Puppy Wishes & Candy Kisses (Kringle Falls #1)

11. Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

H e didn’t want to go to work.

Michael was stunned by the thought. It was the first time since he’d lost his family that he didn’t want to go to work. For so long now, he’d used it as a refuge from the quietness of his house—a distraction from the constant pain in his heart.

It wasn’t until Candi and those three pups suddenly appeared in his life that he realized he had been merely going through the motions of living. Every day he’d gotten out of bed in the morning, not because he was excited about the day, but rather because it was what was expected of him. He did his job, but he’d no longer let himself enjoy it.

And now he noticed that the pain in his heart was still there, but it wasn’t constant. When he was around Candi, there were moments of genuine happiness. He’d forgotten how good it was to smile.

He chanced a quick glance at her. She was undeniably beautiful, but there was something else about her that drew him to her. What was it about her that had such a profound effect on him?

When they reached the house, Candi lingered outside with the pups while he rushed upstairs to get ready for another long shift at work. He knew his staff had recovered from the flu and they were fully staffed for this new storm system, but that had never kept him from work when bad weather was headed their way. And just because he had a houseguest didn’t mean he should change his routine.

And to confirm his decision to head to the public works building, he got a phone call from his brother Justin. He had some questions about how best to treat the roads for this storm. The conversation took longer than he’d been expecting. By the time he made it downstairs, he found the pups stretched out in the living room—on his furniture—in front of the fireplace. He sighed but didn’t bother to move them.

Tank lifted his head and looked at him as though trying to decide if it was worth his effort to get up, or if he should put his head back down on the throw pillow on the couch and go back to sleep. Michael walked over and petted his head.

“Go back to sleep.” He couldn’t believe how soft he was getting.

Tank let out a sigh before lowering his head.

Michael made his way toward the kitchen. He needed to pack some food for a long night of plowing. However, when he stepped into the kitchen, he came to a stop. There was Candi wrapping a sandwich in plastic wrap.

When her gaze rose to meet his, there was a rosy hue to her cheeks. “I made you some food. And...” She reached toward the counter behind her. When she turned back to him, she was holding his thermos. “And some hot coffee to keep you warm out there.”

He was at a loss for words. It had been a very long time since someone had done something like this for him. Evelyn had done it a few times when they’d first married, but they had both been busy with their respective careers, so he’d fended for himself.

Candi’s gesture touched him. There was a warm spot in his chest. He refused to examine what the feeling meant.

He cleared his suddenly dry throat. “I, uh... Thank you. You didn’t have to do this.”

She shrugged. “You didn’t have to help me and the pups.” The corners of her lips lifted into a smile. It made his heart beat faster. “It’s just a small way to say thank you.”

And then he realized he might have made a mistake by saying he’d go to work on his day off. He could have stayed there with Candi and the pups. It’d been too long since he’d had company.

There was so much he wanted to learn about Candi—like why wasn’t she married? With her beauty and kindness, any guy would be crazy not to fall for her. Maybe it wasn’t too late for him to change his mind. Justin was there as his backup. His little brother was more than capable of handling everything.

“You don’t have to thank me,” Michael said. “I’m just glad I found you.” He inwardly shuddered at the thought of her and the pups being stuck in the cold with no one knowing they were there.

“I am too.” She walked around the kitchen island until she was standing right in front of him. “I appreciate everything you’ve done for us. I’m sure you’ll be relieved to have us out of here. I’m hoping they’ll have the van ready to go any time now.”

Her words implied that she was anxious to leave. They sucker-punched him. He lost his excitement about staying home and enjoying the latest snowstorm in front of the fireplace with her next to him.

Of course, she’d want to get going. She’d never planned to be there. She had a life to get back to in Ohio. How was he supposed to compete with that?

Whoa! Where in the world had that thought come from? He wasn’t interested in her in that way.

On second thought, it was definitely best he went to work. Being snowed in with Candi had the potential to spiral out of control. He couldn’t let that happen. He couldn’t risk falling under her tantalizing spell.

In the next heartbeat, he realized that as much as he wanted to get back to his normal routine, he didn’t want Candi to rush off into the storm. “You won’t leave before the storm passes, right?”

She hesitated. It was brief, but it was long enough for him to notice. Then she nodded. “I’ll wait until there’s a break in the weather.”

He grabbed the sandwiches and placed them into his small cooler with a couple of small ice packs. “I don’t know when I’ll be back.”

He wanted to ask her to wait until he returned so he could see her one more time, but the words clogged in the back of his throat. It was best to say goodbye here and now. He cleared his throat. Why was saying goodbye to her so difficult?

“It was really nice meeting you,” He meant it. “I hope the rest of your trip is safe.”

He stuck out his hand to shake hers at the same time she reached out to him as though to hug him. They both froze. A part of him wanted to pull her close for a hug, but another part had him frozen in place.

