Page 6 of Run, Run Mistletoe
“Mom! Helena! Where are you guys?”
“Back here, baby! Come into the kitchen.”
I huff and drop my scarf and coat on the front chair that sits by the door. Then I walk through the little two-story house and into the warm, bright kitchen.
My eyes widen and then dart to my mother and Helena who are grinning widely.
“I hear you already met Frankincense.”
My lip curls. “Kinda.”
He nods his dark head and takes a sip of his coffee, eyeing me over the rim.
“I told you not to call me that, Mom. You know I go by Frank.”
Helena huffs. “Sorry. I named you and I’m calling you Frankincense. Everyone else can call you what they want. But that’s my right as your mother.”
He groans. “Fine. But try to call me Frank in front of people. I hate the weird looks.”
“Mistletoe isn’t people. She’s my daughter,” says my Mom.
He nods his head. “Yes. I feel sure that we have a lot to talk about.”
My lips twist and I hug my mother and then move back to the doorway. “I don’t think we do.”
“We’ll see.”
I don’t bother with another answer for him. He doesn’t matter to me at all.
Smiling, I sit down and let Mom tell me all about her day and what they did for the food drive last week.
And I fight to keep my mind off the huge, surly guy that every time I glance over, he’s looking at me.
Every dang time.
4
FRANKINCENSE
Saying good-bye to our mothers, I walk the tiny woman out to her huge truck that looks like it’s been hit once or twice by the demon that got my car.
She turns to me and grimaces. “You didn’t need to walk me out.”
“Actually I wanted to talk to you. I like your land. I wondered if you’d be willing to sell it to me. Right now I’m staying next door at the bed and breakfast just down the road but your farm has just what I need. Plenty of space, it’s isolated and I have room to bring my mom home to. I want to retire to someplace that has room for her.”
Her eyes widen to ice-blue pools. “I’m not selling.”
“I know that. But what if I offered ten percent over the estimates for your place?”
“Not even then,” she huffs. “I’ve got no interest in selling. That land is my family’s legacy to my daughter. I will never sell it.”
Her shoulders are so tight that it looks like she’s fighting the urge to hit me.
She’s a feisty one!
I like that.
But she also looks exhausted.
