Chapter 6 #2
He stared some more.
“I promise, I wouldn’t lead you astray.” Tanner nudged my elbow, more amused than insulted by my blank expression. “Besides, you know Josh. He’s a goofball. The good kind. C’mon, I see Hudson with Moody and Vicki. Let’s say hi.”
Vicki the Vixen was a statuesque woman with twinkling eyes and red hair gathered in a bun dotted with plastic eyeballs. She gave a wicked cackle, beckoning Tanner to join her in the open doorway between the Soup Cantina and Moody’s bookstore.
“Bwahaha, Tanner, you darling morsel. I’d eat you for dinner…and dessert, but you’re far too sweet. Who’s this?”
“This is Axel, our new vet.”
Vicki presented her hand like a member of the Addams family and fluttered her fake lashes. “Pleased to meet you, and welcome to our ghoulish town.”
“Thanks.” I shook her hand and greeted Hudson and his husband, Moody, a smallish blond man with glasses who owned the neighboring bookstore with a nod. “I like your um…costumes.”
Moody snickered breezily. “We’re M&M’s.”
“Spooky,” I commented.
Hudson glowered. “I lost a bet.”
“Rather spectacularly,” Moody agreed. “I don’t recall the terms, but if he’d won, we were going to be Batman and Robin.”
“Huh.” Tanner eyed Hudson. “I gotta say…being a large red M&M made of—what is this fabric?”
“Felt,” Moody supplied. “I made them myself.”
Tanner hummed. “Yep, this suits you, man. You look badass.”
Hudson pulled the oversized white glove from his hand and flipped Tanner off.
Vicki playfully ribbed Hudson for his costume and Tanner for not wearing one.
“Hey, the spider counts,” he huffed, pointed at his cheek. “And what exactly are you supposed to be?”
Ripped fabric hung from her arms in neat swaths as Vicki spread her arms like a tropical bird…or a Vegas showgirl stepping onstage in feathers and sequins. “I’m a mummy queen.”
Tanner tipped the brim of his hat. “I see it now. Love the eyeballs.”
“Why, thank you.” She cackled again, then pointed a long fingernail at me. “Hudson was telling us you have a little girl. Is she here?”
“Yeah, she made fast friends with Josh’s daughter,” I replied.
“Aw, that’s nice. You’ll both have to stop by sometime. I’m well-known for my split-pea soup, which isn’t always a kid favorite, but I bet she’d like my tomato soup and grilled cheese,” Vicki preened. “What’s her name?”
“Phoebe.”
“I was telling Axel here to talk to you about dance lessons,” Tanner piped in. “Phoebe wants to do ballet.”
Vicki smiled. “Rich would know better than me. You know his sister is part owner of that studio in Santa Ynez.”
“Who’s Rich?” I asked.
“Tanner’s…” She hesitated a beat before adding, “—friend.”
Friend?
I raised a brow but didn’t respond.
“Right. Good call,” Tanner sputtered. “Uh…hey, we’re gonna head over to the park. See ya.”
We wandered to the corner, where a skinny Santa in Hawaiian attire, his scraggly white beard slightly askew, ho-ho-hoed. I wanted to joke about him having less than two months to put on some weight, but I was thinking about Tanner again.
Seemed like the cowboy had a secret of his own. Interesting.
“That’s Scott. He’s been Christmas Town’s Santa for a couple of years,” Tanner was saying. “Jolly guy, but he doesn’t give strong St. Nick vibes.”
I grunted in agreement. “Yeah, I don’t think he’s gonna fool Phee.”
He grinned and motioned for me to follow him. “Scott shaved his beard last spring. It wasn’t great to begin with—a bit patchy, if you know what I mean. It never grew back nicely, so he’s wearing the fake one. We haven’t had a Santa with a fake beard in…ever. No one would dare complain, though.”
“Not unless they’d be willing to play the part?”
Tanner nodded. “Exactly. We razz Hudson and tell him he’d make a great Santa candidate, but I definitely think you’d be a better choice now.”
I stopped at the bottom of the grassy knoll, my brow furrowed. “Very funny.”
Tanner thought so. He joked about the size of my candy cane and what might be in Santa’s bag if I were carrying it. “Vibrators, dildos, butt plugs…the possibilities are endless.”
I glowered some more but not well.
There was something unmistakably sweet about Tanner…even when he was yammerin’ on about X-rated holiday gifts. I basked in the sunny glow of his easygoing disposition, thinking a little temporary sweetness couldn’t hurt.
Until curiosity got the better of me.
“Who’s Rich?” I blurted.
Tanner’s brows knit under his dark sunglasses. “He’s a vintner. He works with Santiago at the winery.”
“Hmm. I’ve seen the vineyard. It’s impressive.”
“Thanks. Our Pinot does well, and the tasting room gets a lot of traffic and—he’s my ex.”
I tipped the brim of my hat. “Ahh, I see.”
“No, you don’t,” he huffed, pausing to stare into the window of a shop selling Christmas ornaments. “We broke up a year ago, and the town hasn’t quite gotten over it.”
“But you have?”
“I wouldn’t have kissed you otherwise. And yes, he technically works for me, but I don’t want to give you the impression—”
“Hey.” I put a hand on his shoulder. “You don’t have to explain. I don’t have anything but a good impression of you.”
His lips quirked. “Even though you know I’ve kissed at least two employees now?”
I snorted. “Yeah, but I’m only here till Christmas, so I barely count.”
Tanner bumped my elbow. “Does that mean we can do anything we want between now and then?”
I met his gaze and held it for a long, heated moment. “Anything.”
He let out a jagged breath, but his response was interrupted by the jingle of a doorbell and a white-haired woman with pink cheeks and red lips who squealed his name.
“Tanner! I thought that was you. Come inside, honey. I want to show you the hunky lumberjack ornament that just came in. You’ll love it. Looks a bit like your friend here.” She winked, motioning for us to enter.
We perused bare-chested merman ornaments, agreed that the fireman was the hottest and that the briefcase on the office merman just didn’t work. Silly repartee didn’t usually come easy to me. But Tanner was different.
For some reason I wasn’t uncomfortable with the weight of unmistakable attraction. It seemed almost innocent.
Like something we could walk away from unscathed.
We went our separate ways at the park. Tanner had done just what he’d promised by dragging my ass to Christmas Town and giving Phoebe and me a tour. He had plans to meet up with old friends, and said he’d find another ride home.
Phee was too taken with Abby and her sister to notice that Tanner had gone until it was time to drive home.
She accepted my explanation and turned her attention to the wreaths and the lights and the skinny Santa.
She had a new friend, the fudge was so yummy, and there was a funny Frankenstein the parade, and had I seen him?
I smiled to myself as I rounded the giant tree and left the lights of Christmas Town behind. Until the voice of reason struck me out of the blue:
This is a nice town and these are good people, but we’re just passing through.