He loved her possessiveness and wished it meant more than it probably did.
Carlie ran her tongue over her teeth as if checking for lipstick. “I’ve been calling the ranch, but no one is home.”
He shared a look with Faith—telling her that they knew full well who was calling and they hadn’t answered on purpose. She stifled her laughter with a cough.
“Have you heard about the reindeer sightings in Yellowstone?” Carrie pressed.
Caleb lowered his brow. “That’s strange. Reindeer aren’t native to Yellowstone.”
“I know!” She giggled. “That’s part of the story. How did the reindeer get there? But also—people say it flies.”
He shot his eyebrows up in mock surprise that he hoped came across as real shock. “Flies?”
“Yes! I’d love a quote from a reindeer expert. It could get my story picked up by the network.” Carlie clasped her hands around her microphone in front of her chest and pleaded with him.
Caleb groaned. “I’m not the Nichollas you want—Forest is the one who does interviews.”
She wrinkled her nose—just for a second, but the look of “yuck” was there. Hmm. What had his brother done to make Carlie think that of him? Caleb’s older-brother mentality of needing to pull his brothers out of their scrapes kicked in.
Carlie switched back to being all smiles and happy pleading. “Forest is all the way out at the ranch, and you’re right here. Please?”
He glanced down at Faith to see if she minded.
She nudged his shoulder. “Go on. I’m interested to hear what you have to say about the mysterious reindeer sightings.”
He smirked at her but told Carlie, “Fine.”
She squealed—unprofessionally—and glanced around. “Let’s use Main Street for a backdrop.”
The cameraman grunted.
Carlie positioned herself with a decorated tree behind her, fluffing her hair. “We good, Tom?”
Tom gave her a thumbs-up. She motioned for Caleb to come stand by her. Tom pushed a couple of buttons and then counted down from three before pointing at Carlie.
Carlie’s smile brightened 60 watts. “I’ve tracked down one of Sleigh Bell Country’s resident reindeer experts, Caleb Nichollas, who works with one of the few herds of domesticated reindeer in the nation. Tell me, Caleb, have you ever seen a flying reindeer?”
“Sure I have.” Caleb grinned at Carlie.
She blinked several times and seemed to remember that she was the one who was supposed to ask questions. “Uhhh—when?”
He glanced up as if looking for the memory in the power lines above their heads. “Every Christmas Eve.” He leaned a little closer. “I wait up for Santa.”
She laughed, realizing that he was playing into the Santa story and that debunking flying reindeer would ruin Christmas for her younger viewers. “Have you ever seen one in Yellowstone National Park?”
“I can’t say that I have. But I can see why Yellowstone would be a place a reindeer would want to visit; there’s been a lot of hype about Yellowstone being the first national park a hundred years ago.”
Carlie laughed, though the sound was forced. Caleb felt bad; she was looking for a hard news quote that would get her some notice from the higher-ups, and he was doing his best to keep it light.
He dropped the tongue-in-cheek attitude and got down to business. “The majority of reindeer don’t fly.” He added a wink here. “They aren’t particularly aerodynamic, and of course they don’t have wings. However, we have over a dozen reindeer at the ranch who are trained to pull sleighs. They work well in teams, and eight is an ideal number to have harnessed to a large load because it allows the wrangler to manage personalities.”
“Not all reindeer get along?” Carlie asked, almost in spite of herself.
“No. But the bigger problem is that most all reindeer think they should be in charge. Think of a baseball team: every guy on the bench thinks he’s a starter.”
“So they’re egotistical, then?”
“We prefer the term confident.”
Carlie laughed again, and this time it was a natural sound. “So what do you think about the supposed flying reindeer sightings?”
He rubbed his hand over his beard. “I hope it’s true.” Because then they’d know right were to go find Snowflake as soon as the holiday was over. “It would be a wonderful world to live in if reindeer really did fly.”
Carlie grinned at him. The camera light went off and she threw her arms around Caleb, trapping his arms at his side. “That was perfect. Thank you so much.” She jumped back and waved for Tom to follow her. “We don’t have much time to edit.”
Tom grunted.
Caleb reached for Faith. She sidled up