Chapter 3
Luke
Christmas cheer is a disease. A highly contagious, utterly incurable plague that spreads through Holly Ridge every December like clockwork.
And this year, the outbreak is worse than usual because Eve is back in town, single-handedly increasing the town’s holiday spirit levels to dangerous, nauseating heights.
Somehow, in the last twenty-four hours, she has been everywhere.
She’s helping the mayor’s team hang wreaths at town hall, tying ribbons in the library, and tossing around Christmas spirit like it’s confetti.
And unfortunately, she’s also taking over the decorations at her parent’s inn… which means I can’t avoid her anymore.
Which brings me to now—standing in the freezing cold, loading my truck with four more Christmas trees, several yards of garland and holly from my farm, ready to deliver it to The North Star Lodge.
I thought I was meeting with her parents, handling this like a normal, no-nonsense business transaction.
Instead, I get to deal with Eve herself.
Fan-grinching-tastic.
I pull up to the lodge, cut the engine, and take a deep breath. Just drop off the delivery. Don’t engage. Don’t let her get under your skin.
The second I step out of the truck, the door to the lodge swings open, and there she is—Eve in all her festive, red-scarf-wearing glory.
“Oh good, you’re here!” she chirps, entirely too happy for eight in the damn morning. “It’s the first day of the festival and we really need to finish these decorations.”
I grunt in response, tapping my palm to the trailer hitched behind my truck that houses a few of my reindeer.
They seem calm enough back there, luckily.
Then, yanking the truck bed open, I grab the first crate of garland and holly from the bed of my truck and trudge toward the inn, shoulders tight against the cold.
Maybe if I don’t say much, she’ll take the hint.
Spoiler: She doesn’t.
“I mean, sure, it’s only the storytime day at the library, but still.
We don’t want to look like we’re procrastinators!
Now, let’s talk logistics,” she says, stepping closer.
“We need to finalize the reindeer schedule, what time is drop off, when you pick them up. If there’s anything I need to be aware of for them, like if they need to eat while they’re here—”
“No.”
She blinks. “No they don’t need to eat?”
“No, I don’t want to talk about logistics. Or schedules. Or reindeer.”
Her hands go to her hips. “Luke, you’re literally the reindeer guy. Talking about them is part of the job.”
“I’m a reindeer farmer,” I correct her. “And I also specialize in Pine trees, mistletoe, pinecones, holly—”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I’ve heard. The point is, it’s literally your job to talk to me about the reindeer.”
I drop the garland onto the porch with a dull thud and sigh. “Fine. The cost of renting the reindeer includes the temporary pen I set up for them, liability insurance, pick up and drop off, and enough alfalfa hay to keep them satisfied.”
“Okay… and what is the cost exactly?”
I ignore the throbbing headache that blooms behind my eyes. “Each reindeer costs $1200 for a two hour period.”
Her face goes white. “Twelve hundred? Dollars?
“For one,” I clarify again.
“So for eight reindeer… that’s… that’s…”
“$9,600,” I say simply.
I make the mistake of looking up into her eyes which are rapidly filling with tears.
“We can’t afford that,” she says, her voice cracking.
Shit.
“We can’t even afford half of that,” she says.
This is how I earn my living, I remind myself.
And what we make during Christmas carries us through the rest of the slow times during the year.
I can’t let the tears of one woman, no matter how beautiful, derail that.
Aunt May raised me to be a shrewd businessman. She needs these payouts more than I do.
“If you can’t afford that, then just do one or two reindeer like a normal person,” I grunt. I turn around and head back for my truck.
“We can’t!” she rushes to catch up to me and I feel her delicate hand grab my elbow. “We need to win!”
“Why, Eve?” I ask, whipping around. I rest my gloved hand to the edge of my truck, leaning against it. “Why do you need to win so badly?” Even though the question comes out biting, I’m genuinely curious.
Her jaw tightens, clenching momentarily before her eyes widen. “What if I offer to help you out on the farm?” she says. “To help offset the cost?”
“You? Working on the farm with me?”
She nods. “Yes. We can pay the cost of renting a couple of the reindeer in cash and I’ll work off the others in hours.”
“Where do you want the trees?” I ask her as I hoist the first Christmas tree over my shoulder.
She points to the house. “You can leave them on the porch. Dad and I will move them later.”
