Chapter Fourteen
“Want to stop at Booze’s and get a Christmas hot toddy?” Harlan asked Savannah after she’d put in her boot order. He’d never seen a woman so determined to buy shoes. Or in this case, boots. Of course, shopping with women had never been one of Harlan’s favorite activities. But to his amusement, he found that he didn’t really care what he did as long as he was with Savannah.
Of course, he had his favorite activities.
“Have you ever had one of those toddies?” Savannah asked.
Harlan nodded. “It’s been a while though. Seems like they were pretty strong.”
“Oh, yeah. They’ll knock you on your ass if you don’t watch out.”
Harlan put his arm around her and said, “You definitely need one.”
“Why?”
“So I can seduce you more easily, of course.”
Savannah laughed. Halting, she turned to face him, put her arms around his neck and pulled his face close to hers and kissed him. Only the fact that they were in public saved him from shooting right into overdrive.
She pulled back and gave him a mischievous smile. “I think that mission can be accomplished without any trouble.”
“Okay. How about now?”
“Patience. We haven’t been to all the shops.”
Harlan groaned. “It sure as hell feels like we’ve been in every shop or business on the square.”
“Oh, no. There are several we missed. I thought we’d leave some for tomorrow night. They have Songs on the Square and each night a different school sings. Tomorrow night is Whiskey River High School’s band. They’re really good and I’d like to hear them. And I want to go through the Christmas tree maze in the park.”
“Do you have every night of the week planned?” he asked with some amusement.
She looked at him in surprise. “Of course. Tonight, though, I still want to go by the Texas gift shop. I have a friend I always send a Christmas present reminding her of Texas. She’s been living in Georgia for several years, but she says she’ll always be a Texan.”
“Lead on.”
“Don’t look so resigned,” she said with a laugh. “I promise I won’t take long.”
“That’s what you said when we went into Fallen Angels, and that took at least half an hour.” He hadn’t really minded. It wasn’t a hardship to look at pretty underwear and imagine Savannah wearing them. And him taking them off.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you. Have you been smelling lavender lately? Aside from when we were in Lavender Dreams earlier tonight?”
“You mean since Felicity’s Ball? We both smelled it when we were there.”
“Yes, besides that.”
“I have, but only when I’m with you.” He leaned close to her and sniffed. “Yep, there it is again. Are you sure you’re not wearing lavender perfume?”
“Yes, I’m positive. But when I’m with you I smell it too, and I’m fairly sure you’re not wearing eau de lavande.”
Harlan thought about bringing up the voice he also heard at times—the female voice. But the lavender smell was weird enough. No way did he want to admit that he periodically heard the voice—or was it an auditory hallucination?—of some woman encouraging him to get together with Savannah.
*
Friday night was the official end of the Christmas on the Square week-long celebration, although the stores would keep extended hours up until Christmas. Harlan thought he and Savannah had experienced all that Christmas on the Square had to offer, but he was wrong. They’d yet to go to the bank. Her father’s domain.
“The bank has the winter wonderland village with a model train,” Savannah said. “I’m dying to see it. This is its fifth year and it gets better each year.”
First Bank of Whiskey River. Randall Taylor’s bank. “Are you sure you’re up for that?”
“You bet I am. I’m not going to let my father stop me from doing what I want to do or seeing who I want to see.” She paused and added, “Unless it’s a problem for you?”
“Not for me. Lead on.” This ought to be good. Considering Harlan’s last conversation with Taylor, not to mention Savannah’s last conversation, the man would be frothing at the mouth when he saw who his daughter came in with. Of course, that’s assuming he was there.
Randall Taylor’s bank had definitely been updated since Harlan had last been in Whiskey River. He’d noticed that when he went to see Taylor not long after he came back to town. The building was sleekly modern, both inside and out. The lobby was surprisingly, at least to Harlan, welcoming. Immediately inside the front door was a huge Christmas angel tree. Names and wishes were written on paper Christmas tree ornaments and hung from the tree for people to take. The names included children involved with the Youth Center, younger children in need, and some of the residents of the assisted living facility. The goal was to have every name on the tree taken care of by the Wednesday before Christmas so everyone could have their gifts by Christmas Day.
