The Reindeer Falls Collection: Volume One

by Jana Aston

  The Honey Jam Café doesn’t even have a buy-one-get-one free coupon. I went on my own lunch hour and convinced the manager to go along with my scheme, then spent twenty minutes making a fake coupon on my laptop to hand off to Mr Owens.

  I’d really hate for all my hard work to go to waste. Besides, it’s never too late to find love, right? Be it the first time, the second time, or the tenth time. There’s no such thing as too much love. And I’m positive there’s a spark there. I think they just need a little shove in the right direction.

  And then, who knows? Everyone deserves a happy ending. They might find one with each other.

  “A buy-one-get-one-free coupon for the Honey Jam Café?” Mrs Carrington doesn’t look as impressed as I’d expected. I could have sworn it was her favorite restaurant.

  “Doesn’t that sound lovely?” I push.

  “I suppose it sounds all right,” she hedges. “But I was going to have dinner with my grandson today.”

  “Surely he won’t mind rescheduling. The coupon expires today. And it’s a limited-edition coupon.” I nod my head very seriously to make up for the fact that I sound like an idiot. A limited-edition coupon? For fuck’s sake.

  “Oh, dear. The expiring limited-edition coupon.” Mrs Carrington places a hand at the base of her throat, eyes widening ever so slightly. She’s got a stack of bracelets on that jangle with the movement. Mrs Carrington is the type of woman who is always put together. Hair styled, makeup applied, her signature stack of bracelets on. She’s also wearing a bright red cardigan today. The perfect Christmassy date outfit.

  I nod again, face straight. I deserve an award for not cracking under the pressure.

  “Shoot, it’s just that I have the same limited-edition coupon. Expiring today,” she adds with a rueful smile. Like hey, what can she do? She can’t control these make-believe limited-edition expiring coupons any more than I can. “So my grandson will have to come with.”

  Gah. She’s gonna ruin this date with Mr Owens before it’s even begun. Why are people so stubborn when you’re only trying to help?

  “You can’t bring your grandson on the date, Mrs Carrington. They’re buy-one-get-one free coupons. Besides, three’s a bit of a crowd, don’t you think?”

  “I agree. That’s why you’re coming too. So we’ll have four. And we’ll get two tables.” Then she winks at me.

  Yeah. I just got played by a grandma.

  The surprises just keep coming because not a moment later I turn around and run smack into none other than Knockoff Teddy himself.

  Chapter 12

  “Teddy?” It’s one of those comical run-ins like you’d see in a movie. I actually turn around and walk straight into him, complete with the ‘oof’ departing my mouth and his hands steadying my forearms so I don’t topple over. “I mean Not Teddy. I mean, um, hi.”

  “Noel.” He smiles at me, still holding onto my arms.

  “This is my grandson Theo,” Mrs Carrington is saying beside us. “He hasn’t let anyone call him Teddy since he was in grade school.”

  Theo… Teddy. I replay our first meeting in my mind. The way he shrugged and said, “Sure,” when I called him Teddy. Because I was close enough and he just decided to roll with it, I suppose.

  “Noel can call me Teddy,” he says now, not taking his eyes off of me. And oh, holy hell, why is that making me feel things? Crazy things. Noel can call me Teddy. It’s nothing, really. But somehow… it’s everything. The tone of his voice, the way he’s looking at me, the permission to call him something no one else does.

  Ugh, that’s stupid, right? To feel some weird secret thrill over that?

  Wait.

  Grandson?

  “Teddy is your grandson?” I feel the need to repeat it, to clarify beyond all confusion this time, before he gets away from me again.

  Yeah, yeah. I know technically I’m the one who ran away the first time. Don’t be a shrew about it.

  “Yes, my grandson. The one you’re having dinner with tonight.” Mrs Carrington smiles triumphantly, clearly quite pleased with herself at finally arranging this setup.

  Little does she know, we’re just a little past a setup. And now I’m blushing. Like Rudolph’s nose on a foggy night kind of blushing.