I start moving toward the porch, Eve following at my heels like an eager puppy. “So? What do you say? I can design some flower displays for your farmer’s market. And… I can help you wrangle the reindeer, and collect… um… eggs from the chicken coup.”
A laugh tears from my throat at the thought of Eve in flannel collecting the eggs from Cluck Norris and the other hens in the coup. “You want to collect eggs? Hoist hay into the pens? Wrangle the reindeer every morning with me?”
“Yes,” she gives a resolute nod. “Yes, I do.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Eve, do you have any idea how much work it is to wrangle one reindeer, let alone eight?”
Not to mention, two weeks of work as one of my farmhands will not make her anywhere near the debt she’d need to pay off. I’m not exactly sure what she thinks my farmhands make, but it ain’t that.
She tilts her head, all innocence. “How hard can it be?”
I exhale sharply. “Fine. You think it’s easy?” I stomp back to the trailer hitched to my truck and yank the lock. “You can watch Blitzen for the day.”
Her eyes light up. “Really? At no cost?”
“Not a damn penny. The first one’s free.”
She looks me up and down skeptically as the realization this is too good to be true washes over her. “And if I can care for Blitzen for a couple hours today, then you’ll rent me the eight reindeer for the cost of two?”
“As long as you work for the next two weeks on the farm with me, sure.” I smirk. Yeah. Let’s see how much Christmas spirit you have left after a couple hours with Blitzen. She wasn’t going to last twenty minutes, let alone two hours.
Luckily, I brought two pens with me today, just in case. I yank one out of the trailer and get to work setting it up in the front yard of the inn. It only takes me about ten minutes before I’m hauling out a cube of hay for her, too.
“I’ll need you to pick her up before my story time at the library,” she instructs.
“And what time is that?”
“Three p.m.”
“Sounds doable.” I whistle sharply as Blitzen trots out of the trailer. She’s the biggest troublemaker of the bunch, always looking for a way to wreak havoc. If Eve thinks reindeer are just oversized puppies, she’s in for a rude awakening.
“Here,” I say, handing over the lead. “Good luck.”
Eve takes the rope with glee. “Aw, she’s so cute.”
I shake my head and mutter, “You say that now.”
Before she can argue further, Blitzen takes off, a blur of fur and antlers barreling past me, hooves skidding on the icy driveway. And Eve flies behind her, still holding onto her lead for dear life as she’s dragged across the lawn.
My most mischievous reindeer is hopping proudly across the inn’s front yard like she owns the place.
“Oh no,” I realize. What have I done? “Eve! Let go of the harness!”
Eve gasps. “I–I can’t lose her!” But before she can even finish her sentence, Blitzen whips her head around and Eve loses her hold on the rope.
“Oh my god,” I mutter, taking off after them.
Blitzen dodges left, then right, clearly enjoying the game of chase. Eve, being Eve, isn’t giving up either and chases my reindeer without a second thought. Her boots slip on the icy ground, and before I can warn her—
“Whoa—”
She flails, arms windmilling, and I know exactly how this ends.
Acting on instinct, I lunge forward and grab her just before she can face-plant into a snowdrift. For the second time in two days, I’ve got an armful of Eve Winters.
And annoyingly, I don’t hate how warm and soft she is in my arms.
For a moment, we don’t move. She blinks up at me, lips parted slightly, breath coming out in little puffs of cold air. My hands are on her waist, hers gripping my jacket. And suddenly, it’s not just the cold making my skin prickle.
Her eyes flicker down to my mouth. Just for a second. But I notice all the same.
I clear my throat and set her upright. “You’re probably going to want to keep her in the pen. She’s a bit of a—”
“A troublemaker?” she finishes for me. “That’s okay. I know a thing or two about troublemakers.”
My throat goes dry as she holds my gaze for a breath too long.
Blitzen chooses that moment to prance smugly past us, tail flicking like she knows exactly what she’s done.
And Eve, eyes still on me, whips out a hand and snatches the lead from Blitzen’s harness, turning her glare on my reindeer.
“You and I are going to be friends by the end of this. I won’t take no for an answer. ”
“Well… I guess I leave you two to it, then, huh?”
I turn and head back to my truck, leaving her and Blitzen alone. By the time I’m halfway down the driveway, I hear the first shriek.
Oh, this is going to be fun.