Puppy Wishes & Candy Kisses (Kringle Falls #1)

5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

W hat had he gotten himself into?

Michael had been upset with the mess the puppies made. He couldn’t believe something so cute could be so destructive.

But as he walked them through the mudroom and out the back door, they were well-behaved. The husky pup was in the lead. He seemed to be the one in charge, and the other two were happy to follow his lead. It also led Michael to believe that the husky was the one who had come up with the idea to use the pillow for tug-of-war. He’d have to keep a close eye on the little troublemaker.

He recalled the worried look on Candi’s face. It was more than worry. It was more like panic. He hated that he’d made her feel that way. After all, it was just a pillow. Right?

Nope. He couldn’t sell himself that story. That pillow had meant a lot to him. Maybe it shouldn’t. After all, it was just some material sewn together.

But the pillow had been hand embroidered by his late wife. And it was the last place his sweet little boy had laid his head. It was where his son had his last sweet dream. The cracks in Michael’s heart throbbed. It felt as though he couldn’t catch his breath. The pillow was gone—just like his son and his wife were gone. And now he was all alone.

The husky pup let out a bark. He jumped up. His front paws landed on Michael’s pant leg. When he looked down into the pup’s blue eyes, he noticed something like emotion in them, but he couldn’t make out what it was. He petted the dog’s head and then gathered the pups to take them back inside.

After he dried their paws and took off their leashes, they all made their way back to the bedroom. He was surprised to find the room all straightened up. It was as though the mess had never happened. And yet when his gaze moved to the bed, he noticed the pillow with Noah’s name on it was missing.

His gaze moved to the white garbage bag. He thought of going and retrieving what was left of the pillow, but what good would that do him? There was nothing he could do with the torn material. He didn’t know how to sew.

He had to let it go. Just like he’d had to let go of so much in the past two-plus years. With each thing he relinquished, it felt like Evelyn and Noah were slipping further and further from him.

“It’s all cleaned up.” Candi knelt down in front of the pups. “And you guys have to behave. You know better than that.” She lifted her gaze to meet his. “I’m very sorry about this. I can pay you for the pillow.”

He shook his head. “That’s not necessary.”

“I insist.”

He shook his head again. “It was an old pillow. It wasn’t worth anything.” Of course he wasn’t going to tell her it was actually priceless to him. He couldn’t talk about the past. “Don’t worry about it.”

She looked as though she were going to argue the point but then changed her mind. “Well, we should get out of your way.”

“You can’t go.” When her eyes widened with alarm, he regretted his poorly chosen words. “I didn’t mean it that way. It’s just that you don’t have your van, and I’m guessing you don’t have anywhere to stay in town.”

“I, uh...”

“And the way it’s snowing outside, you won’t be able to make it far.” When her gaze searched his, he realized he was hedging around the words he needed to say. “If you want, you and the pups can spend what’s left of the night here.”

Relief immediately shone in her eyes. “Thank you. You don’t know how much this means.”

He glanced around the room to make sure there weren’t any other mementos that he needed to move away from the pups’ sharp teeth. He didn’t see anything to move. “You and the pups can stay in this room.”

She glanced around. “Are you sure?”

He nodded. “I’ll get you a pillow. Do you need something to sleep in?”

She glanced down at the scrubs from the hospital. “No. This is okay.”

“Are you sure?”

She nodded. “But thank you for the offer.”

“Okay. I’ll be back with that pillow.”

He headed for the stairs to the second floor. He wasn’t used to having guests. His wife would have known what to say or offer. And then it dawned on him that Candi probably needed something to eat.

As he took the stairs two at a time, he searched his memory for what food was in the fridge. There was some pizza in there. And some eggs and toast. In the pantry, he had some cans of soup. He made a mental note to pick up some groceries.

He grabbed a pillow from his bed and rushed back down the steps. He didn’t know what he expected when he returned to the guest room, but it wasn’t to find Candi sitting in the middle of the floor with the puppies lying around her. Somehow she’d lulled them into a peaceful existence.

He walked over and placed the pillow on the bed. “Can I get you something to eat?” He named off the food he could recall in the kitchen. After she thanked him but said she didn’t have an appetite, he said, “Well, if you get hungry during the night, help yourself to anything you find.”

“Thank you.”

He started out the door and then turned back to her. “I won’t be here when you wake up. I need to be out plowing in a few hours. But don’t worry. I’ll put in a call to get your van towed.”

“I’m sorry to be such a bother.”

