Page 29 of All I Want for Christmas

“It’s not that easy,” she sighed. “I might not be good enough.”

“You will never know unless you try.” It was exactly how I felt about buying the lodge. I had no idea what I was doing, only that as soon as I heard that the lodge was for sale, I knew that I had to buy it.

“That’s very optimistic of you, Jack. In the meantime though, the Platypus pays the bills, and I’ve got an assignment to do.”

She rocked her hips lightly, and I took a deep breath, hoping the urge to toss her onto her back and rip off her jeans would pass.

“I could ask you the same thing,” she murmured, rocking her hips again. It wasn’t my imagination; she was interviewing me and ever so slightly grinding against me at the same time. It was one of the sexiest things I’d ever experienced. I was completely clothed and so turned on, my heart had started to thump against my ribcage like a sledgehammer. “Could you ever live in the city?”

“I did.” I rasped. “And no, you couldn’t pay me to go back there.”

“You did? What did you do there…” She stopped her grindy hip teasing, her eyes searching mine. “…and why did you move back?” The questions started coming hard and fast – the new information had definitely brought out the reporter in her.

“I’m a carpenter. I moved back to help my parents. And—”

I was about to tell her about the lodge when two loud barks interrupted me and the clicking of Lucky’s claws on the porch were followed by heavier footsteps and then three hard knocks on the door.

Henri whipped her head around to look at the door while she dismounted from my lap and leapt to take a seat at the small table.

“Jack, are you in there?” It was my mom.

I shifted to the edge of the bed and held a throw pillow on my lap. “Yeah, mom. Come in.”

At thirty years old I felt like a teenager who had just been busted. My mom looked from Henri to me and grinned. “I thought I might find you here. Henri, it looks like the road is going to be closed for a few more days. You can stay here as long as you’d like.”

Mom winked at me. Zeesh, she was the town matchmaker, and she wasn’t even subtle about it. Clearly, she approved of Henri, which was odd, because she hated my last girlfriend.

“Thank you, Mrs. Lumber,” Henri replied. “But, I’m happy to pay your vacation rental rate.”

“I wouldn’t accept it.” She held up her hands in front of her. “You’re doing a story on our little town that is going to be online for the world to see. I should be paying you.”

It was subtle, but Henri’s face shifted. “I can’t—”

“Stop.” My mom held up her hand. “You’re our guest, and you can stay for as long as you’d like. But that’s not the reason I came down here. Jack, there’s a town emergency.”

“Why didn’t you start with that?” I threw the pillow aside and jumped up to grab my coat.

Mom laughed. “Take it easy Jack. You don’t need to rush out of here. The Santa Claus parade is today, and because the roads are closed, they can’t bring in the reindeer from Windswan, and Mr. and Mrs. Claus are trapped on the other side of the slide.”

“Geez mom. Why don’t you start with that, instead of a town emergency.”

“Well, it is an emergency- the parade is tonight!”

I shook my head. “What does this have to do with us?”

“You’re going to think it’s crazy, but I’ve volunteered Dave and Simon.”

Henri tilted her head and was watching the conversation between me and my mom like a tennis match. “Who are Dave and Simon?” she asked.

“The alpacas.” I groaned. “Mom. They don’t look like reindeer at all.”

“I don’t think that the mayor cares at this point. She’s approached a few of the ranchers, but they’ve all said no to using their horses. And, they’ve got cute felt horns we can put on their heads. It’s going to save the day.”

My mom had always been involved with the town, but this was taking it to another level. “Don’t you think that the kids will be confused?”

Henri jumped up and interrupted, her voice brimming with excitement. “I know the perfect person to be Santa.”

“Now we’re talking,” Mom pointed to Henri. “Come on, Jack. You’ve got to get Dave and Simon loaded into the trailer. Henri, come with me.”

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