Tic-Tac-Mistletoe - N.R. Walker Page 0,66
I can see how much you want to.”
I sighed, but butterflies swarmed my belly at the mention of seeing him. “I’m sure I can wait another two days. The plan was to go up on Friday and spend the weekend for New Year’s.”
“Hamish,” Liv said gently. She patted my hand and met my eyes. “Go.”
I smiled. “Do you think he’d mind?”
“Are you kidding me? Your phone hasn’t stopped pinging and you get that dopey look on your face, and honestly, Haims, I’m sure he misses you too.”
I was on the road twenty minutes later.
I drove up that bloody mountain slower than molasses on a cold day. Cars honked behind me and I gave them the Australian wave as they overtook me, and it took me two hours instead of the ninety minutes it took Ren.
But I made it.
I drove over that cute little bridge into Hartbridge and it felt like coming home. And that was an emotional response I’d have to unpack and pull apart later, but all I could think about was seeing Ren.
It was mid-afternoon and Main Street was just as pretty as I remembered; covered in snow, quaint shopfronts, smiling people. Christmas decorations still adorned the streetlamps and windows.
I pulled up out the front of Hartbridge Hardware and managed to reverse parallel park without any major traffic incidents. My belly was in knots, my hands were shaking, but I pulled on my beanie and got out of the car.
A cute bell chimed above the door when I opened it, and I noticed a few things at once. The first was the size of the shop. It was bigger than it looked from the outside. There were rows of nuts and bolts, axes, hammers, safety gear, chains, and a bunch of stuff I couldn’t name.
The second thing I noticed was the smell.
It was sawdust and oil, or polish, or something . . . It smelled like Ren.
A lady came over to me. She was in her sixties, maybe, with a round kind face and a pretty smile. “Can I help you?”
“Uh, yes.” I tried to think on my feet because I was pretty sure this was Mrs Barton, but I didn’t know what Ren had told her exactly and I didn’t want to throw him under the rainbow coloured bus. “I need a wheel. A caster wheel for a broken suitcase. I was told you might have them here.”
She smiled and tilted her head. She paused for a moment. “You’re Australian,” she murmured. Then she turned to the back of the shop. “Ren? There’s . . .”
Her words trailed off because Ren was walking out. He was carrying some huge box that he slid onto the counter, and he dusted his hands off on his apron, and it was only then he seemed to see me.
I grinned at him. “I heard you can fix a broken suitcase?”
He crossed the floor in three long strides and collected me in a crushing hug. His body, his heat, his smell, his everything just melted away any apprehension I’d had about driving up earlier. “I’ve missed you,” he murmured.
“I missed you too,” I squeaked out. “I know it’s not Friday, but—”
He kissed me into silence, and too bad if there were other customers—Mrs Barton had somehow disappeared—and when he broke the kiss, he hugged me again. Then Chutney was yapping at my leg, so I picked her up and gave her a cuddle, and Ren pulled on my arm leading me over to the counter.
“Mrs Barton, this is Hamish Kenneally. Hamish, Mrs Barton.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said, holding a smiling Chutney to my chest.
She was behind the counter, grinning now, teary-eyed. “I can’t tell you how long it’s been since I’ve waited to meet you. Not you, in particular,” she clarified. “Just someone to make our Ren happy. It’s about time.”
“Oh,” I said, because that wasn’t embarrassing at all.
Ren tucked me into his side, where I fit like a puzzle piece. “Mrs Barton,” he began.
“Why don’t you boys go home,” she said, interrupting whatever it was he was about to say. She looked at the clock. “It’s closing time soon anyway.”
“There’s two hours to go,” Ren tried.
She raised an eyebrow. “Are you saying I’m not capable?”
“No, of course not. Of course you are—”
“Then it’s settled,” she said, smiling victoriously. “And yes, the Bixton’s are picking up their order at four, and Julie Martinez will be in to measure for her new bathroom cabinetry. I know these things.”
Ren sighed, but a smile