walked into a room, it was like he took over, and she had a hard time focusing on something besides him. Having him in her house—gulp—was like opening the door and inviting an avalanche inside.
Her plan was to soldier through and pretend he wasn’t there. She had things to get done, dinner to make and such. Besides, he was here to watch over Rudy; it wasn’t like he was going to follow her around all night.
They walked through the door that let them into the living room.
“I can’t stay here,” Caleb announced.
She spun on him, wondering if he felt the same electrical current she’d been fighting. Except for when she’d been doing Rudy’s surgery, the draw was always there. Even during the surgery, she couldn’t block Caleb out completely, but she had put her attraction to him on a back shelf, where it politely waited for her to save the reindeer’s sight before it jumped up and refused to go back.
“What do you mean?” Admitting her feelings never came easy. However, emotions were building up inside of her, and if he said something first, she’d burst like a dam.
“You don’t have a Christmas tree.”
Her brain took a minute to turn around what he’d said, line it up against what she’d expected, and make sense of it. “So?” was her intelligent response. But really, she’d been thinking about having time and space with just Caleb—no reindeer, no family—and he was worried she didn’t have a tree?
He crossed to the fireplace, where the logs she’d thrown on that morning to take the chill out of the air had died down to red, winking embers. “Not even a stocking hung by the chimney with care.” He pulled out his phone. “We have to fix this.”
A sense that the carefully crafted control she’d been hanging onto was slipping away made her panic. “What are you doing?”
“Calling in reinforcements.” He winked. “Mom? We need a jolly elf at the Doc’s place—stat.”
Faith’s mouth fell open, and she snapped it shut. “We don’t need any such thing. I don’t do Christmas trees or stockings.”
“Why not?” He turned back to his phone. “Sounds great. See you soon. Bye.”
She scowled. “That’s none of your business.”
His face softened, and he stepped closer. “I’d sure like to know, though.”
She sighed with all the longsuffering sound she could manage. This man tested her in ways she didn’t anticipate. “Because I don’t believe in Santa. So what’s the point?”
“A tree doesn’t represent Santa.”
She balked—expecting a different answer. “Yes, it does. That’s where he leaves gifts.”
Caleb shook his head. “The tree represents eternal life with God. The gifts represent Christ and His gift to us.” He stepped closer. “Christmas isn’t about Santa.”
She folded her arms. “Says the man who’s playing Santa in the parade.”
He rubbed his lips together, drawing her attention to them. Shoot. Was she looking at his mouth? She yanked her eyes over to the plaid couch with the red blanket thrown over the corner.
“Let’s at least put up some decorations. The place could use a little cheer.”
Faith scowled at the drab tan carpet and the bare walls. Dad wasn’t much of an interior decorator—being a bachelor, he was missing the kinds of things that softened a home. The sparsity worked for her, though, in that it allowed her to think of this place as temporary. She shook her head. “No decorations.” Caleb opened his mouth to argue, but she cut him off. “My house, my rules.”
His eyes danced. “But it’s not really your house, is it?” He walked around her to the hallway, where he dropped his bag inside the door to the guest bedroom. Faith was in her old room, which Dad had updated as she grew—not that she’d ever spent a night here. Still, she’d been touched to find the space had a coat of lavender paint on the walls and the headboard and dresser had been painted off-white. Those had been her favorite colors when she’d graduated high school. His efforts were a testament to his hope that she’d come work with him one day, and they softened her heart toward her Dad and added proof to his statement that he’d always wanted her.
Caleb clapped his hands together and then rubbed them brusquely. “If I were Doc, where would I store Christmas decorations?” He glanced above her head and broke into a smile. “Aha!”
Faith glanced up to see the attic pull dangling above her. “Oh no. We are not going up there. I’ve heard feet scampering across the