Page 5 of Christmas Escape
I immediately noticed a small display of twinkle lights, mini trees and garland. After snagging a shopping basket, I tossed various things into it. I was hoping, if I could get a little bit of Christmas cheer into the cute little cabin, I might be able to forget the drama that had brought me to town.
A massive inflatable penguin with a bright red scarf and pink little cheeks drew my attention, but it was kind of expensive. I wouldn’t be looking outside the windows enough to make theextravagant purchase worth it, so I decided it was best to skip that particular decoration. He was cute, though.
By the time I made my way back to where Caleb still stood at the counter, I’d managed to find enough holiday stuff to put a pretty decent dent onto my card, but I was so happy about my finds I didn’t even care.
“What’s all that?” Caleb asked, a smile pulling at his lips as he watched me set my array of goods on the counter.
“A moose trap,” I answered, rolling my eyes. “It’s Christmas decorations, silly. I thought I’d spruce up the cabin while you fix my heater.”
“Yeah, about that…”
“What?” I breathed, narrowing my gaze at him.
“They have to order a part for me,” he admitted. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to cool the cabin enough for you to stay there.”
My heart clenched, and tears pricked at my eyes. Shoot. What was I going to do? There was nowhere else here to stay, and I didn’t want to go home. One, I was exhausted and couldn’t even fathom making that drive again so soon. Two, I didn’t want to spend Christmas with my parents.
I blinked a few times to clear the moisture blurring my vision and straightened my spine. It was inconvenient, but it was a plan.
“Can I just manually turn the furnace on and off when I need to?” I asked him hopefully.
“Well, you could try,” he said, his tone dubious.
Did he want me to leave? It was probably a pain for him to have to worry about a guest. And of course, he’d want to check on me to make sure everything was okay. My staying might be inconvenient for him and his family over the holidays.
“I’ll be okay,” I assured him, placing a hand on his arm. “I don’t need you to interrupt any plans you have. You don’t need to come back to check the furnace or anything. I can handle any problems that come up.”
His brow furrowed as he studied me.
“Actually, I was going to offer you my guest room,” he said, covering my hand with his where it still rested on his surprisingly muscular forearm.
My eyes widened in surprise. “Well, that’s very kind. But I certainly wouldn’t want to put you…or your girlfriend or wife…out,” I said, my tentative words searching for information. “Let’s go back, and you can show me how to turn the furnace on and off.”
My heart hammered, and I hoped I didn’t look as flushed as I felt.
“No girlfriend or wife,” he replied with a cocky grin. “I wouldn’t have held your hand if I had a significant other in my life. I’m not that kind of guy.”
“Oh.”
“But coming from the big city, I can understand why you’d feel like you needed to check.”
The guy behind the counter snorted. “Get caught in a split second around here.”
When I glanced at him, he was busying himself with the display of items on the far side of the register. I looked back to Caleb, catching my bottom lip in my teeth.
I couldn’t stay with him. That was…aterribleidea. Not that I thought he would be anything but appropriate with me. But I didn’t know him. I would feel way too uncomfortable at his place. Especially at the holidays.
No, I’d come here to be alone. I wanted to write and drink coffee, maybe have a few glasses of wine, and enjoy the silence for a while.
“Darryl,” Caleb said, catching the clerk’s attention to let him know I was ready to check out. “Can you throw this on our business account, please?”
“No!” I said, shaking my head. “No way.”
“Yes,” Caleb insisted. “First of all, you’re decorating our cabin, which we should have done for you. Second, it’s the least we can do with the heater issue.” He turned back to Darryl. “Our account, please. And throw that penguin on there, too.”
I stared at Caleb’s back as he walked over and grabbed the box with the inflatable I’d been eyeing. How had he even noticed that? I’d thought he’d been busy, but he must have seen me return to it a few times.
Darryl bagged up my stuff then wished Caleb and me a Merry Christmas. We walked back out to the truck. Caleb tossed the decorations onto the back seat then climbed into the cab next to me and started the engine.
