One Tough Christmas Cookie - Lucy McConnell Page 0,23
“How’d that happen?”
She sighed. “I think the girls had something to do with it. But if Snowflake had any sense, she would have stuck close to a food source.”
“That’s the problem with being able to fly: the whole world is a food source. Jeez, Stella, she could be anywhere.” He shoved his hand through his hair.
Pax glanced at him and pressed on the gas. “Family meeting,” he muttered just loud enough for Caleb to hear.
“Sound the alarm,” Caleb responded.
Pax got on his phone and typed out a quick text while he drove through the field. If they’d been on the road, he never would have texted, but bouncing through a wide-open plane with the herd behind them was different. Caleb’s phone beeped, and Pax tucked his phone back into his coat’s chest pocket.
“Listen, I got a lot going on this year …” Stella said. “Any chance you all could send a rescue sleigh?”
“I get it, princess. But we’re out of reindeer. Can someone from the North Pole come down?”
“They’re swamped with pre-Christmas tasks.”
His gut clenched. Of course they were. It was December, after all. “I hate leaving you stranded. We’ll have to send someone up there to find Snowflake if you need a ride. We can be there in a couple of days.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’ve got skills. Just take care of Snowflake.”
“Will do. Be safe.” They said goodbye and hung up. Caleb snatched his hat off the dash and shoved it down on his head. “I can’t believe she lost our reindeer.”
Pax grunted and laughed at the same time—it came out as a strangled sound. He couldn’t be happy about Snowflake loose in the wilds any more than Caleb was, but he handled it better. “That’s Stella.”
His assessment had Caleb shaking his head, bemused. “That girl gets herself into a fix on a monthly basis.”
“That’s part of her charm.” Pax stopped at the gate, and Caleb rushed out to open it for him and then close it after the truck drove through. He climbed back in and found Pax on the phone saying, “Don’t snap at me; I’m just asking.” He rolled his eyes at Caleb.
Caleb furrowed his brow in question, and Pax whispered, “North Pole.”
Caleb settled back to listen in. Whatever was going on had Pax’s face scrunching together.
“Listen, Frost—”
Caleb balked at his tone. Frost was the quiet Kringle, the bookworm, the one who never got cross with anyone or anything, and yet Pax was cutting into the conversation like he’d done that time he’d been accused of stealing a candy bar at the grocery store. He hadn’t taken any candy—they’d searched his pockets and came up empty-handed. The clerk had been new to town and had a chip on her shoulder. She’d moved away not long after that.
“—we didn’t make Dunder sick; he came that way.” Pax pinched the bridge of his nose. “I just need you to let us know if any of the reindeer up there have symptoms. Thank you.” He clicked off and tossed the phone on the seat. “What flew up her chimney this year?”
Caleb shook his head. “They all seemed off. Robyn wasn’t her normal cheery self when they brought Dunder in. I thought it was because she was worried, but maybe there’s more to it.”
“They’ve all nuts for the last four years, if you ask me,” Pax mumbled.
Caleb silently agreed with him. The Kringle women were all over the place. They’d been pretty tight-lipped about it, but Dad said that Harvey Kringle had told him Christmas Magic was behaving strangely and they were trying to get it to even out. Apparently, that was stressful for everyone—even mild-mannered Frost.
They drove over to the house, where trucks were packed into the parking area. “Looks like everyone’s here,” Pax noted.
“Great. This should be fun.” Caleb shoved out of the vehicle and hunched his shoulders against the cold. Walking into the house was like walking into an oven compared to the temperature outside. He shed his coat and gloves and made his way to the family room, where everyone waited for the family meeting to begin.
Mom and Dad sat in their chairs by the fireplace. Neither was a rocker, thank goodness, Caleb wasn’t sure he was ready for his parents to be that old. Next to Mom’s recliner was a bag of knitting things and a half-finished project. Next to Dad’s was a magazine rack with the latest hunting and fishing periodicals.
Jack, Forest, and Drake sat on the couch in order of lightest hair