Mistletoe Magic (Evergreen Lake: Under the Mistletoe)

Chapter 22

twenty-two

CHRIS

CHRIS

My apartment was eerily quiet and clean now they’d left. I hated it. It was like they’d never even been there. The only evidence left, reminding me that I hadn’t imagined them, was the smell of Holly’s shampoo on my pillow, and the stray hair tie on the bathroom counter. After I’d waved them goodbye, I’d gone back into my workshop and cleaned the sleigh. By the time I’d finished polishing, it glistened under the lights. The old thing had never looked so good. When Dominic arrived to pick it up, I was sure he was going to have a heart attack right there in the middle of my workshop.

“What did you do?” He gasped as he circled it.

“What?”

I couldn’t see the problem.

“It’s different.”

“It’s not really,” I defended. “I just touched up some of the chipped paint and gave it a once over. That’s all.”

“That’s all? That’s all? I was almost sure that when I got here this morning, you’d be using it for firewood, not touching up paint and polishing it.”

That made me grin. I hadn’t thought of that, but I wasn’t the same guy I was a week ago. Hell, I wasn’t the same guy I was a day ago. The sleigh wasn’t the source of my pain anymore. The sleigh was just a sleigh.

“Well, surprise.” I grinned, shoving my hands in my pockets.

“I don’t know what to say, Chris.”

“Thank you will be fine, Dominic.”

“Thank you. After everything that happened these holidays, tonight at the Christmas festival, this beauty will be the center of attention.”

“Glad I could help,” I replied, actually meaning it.

We got the sleigh loaded onto the trailer, and Dominic was off, leaving me standing alone in the silent workshop. With nothing to do and no one to talk to, I figured I might as well get a jump start on the work that needed to be done. Even though no one was expecting it, getting a head start was always a good idea. Around here, you never knew what was going to come up or who was going to run off the road.

I spun around and saw Holly’s car still sitting there. I couldn’t fix it properly, not until the parts arrived, but I could make sure everything else was perfect. The last thing I wanted was for them to break down on the way home.

Home.

The word tasted bitter as I weighed it.

I popped the hood and got to work. It wasn’t very often I got to work on these high end, fancy-pants cars so a few times it had me stumped. It took longer than it should’ve, but I’d checked every inch of it over. I’d pumped the tires, checked the oil, replaced the filters, and even changed the wiper blades. This car was as good as it was the day it drove off the showroom floor.

My stomach rumbled and I realized I hadn’t eaten. I hadn’t even thought about food. Tugging off my coveralls, I headed upstairs and reheated some leftovers before dropping down on the couch and flicking on the TV.

An hour later, I was climbing the walls.

I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. This was normal. This was what my days looked like. Every single day. I’d get up, go down to the shop, work until I was exhausted, trudge back upstairs, eat, then veg on the couch for a few hours before crashing for the night. Only to rinse and repeat the next day. So why did it feel like I wanted to throw something?

The next day I debated going down to the festival to check it out, but chose to avoid it. Or maybe I was avoiding people. I’d gotten even more grumpy as the hours passed and I was beginning to believe the magic Noelle and Holly spread around my home and my heart was fading. Nothing else made sense.

Two grumpy days turned into three, so when on the fourth day the parts I’d been waiting for for Holly’s Cayenne appeared, I got straight to work. I knew they were at the resort with her father, and no doubt Holly had every young, good-looking, and cocky ski instructor offering private lessons. The sooner I got her car back on the road, the sooner I had a reason to call her.

I bumped my head twice, dropped a spanner on my foot, and bashed my knuckles against a wheel nut, scraping them red raw and drawing blood, but it was done.

I picked up my phone to call her, then set it down.

I picked it up again. And set it down.

I stripped off my coveralls, went upstairs and had a shower, then picked up my phone. This time I let it ring twice before I ended the call and set my phone down on the counter, staring at it like it was a snake about to bite me .

“You’re being fucking ridiculous,” I told myself while I leaned against the sink, chugging on my bottle of water. “Just call her and tell her that her car is ready.”

Ten minutes later and I still hadn’t made the call. I really was pathetic.

I shook my head and picked up my phone only for it to start ringing and vibrating in my hand. I dropped it on the tiles, the screen shattering. As I slid my finger across the screen to answer, I sliced my finger on one of the tiny shards of glass.

“Hello?” I answered, not looking at who was on the other end.

“Chris?”

I knew that voice. It was one that had a smile stretching my face with one simple word.

“Holly?”

“Did you... did you call me?” Holly sounded nervous, and suddenly I didn’t feel like I was the only one feeling like this.

“I was about to, then someone came into the shop,” I lied, trying to hide my patheticness. “Your car is ready,” I announced.

“Oh. That’s great,” Holly answered, but it didn’t sound like she thought it was great at all. Her voice was devoid of any emotion.

“So, whenever you’re ready, she’s good to go,” I said overly cheerily, trying to make up for her lack of enthusiasm.

“Oh. Okay then. I’ll see what we’re doing …”

“No rush,” I interjected. “How’s the skiing?” I redirected.

“Um, I’m sitting in the lodge at the moment. Noelle’s doing a puzzle and I’m reading a book,” Holly offered.

“Sounds nice.”

“Yeah. Nice. Hey, Chris?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I call you back in about an hour?” Holly asked .

She could’ve called me at two in the morning and I wouldn’t have complained. “Sure. No worries.”

“Great.”

“Hey, Holly?”

“Yeah?”

“Is everything okay?” I asked, my voice trembling.

“Yeah. Yeah, everything’s fine. I’ll call you back.”

“No worries. Talk soon,” I replied, every single one of my spidey senses on alert. Something was definitely up. I had no idea what it was, and it was bugging the crap out of me. I expected her to be having the time of her life up there. Skiing and relaxing by the fire, drinking hot chocolate or brandy, whatever those rich folks do, but Holly sounded downright miserable and that wasn’t like her. Those girls made the best of any situation, so hearing her sound so flat, didn’t really sit well with me.

I charged my phone, not wanting to miss her call.

First an hour went by. Then two. But still, my phone stayed silent. Then three and four and still no call. I’d picked up my phone half a dozen times to check I hadn’t missed her call, and the sound was at full volume, but it remained lifeless. All sorts of terrible scenarios were playing in my mind. Had they had an accident? Had there been another blizzard? Was Noelle sick?

I was reaching for the keys to the tow truck, unable to sit still another minute and having decided to head up the mountain to check for myself, when there was a knock at my door.