Shoved (Moonlit Lake Matchmaker #4)

Chapter 16

SERENA

There was so much to get done before Christmas—for Sadie, for my business, and my community obligations. I hoped if I did one thing per night, maybe I could manage it. Sadie and I had been making one batch of Christmas cookies each night this week. We just finished decorating the last of our Christmas sugar cookies when she stopped and looked over at our Christmas tree.

“Mommy? Our tree looks empty without any presents under it. Can we go shopping to buy some things to put under it?”

Oof. Christmas shopping. I wanted so badly to make this Sadie’s best Christmas ever. My shop did okay, but things were still pretty tight financially. And now this lawsuit. It would probably drain every bit of my savings, and then some. My chest tightened just thinking about it.

“I have a better idea. How about we go to the craft store and get supplies for you to make ornaments for everyone you want to give gifts to? When they’re all done, you can wrap them and put them under the tree. Everyone will think it’s extra special to get something you made for them.” And it won’t cost me nearly as much.

Her face lit up. “Yes. Then I can make one for you, Nana, Miss Gemma, Marlys… and Mr. Storm and Lulu, too.”

I wanted to tell her that wasn’t necessary. She didn’t need to give my attorney a gift, because that was all he was to us. But my sweet and thoughtful girl wouldn’t understand. She just saw him as the man with the cute dog. I just hoped she wouldn’t be expecting Santa to shove him down our chimney. He was definitely not relationship material. Not for me, anyway.

All the stores in town were decorated with lights and pine garland around their windows. The city had a contract with a local nursery to provide the businesses downtown with garland at a significant discount, making it easy for everyone to decorate the same. One of the things I loved about this town was their holiday spirit.

Which reminded me, I hadn’t talked to my potential bachelors for the auction. I had signed up to ask two firefighters, thinking they would be easy yeses, but I hadn’t found the time to talk to them yet. “Hey, Sadie. How about we put some of our cookies on a plate, and bring it to the fire station, so the firefighters can have some treats?” And hopefully, armed with a plate of cookies and with an adorable little girl at my side, they wouldn’t be able to say no.

“Okay. Can I see the fire truck when we’re there?”

“I don’t know. We’ll have to see when we get there. If they are out fighting a fire, we might not even get to talk to anyone. But we should still try. Don’t you think?”

“They’ll love our cookies. Everyone does.” She stated with pride.

I loaded Sadie and our plate of cookies into the car and drove to the fire station. “We’ll stop at the fire station first, then we can go to the craft store. If we have time, we can stop at Nana’s and give her some cookies, too.”

“Maybe the fireman would know how Santa can go down chimneys and not get burned by the fire. And how come the presents don’t get burned either? Should I ask them?”

I chuckled and squeezed her hand as we walked. “You can ask them whatever you want. But they might not know the answers. Santa has a special kind of magic, remember?”

“Right.” She thought for a moment. “Maybe I need to ask Santa when I see him. He would know how the magic works.”

“You know, Sadie, most magicians don’t want to tell people how it works, because then it won’t seem as special. Part of what makes it so amazing is that we wonder how it’s possible. Does that make sense?”

She shrugged but kept on walking. “I still wanna ask.”

The fire station was lit with garland and lights, like every other business. The garage door was open and the fire truck was sitting there, waiting.

“It’s there! The truck is there. See it, Mommy?”

“Yep, I see it. Let’s take these inside and make the firefighters’ day.”

When we walked inside, a few of the firefighters were mulling around the lounge and kitchen. With and without shirts. Oof. Maybe we should have done a firefighter calendar instead of an auction. Next year. I forced myself to look away, to keep from spontaneously combusting. If I could get any of these guys to agree to the auction, we’d have no problem meeting our goal.

I spied Jack, one of the ones I hoped to talk to, and raised a hand to wave at him. He was incredibly handsome and seemed like a nice guy. My friends had been pushing for me to go out with him, which I knew was the entire reason they assigned me to talk to the firefighters. But after what happened with Ty, I had no interest in being with someone in a uniform or a dangerous job. Been there, done that.

