Drakk regained his composure first and pulled hard on the reins, shouting “Whoa!” in a voice so booming birds in the surrounding trees flew off in a loud fluttering of wings.

The reindeer ignored him.

Our sleigh bumped and jostled and hit ruts in the mud-dried ground that sent us momentarily airborne before we landed with force.

Everything felt rattled and discombobulated and terrifying.

And that was before Calliope’s newly loosened harness ripped away and she went running off into the woods.

Drakk and Axe exchanged wide-eyed looks before Drakk yelled, “Get ’er!” and shoved his massive hand against Axe’s shoulder, propelling his brother off the seat and onto the ground.

Arthur and I turned in unison to look out the back of the sleigh.

Axe bounced up like a basketball and didn’t miss a beat before he started running into the trees after Calliope.

Arthur and I turned until our eyes locked, his as wide as I knew mine must have been, both in borderline shock.

Did that just happen??

Then neither of us moved, even as the sleigh started to slow to a more manageable speed.

For several beats we stayed staring at each other and I saw light brown flecks in his dark brown eyes. He truly had amazing eyelashes, even better than Brody’s. And then the realization dawned on me that we were close. Really close. My breath caught. My heart slammed. I lost complete track of where we were.

He swallowed before his gaze dropped down and it was at that moment I realized we were holding hands. Tightly. Who grabbed whom, I couldn’t say, but somewhere along the bumpy ride, it happened. And it felt entirely natural and wonderful and I never wanted to let go.

Which was why I had to let go.

I released his hand and turned to face forward, my mind spinning, feeling out of sorts in a way that had nothing to do with the roller-coaster sleigh ride and everything with the impression of his warm grasp that I experienced like a phantom limb.

Until my gaze landed on something else, something that carried the opposite of the almost-euphoric strumming I felt going through my veins, something that made me instead go cold.

Dad was holding hands with Aunt Esha.

Ten

My head was throbbing.

This was all my fault. If I hadn’t applied to a prestigious boarding school as a way to get into an excellent university and create a better life filled with travel to foreign countries, nice clothes, and the peace that comes with financial security then I wouldn’t have changed the Christmas website that lured Aunt Esha (and Arthur) here so she could meet my dad, go on a sleigh ride that rivaled something from Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, and wind up holding Dad’s hand. Albeit briefly.

They had let go of each other with a nervous laugh about two seconds after I saw them.