  “Theo, I hate to leave you on your own for dinner but Noel has set me up on a date with Mr Owens and, well, she’s put in so much effort creating a fake coupon and finagling the entire thing it seems like it’d be a shame to waste all her matchmaking efforts.”

  This time I place my fingertips on my cheeks, as if I might be able to judge how red they are by feeling them.

  “I did no such thing. Just a gentle nudge,” I mutter, because I’m mostly speaking to myself at this point.

  “Isn’t Mr Owens the one who stopped over on Saturday?” Teddy questions. “When you got me out of the house by sending me to the library to return your books?”

  Oh, my God. Wait. They’re already a thing? Her and Mr Owens? She’s been playing me this entire time, hasn’t she? I turn an incredulous glare at Mrs Carrington.

  “What?” She shrugs, clearly unbothered by her treachery. “So we’ve been out a few times already. Doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate your efforts.” She turns her attention to Teddy. “And you, don’t think I didn’t notice you missed breakfast the following morning. Pictures with Santa ended at seven.”

  Teddy laughs, like his grandma teasing him about being out all night is normal banter for them.

  “You two run along and have a nice dinner. I think Warren’s got a real coupon for the restaurant at the Bavarian Inn so that’s where we’re headed.” With a pleased smile Mrs Carrington leaves and I’m left with Teddy.

  He turns to me, a confused expression on his face.

  “Who exactly did you think I was?”

  Right. That.

  Chapter 13

  He seems a little bit incredulous, which is fair. Maybe a hint irritated, which is also fair. We’ve left the community center and gone to the Honey Jam Café for dinner because fake limited-edition coupon or not, who doesn’t want pancakes for dinner?

  “I thought you were my co-worker’s brother.” I fidget in my seat while playing with a straw wrapper. “He was supposed to show up to put on the Santa suit and then you walked in looking at me like you knew me.” I stop fidgeting and shoot him a challenging look as I lean back against the booth seat. “Which is a super-reasonable assumption if you think about it.”

  “Hmm,” he murmurs, staring at me, a small smile playing at his lips. “At what point did you figure out I wasn’t your co-worker’s brother?” I think he might actually find this snafu amusing.

  “On Monday.” I let out a little grunt of a sigh. This is so embarrassing. “When I arrived at work and Jillian rushed into my office apologizing about her brother standing me up for pictures with Santa.”

  “Hmm.” Another murmur. He’s rubbing two fingers across his lips while he watches me. “And what is it you thought you knew about me? Based on thinking I was your co-worker’s brother.”

  “I thought you were jobless and living in your parents’ basement. And an incorrigible flirt incapable of commitment.”

  “Well, that guy sounds charming.”

  I nod. Yup. I bet I sound pretty charming right about now too.

  “And what is it that you think you know about me based on what you’ve heard about me from my grandmother?”

  “Well, your grandmother thinks that you’re the cat’s meow. She also thinks you need a wife.” I raise my brows and give him a little smirk.

  “I do.”

  “Oh, wow.” I drop the straw wrapper, fascinated by this development. Placing my palms on the table, I lean in, lowering my voice just a tad. “Do you have some kind of weird family inheritance you can only get if you’ve procured a wife and an heir by a certain age? I love that kind of nonsense in a romance novel but I wasn’t sure it still happened in real life. Or ever happened in real life, actually. How much time do you have left? Do you
need the money for something really important like keeping your business open through the holidays? Tell. Me. Everything.” I punctuate my last words with the importance they deserve then wiggle my fingers before clasping them together in eager anticipation.

  Teddy laughs good-naturedly, a smile covering his face. “Not like that. Obviously.”

  “Bummer.”

  “Doesn’t everyone want to find their person, Noel? The one they can tell all their secrets to?”

  He leans in when he says it, his eyes on mine. His gaze is warm and sexy and intimate. Like he might be inviting me to tell him all my secrets, forever.

  The waitress arrives with our pancakes and I distract myself with my fork, digging a hole into the center of the stack so I can eat the best part first. I might also be buying some time while I recover from the whirlwind to my guarded heart.

