Page 21 of My Christmas Alien Mate

"Safety should always come first," Galexor lectured.

"Well, some of us don't have pockets full of diamonds," I snapped.

"I'll give you some diamonds if you promise to buy a new car."

He said it so sincerely, I nearly lost my footing on the clutch before I switched gears. "I can't take your diamonds."

"Why not? As you pointed out, I have a lot of them, and they don't mean anything to me."

I turned the truck in the driveway, wishing I had never brought the damn diamonds up, because now I couldn't stop thinking how they would allow me to pay back the mortgage Grampa had taken out and be able to keep the cottage.

I ground my teeth and took us onto the snow-covered road that had become invisible overnight. Ed, the snowplow man, must have not gotten out this far yet, I figured.

"So will you?" Galexor prompted.

"Will I what?" I played dumb.

"Take a couple of my diamonds and buy a newer car?"

"This truck belonged to my grampa. I'll never let it go," I explained, hoping he would let the subject go now.

"That's fine. You can have upgrades done to it."

No such luck. Galexor was still going. I sighed again. "That's not how it works with our vehicles."

Just then, Ol 'Nelly skidded, and I balanced the steering not to lose control.

"I think I would feel better if you let me drive," Galexor suggested.

"Have you ever driven on ice?"

"I'm a pilot."

"Driving and flying are different."

He crossed his arms over his chest and harrumphed but stayed quiet until we hit the forest road. Ed must have been here because the roads were clear. I grumbled. Grampa and Ed had always been at odds because Ed always cut corners where he could and one of them was our driveway.

It didn't matter, Ol' Nelly was more than up for the challenge, and now we were on the county road.

I drove slower than I did during the other seasons of the year, and it took us twenty minutes longer to reach town, but when we did, it left me as breathless as always, especially during the holiday season. Any holiday season really, because the town went as crazy over Easter, Fourth of July, Halloween, and all the other holidays as it did over Christmas. Christmas was just special to me.

Main street was old-fashioned and exaggerated. Two lanes on each side were divided by a, normally grassy, midsection decorated with giant snowflakes and colorful boxes of fake presents.

The streets on both sides of the road were lined with old-fashioned gas lanterns, which were decorated with strings of twinkling lights arranged in artful arches. I hoped we would stay in town long enough for it to be dark before we drove home so Galexor could see the lights in all their splendor.

Businesses on both sides of the street were busy. Even though according to the last census there were only nine thousand people living in our town, the population quadrupled during the winter. A famous ski resort was only an hour's drive from here, and our town, Charming, had become famous for being… well charming, a few decades ago, and turned into a major shopping hub. Which explained the four-lane main street.

Right now, we could have used six or eight as Ol' Nelly slowly crawled forward because of all the tourist traffic. Finally, we reached Mel's diner, where I stopped. Mel had a parking lot behind her diner that was barred off by a chain with a lock and only the locals knew the code for it, otherwise it would have been impossible to find a spot for Ol' Nelly. I put the truck in park, and ignoring the honking cars, I opened the chain blocking Mel's parking lot off.

"I could have helped, if you would have said something," Galexor remarked with a slight note of hurt in his voice.

He was right. "I'm sorry. I'm so used to doing everything on my own."

"I'm here. I'm happy to help."

I turned the truck into the lot, not caring about the obscene hand gestures and honking from passing cars.

"I'll be better, I promise." I gave him a bright smile, and Galexor shook his head, but he was smiling too.

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