Brick caught frowns from several girls who had tried to catch him recently. He knew that for a fact because of a sure-fire test of a hopeful girlfriend's sincerity that his grandfather had taught him. He would carelessly drop a falsified bank statement, showing he was not only broke, but teetered on the edge of bankruptcy, somewhere in the girlfriend's vicinity. Then he would make sure she saw it while he pretended to be oblivious. No matter how the statement was folded up, it always came open by the time she stood up and handed it to him. And generally the relationship cooled down like nuclear winter within a day or two.
Brick thought about pulling that test on Lori, and it settled something heavy, cold, and pointy in the pit of his stomach.
They took a booth in the back. Brick and Will went up to the counter to order, leaving Phill and Lori to hold the booth for them. It was still early enough in the morning for the breakfast rush to still be on, meaning that at any moment, a gang might come in and use up all the open tables and booths. Usually on weekdays, seating wasn't a problem, even during the breakfast rush at Hunky & Dory's. However, this was the Christmas season, and all bets were off.
"So, the two of you seem to be getting along pretty well," Will said, as the two of them got into the short line at the counter. There were five people ahead of them. The couple directly in front of Will and Brick looked undecided as they studied the extensive breakfast menu.
"Yeah. She's fun. I didn't know you three knew each other."
"We brought Lori here to get away from it all." He jammed his hands in his back pockets and leaned back a little as he studied the menu.
"Get away from what?" Brick's antenna for trouble quivered. He hated that feeling.
"Lori's trying to avoid being railroaded into a commitment that won't...fit her, I guess you'd say. Back where we come from, she's from powerful people. They tend to try to breed for wealth and power, know what I mean?" He glanced away from the board and waggled his eyebrows--as if that would make things perfectly clear to Brick.
Unfortunately, it did.
"Yep. Matchmaking relatives who think the bottom line is about property and wealth and social status and nothing else."
"Got it in one. All sorts of matchmaking cousins and uncles and aunties have been pressuring her. They don't believe in love at first sight." He snorted. "Okay, more accurately, infatuation at first stare. They don't believe in it, didn't wait for it, or squandered their one chance at it, and they basically believe since they turned out all right, they don't have to give anyone else a chance to find it, either. So Lori's been under a lot of pressure. We figure nobody would ever think to look for her here. And it gives Phill and me a chance to get away from it all, too. Two birds with one stone."
"If you say so." Brick hated the awful feeling he was being set up, primed for a scam or a trick of some kind. It had happened often enough, he knew the warning signs. The thing was, despite Will and Phill's infrequent visits to town, he thought he knew them well enough not to expect such a trick from them.
"So give her some breathing space, okay?" Will said, as the couple in front of them stepped up to the counter and stumbled through their order. "Let her just have fun. Show her she can spend time with a guy without him shoving prenuptial contracts in her face before she decides if she even likes dancing with him."
"We haven't gone dancing." Brick grinned despite the warning queasies running through him. "Is she any good?"
"Fly Me to the Moon takes on a whole different dimension when Lori is your partner." Will shook his head, grinning. Then that grin faded, and Brick glimpsed something dangerous, dark and implacable in his eyes. "But be warned. You might be my friend, but blood is important. Do anything to hurt her, make her cry one tear..."
"Or what?"
"Nightmares will come true." He nodded as the couple in front of him stepped away from the counter with their big blue number placard that would guide the kitchen server to bring the right order to their table. "So, everything clear? Not that I don't trust you to be good to her. You're a good guy, Brick. But I learned a long time ago, it's better to be warned and not need it, than to assume someone won't be stupid, and then be disappointed." He clapped him on the shoulder and stepped up to the counter. "I'm starved. We got a lot of things to do today."
"Yeah. Starved." Brick fought down a shudder that tried to turn his insides into knots. There was no doubt in his mind that Will meant every word he said.
So did that mean Lori was totally innocent, no ulterior motives for coming to town?
But just like Will had said, better to be warned than to assume and be disappointed.
