“I travel light. I packed a ball but Em repacked.” I nudged him with my elbow and followed him inside the cabin.
Em is sitting at the table with a hot chocolate nestled between her hands. Jody, who sits across from her jumps up and envelops me in a hug the moment she sees me. “Colt, it’s lovely to see you again.”
I stand still, my arms hanging limp at my sides unsure of what I’m meant to do. One look at Em with her lift her arms in a circle, indicating I should hug Jody, I do. It’s tense. It’s awkward as fuck. And I just want to run away and dribble my ball. Instead, I focus on Em. She’s only three feet away. I can close my eyes and think about her. She calms the storm that rages inside me. Always has.
I never understood why. Maybe it’s because she was so helpless as a kid, relying on me to keep her safe, warm, fed. I got to be her hero, instead of the weird kid who couldn’t sit still, couldn’t keep his mouth shut, couldn’t finish a sentence without getting distracted. When my focus is on her, it’s like everything else ceases to exist. My mind quietens, body relaxes. I become a different person.
Jody releases me and with a warm smile asks, “Want a hot chocolate. I have mini marshmallows? Dad said they were your favorite.” Her eyes dart to my dad, who just wandered back in from putting our bags away. She gazes at him with so much love it makes my heart tingle. I want nothing more than for him to be happy. Losing mom when I was young was hard on him. He’s put me first, made me a priority, and he deserves happiness.
Clyde pecks at the leg of Em’s chair, as I smile at Jody and nod. I lean down and press a kiss to Em’s lips before falling into the chair beside her. Dad moves to the kitchen to help Jody and I watch them. They move together. He moves, she follows. It’s like a dance routine they’ve perfected over years of practice.
“You should set up the coop on the deck for Jordan and Clyde,” Em says.
“No. Don’t be silly. It’s going to get below freezing out there tonight. Set it up in the mudroom. They’ll be protected from the wind and snow,” Jody says, sliding a steaming hot mug of chocolate across the table to me.
“You sure? They have winter pajamas to keep them warm.” I take a sip of the velvety smooth drink, smiling as it warms my insides. I didn’t realize how cold it was until then.
“They have pajamas?” Jody chokes back a laugh.
“Why am I not surprised?” Em sighs and shakes her head.
I nod, tapping my fingers on the table. “They have a whole wardrobe.”
Everyone stares at me like I’ve lost my mind. Maybe I have. All I know is I couldn’t just buy them a shirt. I wouldn’t like walking around in only a t-shirt. No one would. It gets cold.
We sit and finish our drinks and once we’re done, Jody ushers us away to unwind and settle in, and I’m okay with that.
I get the chickens settled in the mudroom and go find Em.
Chapter Three
Em
The cabin is beautiful. I don’t want to leave. It’s a quaint, timber, two-bedroom cottage in the woods nestled between snow cover evergreen trees. The icy blue lake it backs onto is serene. The whole place smells of cinnamon and smoke, and I wake in the morning to a roaring fire and coffee in the air.
A girl could get used to this.
Colt must feel comfortable here too because he’s sleeping soundly beside me. Not a usual occurrence for him. Normally he’s up at dawn and out running before I wake. Not today.
I lie on my side and watch him sleep. He’s peaceful and calm, the worry lines between his eyebrows have smoothed out, and he has a soft smile on his face. I stay in bed until I can’t resist the caffeine any longer.
Jody is humming Christmas carols when I walk into the living room, and Mr James is reading the paper.
“Morning.” I stifle a yawn and give them a wave as I pass.
“Morning sweetheart.” He looks up from his paper. “Sleep well.”
“Mmmm, like a baby.”
“Coffee’s in the pot,” Jody says with a smile. “I’ll make breakfast when Colt wakes.”
“You don’t have to do that. No special treatment. You cooked dinner last night.”
She waves me off with a dismissive hand. “Oh don’t be silly. I like to cook.”
“If you’re sure?”
“Of course.”
“Don’t argue with her, sweetheart. You won’t win.” Mr James chuckles behind his paper.
I raise my hands in mock surrender which earns me a triumphant nod from Jody.
After a late breakfast, because Colt slept in, we pile into the truck and head to the Christmas market across the lake. Jody wants to buy a tree. As soon as we arrive, Colt and his dad disappear, leaving Jody and me to pick the tree.
We wander around, Jody humming to the Christmas songs playing softly over the speakers, while I pick at the sparse leaves on the remaining trees. Christmas Eve is not the ideal time to shop for a tree.
“Don’t hate me!” Colt says, running up to where I’m standing with Jody still trying to pick a tree for the cabin.
“What did you do?”
“We have to run!” He exclaims. “Now, hurry.”
“Colt?”
Jody watches our exchange with curiosity in her eyes.
“Em, just trust me. We need to get out of here.”
“Where’s your dad?”
“Getting the truck. Jody, come on we gotta boot. Now!”
We haven’t picked a tree yet, not that there’s much to choose from at this time of year. I frown and am about to demand he explain what the hurry is when Jody gasps and I spin around to follow her line of sight, but I don’t need to.
I hear it.
The stuttered pattering of feet. The gobble-gobble sound. A turkey.
“Run!” Colt reaches for both mine and Jody’s hands and drags us away from the angry turkey.
Gobble-gobble.
“Colt!”
Was it following us?
We push through the small crowd of people and head toward the parking lot where Mr James is swinging the truck around to a stop.
Gobble-gobble.
“Get in,” he calls, shoving open the passenger side door like some hero in an action movie.
Jody and I dive for the car as an incredible sense a déjà vu washes over me.
Gobble-gobble.
I turn back with a sigh, knowing what I’ll find. Colt’s on the ground wrestling with the turkey. “Little help?”
“You liberated the turkeys, didn’t you?” I crouch down and help him with the turkey. The little bastard weighed a ton. It took all our strength to pick lift it and throw it in the back of the truck.
Colt grinned sheepishly at me. “How could I possibly look Clyde and Jordan in the eye if I went home without saving the turkeys? They’d hate me.”
He makes it out like he’s some kind of avian savior when in reality he’s the biggest consumer of fried poultry I’ve ever known.
I open my mouth to speak, but Colt holds up his hand to stop me when another turkey comes running toward us. They move fast. Again, I help him heave this one into the back of the car because I know what he’s going to say.
“Turkeys need friends too.”