The Hazards of Mistletoe (Hazards #4)(20)
Author: Alyssa Rose Ivy

I caught Winston’s eye as we headed out of the theatre. The first part of the plan had worked. Layden had told me her plans for the evening, and we’d made a huge step forward. She was talking to me, and she was also letting me hold her hand. Now I just had to keep moving things in that direction.

We walked outside of the theater to the plaza at Solaris. It was another one of the swanky resort areas in Vail. In good weather it was actually a short walk from Lionshead, but I had no plans to let Savy walk.

“Is that a sleigh?” Savy pointed to a horse drawn sleigh, complete with bells, waiting off to the side. “I haven’t been on one of those in years.” Her face brightened, and for a moment she looked like the Savy I knew again.

“It is a sleigh,” I smiled, aching to grab her hand again, but fighting the impulse.

“I didn’t take you as a sleigh ride person.” Dalton looked at her skeptically. “You seem too bah humbug for that.”

“Savy loves Christmas. She’d probably listen to Christmas music year round if she could,” I quickly supplied, letting it be known that I knew a whole lot more about her than he did.

“I used to.” She looked off into the distance.

“So have you changed your mind about letting me drive you back?”

“It’s not that far away. Dalton will take me.”

“What if I offered you the scenic route?” I added. Winston laughed.

“What?” She looked between us.

“What if I told you my offer for a ride home wasn’t in my car?” I nodded over to the sleigh. “Would that interest you more?”

“Wait?” She looked at me. “Are you saying that sleigh is for us?” Her voice lilted. She was excited, and that got me excited.

“Maybe. I thought we could do it for old times’ sake. You did have your first sleigh ride with me after all.”

She smiled lightly. “I did.” She turned to Dalton. “Are you up for it?”

“Hey. Who said he’s invited?” There was no way step-brother was intruding on this.

“You can’t expect me to go alone with you.”

“Why not? What do you think is going to happen? The driver will be with us anyway.”

She looked conflicted.

“Can I talk to you for a second?” Dalton asked.

I hesitated. I didn’t want to step away from Savy, but there was something in Dalton’s expression that made me wonder if he might actually want to help.

“I’ll keep Savannah company. We bonded earlier.” Winston stuffed his hands in the pockets of his coat.

“We’ll be right back.” Dalton walked around the corner, and I followed after one quick glance back at her.

“What is it?”

“Do you really care about her?”

“Of course.”

“And all that stuff you said earlier, about regretting the way you made her feel. About wanting to make things up to her. You meant it?” So he had been listening as I’d tried to explain myself to him as we’d waited for our food.

“Yes. I’ve been crazy about Savy for years. I know it seems weird because we only saw each other once a year, but she’s one of my best friends. We used to talk all the time.” She was still a favorite contact in my phone. One my thumb had hesitated over more frequently than I wanted to admit.

“I really have no say in what she does, so I’m not going to be able to convince her of anything, but I’ll see what I can do. It looks like we both want the same thing.”

“And what’s that?” He had better not say he wanted her.

“We want her happy. Although we want it for different reasons.”

“What’s your reason?”

“Aside from just generally kind of liking her, I also need her to snap out of her funk so her Dad stops stalling on proposing to my mom. I’ve got a lot going on in my life that I’ve put on hold. If she’s happy, and my sister’s happy, then I can start worrying about myself. Got that?”

“You think her dad’s stalling because of Savy?” I was trying to understand his logic.

“Yes. He thinks she got upset last year because of her mom’s engagement, but evidently you also had something to do with that.”

“Don’t remind me.” I cringed. I hated knowing I’d hurt her. I never wanted to cause her pain again. It was because of that that I probably should have stayed away, but she wasn’t happy without me. Maybe, just maybe, she’d be happier with me. I needed to at least try.

“So if she gives you a second chance, try not to screw it up, and try to work fast.”

“I only have a few days, so yeah. I’ll work fast.”

“Good. I have to give you points on the sleigh.”

“I thought I’d play the nostalgia card. Of course this time we aren’t kids, so I’m going for romantic.”

“You said her dad likes you, right?”

I nodded.

“So if I tell him I left her with you he’s not going to kill me?”

“He won’t. Besides, her grandpa already knows she’s going to be with me.”

“Layden? Do I want to know?”

“He also wants her happy.”

He smiled. “I guess there’s a lot of people rooting for that.”

“No one more than me.”

“Good luck.”

“Thanks.” I started heading back toward Savy. As we walked over she was laughing at something Winston had said. Despite some of his annoying habits, Winston was really good at doing that.

“Are you done talking about me?” Savy set her eyes on me even though she was asking both of us. I was glad. I wanted all of her attention to myself.

“I just wanted to make sure you could trust him.” Dalton spoke slowly, seeming to be carefully selecting his words.

“And what’s the consensus?” she asked in a playful way. Playful was good. Playful was the Savy I knew.

“You can. He knows he’s a goner if he does anything to upset you again.”

“A goner?” Savy and I both asked at once.

He was unmoved. “You don’t want to know.”

“Is this when I discover that the college student thing is just cover, and you’re really in some secret government agency?” Savy laughed.

“You’re laughing now.” He seemed to be trying to hide a smile.

“So what’s it going to be?” I took a step toward Savy. “A sleigh ride together with me?”