Jack came over to greet me and Sadie with a warm and friendly smile. “Hello there. We always love it when beautiful girls stop in at the station. What can I do for you ladies?”

Sadie beamed and held out the plate of cookies. “We brought cookies. Do you like cookies?”

“Love em! That was incredibly thoughtful of you.” He knelt in front of her and took the plate from her outstretched hands. Then looked at all the goodies. “Mmm…these look delicious. Can I eat them all, or do I have to share?”

“You have to share.” She practically scolded him, and I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. “The others would be sad if you ate them all. And that wouldn’t be nice.”

He faked a pout and sighed. “Well, since you put it that way, I guess I’ll share.” Then winked at me and stood up.

He was about to take the cookies away when I realized I hadn’t done what I came here to do. “There’s something else I wanted to talk to you about, Jack. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but the town is having a Bachelor Holidate Auction to raise money for a community center, and we’re looking for single men to volunteer.” I raised my brows and gave him my sweetest smile. “I was hoping I could persuade you to sign up.”

“Really? You want to auction me off? Will you be bidding? ‘Cuz that would definitely make it worth my time.”

“I’ll be there. But I’ll be working. Besides, I’d imagine the bidding for you will be way out of my price range.” I felt my face get hot. What was I doing? I shouldn’t be flirting with the hot fireman with my daughter standing right there. I wasn’t even interested in him. Not really. I just wanted him to help with the auction.

He gave me a smoldering smile. “I don’t know if that’s true, but I’ll do it, anyway. Do you need some others? We’ve got a few more single guys here.”

“Absolutely. The more the merrier.”

He called out to his buddies. “Hey, guys! Logan, Garrett, Declan, Josh. These pretty ladies need your help.”

Declan strutted into the room, stopped to look me up and down, and got a lascivious grin on his face. “Oh, yeah. Whatever she needs, I’m there.”

Ignoring Mr. Full-of-Himself’s innuendo, I explained what we needed. “It’s the Bachelor Holidate Auction. You’d show up for the auction, get bid on, and then accompany the winner to the holiday date of their choice.” I told them the date and time they’d need to be there for the event.

Declan nodded. “Sure, count me in.”

Logan raised a hand to be counted. “Me too. I got nothing else going on. And who knows? It might be fun.”

Another one, who was sitting on the couch doing a crossword puzzle, said, “Sorry. I’m scheduled to work that night. Otherwise I’d do it.”

“That’s fine. Maybe next year.” I made note of the three that had volunteered. “I’m grateful to have three bachelors to add to our roster. Thanks so much guys. I’ll send you more details as it gets closer.” I grabbed Sadie’s hand and pulled her toward the door. “And enjoy the cookies.”

“Thanks. They’ll probably be gone in five minutes with this crew. But we appreciate it.” Jack walked us to the door and looked like he had more to say. But I’d done what I’d come here to do and hurried us both out the door.

I held Sadie’s hand as we trudged along the snowy sidewalk. She looked up at me and asked, “Now, where are we going?”

“Next stop, craft store.”

“Yay!” Sadie held my hand and tried to skip, like she did in warmer weather, but the snow and her heavy boots got in the way. Didn’t dampen her spirit, though. She sang “Frosty the Snowman”, repeating the chorus over and over.

As happy as I was walking with my little elf, the hair on the back of my neck raised—just like it had when we’d made snowmen. I looked around and glanced over my shoulder, but once again, I didn’t see anyone. Then why did I have the distinct feeling we were being watched?

My blood ran cold, and my heart raced. What were we going to do? Here we were, out in the street, without any defense. And nobody to help us. I could turn around and go back to the fire station, but that could put us right in the path of our follower. No, we just had to hurry and get into a building.

“Come on, Sadie. Let’s see how fast we can run to the store.” We held hands and ran down the snowy sidewalk. It wasn’t easy running without either of us slipping and falling on our faces. As soon as we stepped inside the store, I sighed with relief. My heart was still racing. I was probably just being paranoid. But at least it seemed we were safe here.

For now.