Chapter 6
AXEL
Christmas Town had to be experienced in person.
Tanner suggested we drive together as the parking situation could be dicey due to the parade.
Since the ranch was on the way, I told him we’d pick him up.
He’d beamed one of those ear-to-ear radiant grins that left me feeling a little dizzy.
Then he gave a thumbs-up and reminded me to wear a Halloween costume.
Yeah, not gonna happen.
I was glad we’d cleared the air yet nervous that this jaunt to Christmas Town might feel like some kind of “date,” and I didn’t date…ever. But I didn’t think he’d have included Phoebe if he was expecting something more.
No, I had a feeling this was just Tanner being Tanner. A nice guy who had no idea what it was like to hang out with an excitable five-year-old on her way to a parade.
“I like this song,” Phoebe exclaimed from her car seat, wriggling excitedly as she straightened her crown. “Do you like this song?”
She’d taken the Halloween costume memo seriously and had insisted on wearing a pink frou-frou princess getup with tulle and a tiara. Tanner wasn’t dressed up, but he’d taken the trouble to paint a spider on his cheek.
“They’ll give me hell if I show up as is,” he’d explained. “You can borrow some paint if you’d like.”
My reply? A concise and emphatic, “Fuck, no.”
If anyone asked, I was a cowboy.
Tanner twisted in his seat to address Phoebe. “I love Rudolph.”
“Daddy, turn it up! Let’s sing! ‘Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer…”
To be clear, no one but Phee could ever convince me to play holiday music in October. And if it was just her and me, I might sing along in a goofy deep voice to make her laugh, but Tanner was here…in my damn truck, and that wasn’t gonna happen.
Tanner had no such qualms. He sang loud enough to rattle the windows, which Phee found hysterical.
“My eardrums,” I griped playfully.
“I can’t help it. This is one of my favorite songs,” he commented with a wink. “I’ve always liked Rudolph…and ‘Frosty the Snowman.’ ”
“Me too!” Phoebe squealed as if the mere idea of having something in common with Tanner was the coolest thing ever.
In the fifteen minutes we’d been in the vehicle together, she’d fallen under his spell.
Every question, every new observance from the clouds shaped like sheep to our matching black tees was aimed at him.
“Do you like the color black? I don’t like it. But I like black cats and black licorice too. Do you like black licorice, Mr. Tanner?”
I hadn’t had a chance to remind her to mind her manners and to be a little less honest about her color preferences clashing with other people’s wardrobes. But it didn’t matter, ’cause in a twist, Tanner was good with kids.
“I like red licorice more, but I love black cats. We have a few on the ranch, and I have two black Labs, Gordy and Lila. They’re the best.”
“Can I meet them?” she asked.
“Anytime.”
“Yay! Do reindeers live in Christmas Town?”
Tanner rested his forearm on the center console. The earthy scent of woods and cardamon wafted in my direction.
“Not real reindeer,” he replied. “But Santa does.”
Phee gasped in delight. “Really? Will he be there?”
“Yep, but it’s not Christmas yet, so he might not be wearing his red suit,” Tanner said.
“What will he wear?”
“It’s a nice day, so…maybe shorts.”
I sneaked a glance at Phee in the rearview mirror and snickered as her eyes widened in disbelief.
“Shorts?” She repeated incredulously.
“Uh-huh. Last year he wore a Hawaiian-print shirt with cargo shorts to the parade. Like every other middle-aged suburban dad in the area.” Tanner chuckled, gesturing at the signage. “This is our exit.”
I veered onto Reindeer Lane, a two-lane road lined with evergreens and a row of trees in resplendent fall foliage, the reds, oranges, and yellows casting a brilliant backdrop against the crystal-blue sky.
Picturesque cottages were set far from the street, their lawns bathed in autumnal hues.
And seemingly out of nowhere, a gigantic evergreen came into view.
Phee gasped. “Look! It’s a Christmas tree! That’s the biggest tree I ever saw!”
She had that right. The tree grazed the atmosphere, poking a hole through low-lying clouds. Red and white geraniums surrounded its base like a festive skirt or holly berries on a bed of snow.
“It’s the biggest one in the West.” Tanner explained. “That’s a statue of Santa at the bottom of the hill. And straight ahead is Holiday Lane.”
She pressed her nose on the window and repeated in an awe-struck tone, “Holiday Lane.”
Tanner caught my indulgent smile and responded in kind. Which made me scowl…and then he laughed. The sound echoed in the truck as I drove into town.
We passed the market, a post office, and at least half a dozen tourist boutiques.
I spotted places Tanner had mentioned like Elves R Us, Donner’s Diner, Rudolph’s Fudge Shop, Vicki the Vixen’s Coffee Café and Soup Cantina, and Moody’s Marvelous Bah Humbug Bookshop.
