Page 26 of Sleighing You
Chapter 10
Avery
“I’m freezing my tits off,” my friend, Kandi, said as the wind whipped around us.
Our group huddled closer together and I hugged my coat tighter around my body, clutching my thermos of hot chocolate. Ahead of us, Kringle bounded in the snow. I puckered my trembling lips and let out a whistle. The single sound, though not loud, had him spinning around and bounding back to us. Shivering, I reached down and grabbed his leash from where it was dragging a line through the snow.
“Whose dumbass idea was it to go caroling on the coldest night of the year?” Steve grumbled and Yvonne reached over, hooking her arm into his and snuggling against him.
If it hadn’t been so damn cold, I might have blushed as Kandi turned around to look at me with an eyebrow raised. “Who do you think?”
If I was being honest, for the last half hour, all I’d been thinking on this twenty-degree night was that I could have been at dinner with Chris. Alone with Chris. Drinking wine with Chris. Rather than out here trudging through shin-deep snow to sing carols to our neighbors.
Even though I knew in my soul it was a bad idea for Chris and me to date… I felt drawn to him. Which made no sense. He was everything I wasn’t.
And he was myboss,for crying out loud. Getting cozy with Chris Pohle was a Bad Idea—capital B, capital I.
“Aw, come on!” I said, trying desperately to keep my teeth from chattering. “There’s only one more house here on this side of the lake that we need to hit. Then we can just call it a night and go grab pie from Lyla’s mom.”
Lyla snorted behind me. “You think my mom’s just gonnagiveus all pie? Hell no, she’ll expect a song in exchange.”
“But at least that will beinside, where it’s warm,” Yvonne chimed in.
We approached the last house on the inlet of the lake and thank God we had parked Kandi’s and Yvonne’s cars just up the road from here. Even though the cul-de-sac was small, the houses on this strip were anything but small. The cabin had big, thick cut logs adorning the front with a massive wrap-around porch. Luckily, lights were on inside… we weren’t walking this path in vain.
“Everyone ready?” I asked as we climbed up the porch and got into position.
“Which s-song are we doing?” Kandi asked, shivering so hard, her words distorted. Her fiancé, Ford, curved his arms around her and hugged her close to him.
“How about Auld Lang Syne?” Steve asked.
“Why?” Yvonne challenged him. “Because it’s the shortest one?”
He put a finger to her nose, booping it. “You know me too well.”
“Let’s do Silver Bells,” Ford said. “It’s not too long and we haven’t sung that one yet.”
The group all nodded. “Silver Bells it is,” I said and reached out to press my finger to the doorbell. I gripped Kringle’s leash tighter in one gloved hand, while opening my song book with the other.
I didn’t bother looking up as the door swung open. It was always Kandi’s job to start us off with each song, so I kept my eyes down on my music as we began singing. We were barely through the first verse when Kringle lunged, trying to run and yanking me forward into Lyla’s back. My lowoomphmessed up my harmony, but I tugged Kringle back to my side and caught up with the group, continuing with the carol.
Again, Kringle yanked on his leash, trying to pull toward something, and this time, his leash slipped through my gloved fingers. “Ah!”
“It’s okay,” a deep voice said. That same deep voice that had been haunting my thoughts for two days straight. “I’ve got him.”
I looked up from my music slowly and peeked over the edge of Lyla’s shoulder to find Chris standing in the doorway, back-lit by the warm light of the hallway—my dog on his two back feet, practically climbing into his arms.
We finished singing our carol…no thanks to me. From the moment I saw Chris standing there, snugging up with my traitorous dog, I was basically no help at all. Thank goodness Kandi was a strong soprano who didn’t need me to sing the part with her.
Chris clapped, standing from where he had been kneeling down to pet Kringle. “That was great,” he said. “Come on inside.”
“Oh, um, that’s okay,” Yvonne said. I knew what she was thinking. We had a group rule that we didn’t go inside anyone’s home if we didn’t already know them. And it made sense… no one here had met Chris yet except Lyla, who slid a cheeky grin in my direction.
“Oh, come on,” Chris said. “Isn’t that part of the caroling tradition? The house is supposed to provide figgy pudding and a hot beverage? Well, I don’t have figgy pudding because that shit is gross… but I’ve got coffee made or I can make some hot chocolate… courtesy of StoryBook Christmas.”
Everyone’s gaze mirrored Lyla’s and swung swiftly over to me. I cleared my throat and held out a hand toward Chris. “Um… everyone, this is Chris Pohle. CFO of StoryBook Christmas.”
“So…” Kandi looked back and forth between us. “This is a safe home?” she asked.