“I’m just glad I saw your tracks. That road doesn’t get much traffic, especially in this sort of weather.” He hesitated in the doorway as he watched her run her hand over the husky’s belly. When her gaze rose to meet his, he realized there was no reason for him to linger. “Good night.”

“Night.”

He turned to walk away. He hadn’t taken more than two steps when he noticed the husky pup had run over to him. Michael stopped and bent down to pick up the pup, which wasn’t tiny but he wasn’t full grown either. Once he straightened with the pup in his arms, he was thanked with a big wet kiss.

For the first time that evening, he smiled. Maybe this pup wasn’t so bad. “You are sleeping here.”

He turned back and retraced his steps. He handed the puppy back to Candi. She held him as Michael once more walked away. The puppy let out loud barks, as though saying he didn’t want to stay with Candi. But that was where he had to stay. After all, he wasn’t going to adopt a dog. No way. He had this single, bachelor, answer-to-no-one lifestyle under control.

He made it upstairs and only then remembered that he hadn’t eaten. But he didn’t have an appetite either. He told himself it was the lateness of the hour and that it had nothing to do with stirring up embers of the past.

After setting the alarm on his phone to go off at 5:00 a.m., he climbed into bed. His mind was racing. He kept replaying the events that had led him to bringing home a beautiful stranger and three ornery puppies.

They were very fortunate that things had turned out as they had. Because if he hadn’t decided to turn around where he had, if he hadn’t caught sight of those tracks, if he hadn’t followed them…

He stopped his troubling thoughts. Everything was okay. And tomorrow Candi and her puppies would be someone else’s problem. At last, he drifted off into an exhausted slumber.

It seemed as if he’d just closed his eyes for a moment when the blare of the alarm drew him from a deep, dreamless slumber. His eyes weren’t even open yet when he realized something wasn’t quite right. He felt something warm snuggled up to his chest.

His eyes fluttered open. In the soft glow from the clock next to his bed, he made out the image of a puppy all curled up. What had she called him? It took a moment, and then he recalled the name: Tank.

Well, it appeared Candi had lost one of her charges. How hard was it to keep track of three puppies? Apparently it was harder than he imagined.

At least this time, Tank was just sleeping and not destroying anything. The little guy’s chest rose and fell in an even rhythm. He was sound asleep. Michael knew that as soon as he moved, it would wake Tank, but he didn’t have a choice. The roads wouldn’t clear themselves.

He rolled out of bed. To his surprise, the pup lifted his head, looked at him, and then went back to sleep as though this were nothing new, and he belonged in the bed. Michael gave a shake of his head as he headed off to the shower.

When Michael was dressed and ready to go, Tank leapt out of bed and moved to his side. Michael looked down at him. “And where do you think you’re going?”

A low-pitch bark was Tank’s response.

Michael shook his head and couldn’t help but smile. “You are definitely something else. And I really appreciate that you didn’t destroy any more of my house last night. Now I have to go to work.”

“Bark. Bark.”

“I suppose I have a moment to take you outside. But you have to make it fast.” He started down the stairs. Tank was hot on his heels.

Michael knew he should put the pup on a leash, but that would mean waking Candi to get the leash from her room. He didn’t want to disturb her after the evening she’d had. Besides, it was snowing. And with the mounting snow, there was nowhere for the pup to run.

Michael slipped on his boots and coat, which were next to the back door. He flipped on the back light and opened the door. The pup rushed between him and the door and into the falling snow. While Tank took care of business in the area that Michael had previously shoveled, Michael watched as the snow came down fast. If the wind kicked up, there would be whiteout conditions. That would be bad. Very bad.

When he turned back to Tank, the little guy was running through the snow. He jumped in it. He rolled in it. He appeared to be having a grand time.

Michael hated to disturb Tank, but if he didn’t get moving, he would be late. And though he was the boss, it didn’t mean he didn’t have to follow the rules.

“Tank, come,” Michael said sternly so the pup would know he meant business.

Tank straightened and stared at Michael. If a puppy could talk, in that moment Michael knew what he would say: Are you serious? You want me to give up all of this wonderful snow?

“Tank, come. Now.”

Tank shook off a layer of snow and then bounded through the snow until he was next to Michael. Side by side they walked into the house.

After Michael dried off the puppy, he took him to Candi’s room. He hated to wake her up, but he didn’t trust Tank to roam freely through the house without supervision. When they reached her room, he was relieved to find her door was cracked open.

