Chapter 5
LUKE
It was Saturday morning after Thanksgiving, and I was just pulling up in front of Nic’s parents’ house.
The place hadn’t changed in the last decade since I’d been there.
The years blurred and faded away, and for a moment, it felt like I was pulling up in my old truck like I was back in high school again.
That feeling lasted until I hopped out of my rented luxury SUV and my bum knee reminded me I wasn’t a teenager anymore. The old injury had ended my football career. The knee was fine most days, but it still griped at me from time to time, telling me to get back behind my desk.
Nic pulled open the door with his parents right behind him. I held up the pies my mother had baked for them, one apple, one pumpkin. “Hello, Snow family!”
Nic took the pies from me and his parents rushed to give me hugs like I was still the little shit who had tracked mud on their carpet and gave Nic his first beer. It was nice to be around people who didn’t see me as a celebrity.
I had told my mom I was coming over here to say hi to them before Nic and I went to lunch. Mom had insisted on sending me with desserts. They looked almost as excited about the pies as they were about me. Mom’s baking was legendary in Harrison City.
When I met up with Nic at the bar two nights ago, he had asked me if would swing by and come see his folks. It had been years, so I agreed. I was glad I had.
We took some selfies together and they insisted I stay for a slice of pie. Nic told them we were about to go eat, but I let them hustle me to the dining room table, telling Nic we could have dessert first.
He shrugged and sat down with us, then inhaled two slices of pumpkin pie before I was halfway through my slice of apple.
I had forgotten how much food he could put away.
A man his size needed the calories, I supposed.
My friend looked like he could lift engines with his bare hands down at his shop.
Definitely not a man you wanted to piss off.
His parents asked how the family was, and I caught them up on the ranch and how my brothers were consulting out in Houston. They asked about work, and I told them the truth, that it was amazing but hectic. Most days I barely had time to breathe.
“Being home these last few days has been weird,” I said. “It’s forced me to slow down a little, and I’m starting to think I could use some more time off.”
“Can’t work all the time,” Mr. Snow said.
“But I’m sure you’ll figure out what’s important to you,” Mrs. Snow said. “You’ll figure out the life you want to live instead of the life you think you’re supposed to live.”
I raised an eyebrow at her. “Are you trying to get me to move back to Harrison City?”
She looked away and shrugged innocently. “There’s certainly room for you, and the high school football team has been terrible these last few years. I’m sure they could use a new coach.”
“Now that’s a wild idea,” I said, laughing. “It’s good to know I have something to fall back on if this broadcasting thing doesn’t work out.”
We started wrapping things up. I was saying my goodbyes to Nic’s parents when his phone rang. He answered and went into the next room. I couldn’t hear exactly what he was saying but it sounded like he was talking someone down off a ledge.
I grimaced and glanced at his parents. “That doesn’t sound good.”
Mrs. Snow wrung her hands in front of her. “I wonder if it’s Clara. She’s supposed to be moving some of her stuff in here today.”
At the mention of her name, my ears perked up like a hunting dog’s. “Clara’s moving back home?”
“Oh, yes,” Mr. Snow said. “You hadn’t heard?”
“Nic didn’t mention anything the other night,” I said.
“She’s giving up that terrible apartment and coming to live with us for a bit,” he said, clearly pleased with the idea of his little girl coming back to the nest. “I told her she could stay as long as she wants.”
Nic strode back into the kitchen shaking his head. “We’ll have to grab lunch another time, dude. Clara’s car decided to die on her today.”
“What? Is she okay?” Mrs. Snow asked.
“Yeah.” Nic shrugged. “Well, physically, yeah. It kind of sounded like she was crying on the phone a little. But like she didn’t want anyone to know.”
“So you decided to tell all of us?” I shook my head in disbelief. “Also, your little sister is moving today? And you’re not helping her?”
“She’s just moving a few boxes,” he said defensively. “And we had lunch plans.”
“Dick move, bro.” I quickly turned toward Mrs. Snow. “Sorry, ma’am.”
She held up her hand. “That’s all right. It is a dick move. Go help your sister, Nic. You can play with your friends later.” She winked at me and I laughed. I had forgotten how awesome his mom was. I knew where Clara got her fiery personality.
Nic had mentioned she was back in town, but that was it. I didn’t know she was moving back home or why. My curiosity got the better of me.
“I’ll help,” I said. “Many hands make light work.”
“Whatever you say, fortune cookie.” Nic shrugged. “Get in the truck, then.”
I hugged his parents goodbye one more time and jumped into Nic’s truck. It was older but it ran like a dream. One of the perks of being a mechanic, I supposed.
I was bouncing in my seat, excited as a kid on Christmas morning, but I caught myself before Nic noticed. I just pretended I was shifting to get comfortable.
“So what’s wrong with Clara’s car?” I asked before the silence got awkward. He didn’t need to know I was looking forward to seeing his sister.
“She just said it made a weird noise and then wouldn’t turn back on.” He sighed. “I keep telling her to get rid of it. She’s determined to drive that thing into the grave. I’ll see if I can’t get it started. If not, we’ll just throw her shit in the truck.”
“We should probably do that anyway,” I said. “What kind of men would we be if we let her move boxes by herself?”
“Men with full stomachs. That’s what we would be.” He took a turn down a road strewn with old grocery bags and fast food cups.