Harlan and Savannah both picked out several names. Harlan resolved to check back shortly before the deadline to see if there was anyone left. “Can we get these gifts around here?” he asked Savannah.
“Some of them,” Savannah said. “If you have anyone who wants a bike the WOWR has an arrangement with the toy store to provide them. All you have to do is pay a set amount and they put it together and see that the children receive it.”
“That sounds like a deal.”
One of the conference rooms had been utilized for the village and train set. Harlan had to admit the Santa village with a model train to scale encircling it was amazingly intricate. He knew nothing about model trains or tiny villages but it was a pretty setup, besides having too many pieces to count. Multiple levels were built on a mountainside, with the bottom level the most populated. There were tiny houses, shops clustered around—what else?—a square, Christmas trees and other decorations, and the train track encircling the town and then climbing the mountain to the next level. The second level up the mountain was a ski resort, complete with a tiny chair lift and skiers and a lodge. Beside the lodge was a frozen pond with ice skaters. The top level displayed Santa’s workshop with Santa and Mrs. Claus, elves, toys, a sled with the reindeer waiting to go. The attention to detail was amazing.
“Look,” he said to Savannah, who appeared as fascinated as he was. “That’s Rudolph with his red nose.”
“How cute. I like the horses pulling sleighs too. And did you see the tree decorated completely with candy canes?”
He nodded. “There’s a dog beside a fire hydrant. He hasn’t lifted his leg yet but he’s just about to. You can tell by his expression.”
Savannah looked where he pointed and laughed. “Whoever made this had a sense of humor.”
After leaving the train room, Harlan followed Savannah as she made the rounds in the lobby, which also hosted tables with Christmas decorations. Every kind of ornament was available. Beaded stars, glass balls, delicate figurines of all sorts. Ornaments knitted by hand, mass-produced Santas, angels, and elves. Every kind of animal was displayed, some carved out of wood, some in glass, some in clay.
“I think my eyes are going to burst,” he told Savannah at one point. “I’ve never seen so much stuff in my life.”
“I know, isn’t it great?” Her eyes sparkled and she had a bag stuffed full of various ornaments and other decorations.
“Where are you going to put all that? Do you have a ten-foot-tall tree?”
“In my apartment? Fat chance. Besides, mine is already full to bursting. A lot of these are for you. We only bought lights and a few ornaments for your tree. You need more.”
“I don’t need that many.”
“Don’t worry, I take most of them to places like the children’s home, the youth center in the Barrels, assisted living and nursing homes. Wherever there’s a tree that needs ornaments.”
“You really get into this, don’t you?”
“Just doing my small part to make Christmas more festive for everyone.”
Harlan smiled, leaned down and kissed her smiling lips.
He stopped to look at a display of glass ornaments that caught his eye and heard Savannah say, “Dad, I wondered if you were here. The bank looks lovely.”
So, she was trying for civility. Probably a good idea, but he wasn’t sure Taylor would buy into it.
“Savannah,” he said sternly, “a word with you in my office.”
No, he didn’t sound too civil.
Savannah tugged on his arm. “I’m sorry, Harlan and I were just leaving.”
Harlan had to work to suppress a smile. Savannah’s father looked at him silently, like he was dog shit on the bottom of his shoe. Harlan figured half of the reason the man was so angry with him was because he knew he had absolutely no leverage over Harlan. Unlike when he’d been a kid and the man had held his family’s future hostage.
Taylor turned back to his daughter. “Savannah, I need to talk to you. Alone.”
“Why?”
“Laurel and the kids just came in,” Harlan said before he could answer. “I’m going to say hi. Once they see the train set they’ll be there for an hour.”
As he walked away, Harlan heard Savannah ask, “What now, Dad? If you’re going to attack Harlan again, you can forget it.”
Right. He’d make book that was exactly what Taylor planned to do.