Chapter 20

 

 

Chloe

 

 

WHEN I OPENED the door and found Graham standing in the hallway dressed like he was, I couldn’t help it. I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants.

“Sure. Laugh all you want but you get to wear the same fucking thing,” he replied, sighing.

I forced myself to try and be serious for his sake. The man was obviously miserable wearing what he was. “I’m sorry. I just wasn’t expecting you to be wearing that get-up.”

“Believe me, neither was I,” he said, shoving a plastic bag at me. “Put this on and I’ll meet you out front.”

“Uh, okay.”

Graham turned on his heel and stormed off.

“Wow, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed,” I muttered, shutting the door.

I opened up the bag and was relieved to find a velvet elf costume similar to Graham’s, this one with long sleeves and thick faux fur on the collar and cuffs. He might not have liked it, but I thought it was cute.

Ten minutes later, I found him parked in front of the building in a big black SUV. I got into the passenger side and we took off.

“So,” I said, breaking the silence. “Tank mentioned that there’d be reindeer?”

“Caribou,” he corrected.

“Oh. Is there a difference?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know.”

I tried making a little more conversation, but he apparently wasn’t in a talking mood. After a while, his sulking even began to affect me.

“You don’t mind if we stop at Mc Donald’s quickly?” he asked, when we were almost downtown. “I need some food.”

“No. Go for it,” I said dully, looking away. We hadn’t talked in several minutes and I’d given up trying to lighten the mood.

He let out a ragged sigh. “Look, I’m sorry. I’m in a shitty mood and shouldn’t be taking it out on you.”

I turned and looked at him. “Really? I hadn’t noticed.”

Graham grinned sheepishly. “Can I make it up to you with an eggnog shake?”

“Good God, no. Those things give me gas.”

“Nice. Let’s both have one and pick up my brother. He deserves to get crop-dusted.”

I laughed. “Wow. All this because of the costume.”

“He ruined my entire weekend.”

“What do you mean?”

“I had plans to go snowmobiling and he put the kibosh on it. Now I get to hang out with snot-nosed kids and overly-zealous Christmas fanatics.”

“Wow. Thanks.”

“I did not mean you,” he replied, back-peddling. “Seriously.”

“It’s okay. I love the holidays. I’m not ashamed of being a fanatic. Heck, I wish I had a house. I’d decorate the hell out of it. In fact, I’d probably be the annoying neighbor with the blinking lights and loud music.”

He smirked. “If it’s the right kind, it wouldn’t be that annoying.”

“Probably Trans-Siberian Orchestra.”

“No AC-DC?”

“I could throw that into the mix I suppose.”

“Then I definitely would think twice before cutting the power cord.”

“And what if I added some Ozzy or Metallica?”

“I’d throw a kegger and set up a bunch of lawn chairs for my friends to watch.”

I smiled.

Graham pulled into a Mc Donald’s drive-through and ordered a Big Mac, a Fillet-of-Fish, a large fry, and a large chocolate shake.

He turned to me. “You sure you don’t want anything?”

“No. Thanks. I already ate.”

After getting the food, we parked in the lot and he began to eat.

“Sorry, to do this in front of you. I don’t usually eat in the morning and forgot to grab lunch,” he said, between bites of the Big Mac.

“It’s no problem,” I replied as I watched him shovel food into his mouth. When he was finished with everything, Graham looked content and in a much better mood.

“You’re not diabetic, are you?” I asked, wondering if that was why he’d been so grumpy.

“No. Just an asshole who shouldn’t take out his shit on other people.”

“That’s always a good rule of thumb.”

“I’ll try to remember it next time.”

I thought back again to when he’d been arrested and wondered if he seriously really was a hothead.

“You and Jordan and Raptor really are brothers, huh?” I asked, changing the subject.

“Yeah. We’re going to take a DNA test after the holidays. But, the more time I spend with them, the more obvious it is.”

“They both Holiday Grinch Monsters like you?”

He grinned. “Not that I can tell. It’s our first Christmas together, so I guess I’ll find out. Although, they both have kids and I think that kind of forces a person to be festive during the holidays.”

“So, you’re saying that once you have kids, you’ll probably lighten up?”

“I’m never having kids, so I don’t know.”

“Never?”

“To tell you the truth, I don’t care much for children. These days, most of them are self-deserving, whiny little shits.”

Ouch. “They can be, but that’s usually a parent’s fault for indulging them.”

“And society’s fault for making it harder for them not to.”

“Maybe. But, it still falls on the parent’s shoulders to raise them to be responsible and not expect the world at their feet,” I replied, thinking of the children I’d seen in the cancer ward. Almost every one of them were happy to just be free of pain and didn’t whine about not having the latest toy or video game. All they wanted was more time, which was worth more to them than material objects.

“That’s true. Another reason why I don’t want kids. Trying to do that would be stressful and I have no patience.”

“It wouldn’t just be you raising them,” I replied.

“Probably not, but I’d be the one laying down the ground rules.”

“Because you’re the guy?” I asked with a smirk.