  “So you were just at the library to return your grandmother’s books and I forced you into a Santa suit. Is that the gist of it? Why on earth did you go along with it?”

  “I don’t know.” He waves a piece of bacon in the air between us. “Your vibe was really doing it for me and once I started talking to you I didn’t want to leave.”

  “My vibe?” I’m dumbfounded. I’m pretty sure my vibe is cantankerous harridan.

  “You were sexy as hell standing there tapping your foot as you sighed and looked at your watch every five seconds.”

  “Impatience is a turn-on for you?”

  “It is when it’s you. So much attitude packed into that sexy turtleneck you were wearing.” I roll my eyes before he can continue. “Besides, once I figured out who you were I thought perhaps my grandma had volunteered me to help out. Since you were so intent on sticking me in that Santa suit and my grandmother had been so intent on singing your praises to me every chance she got.”

  “You were a very good sport, all things considered.”

  “I really was.”

  We’re quiet for a few moments while I stuff pancakes into my mouth as Teddy stares at me from across the table, but with a thoughtful expression instead of being horrified by the amount of maple syrup I’ve swirled into the melting butter crater in the middle of my pancake stack.

  I mean, the thing is, he’s already seen me naked so there’s no point worrying about my figure now when there are pancakes to be consumed.

  “Listen, I know that you were trying to one-night-stand me—” Teddy starts but I interrupt him before he can finish.

  “I wasn’t!” I object, already shaking my head. But I was. I totally tried to one-night-stand him.

  “You left your own house in order to avoid me,” he reminds me, brows raised in amused exasperation. “That was…” He trails off as if searching for the right word.

  Crazy. Cowardly. Insane. Take your pick.

  “Honestly a move I’ve never seen before, you little nutcase.”

  I shrug. It wasn’t my finest moment. I think we can all agree.

  “But I want more than that.”

  “More?” Me too, is what I really want to say. Me too, me too, me too. I want more of him. More of us together. I want to tell him that I’ve never felt the way I feel when I’m around him. But I don’t, because it’s too soon, too crazy. Even crazier than having a one-night stand with a man you just met based on great chemistry and sexy eyes and his insistence that he finds you sexy. Crazier than ditching that same guy in your house like a little coward. So instead I stare at him with my heart beating a mile a minute, wondering where exactly this conversation is going.

  “With you.”

  The silence hangs between us. I think he’s waiting for me to respond, but my mind is moving faster than an agitated snow globe at the moment. “You want a long-distance relationship with a girl you had a one-night stand with?”

  “No.”

  Oh. Oh, God. He just wants to vacation-hookup me. Crap. I want more than that. I deserve more than that, even if it is scary. I’ve made so many mistakes in relationships. Picked the wrong guys. Expected too much, or too little. But I want more now. I deserve more.

  “I want us to spend the rest of the month getting to know each other. Dating.”

  “I’m terrible at dating,” I warn—or object, I’m not even sure which I’m doing, but he should probably know.

  “I don’t care.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You were terrible at dating before you met me. This is me and you, Noel. And we are going to be good together.” He grins. “Also I’m going to deadbolt the door when we have sleepovers so you can’t run away.”

  I bite my lip between my teeth to keep from smiling. “We barely know each other.”

  “No one knows anyone before they know them.”

  “That was a mouthful.”

  “What I mean is, you have to start somewhere, Noel. If you want to know someone, you have to start somewhere. Every day you choose who you want to spend time with. Who you want to know better and who is worthy of your time. I want to invest my time in us.”

  Us.

  I really like the sound of that.

  “What happens when the holidays end and you have to go home?” I’m not sure why I’m even asking, because we’ll figure it out. Here or there, I want to be wherever Teddy is. I want to fill in all the things I don’t know about him with the things I do. And I know I can’t predict the future, I don’t know what will happen. But I know I want to.

  “I’ll move to Reindeer Falls. I can work from anywhere.”