The next thing he knew, she placed her hand in his. She gave it a squeeze that sent an electrical sensation zinging up his arm. It caused his heart to thump. Much too soon she pulled her hand away. And he was left standing there, trying to make sense of the strange sensation he’d felt when she’d touched him.

“Do you need anything else?” Her voice drew him from his scattered thoughts. When he sent her a puzzled look, she asked, “Do you need more sandwiches? Or something to go with them?”

His gaze moved to the cooler now holding the four sandwiches that she’d already made for him. That was twice as much as he normally took with him. “That’s good. Thanks again.”

He hesitated for a moment. Then he forced himself to walk to the mudroom to put on his boots and coat. And then he was out the door before he said something that he would soon regret.

The kitchen was clean.

The guest bed was stripped, and the sheets had been washed and were now in the dryer.

Candi had kept herself busy after Michael left. Because every time she stopped, she’d thought about their strange exchange right before he’d left for work. It was almost like he’d had something he’d wanted to say to her, but he’d hesitated. She wondered what it was, or was she just imagining things because she wasn’t ready to leave Kringle Falls?

She gave herself a mental shake. She was leaving, and she wasn’t coming back, so it didn’t matter what she imagined he might have said. The sooner she left, the better they’d both be.

With that thought in mind, she moved to the bedroom. She gave a cursory inspection of the room to make sure she didn’t forget anything. She carried her bag to the front door. Then she moved to the kitchen to gather the dogs’ things. She put them all in a shopping bag.

When she placed the shopping bag next to her bag, she realized placing everything in front of the door wasn’t such a good idea. She picked them up and turned in a circle, figuring where to put them so they were easily accessible and yet out of the way. She settled on putting the bags next to the armchair.

As the minutes slowly ticked by, she noticed the snow had stopped. This was a good sign. She could get back on the road. She could keep her promise to Bob to get the dogs to Maine.

She checked her phone for the umpteenth time. There was still no call from Michael about the car. She reminded herself they might not get to it right away, but that didn’t keep her from hoping they would do it quickly.

As the minutes ticked by, she told herself she should call Michael to see if he heard anything. You know, just to check. Her finger hovered over the screen. After all, she needed to know what to tell Bob and the shelter in Maine when she called them.

No. She put down the phone. They will call.

She moved to the kitchen. She decided to make Michael something to eat for dinner. That way whenever he got home, he wouldn’t have to cook himself anything.

She ended up making a shepherd’s pie. Once it was in the oven, she picked up her phone once more. It was getting late. Why hadn’t the garage called?

If she wanted to get on the road today, she’d have to do it soon. Maybe she’d just call. Perhaps they got too busy to call her. Yes, that was probably it. Not giving herself a chance to change her mind again, she looked up the garage’s number on the internet. She dialed it.

The phone rang and rang. “Stan’s Garage.”

“Ah, hi. This is Candi Goodman. You have my van there. I was wondering if it was ready to go.”

“Go?” The man sounded surprised. “This van isn’t going anywhere for a while.”

There had to be some mistake. “But it looked fine when they towed it up.”

“It might have looked that way, but the undercarriage really took a beating.” He went on to name more than a handful of items that needed to be replaced.

She wasn’t giving up. This was too important—the puppies needed to get to Maine if they were going to find their forever homes. And if things fell through with the shelter in Maine, she didn’t have a backup plan.

As she listened to the man go on about what was wrong with the van, the knot in her stomach grew tighter. She had no idea about most of what he said. She knew next to nothing about automobiles. There had never been anyone in her life to teach her. But it all sounded bad. Very bad.

When he paused for the briefest of moments to catch a breath, in desperation, she asked, “Could I get it fixed later? I mean, it won’t die on the road... Will it?”

“No, because you won’t be able to get it to the road unless you push it.”

His words deflated her last bit of hope. “It’s that bad?”

“Yes.” His answer was bold and pointed. There was no room for her to misconstrue his answer.

“I see.” She might not be able to leave right away, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t leave tomorrow. “How soon can you have it fixed?”

“Well, see that’s the thing. We don’t have all of the parts in stock. So, we have to order the others.”

“Order?” She didn’t like the sound of that. It meant additional time there in Kringle Falls. “How long will that take?”

“Well, with this being Thursday, the parts won’t be delivered until sometime next week.”

Surely she hadn’t heard him correctly. “Next week? Can’t you overnight the parts?”

“The problem isn’t the shipping. The problem is finding parts for this old van.”

“Oh.” Disappointment settled over her. She had no other ideas about how to speed up this process.

“I’ll let you know when the van is fixed. I would expect it to be the middle to end of next week sometime. It all depends. I know that’s not what you wanted to hear. It’s the best I can do.”

