Tic-Tac-Mistletoe - N.R. Walker Page 0,33
Eve.”
“I know,” Ren said. “I can drive you. I said I would if need be.”
“I can’t ask you to do that.”
“Honestly, Hamish. It’s really not that far. And it’s not like I have anything else to do. I haven’t been to Mossley in a while, and it’s a nice drive. I’ll take Chutney and we’ll have a Christmas Eve adventure.”
“Or,” I hedged. “You could have Christmas with us? Liv asked me to ask you. She said to bring Chutney, and there’s enough food so it’s no imposition. I told her you might think it’s weird so it’s totally fine if you’d rather not. But if you’re driving me, you’ll already be there. If it gets weird for you or you’d just rather go home, you can, no questions asked. I mean, I’d be disappointed, but I’d understand. I would totally get it. And honestly, I don’t know if you’ll get a word in edgewise with me and Liv. We have a lot of catching up to do and we’re both talkers.”
My phone rang in my hand, and I groaned at being interrupted again. “No one even knows me in this country,” I said, answering the call. “Hello?”
It was the car rental company, filling me in on what Ren had just told me. I sat on the couch by the fire as I sorted out the particulars, and I explained there was now no point in me getting a rental car because I was stuck forty-five miles from where I was supposed to be and I was reliant on the kindness of handsome strangers to put me up and drive me around. And said handsome stranger just offered to drive me to my sister’s place so any prospective rental car after Christmas would be redundant because I would already be at my destination.
Ren sat on the couch opposite me and smiled, seemingly amused at my phone voice. You know the professional phone voice that’s different to your everyday voice? Especially in my line of work, I had to speak with a certain authority and confidence. I was clear and concise with the guy on the phone, reminding him of his contractual obligations, but at the end of the day, the rental company’s policies weren’t his fault, so I didn’t want to take it out on him. When the call was over, I slid my phone onto the coffee table and groaned. “So frustrating.”
“You got it all squared away?”
“Yeah, I think so. But their policy sucks. What if I’d been some little old sweet lady who didn’t have a kind stranger come to her rescue? And she had to find a motel that had a vacancy for Christmas, maybe she couldn’t afford a few nights at a motel. I don’t want them to compensate me for anything. I just want Robert to be paid for his work, and I want them to sort out returning the vehicle to a rental depot. But what if that little old grandma didn’t understand her rights? They’d have put all this back on her.”
Ren was still smiling. “Your ‘I mean business’ voice means business.”
I laughed. “In my job, confidence is half the battle. Knowing your stuff is the other half. And I read through the terms and conditions before I signed. Made the people in line behind me really happy.”
He chuckled. “I bet it did.”
I shrugged. “I can’t help it. I’m very thorough. Do you know how many people never read the terms and conditions on anything they sign?”
Ren made a face. “Uh, maybe . . .”
“Oh my God, you’re one of those people.”
He laughed at my outright indignation. “I will read the bank stuff and generally anything work-related. But who in their right mind would read the Apple or iTunes terms and conditions? No one reads those.”
“Uh . . .”
“Oh my God, you’re one of those people.”
Now it was my turn to laugh. “Did you find what you are rifling through the pantry for?”
Ren glanced at the kitchen. “Oh yeah, I thought if we were going to bake cookies, I should look to see if I have all the ingredients.”
I grinned at him. “What are your favourite kind to bake?” Then I put my hand up. “And I just want to say, if you prefer raisins over choc chips, we can’t be friends anymore.”
He laughed again. “Chocolate chip all the way. Though Mrs Barton makes these raisin and date cookies drizzled with chocolate, and I don’t know what kind of wizardry goes on in her