Page 6 of Christmas Escape
“I really wish you’d come stay with me,” he said as we drove out of town. “I’m going to worry about you at the cabin by yourself.”
“It’s heat,” I said with a laugh. “I’ll be fine. It will just be a tropical Christmas. There are worse things.”
Glancing out the window, I spotted the moose again. My hand shot out, and I squeezed Caleb’s thigh. The action must have surprised him because the truck swerved a little. “Stop the truck!”
“Holy shit, Melody!” he yelled, his chest heaving as he fought to catch his breath while he pulled the vehicle to the side the road. “You can’t just grab a guy like that. You almost gave me a heart attack.”
“Sorry,” I said, pointing toward the window. “I want a picture.”
“Don’t get out of the truck,” he warned.
“Will it attack?” I asked, surprised. Moose looked so peaceful and majestic. I’d never heard of one hurting someone before.
“The moose here aren’t as aggressive as, say, Alaskan moose. But they run fast, and if you spook it… Well, it would be like getting hit by a car. Just roll down the window and stay inside.”
I nodded and pulled my phone from my pocket, lowering the window and shifting in my seat to get a good shot.
“I can’t believe how big they are,” I whispered, centering the huge creature on my screen. “Do they really like muffins?”
Caleb chuckled behind me, making me smile as I took a few pictures of the moose. He had a nice laugh.
“Good?” he asked when I closed the window and put my phone back in my pocket.
“Yup.” I turned to grin at him. “Thank you. Sorry, I startled you.”
“It’s fine,” he assured me. He pulled back onto the road and continued toward the cabin. “I get the excitement. There are only a few hundred moose up here, so they aren’t exactly common. The state-wide population is around six hundred. Most in the Adirondacks.”
“And they go into town?” I asked again, surprised.
“Well, who’s going to stop them?” he teased.
“Fair,” I conceded. Yeah, that had been a dumb question.
Way, to show how much of a city girl you are.
We drove the rest of the way back to the cabin in comfortable silence. I watched the scenery fly by. The trees and lake were so beautiful, even if the ground was a little bare this late in the year. A few times, I noticed Caleb’s reflection in my window and caught him looking at me.
He was so handsome. I’d never been much interested in any sort of relationship with a guy. Growing up with parents who were miserable in their marriage made even dating seem like something that would be more trouble than it was worth. I was perfectly happy with my books and the occasional video game. Men weren’t on my radar.
But I’d be lying if I claimed I wasn’t intrigued by Caleb. He was like…a woodsman. Living up here in the middle of nowhere,working with his strong hands, running a business with his family.
He was almost a real-life fairytale hero. Of course, there was no way he wasn’t dating around—and often. A man like him probably had all kinds of small-town high school sweethearts falling all over him.
Besides…I was leaving in a few days. There was no point in allowing myself to have a crush on him. No good could come from such a thing. By next week, I’d be back in the city, back to my life there, and he’d be here with broken furnaces and wild moose.
It was for the best, really. We came from completely different lives.
I leaned my head against the cool window, my breath fogging it slightly, and wondered if I could handle living here, living in a place like Majestic Falls. I hadn’t seen a single Starbucks. That alone gave me a pit in my stomach. Sure, there was a coffee shop here, but it wasn’t the same. Could I spend the rest of my life without venti peppermint mochas?
Movement reflected in the glass brought my gaze to Caleb, finding him looking at me again. My belly did an excited flip flop while a tingle washed through me.
Maybe… Well, maybe, I could learn to make my own fancy coffees.
Four
Caleb
“Shit…” I hissed as we walked back into the cabin. If I didn’t have an angel at my side, I’d think I’d walked into the bowels of hell. Walking from the freezing air into this sweltering heat was nearly enough to melt away a layer of skin.
