Page 3 of How The Mountain Man Stole Christmas
“Harper, are you okay?” She’d taken a tangent and got lost in her own thoughts and didn’t hear him approach the door.
“Oh, um, yep, I’m okay. Just thinking to myself, nothing important. Are you all done?”
“All done. Thanks for opening back up, I really appreciate it. It might have been an ugly life or death situation come tomorrow if you hadn’t been here.”
“Well then, I’m glad I could help. Don’t want to disappoint your nieces.” She flipped the sign in the window to Closed and pulled the door shut, twisting the key in the deadbolt after Fin walked out of the building. Turning around toward the sidewalk, Harper lost her footing and fell right into the arms of Fin, dropping all her things once again.
“Whoa there little lady, I’ve got you.” Looking up into the handsome face of her savior, she was in a pickle now.
“I swear this just isn’t my day.”
Chapter Two
“I would love to know why you continue to stare at the front door like you’re lost in outer space. Are you expecting someone?”
“Holy crap, Elsie! Quit sneaking up behind me like that. You’re going to give me a heart attack one of these days.” Harper had been so focused she didn’t hear her co-worker walk up behind her. Again. Two days in a row.
“I’m not staring at anything, and I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She grabbed the rag from under the register and scrubbed at the black Santa she’d just accidentally stamped on the counter after missing the envelope.
“You know Harper, I wasn’t born yesterday. Shall we just say, I’ve been around the block a time or twenty and I can tell by the look on your face, is there something bothering you? The worry could not be clearer if it were written in big black marker. Now tell me. Have you written that Santa letter yet? I really think it’s a good idea, I think you’d be surprised, and it might end up taking an unexpected load off your shoulders. Worry is a crazy thing that likes to hang around.”
Harper continued to scrub at the counter where the jolly Santa stared up at her, avoiding her friend’s questioning until Elsie laid a hand over her own, halting her momentum.
“Oh, alright but it’s really nothing. I just met a guy yesterday. And no, I didn’t get to the Santa letter. I kind of got sidetracked.” Harper threw the rag back into its hiding place and busied herself with sorting mail.
“Really? Now that’s not nothing. When was this and is he cute? Why didn’t you say anything yesterday?”
“I didn’t say anything because it happened after you left last night. It’s no big deal, Elsie.”
She had no intention of letting Fin get her all worked up today. It’d taken her hours to fall asleep last night after their encounter, and she didn’t even know the guy. They’d had a quiet and a bit of an awkward goodbye after he helped her pick up the contents of her bag a second time and told her he’d see her soon. She just couldn’t get the picture of his dreamy eyes out of her head. When he looked at her, a calming effect overcame her entire being, made her so at ease she wanted to tell the guy her life story. And his scent must have seeped into her skin during the brief seconds she was in his arms because she could still smell traces of him this morning and they hadn’t done more than touch. And dang it, she must have lost the quarter for the wishing well when she dumped everything on the ground. Not that she was even thinking about that at the time.
A loud slap brought Harper back to reality. “What was that?”
“That was me hitting the counter because you were off in some dream world, not listening to a thing I was saying.” Just then the door jingled, causing both women to look up at thesame time. “Where did that bell come from?” Elsie squeaked out in surprise.
Ignoring the older woman, Harper greeted the next customer.
“Morning Mr. Perkins, what can I do for you today?” The man laid down a small box with a colorful Christmas label on it.
“Hi there Ms. Harper, just getting some running done for the misses today, she’s not feeling well. We’d like to ship this box to our daughter in California. Do you think it’ll make it there by Christmas?”
“Oh no, I’m so sorry to hear she’s under the weather. Don’t you worry, I’m sure we can come up with something, let’s get it weighed and see what your options are.”
Harper turned, brushing her arm against Elsie but the elderly lady wasn’t immune to her charms. “I’ll let you avoid me for now, but I want to hear more about that gentleman of yours.”
“Good lord Elsie, he’s not mine. Why don’t you go postmark something.” She waved the woman off and got back to her customer.
The lunch hour, the busiest part of their day, went by in a flash. The door opened so many times Harper ended up taking the bell down. She’d explained away its necessity as festive with the Christmas season and all, but it only ended up driving them both crazy. She purposely left out the part about using it to alert her in case Fin decided to show up, even though she realized as the day went on, she really wanted to see him again.
Approaching the conveyor in back where Elsie was double checking the tape on the packages, Harper garnered her attention with an evil smirk. “It’s about time you did some work around here.” She held up her hands in surrender, “just kidding.I’m only kidding, okay? Looks like the days’ Christmas pre-rush is over for now, do you mind if I sneak off to lunch for a while?”
“That’s just fine with me. Nothing I can’t handle here.” Harper had grabbed her things to head out when Elsie stopped her with only a few words.
“Except for this.”
“Except for what?” Harper turned to see a piece of paper dangling from time and mail-weathered fingers. Puzzled, Harper snatched it from her.
As she read the short note, heat crept into her cheeks once again. “Where did this come from?”