* * * *
"You haven't been shopping yet? How long have you been here?" Brick said, stunned and a little apprehensive when Lori made the admission. What had she been doing all this time?
"We've been giving her some culture," Phill said. "The Cleveland Natural History Museum." She began counting off on her fingers.
"Depends on what you consider 'natural,' you know," Lori said, holding her hand up to the side of her mouth, as if she was making an aside. Will snickered.
"The Cleveland Museum of Art. Severance Hall--" Two more fingers.
"The Cleveland Orchestra hasn't started its concert season yet," Brick objected.
"A tour," Phill said, glaring at him. "Stan Hywet Hall. Holden Arboretum. Great Lakes Science Center." She started over again with her fingers.
"What?" he said, feigning dismay. "Not the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?"
"Bleah. Not my type of music at all," Lori said. Mischief sparkled in her eyes, so Brick couldn't quite be sure she was serious, or to what degree. "Today, I want to be lazy and just go shopping. Window shopping, even. Just walk this lovely town from one end to the other and see how...things are done in this part of the country." Her gaze flicked away from Brick's for a moment, sending that heavy, suspicious feeling back into the pit of his stomach.
He could have sworn for a moment she was about to say something like "how the other half lives," but that made no sense.
"Shopping it is. Until after lunch. Then I intend to take you sledding. Is it a deal?" He held out one hand to shake hers.
"Deal. I guess. Why wait until after lunch?"
"The kids go back to school after their lunch break. The snow that fell overnight is packed down, and we can see from the tracks in the snow where the danger spots are, the deep spots, and where to go for the best, fastest run."
"You sound like a man who takes his sledding seriously." She let him shake her hand, and laughed.
"Very seriously." Brick blinked and nearly shook his head. For a moment, he could have sworn actual sparks shot off their hands where their skin touched, and a pink haze filled the air around Lori's face. Just for a moment.
* * * *
Brick dropped the falsified bank statement while he and Lori waited for Will and Phill to come out of the Paper People shop. The sidewalk was clear of snow and actually dry from the warm morning sunshine, and he heard the folded paper hit the cement. He concentrated on the display window, watching Lori's reflection.
She glanced around for not even a heartbeat, but didn't bend over, didn't turn, and didn't say anything.
He waited, braced for that first gust of wind to rise up and blow his paper away and ruin the test. Will and Phill came out of the shop with an assortment of funny Christmas cards. When the group turned to go, Brick turned to look for the paper, but it wasn't where he was sure it had landed.
"Something wrong?" Lori turned, walking backwards a few steps, watching him when Brick didn't immediately turn to leave with them.
"No. Nothing." He hunched his shoulders--and heard the distinct rustle of paper tucked in the inside pocket of his jacket. Brick knew he had nothing in there, except for the paper he had dropped and couldn't find now. He forced a smile and got his feet moving. Lori turned around and followed Will and Phill, who were so caught up in comparing their funny cards, they hadn't even realized he and Lori weren't walking with them.
Brick tugged his jacket open and felt in the pocket. He caught the paper between two fingers and pulled it out. He nearly dropped it, when he realized it was indeed the false bank statement. Had he just imagined dropping it? Maybe he had dropped something else and it blew away?
He shrugged it off and hurried to catch up with the others, after securely tucking the paper away again.
The next attempt came outside Today's Look Spa, as the four of them were leaving. Jane, the proprietor, was a friend of Angela, and she seemed to know the four of them were coming. She greeted them with smiles and soon she and Lori and Phill were chatting like old friends, while Will and Brick hung back and wandered the shop, sniffing the tester bottles of sprays and creams and oils. Brick was so relieved to leave, he almost forgot to slip his hand inside his coat and pull out the paper.
This time he dropped it on Lori's foot. He heard the dry snap-smack sound the paper made when the short end hit the top of her boot and it went flying. Lori hesitated, then held out the bag with her purchases, putting it up to with six inches of Brick's nose.
"Doesn't that just smell heavenly?"