  “Teddy, that’s insane.” I realize my fork is hanging in midair and I’m not even sure how long it’s been dangling there, a buttery heap of pancakes about to slide off and hit the table. I set the fork down and rub my hands against my thighs. “We barely even know each other. And can you even do that? Just leave your job? Your life in the city?”

  “I can, actually. Besides, this is home.” He glances around the café we’re in and then out the window we’re sitting next to. It’s dark outside, so it feels more like midnight even though it’s only five thirty p.m. That’s Michigan in December for you. It’s started to snow, visible beneath the parking lot lights. Swirling gusts of snow blowing sideways that make being inside and warm even cozier than before. “There’s no place like home, right?”

  Chapter 14

  One Year Later…

  Christmas Eve

  “The thing is, I don’t think he’s ever going to propose.” I toss my hands up in the air in annoyance. “Mr Of Course I Need a Wife doesn’t actually want one.” I’m referring to my boyfriend, Teddy. My boyfriend who hasn’t proposed yet.

  And yeah, yeah, fine. I know it’s only been a year, but when you know you know. And I knew a year ago. Now I’m just impatient.

  “Noel, you’ve literally been dating for fifty-three weeks. I don’t think it’s time to panic about Teddy’s commitment level quite yet.” This is from Ginger.

  Ginger, who was engaged by Valentine’s Day.

  I turn and glare at her with all the disdain you can level on a pregnant woman. She’s due in five months and she’s got the most adorable baby bump you’ve ever seen in your life.

  And a husband. She’s got that too. Because after Keller proposed in record time, he married her and knocked her up. Wham, bam, thank you, ma’am.

  “You don’t get an opinion,” I remind her. “Since you’re blissfully domesticated you’re incapable of being objective.”

  “Yup,” Holly agrees with me a moment before stuffing a bite of toast into her mouth and chewing. We’re at a corner table at Gingersnap’s, the restaurant Ginger’s husband opened next door to her bakery. The one he named after Ginger.

  Ugh. Totally happy for them. Obviously. Not at all jealous.

  “You’re the worst,” Holly agrees when she’s done chewing. “No opinion for you.”

  Holly’s got the nerve to say this while eating toast with the same hand displaying her own engagement ring. I drop a pointed gaze to the ring and then back to Holly’s face. She at least has t
he decency to look chagrined.

  “You know that just happened,” she protests, referring to her own engagement. Nick proposed a week ago. The ring was in an Advent calendar he made for her, stuck behind the door of the date of their one-year anniversary.

  I know. Gross. Gross in a that-didn’t-happen-to-me-but-I’m-totally-happy-for-you-oh-my-God-how-romantic way.

  I sigh, mentally chastising myself. The thing is, I am happy for both of my sisters. I really, really am. I just sorta thought Teddy might propose on our own one-year anniversary. But that date came and went last week.

  “All I’m saying is, it feels like it’s been forever.” I know it hasn’t actually been forever. I know that a year is no time at all and I shouldn’t compare my relationship to anyone else’s. Especially not to Ginger and Keller, who moved at warp speed. Ginger and Keller are too ridiculous to even account for. I mean, sure, I might have fallen in love with my one-night stand, but we didn’t actually exchange “I love yous” for like… an entire week. And we weren’t engaged six weeks later.

  As crazy as the start of our relationship was, every day since has been pretty normal. We’ve put in the work. Gotten to know each other. And I like him more every day than I did the day before. Truly. He’s my best friend. And he’s also really good in bed.

  Ugh, now who’s gross? Me.

  I’ve got it really good. I need to shelve my impatience.

  “Why are you obsessing over this all of a sudden?” Holly asks, dumping a spot of cream into a freshly poured cup of coffee. She twirls her spoon through and taps it against the side of the cup, then raises her gaze to mine, waiting on an answer.

  “I don’t even know.” I slump back in the booth, crossing my arms over my chest. Because I agree with her, it hasn’t been an issue at all, up until the last week. “I think it’s the holidays, you know? I think the holidays have made me engagement-horny.”