“When did Harrison City get a rough side of town?” I asked. “There’s only like three thousand people here.”
“Things are tough all over,” he said. “The town’s not doing as well as it was. Once the oil dried up, all the businesses moved away. We get by, though. We always do.”
“And Clara lives out here?”
“Not for long.”
“What happened?”
He scoffed. “She’s been working at the Helios, downtown. But now the damn theater is falling down. They had to close for renovations, so they shitcanned her. Now she’s moving back in the with the parents, and she is not handling it well.”
“Well, yeah,” I said. “That’s never easy.”
“That kid hates leaning on us for help. Refuses anything that seems like charity. So the fact that she gave in so easily and is moving back home is a huge deal. She wouldn’t do that unless she was desperate.”
“I could have sworn I heard she was in LA,” I said. “Or was my brother just making shit up?”
“No, she was.” He took another turn. “She was killing it out there, but then she broke up with this guy, and it blew up her whole life. She doesn’t like talking about it. Please don’t bring it up.”
“My lips are sealed.”
“She’s been talking about going to New York for the last couple years,” he said, running his hand through his hair. “I don’t know, man. If anyone can make it happen, it’s her.”
“Well, if she ever makes it out that way, tell her to call me. I live in the city.”
“That’s good to know. It’d be nice to have someone looking out for her.” He nodded. “Thanks, bro.”
Nic parked the truck in front of a building that might have had paint on it once but was now a sad shade of gray. The lack of color made the girl with the wine-red hair stand out like a rose in a snowfield.
The gorgeous woman was bent over to retrieve something from the back of her car.
Her million-dollar curves were stuffed into perfectly fitted jeans and a horrific burnt-orange sweater.
Her fashion sense left something to be desired, but she had a body that would look good in anything. Especially my bed.
But then she straightened. The sun turned her maroon hair copper and I recognized her immediately. Little Clara Snow had grown up well. Even better than I had imagined.
I hadn’t seen her since I left for college, and even before that, we never really hung out aside from the five minutes we shared on stage together at the Christmas Spectacular a decade ago.
I would have had no reason to think about her over the years except for the fact my brothers never let me forget about that night.
They brought it up at least once a year, which made her impossible to forget.
Every detail of that moment was cemented in my brain.
I often found myself thinking about what she was up to and if she still looked good in an elf costume.
It was just a fun little fantasy, though, nothing I ever considered following up on.
Because of that, Clara Snow had been a huge part of my life, and the funny thing was she had no clue about any of it. Which was probably for the best. She would probably think I was nuts if she knew how often I thought of her.
I wasn’t sure she would even be happy to see me. Nic hadn’t warned her I was coming. A grateful smile lit her face when she saw her brother’s truck roll up but it faded to a look of pure horror when I stepped out of the passenger seat.
That answered one question. She was most definitely not as excited to see me as I was to see her.
Not letting that stop me, I waved at her and shot her a friendly smile, hoping to put her at ease. “Hey, Clara. It’s been a while. How are you?”
She narrowed her eyes at me like I’d just told her she looked fat or something. It was not the usual effect my smile had on women, but she wasn’t just any woman. She was Clara Snow, the hot little elf I’d been dreaming about for years.
“I’ve been better,” she said flatly and I didn’t know how to respond to that. Finding myself at a loss for words was also unusual. I talked on camera for a living, heard by millions of people. And she had shut me up with three words.
Unbelievable.
Before I could say anything else, Clara grabbed her brother by his thick arm and dragged him over to her open hood, which blocked them from my view.
I didn’t know what she was saying but the angry whispers didn’t sound like she was telling him about her engine.
I took a few steps away to give them space.
A few minutes later, Nic slammed the hood shut and walked back over to me, wiping his hands on his jeans. “That engine is done. It’s not going anywhere today.”
“So what’s the plan?” I asked, noticing Clara was leaning back in her car again. Was she trying to avoid talking to me?
I caught her looking at me through the back window and she quickly averted her gaze. Maybe she hadn’t forgotten about me. Back when I used to swing by the Snow house in high school, she had always blushed around me. I had been under the impression she had a crush on me.
For years, I had been wondering if the candy cane incident had made her crush better or worse. It looked like maybe it had been a memorable moment for her as well.
“Grab some boxes and throw them in my truck,” Nic said. “We’ll take it to the house.”
We made quick work of unloading her car’s backseat.
She only had a few carboard boxes. Then we all climbed into the front seat of Nic’s truck.
Clara sat in the middle between us. She didn’t say a word to me, only to Nic, and I didn’t push it.
The redness in her cheeks could be because she was nervous, or because she was annoyed.
I knew better than to poke a hornet’s nest.
On the way, Nic got a call from his girlfriend, Sadie, and he put it on speaker. She asked if Nic wanted to go out to the lake for a bonfire tonight. Nic arched a brow at me in invitation.
“Sure,” I said.
Nic nodded and kept talking to Sadie. I glanced down at Clara, who looked like she wanted nothing more than to disappear. I figured that was her way of saying she wouldn’t be going to the lake. That was a shame.
When we got back to their parents’ house, Nic hadn’t even fully stopped the truck before Clara scrambled to get out. She crawled over my lap on her way and her knee narrowly missed my groin.
We watched her sprint into the house, and Nic murmured, “What the hell is her problem?”
I had the distinct impression that I was the problem. Then, the gears in my head started churning.