Page 3 of Run, Run Mistletoe
Shivering, I force myself to get under control. Helena’s healthy and spry. She’s a conniving woman in some ways. Everytime I turn around she’s trying to fix me up with one woman after another.
I’ve told her I’m not interested. Especially not in some woman from the backwoods or whatever Valentine, Colorado is.
But she’s stubborn as a mule and won’t listen. If only she wasn’t getting up there. I’d feel so much better if I could take her into moving into Boulder with me.
But I’ve been trying and no matter what argument I use, she just shakes her head and denies that she needs help.
Tells me that she’s good.
Snorting, I reach out a hand to shake my phone. Rolling my eyes, I let go.
That’s not gonna do squat. I’m an idiot.
Bringing my eyes back up to the road, I scream and jerk the wheel hard, my huge black SUV hitting the edge of the road and bumping right off of it into a snowdrift. My head slams into the side window and I groan, leaning against the cool glass.
Taking a deep breath, I lift my head and it throbs painfully. Touching it, my fingers come away damp and I frown when I see blood.
I can feel a little trail of it trickling down my temple and I growl, pulling out a clean pocket square from my breast pocket and press it against my forehead.
Hissing through my teeth as waves of pain wash over me, I glare out at the world of white in front of me.
Turning my head, I jerk and smack my head again, cursing under my breath.
“What is that thing?”
“Baaa!”The little goat bleats at me and smacks its head into the driver’s side door. Like it’s trying to hit me.
Like the evil thing is trying to take me down.
I roll my eyes.
I really hate this place.
Half an hour later,that hate smolders into a wildfire of hate. White surrounds me and I shiver, my whole body freezing.
The lightweight navy pea coat that I wear is not warm enough for the air around here. The sun has already sunk below the horizon and it’s so cold that even in the absolute dark I can see the icy puffs of my breath on the frigid air.
I’m so cold that for a moment I think that the lights ahead of me are a mirage, a desperate wish that isn’t really coming true.
But as I shamble closer on my frozen feet, skidding in my dress shoes on the crunchy white stuff, the lights get closer, warmer.
My heart hammers and I fight to move faster. The warmth of those retro-style candles in the window has my body almost salivating at the thought of actual heat. Maybe even food.
I’m almost there when a dark shape gallops out of the dark and slams into me, knocking me off my feet with a frustrated yell.
“Baaa!”The menace that forced me off the road stands over me, the awful smell of its breath in my face almost knocking me out.
“Jeez!” I mutter, waving my frozen fingers in front of my face. “Gimme a break. You already killed my car. You don’t need to follow me to finish me off too!”
A light flicks on over the wide porch and a soft voice calls. “I don’t know who you are but I’ve got a shotgun and I know how to use it. So just move along.”
My eyes widen when I see a soft halo of pale blond hair glistening in the light, falling around a woman’s shoulders. She steps into the light and she’s an angel. A dream.
Or a nightmare. The shotgun in her hands is aimed right at me. Her slim shoulders are squared off and her little jaw is firm.
I hold my hand up. “Wait, wait. I had an accident about a mile up the road. This…”. I wave one hand at the menace that’s now trying to chew on my new coat. I swat at it angrily and that shotgun follows the movement and her jaw flexes like she’s gritting her teeth. “This animal was in the middle of the road and I wrecked my car trying to avoid it.”
Her hands shake and she searches my eyes with pale orbs that I can’t tell what color they are but they glisten in the dim light.