She sighed. In other words, he had no idea when it would be repaired. “I understand.” She didn’t. Not really. Wasn’t everything available on the internet? “Thank you for helping me.”

“No problem. This is Kringle Falls, where people help each other.”

After they ended the call, she tried to figure out what to do next. She should probably call the shelter.

She called the number. It rang and rang. Then it switched to a message telling her they were closed and would open the next day at 9:00 a.m.

She disconnected the call and sighed. What was she supposed to do now? Knowing she would have to tell Bob the bad news, she called him. He was happy to hear from her. He still didn’t sound good, and his cough was worrisome. He told her not to worry. They’d figure everything out. The most important thing was for her to be safe. She apologized again and again. Then she told him to take care of himself, and she’d see him soon. At least she hoped so.

Ding. Ding. Ding…

The sound of the timer had her ending the call. She rushed to the kitchen and pulled the shepherd’s pie out of the oven. The top was golden brown and looked perfect. She should probably be hungry, since she skipped breakfast and didn’t grab much lunch, but she didn’t have an appetite. She was worried—about the pups, about Bob’s van, and about overstaying her welcome with Michael.

As though they sensed her mood, all three pups came over to her. They barked at her and then Odie climbed up her leg. She bent over and picked him up. She gave him a hug. He was such a sweetie.

Tank headed to the back door. He let out three loud barks. It appeared it was time to head outside.

“Come on. Let’s go.”

It was already dark outside. She turned off the ceiling lights in the kitchen, leaving on the pendant light over the sink. Then she slipped on her coat, hooked the leashes to the dogs, and they all headed out into the newly fallen snow. Thankfully, it wasn’t nearly as much as the previous storm system.

He should have stayed home.

Michael sat in his office, feeling torn between the job he enjoyed and the beautiful woman who’d made him the sandwich he’d just finished.

The truth of the matter was that his men knew their jobs, and they were, thankfully, well-staffed. There was no need for him to come to work on his day off. He was lucky that Kringle Falls was a tourist town, and wintertime was their busiest season. It was the reason they allowed the Public Works department an ample budget to make sure they had what they needed to keep the roads in town well-maintained.

Could his department use more money to do all of the special projects that the town council thought was important? Sure. There were still places where they had to cut corners and compromise. But his staff was very good at what they did.

“Man, what are you still doing here?” Justin’s voice drew Michael from his thoughts.

He glanced up at his youngest brother. “Where would you like me to be?”

“At home with your guest.”

Michael’s heart launched into his throat. He hadn’t mentioned Candi to anyone. He hadn’t expected word to get out so quickly. Then again, Kringle Falls was a small town with a busy rumor mill.

“She doesn’t need me hanging around.” He wasn’t about to let on that he enjoyed her company. “Besides, she’s leaving as soon as she gets her van back.”

“Maybe you can convince her to stick around a little longer.” Justin waggled his brows.

Michael sighed. “Now why would I do that?” As soon as the words crossed his lips, he knew he’d made a mistake. He rushed on to say, “I barely know her. Besides, she has to get on with her life.”

“Maybe you should get on with your life too.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Justin propped himself against the door jamb and crossed his arms. “It means you don’t have a life. Sure, you go through the motions. You get up in the morning, go to work, and go home. That’s it.”

Michael rubbed the back of his neck. He didn’t want to have this conversation. It was way too similar to the one he had with his mother when she got on his case for not putting himself out there and dating again. He had no interest in getting involved with anyone. Suddenly, Candi’s image came to mind. If he was going to date anyone, it would be her. She was tempting, but it wasn’t going to happen for a number of reasons.

“There’s nothing wrong with my life.”

Justin rolled his eyes. “Tell me that you don’t believe that.”

Michael stood. “I don’t have time for this discussion.”

“Because you need to go home. The snow has stopped, and there’s nothing here that needs your attention.”

Michael smothered a sigh. Then he decided to turn this conversation around. “Are you trying to get rid of me so you can be in charge?”

Justin’s eyes momentarily widened as anger flickered in them. A moment later, he shook his head. “I see what you did there. You’re trying to deflect. Well, if it makes you feel better, then yes, I want to be in charge. Now, will you go home?”

The thought of seeing Candi before she left was very tempting. And technically, this was his day off. The storm was winding down early, and there wasn’t any reason he couldn’t go home.

“Fine. I have a couple of emails to answer, and then I’m out of here.” He didn’t miss the shocked look on Justin’s face.

“Okay then. Good for you.” Justin smiled like he’d just won an argument or something.

“Don’t look at me like that. I planned to go home before you said anything.”

“Uh-huh.” Justin nodded as he smiled at him like a Cheshire cat.

“Don’t you have some work to do?”

Justin turned and whistled as he walked away.

Michael shook his head again as he sat down at the desk and tried to remember the email he was planning to write.