Winter Falls (Evergreen Lake: Under the Mistletoe)

Chapter 8

eight

"Maybe we should've driven." Pauline complained as they were battered by the wind.

"Don't be such a baby, it's not even a five-minute walk." I hooked my arm through hers and we huddled together. Once we turned the corner by Hanson's, the building acted as a barrier and it was much calmer.

"There see, it didn't take long to get here." We waited for the street light to change and then ran across the road to the office.

A gust caught the door and blew it back with a crash, making Joanne jump.

"Holy crap, you scared me." Her hand pressed to her chest.

"Sorry about that, it’s a bit blowy out there.” I shook off my coat and hung it up, sticking my hat, gloves, and scarf in a sleeve.

Paulie gave a dramatic sigh. "I don't want to hear another word about this storm, woman." She waggled her finger at me. "Okay? Let's just wait and see."

“I didn’t make any mention of it,”

“You were hinting,” she said.

I nodded. "Probably the right thing anyway, that way I won't stress about it," I muttered.

Another dramatic sigh. "That's what I've been saying all along! We have enough to worry about, thank you very much."

"You have a few messages, Holly." Joanne passed them to me

I shuffled through the papers. "Hmm, I wonder what they want?"

"Who?" Pauline asked as she hung her coat beside mine.

"Jordan, she wants me to give her a call and says it's urgent." I went to my office and dropped into my chair. I dialed her number and she answered it right quick.

"Jory, it's Holly. What's up?"

"Oh, thanks for calling me back. We might have an issue on Saturday at the pet rescue event. One of our volunteers has dropped out, she's worried about the storm –”

"Thank you!" I shouted.

"What? Thank you for what?" Jory asked.

"Oh nothing, I didn't mean for it to come out that way. I'm worried about this storm as well and nobody else seems to be. What can I do for you regarding a volunteer?" I stared out the window, seeing a few snowflakes skitter down the street.

"I’ve exhausted my volunteer list. Everybody is tied up with something and I have nobody to take a shift for the lunch hour. Can you come up with anybody?" I heard the desperation in her voice.

I quickly ran down the list of volunteers in my head--hmm, could I come up with anyone?

"Off the top of my head no, but give me a couple of hours. I'll do my best to try and wrangle someone up, and I'll double check my list."

I hope this was the first and only hiccup to present itself.

"You're an angel, thanks, Holly. I'll wait to hear back from you. We have lots of little darlings looking for their forever home. I hope I can talk you into taking one."

"Ah, we'll have to see. I have my Cuddles at home, and not sure how she would take to a new interloper." I didn't want to tell her I was kinda thinking about it, you know, just in case I didn't.

"We have sweet kittens to wise old cats needing love and a home. Wait until you see them all ...don't worry, I won't twist your arm. Those darling, love-hungry doggos will sell themselves to you. Anyway, thank you for seeing what you can do about a volunteer."

"No problem, that is what I'm here for, I'll get back to you as quick as I can." I hung up. "Pauline! I need you."

She was in my office in a flash. "What do you need?"

"I need you to reach out to anybody who you think could spare an hour or two around lunchtime on Saturday. Jo over at the shelter needs someone to spell them at midday."

Paulie frowned and her brow pulled together. "I'll have to ponder that because I think everybody's spoken for. Why did this person bail? We had volunteers lined up for months, double and triple checked, and assured they would be there."

"Apparently, this one is worried about the storm coming on the weekend." I raised my eyebrows as if to say see, I told you .

"Hmph, that's just one person. Now let me go and find another volunteer. But I'm not overly optimistic."

I smiled. No way was she going to admit there could be a storm. I decided right now in this moment to stop worrying about it. There was no point and everyone’s badgering me about worrying over something that hadn't happened...yet.

I swiveled my chair so I could see out the window. What was I gonna do? It wasn’t like I could pull a volunteer out of the air. I knew the list like the back of my hand and there was no one available. I opened the contacts on my phone and scrolled. Maybe I'd forgotten someone. I was down to letter T and still nothing.

Then I hit on W and boom, his name jumped out at me, Amos Winter. Dare I? I chewed my lip and thought about it. Everything between us was just so damn awkward. But he was the only person I hadn't hit up for some volunteer hours so I guess I had no choice.

I touched his number before I could change my mind and the phone started ringing. My heart jumped into my throat. Why was I always so nervous when he was around or we needed to talk? It wasn't normal.

It went through to voice mail, a generic voice giving instruction to leave a message. Part of me was relieved, and I hated that the other part was disappointed not hear his voice. I left him a message to give me a call. Then I let out a shaky breath after I disconnected.

I pulled out my project spreadsheet. There was no need to double or triple check everything, but I did it anyway and twenty minutes later I got up to go and see how Paulie was making out.

"Any luck?" I asked, and walked over to the window to look out, yet again.

"It's been what, half an hour? You expect miracles that quickly?" She giggled, and I knew she was kidding. "I have a couple of calls out, so we'll have to wait and see.”

"Maybe I can see your list to make sure we don't double up."

The phone rang in my office. "Let me get that, it could be someone to take the spot."

Meaning, Amos. I dashed in and practically slid across my desk to grab my phone.

"Hello? Hello!" Nothing. I missed the call and it went to voicemail.

It was Amos!

Returning your call . Was all he said.

But it was enough to give me a little tingle. OK, I admit it. I was a little bit enamored with him. I didn't know why. Maybe it was the gruff and grumbly with an underlying something, something that kept me guessing. Or it could be because he was difficult to read and of course, he was a hot looking guy, even if he was older than me.

I called him back and this time he picked up right away.

“Holly?"

"Hi, we're playing phone tag." I hesitated and then dove right in. "I have something I need to ask you." I heard his sigh and chose to ignore it. "Are you busy Saturday around lunchtime?

Silence at the other end of the phone. “Why?" he asked rather tentatively.

"Well, the shelter needs a volunteer for an hour or so. The one they had scheduled has cancelled because of this potential storm."

"Oh, I see. You'll have to give me a minute to try and get someone to manage the horses."

"Oh yes, that's right, how could I be so stupid to not remember. I guess I've got way too much on my mind."

"It happens when you take on a big project." I heard him shuffling papers and wondered what he was doing. Was he in his big house on the farm? Was he in his truck? It really wasn't my business but I did wonder. "I'll get back to you once I have an answer for you."

"Thanks so much. It would be a great help if you can." I refused to plead and hoped I didn't sound too desperate.

"I'll see what I can do." He ended the call and I found myself staring at my phone for a moment.

Huh, that was rather abrupt, again. It was always like that with him. Regardless, I’d keep my fingers crossed he'd come through. I sighed and spun my chair around imagining puppies and kittens crawling all over him and him returning their love.

I liked that image.