Page 16 of Run, Run Rudolph (Fairy Godmothers and Other Fiascos #2)

Ugh. Cracked brain. This man was not sexy.

He broke hearts and led women to believe he was interested when he wasn’t.

I’d had a crush on him all through elementary and junior high, but had forced myself to get over the unattainable older man when I’d started dating Kade.

Unlike the single female population around here. They were still crushing. Hard.

Finally, Haden leaned forward, asking slowly, “Can you walk, Rudolph? Are you in much pain?”

“Dude, he’s a deer,” I said softly, eyes cutting to our eavesdroppers. I subtly gesturing for them to hide in case Haden could see them now, too. They obeyed, slipping below the stall’s divider, disappearing from sight. One less possible thing that might overload this man’s precious brain circuits.

“He’s a deer who can clearly understand me.”

“Okay, fine.” I gave a dramatic eye roll. “He understands us.”

Rudolph slowly got to his feet, and Haden positioned himself at the ready to help the large animal if need be. The man was strong, but he’d more likely get squashed if he attempted to catch the quarter-tonne animal.

“He can ride in the back seat again,” I suggested, “unless you’re hauling a trailer?”

Haden shook his head. “I’m not, but I’ll go get it.”

“We don’t have the time.”

Honestly, though, I couldn’t imagine putting poor Rudolph into one of those livestock carriers. They were cold, hard and bumpy rides. “What’s a little more reindeer fur in my back seat?”

“People will see him.”

“They won’t.”

“But we can.”

“Yeah, and we’re special,” I said, not wanting to get into the nitty gritty of magic right now. It was time for action, and I really didn’t need Haden’s questions or possible panic if I accidentally let it slip that there were ogres and witches out there, too. And maybe dragons.

I glanced at the reindeer, who were doing a poor job of hiding, seeking confirmation that we could ride through town undetected. Well, Rudolph would. I’d look like the crazy person in a convertible with the top down in minus thirty weather.

None of the reindeer contradicted my statement about the town seeing Rudolph.

“I’m glad I didn’t call Fish and Wildlife earlier,” Haden said, standing at the edge of the stall as Rudolph slowly exited with a hobble.

“Me, too.” I addressed our injured friend, “Wait here. I’ll drive my car in through the big doors so you don’t have to walk as far.

” It would mean letting out what precious heat the barn had held on to, but the way Rudolph was moving looked painful, and I didn’t want him walking more than he had to.

Haden waited inside, ready to open the doors once I had the car in position.

As I exited into the biting cold night, I wondered what I was thinking.

I was going to voluntarily freeze my face off again by driving with the top down.

And the drive to the clinic was even longer than the earlier ride home.

But what else could I do? There was no way I was letting Rudolph ride in a freezing metal trailer.

I unplugged my block heater and started my car, checking in with the GAL PAL texting group. There was a recent one from Josie.

Josie

Where are you now? Are you okay?

Aw. Even though she ghosted us half the time, she cared.

Another message popped up.

Josie

Tam? Are you okay? Please check in.

Okay, now she was starting to sound oddly similar to my mother.

Josie

Christmas is an important holiday. Stay away from anything and everything related to it. Please let me know you’re okay. And don’t touch Rudolph! Just walk away from all of it.

Too late for that.

Char

Did you call Haden?

Samantha

I rolled my eyes and sighed. I typed out a quick message.

Me

I’m okay. Rudolph is here, and so is Haden. Going to take Rudolph to the clinic and x-ray his hip and leg, just in case.

Josie

Please tell me you’re joking. You shouldn’t interfere with the magic world.

Me

But I already did. I hit him with my car. I have to help him!

Char

Make sure you kiss Haden as thanks for coming to the rescue!

Me

Already did.

With shaky fingers, I put my phone back in my pocket while it vibrated vigorously with the flurry of incoming replies. No doubt a Josie lecture and Gabby and Char getting excited about the kiss.

Why had I told them about that? Now they were going to hound me about it, and make it more difficult to brush off when nothing came of it. I could already feel the disappointment welling inside me like cold water.

And why should I feel disappointed? It was ridiculous to have any hope at all that Haden would ever be interested in me. He was eight years my senior, and I was sure we wanted different things. I wanted a hobby farm and a family, and I wasn’t certain that was on his life’s to-do list.

I drove the car into the barn, focusing on the Christmas carols playing on the radio rather than Haden and his kisses.

Carols always made me think of decorating the tree with my family.

Mom and Dad would get all snuggly, remembering the year they almost broke up before coming to their senses.

Oma would come over and make hot chocolate, and we’d play carols for the first time of the season.

Together, the four of us would decorate the living room tree.

I loved it so much, I’d bought my own tree for this place, but decorating it alone hadn’t been the same, no matter how many Christmas songs I’d hummed while doing it.

I got out of the car and pushed the button to let the top down, frustrated by the indecipherable, furtive looks that Haden kept shooting my way.

“What?”

He shook his head, but the twinge of twinkle didn’t leave his eyes.

“What?” I insisted.

“Nothing. You’re just…different. That’s all.”

Oh, no. We were not going there. That was the whole break up song between me and Kade. How much I’d changed. Like having a surer sense of myself was some sort of betrayal.

