Page 28 of Blame It On The Reindeer

Brody had his good moments—though they were few and far between. I didn’t know how I was going to spend another day cooped up with Mr. Grumpy Ass. He didn’t even have a single Christmas decoration up in his house, and when I asked him about it this morning, he seemed confused as to why I would think he would decorate.Hello, it’s Christmas!

We needed a break from each other—that was for sure. I still hadn’t solved the reindeer crisis, but at least I had the tree fiasco taken care of. I had already spoken with Andi, who had rallied a team together at the last minute to meet at the mall and help us get it decorated. She had her staff handing out the giving tree cards for those who wanted to fill them out. Anyone could take their tag and hang it on the tree when they wanted to, as long asit was up a few days before Frosty Fest so people had a chance to shop.

I grinned when Sugarplum Falls finally came into view and debated on heading directly to Sugarplum Lattes. I could get in and out before anyone would miss me and could really use a latte right now. As if reading my mind, Bert pulled to the side of me and rolled down his window. I rolled mine down and frowned when I saw Sam lean forward.

“We closed early so I could have everyone help out with decorating the tree.”

My face fell with disappointment as I nodded my head and rolled the window back up. I got back in line behind them and followed them to the mall, parking in my assigned space.

I left the guys to get the tree situated after they assured me for the hundredth time that they didn’t need my help. I went to my office, set my stuff down, and checked the handful of notes that had been left on my desk. It was all stuff I was aware of, thankfully, and no new fires had started while I was gone.

By the time I finished, the tree was already inside, and a handful of people were helping to set it up. Thankfully, this was relatively easy, given how many years we’d been doing it. Everyone knew what needed to be done.

“It’s beautiful,” Andi said, standing beside me as we watched them get it secured.

“It is, isn’t it?”

“So much bigger than I thought it would be.” She tilted her head back to take it all in.

“Yeah, the original one I was trying to get was twelve feet. Brody let me pick which one I wanted from the ranch, and this one just called to me. I think the guys said it’s almost fourteen feet. It’s going to be a pain in the ass to try to decorate the top, but I think we can figure it out.”

“Hey, Jasmin?” Cody said nervously, looking at me with a scrunched face.

“What’s up, Cody?” I asked, giving him as much of my attention as I could as I watched the guys step back from the tree. I think everyone was afraid it might be too big and too heavy for the base we had, but thankfully, it didn’t sway or move an inch once they let go.

“I have some bad news.”

I turned to face him, my heart already sinking from the look on his face. Nothing good came from the look of devastation on a teenager’s face.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

I felt Brody’s presence but ignored it as I waited for Cody to spit it out.

“Ummm. You know the sign that we use every year for Santa and Mrs. Claus?”

“Yeah...”

“Well... It umm... It broke.”

“What?!” I exclaimed, my hand flying to my chest. “What do you meanit broke? How bad is it? Can we fix it?”

“I don’t think so. I’m sorry. The new kid was getting the boxes of decorations down in the storage room, and he didn’t see it up there. It fell to the floor and shattered. We cleaned up the glass and tried to save the strand of lights, but those broke too.”

I slowly inhaled, closing my eyes as I processed the news.

“I’m so sorry. We didn’t mean for it to happen. He had no idea it was up there, and I should have thought to tell him about it beforehand.”

“It’s okay, Cody. Accidents happen. Thank you for telling me. I’ll figure something out.”

He lowered his head and nodded as he walked away.

“What kind of sign?” Brody asked, still standing right beside me.

I opened one eye and glared at him. We weren’t stuck together at the ranch anymore, so he didn’t need to be in my space.

“It’s a light-up sign that says Santa and Mrs. Claus. One of the Frosty Fest founders made it, and we’ve used it every year since the festival began. We always set up a bench beside the giving tree and then hang the sign above the bench. Santa and Mrs. Claus sit there to hand out the presents that were collected to those who participated.”

“I know it sucks, but we can still set up the bench without the sign,” Aiden offered, lifting his brows sympathetically at me.

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