Fake webs and spiders, and witches on broomsticks were mixed with traditional holiday wreaths and garlands.
The calendar claimed it was almost Halloween, but if this was a contest, Christmas was winning… hands down.
We parked on a residential street three blocks away. It was the best we’d do, according to Tanner.
Phee practically jumped out of the truck in a cotton-candy haze, wrapping her tiny fingers around mine and tugging insistently.
“Hold your horses,” I chided lightly. “We’re not in a hurry.”
“Yes, we are, Daddy! We have to see Santa!”
I didn’t argue. It seemed harmless, but—
Shit. This was weird. What was I doing? Whatever had possessed me to agree to an afternoon with Tanner Spade?
Phee was here, and I never mixed my personal life with business or pleasure.
Not anymore. I wasn’t necessarily opposed to the concept.
I’d simply never met anyone I’d thought might be worth the effort.
Yet here I was, waltzing up Holiday Lane with my pint-sized girl and a man who was hotter than sin.
I squeezed Phee’s hand and let her pull me along the congested sidewalk as she gaped at the sights and sounds of a wholesome fusion of spooky meets kitschy.
“See the skeleton nutcracker?” Tanner asked, pointing in a storefront window.
Phee giggled. “Ew! He has a spider hat.”
“A creepy, crawly hat. Should we see if they have one in your size?”
“No, thank you.” She bugged her eyes out, but a ghost and goblin snow globe had her attention, followed by a witch dressed like one of Santa’s elves and a display of sugar cookies shaped like Christmas trees and decorated with orange and black icing.
We popped into boutiques, checked out the toy store, bought fudge, and browsed the bookstore. And everywhere we went, folks hollered a greeting to Tanner.
“Hey, Tan!”
“How’s it going, Tanner?”
“How’re Nelly’s kids?”
Tanner waved and occasionally stopped to chat. He introduced us to shop owners, clients, friends, and a few ranchers who happened to be there for the parade.
Josh, one of the dairy farmers on staff had a daughter named Abby, who was roughly Phee’s age. Abby was dressed as Glinda. Needless to say, the girls bonded quickly, oohing and ahhing over macabre costumes and friendly ghost books on display at Moody’s store.
I might not always have much to say, but I was a keen observer.
Not that it took much insight to know that Tanner was well-liked and well-respected.
People sought him out to ask about the ranch, his brother, their favorite animal.
The teenager behind the counter at the Holly Jolly Folly Shop had a thing for Rodney, an ornery appaloosa.
The middle-aged woman who ran the ornament emporium loved the cows, especially Maud.
“It could be the name,” she admitted with an absent shrug. “My Aunt Maud was a hoot. She did cartwheels on her lawn with our children well into her eighties, if you can believe that.”
Phee and Abby chuckled, hopping like kangaroos on a sugar high. “I can do a cartwheel!”
“Me too.”
“Let’s wait till we get to the park to do gymnastics,” I suggested.
“I can take the girls now,” Josh’s wife offered, her witch’s hat tilting as she rested a maternal hand on her elder daughter’s shoulder. “If you’re okay with that, of course.”
“Yay! Please, Daddy. Can I go?”
“Uh…”
“It’s just one block over,” Josh said, bouncing a drooling toddler on his hip.
“The parade starts in an hour, so there’s still plenty of time.
We can meet you there or back at the bookstore.
Hudson and Moody saved us a spot to watch, so we don’t have to squat at the curb to wait with squirrely munchkins. ”
I frowned. Other than pre-K and after-school care where the staff was vetted by law, I hadn’t trusted Phoebe with anyone since we’d left Vegas.
My hesitation was a palpable thing. To me, anyway.
The girls were pleading while Josh dodged a grubby bop on the nose that sent his straw hat flying.
His wife was quick with a wet-wipe while a bystander rescued the hat and the girls skipped in circles in the melee.
This was chaos, and it was a perfect example of why I rarely let Phee out of my sight.
There was too much static in the world, too many ways to get hurt, and too many people who didn’t watch what they were doing or who just didn’t give a fuck.
It was my job to stay with her, protect her, teach her, guide her—
“She’ll be all right,” Tanner whispered, interrupting my spiraling thoughts. “Josh and Angie have three of their own. They’re pros at the kid thing.”
“I…uh…”
“Please, Daddy.”
The dual puppy dog eyes got me. I gave a curt nod and crouched to Phee’s eyeline. “You know the rules. Stay with Abby and her family, don’t talk to strangers, don’t—”
She tilted my hat to kiss my cheek. “I know, I know. I’ll be careful.”
Tanner’s brow was knit with curious bemusement. “You’re protective.”
I grunted, and against my better judgment added, “She’s all I’ve got.”