"Uh--" He choked when clashing aromas converged and assaulted his nose.
"Oops. Sorry." She giggled, took the bag away and pulled out one candle. "This." Now she held it out to him, instead of shoving it at him.
"Yeah, I suppose." The spicy yet subtle fragrance reminded him of a freshly mown lawn on a hot summer afternoon, with hints of spearmint and cinnamon. Warm and green and bursting with moisture. It drove away the dry cold that bit at his nose in this weather. "That's incredible. What do they call that?"
"Booby-trap," Will muttered, and pretended great pain when Phill elbowed him.
"Only the truly perceptive and talented and sensitive could smell something like this," Lori said, arching an eyebrow and tucking the candle away again. Brick didn't know what amused him more--her pretend disdain, or the lofty tone, or the pleased gleam in her eyes.
They were ten steps away before he realized she hadn't picked up the paper. He excused himself and hurried back to the doorstep of the spa. No paper anywhere in sight. He bent to look around the corner, down the alley between the two old buildings--and heard the distinct, crisp rustle of paper in his jacket pocket. A shiver that had nothing to do with the cold crept up his back when he reached into his jacket and pulled out the paper.
What was truly odd was that it had a couple wet spots on it, like it had landed in snow at some time. But if he hadn't taken it out of his pocket, and if he hadn't dropped it and Lori hadn't kicked it... How did the paper get wet?
He tried three more times. He even took the precaution of bending one corner before he tossed it in front of Lori when her head was turned. The corner was still bent, freshly creased, when he found it in his pocket. The final attempt came at lunchtime, when he made a show of emptying his pockets to look for his wallet, and set the paper nearly on top of Lori's plate, then got up and excused himself to look for the bathroom. When he returned to the table a few minutes later, the paper was nowhere to be seen. He felt a mixture of triumph and disappointment, and the sense he had been very stupid. Lori had pocketed the paper, obviously, and simply waited for the proper time to confront him.
Or so he thought, until they got up to leave. He swung his coat off the chair, slid one arm in, and heard the distinct rustle of paper in his inside pocket. Brick nearly dropped his coat.
"Something wrong?" Lori asked. She stood, shrugging into her own jacket, and looked around the sandwich shop. "Looks like we beat the rush," she said with a smile, as a party of eight came through the door.
"Yeah, beat the rush." Brick took a deep breath, finished buttoning his coat, then bowed and offered her his arm. That pinkish haze filled the air around her face when she blushed and grinned and hooked her arm through his.
Definitely, he was having hallucinations. What was wrong with him?
Lori had probably put the paper back in his coat for him while he was away, but what about all the other times he thought he had dropped the paper, and found it back in his pocket moments later?
"I'm ready for either sledding or a nap, after that huge lunch," Lori said, as they stepped outside and a gentle, refreshingly chill breeze caressed their faces. "I wish Will and Phill could join us."
"Where did they say they were going?" He guided her down the street to his car, with a vague idea of stopping to get better clothes for sledding. Definitely she needed sturdier boots.
"They didn't. Oh, Angela did say if I planned on any outdoor sports while I was here, she'd loan me better clothes." Lori gestured down at her down vest and matching slacks, sweater, hat, and gloves. "Something better suited for snow, rather than sitting around the fire, drinking hot chocolate, you think?"
"Your wish is my command, my lady." He reluctantly let go of her arm as they parted to go to different sides of his truck. Lori laughed, the sound chiming like bells coming from a long distance over the snow.
* * * *
An hour later, they had found more appropriate clothes for sledding at Divine's Emporium, rented a sled at the rental shack inside the park, and managed to take two test runs down the medium-sized slope. They stopped for hot chocolate at the snack hut that normally rented out roller skates and skateboards during the rest of the year.
"How you holding up?" Brick asked Lori, as she perched on the edge of a bench and looked down the slope. They had the place nearly to themselves, except for a cluster of homeschooled kids, and some daycare children with their teachers.
