help us. It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t like the holiday as long as we get the reindeer. She can help orchestrate everything since Mr. Truman is gone, then Brody won’t have to be involved other than delivering the animals. It’s a win-win for everyone.”

“I love your enthusiasm,” Sam said lightly, his eyes softening with pity. “But I don’t think that’s going to work. He hasn’t spoken to her in over fifteen years. Apparently, they had a big falling out, and he moved to Wyoming, never bothering to look back. He hasn’t had contact with most of his family since then.”

“Of course he hasn’t.” I shook my head, trying to keep up. This was a lot to take in this early on a Monday morning, but it was essential to have all of the details so I could figure out my next step. If I could fully understand what the problem was, I could fix it. “So why is he back now? If he walked away from his family and didn’t want anything to do with them, why come back?”

I felt like I was getting whiplash from all of the back and forth, but then again, that could also be from the extra shot of espresso I ordered in my drink this morning. What he was saying made sense, but yet it didn’t. Why come back to a place you purposely left, especially if you have no interest in reuniting with your family?

“From what I heard, his grandfather left him the ranch. He was the only one that Brody kept in contact with, but no one knew about it until recently when Mr. Truman started to get ill. He told them that he had left the ranch to Brody and that no one should contest it. That was his final request.”

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