He scooted Tank into the room and then quietly yanked on the door handle until the latch clicked into place. He could hear the little guy whimpering on the other side of the door. He hoped Tank wouldn’t wake Candi or the other puppies, but he had to get going.

He headed for the mudroom. He was starting to think it was never going to stop snowing. It had been coming down now for almost twenty-four hours straight. At least Candi and the puppies would be safe and warm.

After leaving Candi a brief note, he put on his snowsuit and boots. He grabbed his helmet and headed out the door. With all of the snow, he’d left his pickup in the driveway. Today, he was taking his snowmobile.

He’d bought it for occasions like this, but honestly that had just been an excuse to ease his guilt over spending so much money on it. He loved to ride it. When it was just him on the back of it, gliding over the snow for the briefest of moments, that was all that mattered.

He would let go of his grief, his torment, and just be one with the machine. He wanted that release on this snowy chaotic morning, but as he climbed onto the snowmobile and started it up, all he could see was the beautiful stranger with those emerald green eyes.

When was the snow ever going to stop?

Candi awoke to find a note on the kitchen island from Michael. He’d told her to make herself at home. It was super sweet of him.

As she glanced out the kitchen window at the fast-falling snow, she noticed his red pickup was in the driveaway. She wondered how he’d gotten to work. Maybe a co-worker had picked him up?

She poured a cup of coffee, to which she added milk and sugar. She carried it to the living room and turned on the television. There was a lot of news about the roads in Vermont being shut down except for emergency personnel. They certainly didn’t have to worry about her going anywhere any time soon. She’d already had her own terrifying moment in the snow. She wasn’t looking forward to a repeat.

And then there was the fact that she still wasn’t able to call Bob or her contact in Maine. They must be worried by now. And yet with this storm, there was no way to reach the van that held her phone.

But as morning gave way to a snowy afternoon, she wondered when Michael would be home. She couldn’t just sit around. It wasn’t in her nature to do nothing.

So, she got busy. She washed her still-wet clothes from the accident. And since Michael had some dirty laundry, she did those too. And then she moved to the kitchen. She decided he might appreciate coming home to a hot meal. It was the least she could do to thank him for going out of his way to help her.

She searched the fridge and the pantry. Her options were limited without being able to run to the market. In the end, she settled on preparing a baked pasta casserole. She slipped it into the oven and set the timer.

She kept a close eye on the puppies. She didn’t need them to ruin anything else. As it was, she knew Michael was anxious for them to leave. Not that she could blame him. Having a stranger and three lively puppies under his roof was most certainly unexpected.

The one thing that stood out to her was that he didn’t have any holiday decorations up. She wondered if the lack of holiday cheer was because he lived alone.

Maybe she could do something to give the place a little bit of holiday cheer. But how? She walked through the living room, dining room, and kitchen. She didn’t know what exactly she was looking for, but she kept hoping she’d get an idea of a way to bring him a little bit of holiday cheer.

She wondered if she looked around the upstairs if she would find boxes of decorations. Her gaze moved to the stairs. Nope. She wasn’t going up there.

Instead, she returned to the kitchen. Maybe she could bake him a holly jolly treat. The more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea. After all, the oven was already hot, and the casserole was almost finished.

She searched the cabinets, taking a mental inventory of the available supplies. He only had the basics, but that was all she needed to make some sugar cookies.

“Bark! Bark!”

She glanced down to see Tank stroll into the kitchen with Odie and Tater Tot right behind him. They looked expectantly at her. She knew that look. They needed to go outside.

“You guys have terrible timing. I was just about to make cookies.” When she looked into their eyes, she felt her irritation melt away. “Come on.”

She put on her boots and her coat. When she opened the door, they were met with at least six inches of new snow. Thankfully, Michael had left a shovel next to the door.

Odie and Tater Tot stayed by the doorway, away from the mounting snow. However, Tank bounded into the snow. She worried that he’d get into the deep snow. She called to him, but he ignored her as he continued to run and jump. He was the happiest she’d ever seen him as he rolled in the snow. If a dog could smile, he would be grinning.

Less than ten minutes later, after a fight with Tank, they were back inside. The dogs were dried off and curled up on the kitchen rugs to take a nap. She noticed when they were asleep, they looked so angelic. She would keep all three of them if she could, but since she lost her teaching job this past summer due to downsizing, she was struggling to take care of herself. Besides, her apartment didn’t allow dogs.

But she didn’t have time to worry about any of that now. She had cookies to bake for Michael. Just then the buzzer went off on the dryer. And she also had clothes to fold.