She looked at me, her hazel eyes wide, her lips in a firm line. I had no idea what she was thinking. But I wanted her to smile at me with that beautiful mouth and say “Me too.”
“Come on,” she said. “Show me these ropes.”
8
Lexie
“Here,” Ethan said, holding up a big thick coat that he’d pulled off a coat tree in the corner of the lobby. “Put this on.”
Chilled to the bone, I eagerly put it on right over my trench coat. The trench coat wasn’t even mine; I’d borrowed Mindy’s. She wore it in her act at the Diamond Club. She pretended to be a spy with this trench coat and a fedora and a fake gun strapped to her thigh. Guys loved it when she took it off.
But I didn’t have a coat so she loaned to me. She had it dry-cleaned all the time but you could not get the body glitter off it.
He dug around in the bottom drawer of a fancy hutch that had barware, decanters of liquor, and a plate of brownies on it.
“And these.” He held up a pair of navy sweatpants with Salt Springs written down the leg.
“No.”
“Lexie, it’s freezing.”
“It’s not that freezing.” Hell could freeze over and it wouldn’t be cold enough to wear those pants.
“Suit yourself,” he said and opened the back door leading out to a snowy field, a big red barn, and endless rows of Christmas trees. It was a scene right out of a movie. And it was fucking freezing.
“Fine,” I muttered. “Give me the pants.”
When I came out of the lobby bathroom, which was far too small for all the Christmas decorations up in there, Baby Girl growled at Ethan again.
“She really does not like you,” I told him.
“All I did was save her life,” he said, scowling at my sweetest girl. “You’d think she might be grateful.”
“She’s a dog,” I said, their ways could be mysterious. “But she won’t want to go outside again.” Even in my bag it would be cold.
“You can leave her here,” Ethan’s dad said from his spot behind the desk. I still didn’t know what he saw when he looked at me and most of me didn’t care. Like eighty-five percent. But that other fifteen percent was real loud and cared a whole bunch. I liked it when people liked me. Mom said it would be my downfall but I couldn’t figure out how to stop it.
“Dad,” Ethan said. “I want to introduce you to Lexie…” Ethan looked at me, horrified.
“Platzski,” I said, and held out my hand. “Lexie Platzski. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”
“The pleasure is mine. I’m Ethan’s father, Chris Kringle.”
“Are you playing a trick? It’s really Chris Kringle?” I asked, and then looked over to Ethan for confirmation. He nodded. “Wow.”
“I know, it’s a lot,” Chris said. “But you get used to it. Leave your little dog here, she’ll be fine.”
“You sure? She can be a little…high maintenance.”
“I love high maintenance dogs,” he said, so straight-faced I had no idea if he was joking.
Twenty minutes later I realized it was worse than I’d originally thought. It wasn’t like Christmas had thrown up all over the place, it was like this place was Christmas. The tree farm was magical. There was a bonfire roaring by a wooden shed where people paid for the trees and could buy hot drinks. The sky was overcast so all the Christmas tree lights were up around the buildings. Families were paying for trees and going out into the forest to chop one down, like with their hands and a real-life saw and I’d never seen that before.
All while Christmas carols were playing over a loudspeaker hidden in the wooden booth. So. Much. Christmas.
Tinsel and lights and beauty. I loved it and hated it at the same time.
On the other side of the barn there was a pond where a crowd of people in Warriors gear waited for Matt to show up and skate.
“We’ll need to post some kind of schedule,” I said. “Or times that he’s available to his fans.”
Ethan laughed. “Good luck with that.”
“You don’t like your brother?” I asked.
“I love him,” he said. “But you know how siblings are.”
“I don’t actually.”
He glanced at me, snow falling in his hair. He was awfully pretty, too. “You’re an only child.”
I nodded. My cowboy boots were slipping in the ice and a few times Ethan caught me, his hand at my elbow or around my waist, and he would wait until I was steady again and let go of me. But I felt his touch through all my clothes and along my skin like I’d been shocked by little zaps of electricity.
“All right,” I said, staring at the pond and the cute little cabins people could rent. The sledding hill in the distance. “I think I get the gist of the place.”