"I'm just fine. I could do this all day. And all night. I notice there are some spotlights, so that does mean sledding at night, right?" She gestured up at the spotlights at the top and bottom of the slope.
"Most definitely. That's when the real daredevils come out. See that patch over to the left?" He gestured and waited until she turned to look.
"Doesn't look like anybody has sledded there yet."
"The school kids don't dare. They call it Headless Hill, because supposedly some kid took a bad bump, got tossed in the air, and the runners on his sled took his head right off."
"Oh, puh-lease." She wrinkled up her nose in disgust.
"Of course, that was like a hundred years ago, when sleds meant business and you kept them sharp to fight off Indian attacks and wolves."
"A century ago? I'm sure Neighborlee was very civilized a century ago. Maybe you mean two? Or even three?"
"Hmm, maybe." Brick tipped his hot chocolate cup back and drained the last drops. It wasn't any good when it got cooler than lukewarm, so it was wise to drink it while it was still near-scalding hot. "The thing is, that side of the slope has some pretty steep drops, and they get hidden under fresh snowfalls. Nobody takes that side of the sledding hill until the more experienced ones break the snow for them, so they can see what's underneath." He got up to toss their cups away and deliberately struck a heroic pose, with his chest out and his fists jammed into his hips.
"I suppose you're one of them?" she said, laughing.
"One of my many inherited responsibilities, passed down to me from my great-granny." He held out his hand and gestured with the other at the slope. "Brave enough to join me?"
"I wouldn't miss it for the world." She let him pull her to her feet, and then ran for their sled twenty feet away, still holding onto his hand.
Brick laughed and stumbled after her, and felt his heart racing faster than he could account for. He was still laughing as they dragged the sled over to the proper starting point for the run and got into position on it. He guided Lori's hands around his waist and made sure her boots were firmly wedged into the gap between the frame and the wooden seat of the sled. Then he took tight hold of the ropes tied to the steering part of the frame, wrapped them twice around his gloves, and leaned forward, tipping the sled down that first, steep drop.
"The key is the first drop," he said, ending with an ooph as the sled hit hard and zoomed down the slope. Lori answered with a delighted shriek. He
r arms wrapped so tightly around him, they threatened a couple ribs.
They plowed into the first hollow in the slope, sending snow flying everywhere. Brick opened his eyes, laughing, getting snow in his mouth, and ended up blinded by gobs of snow plastering his face. He shook his head and tried to feel his location on the slope. The sled jolted and careened downwards so fast, he had no idea where he was. Wherever it lay ahead of them, the bottom was coming up on them too fast. He couldn't let go of the ropes to clear his eyes, or they definitely would crash. It was a law of nature that the moment a sledder stopped steering, the sled became magnetically attracted to the nearest, biggest, hardest immovable object.
Brick did the only thing he knew to do--he jerked himself bodily sideways, tipping them off the sled, with a vision filling his head of hitting one of the light poles or a bench or even going off the course altogether and into the river.
Lori shrieked, this time not in delight, and lost her grip on him. Brick let go of the steering ropes and tried not to stiffen up as he tumbled head over heels. He rolled like a fallen log, until he jolted up against something and came to an abrupt stop.
"Lori?" he said, spitting out snow. He cleared his eyes and gasped as he realized he had lost one of his gloves somehow. Probably pulled off by the rope before he fully let go. His hat was gone, and his scarf. From the icy wet enclosing his feet, he wouldn't be surprised if he had lost one or both boots.
"Here." She laughed and slid down the slope a few feet on her bottom. A fast shake sent snow flying from her hair and jacket. She raked her gloved fingers through her hair, getting it out of her face. Melting snow made her face glisten. "Look at you. I swear, I'm going to spend the whole day picking up after you!" Laughing, she dug into a nearby pile of overturned snow and pulled out his hat and scarf.
How had she known those were there under all that snow? His mouth dropped open when another plunge into a pile of snow on the other side of him revealed his missing glove.
Have Yourself a Faerie Little Christmas Page 10