“Honestly? Yeah. Women are generally too soft with their kids.”

“Funny, I’ve heard many say the opposite. Especially, when a man has a daughter.”

“If I had a daughter, I’d probably spoil her,” he admitted. “But, I’d also become too overly protective, so she’d end up hating me in the long run.”

“I doubt she’d hate you,” I replied, amused. “She’d probably be as stubborn as you, though. I imagine there’d be a lot of arguing.”

“Good point. Sounds like more stress than I’m willing to handle.”

We talked more about his nieces and nephews and with all of his talk about kids being ‘little shits’, he obviously adored them in his own way.

When we arrived downtown, Graham drove to the large park in the center of the city. It was decorated with festive lights, wreathes and bows. Standing around a small, portable fire-pit were Jessica and a man I didn’t recognize. Both were dressed in elf costumes. There was also a stranger tending to the reindeer, or whatever they were supposed to be, and two older women passing out hot drinks. I recognized one of them as Frannie, Jessica’s mother.

As we got out of the SUV, I heard holiday music and saw a group of carolers nearby singing Christmas songs. It was almost magical and I was happy to have volunteered.

“Yaay! You’re finally here,” Jessica said, giving me a hug. “It seems like I’ve been waiting hours for you to show up.”

“We stopped at Mc Donald’s,” I replied, looking at my phone. It had just turned two o’clock, so we were still on time.

“Cleaner, this is Chloe,” Jessica said, introducing me to the tall, burly looking elf standing next to her, ringing a bell.

He smiled warmly. “Well, hello there. It’s good to see more fellow elves.”

“Hi,” I replied, thinking that he was kind of cute, especially with his dimples.

Cleaner looked at Graham and whistled. “Look at those legs. You must work out.”

I had to admit, Graham’s legs looked pretty muscular in the tights. Like a male ballet dancer.

Graham gave him a dirty look.

Cleaner laughed and shook his head. “Sorry you have to partner with Mr. Grumpy here.”

Graham gave Cleaner the finger.

“Brother, there are children walking around here,” Cleaner replied with faux shock. “Have some discretion.”

Fortunately, there was only one girl about seven and she was too busy looking at the caribou to notice.

“Hi, Graham. Hi, Chloe,” Frannie called out from the stand, where they were serving the hot drinks. “Come and get something to drink.”

“I’ll be right there,” I said, smiling back.

“How’s it going Frannie?” Graham said loudly.

“Better… now that you’re here,” she said, giving him a wink.

“She’s sweet on you,” Cleaner teased in a low voice.

“Hell, yeah, she is,” Jessica said, smiling. “She’s always like, ‘Graham this’ and ‘Graham that’.”

“She’s a very nice woman and I don’t mind running errands for her,” Graham replied.

“She doesn’t call you Dodger?” I asked, amused.

“No. She says she prefers Graham,” he replied.

“She definitely prefers Graham,” Cleaner said.

Graham elbowed him. “You’re just jealous,” he said in a lighthearted voice.

“Maybe a little. I haven’t had any of her peanut butter cookies for a while and she makes the best ones in Jensen,” he replied.

“They are good,” Graham said with a smile. “I just had some last week. She put chocolate kisses in the middle. Damn delicious. In fact, she gave me a tin of Christmas cookies when I dropped off her groceries. Said I was her favorite Prospect and that she’d have more for me on Friday.”

“You are such a cock,” Cleaner pouted.

“You eat cookies with that mouth? Oh, wait. You don’t because I’m Frannie’s favorite now,” Graham replied with a wink.

“Bastard,” he replied, looking more amused than angry.

“Have some discretion,” Graham said, throwing his words back to him. “There are children present.”

“Okay. I’m outta here. I want to get packed for the trip up to Hoss’s cabin. We’re leaving early, by the way. Should be a blast, hitting this fresh powder with the sled. Oh, that’s right. You can’t go now,” he said with a sly smile, patting Graham on the shoulder. “At least you’ll still have cookies.”

Graham gave him a murderous look.

Here,” Cleaner said, removing the shoulder bag he was wearing. “There are flyers inside and candy canes. Good luck and have fun. Ho, ho, ho.”

“I hope your snowmobile runs out of gas,” Graham mumbled.

Cleaner laughed and looked at me. “Have fun, Chloe. Maybe I’ll see you around?”

I grinned. “Thanks. Yeah, maybe you will.”

His eyes raked over me quickly. “You like snowmobiling?”

“I’ve never been,” I replied.

“Perfect,” he leaned closer. “I’d love to pop that cherry.”

“Oh, Lord,” Jessica said, rolling her eyes. “Cleaner.”

My cheeks burned. “Uh. Okay?”  

Graham, who’d also heard, gave a harsh, derisive laugh. “Smooth.” 

“Don’t be such a sour puss, Dodger,” Cleaner said and then winked at me before he took off.

“He tries too hard,” Graham muttered as the carolers began a new song.

“Some don’t try hard enough,” Jessica whispered next to me, a sly smile on her face.

I couldn’t have agreed more.