Reading my body language, Haden added smoothly, “It’s good.”

“It’s good ?”

“It’s good,” he confirmed, not looking up from the message he was typing on his phone.

I leaned into the car, trying to puzzle that one out, and flipped the front seat forward for Rudolph with more force than was needed. A loud bang came from the trunk.

I jolted, having forgotten about the trapped elf. He still hadn’t found the trunk’s safety release, and I was lucky he hadn’t frozen to death.

I moved in front of the trunk, watching Haden with a stiff smile.

Could he hear Snarky? He hadn’t seemed to have noticed the herd of reindeer behind him.

They were doing an incredibly poor job of staying hidden.

Their large antlers kept peeking out here and there, and every once in a while, their small cloud of murmurings rose when they thought we wouldn’t overhear them. Which maybe Haden couldn’t.

Hugo however…

Haden stalked over to the back of my car, hands going to his hips. “Do you have an animal stuck in there?”

I backed against the trunk, patting it loudly with a flat palm to warn Hugo to shush. “What? No. The car’s just really old.”

He was giving me that ‘what on earth are you up to now?’ look of his. I hated that look. It made me feel like I was up to something stupid.

And usually I was. Kind of like now.

But in my defence, my actions always made sense to me in the moment.

Like pushing the elf into my trunk. Or the time Kade, Haden and I were trying to find a reported injured porcupine as part of Haden’s summer job for Fish and Wildlife while he was in vet school.

Kade and I had been bickering while walking through the fields.

He’d been complaining about my lack of adventure, and I’d set out to prove him wrong when we’d come across an old swing rope at an irrigation lagoon.

Feeling brave and adventurous, as well as soaring on the success of my anticipated vindication, I’d leapt up onto the rope, swung far out over the lagoon in my cutoffs and tank top.

Then, when the rope broke, I’d belly flopped onto the water’s surface so hard it had stolen my breath.

Haden, ever the hero, had pulled me to the pond’s edge, shoulders stiff and fists in a bunch, giving me that look—the look he was giving me now. Like he couldn’t track my thinking, and maybe he didn’t want to.

“It’s old?” Haden was coming closer, amusement burning in his eyes.

He’d been checking his phone’s notifications when I’d brought the car in—you know, being on call for animal emergencies pretty much 24/7—and it was with great satisfaction that he put the phone away, ignoring it over me and this awkward moment where I might be busted for mistreating one of Santa’s grumpy elves.

Oh, why did he have to notice me right now? And why was he enjoying this so much? Why couldn’t the elf stay invisible and silent to him like the herd was?

“Yeah. Um… You should probably return all of those messages or something, right?”

If Haden met Hugo… Well, nothing could prepare him for that. And I needed him here and helpful, not turning into a babbling bag of testosterone, and thus unable to take charge and save Christmas for me. Because if that happened, then where would the world’s children be, come Christmas morning?

Haden narrowed his eyes, and I quickly scrolled through a list of possible excuses for the loud banging and swearing that was coming from the trunk.

I’d tried lying earlier and had failed. Honestly, why would a car, even an old one, make thumping sounds when it was turned off?

“My cat sometimes manages to climb into the trunk—because the car is so old.” Oh, I was good. So good. “There’s a hole.”

“That could be really dangerous for Puss in Boots.”

“No, no. It’s okay,” I said quickly, worried he’d think I didn’t care about my cat, while wanting to purr over the fact that he remembered my rescued tomcat’s name.

“I’d never let him get hurt. He mostly just climbs in there when it rains, and there are blizzards and stuff.

” Ugh. Now it sounded like I left him out in horrible weather to fend for himself.

“But usually he’s inside the house. I don’t want him to lose an ear to frostbite. ”

Haden bent over, checking the wheel well for a cat-sized rust hole. I thanked my lucky stars that my car was likely to have such a hole.

He straightened. “How does he get in?”

“Oh, um. It’s just when I have the roof down, and I never leave it down.

He must have zipped in when I was getting Rudolph out.

If you go check on him,” I tipped my chin toward the hobbling reindeer, “I’ll let the cat out of the proverbial bag—er, trunk.

” I gave a weak, lame laugh at my equally weak and lame joke.

Haden shifted, stepping sideways toward the reindeer, keeping one eye on me. I shot him a stupid smile and moved around to the driver’s side to pop the trunk. I was going to have to move fast. Snarky was going to fly out as soon as that latch let go.

The moment Haden turned his back, I pulled the lever and zipped around to the trunk, shoving Snarky Elf back in when he lifted the lid.

“Help! Prancer! Help me! Rudolph! She’s kidnapping me! Save me! Save Christmas!”

“You stay in there,” I hissed at him. “You can’t be seen.”

“But I’m invisible!”

“Are you really? Because I can both see you and hear you, and so can that human.” I jerked a thumb in Haden’s direction, who was turning around, no doubt hearing the conversation I was having with the ‘cat’ who’d been thumping about in my trunk.

The elf’s mouth snapped shut, and I slammed the trunk closed again before he could say anything else. Then I turned to give Haden a bright smile as he helped Rudolph into the back seat.