“Tastes amazing, too,” Tom said gruffly, his eyes on his plate, his cheeks reddening slightly.
My gaze went from him to Mrs. Roop, then back again, my grin widening. It looked like my bus driver might have a little crush on our host. We’d learned last night that her husband had passed away over ten years ago, and Mrs. Roop ran the small bed-and-breakfast on her own.
“Please, call me Glenna,” she said, leaning over Tom’s shoulder to fill his cup with coffee, before looking at me. “Would you like some, Alexander?”
I stiffened but held the smile on my lips. My mother was the only one who had ever called me Alexander. Even my adoptive parents had shortened it to Alex. I wasn’t sure why it bothered me after all these years, but it did. “Actually, if there is any way I could get a cup to go, along with one of those amazing smelling cinnamon rolls, I would appreciate it.”
“No bacon and eggs?” she asked with a frown.
“I’m not that hungry,” I said, ignoring the way my stomach growled just then, calling me a liar. “I need to meet the mechanic at his shop this morning about our bus.”
“Oh, of course!” Mrs. Roop took a step back from the table, giving it one more look, before turning to head toward the kitchen. “Give me just a minute, and I will have you on your way!”
“Noah came by for the keys earlier this morning.” Tom leaned past me to grab a piece of toast. “He should have the bus towed to his shop by now.”
I raised an eyebrow. “That was fast.”
Tom shrugged. “Showed up around seven. Said he has some Christmas gig thing he has to do today. You might want to hurry if you’re gonna catch him before he leaves.”
Standing just moments later, I accepted the large, throwaway coffee mug Mrs. Roop handed me, along with a cinnamon roll that was bigger than my hand. It was warm, just out of the oven, and the frosting was still melting down the sides. I couldn’t resist sitting my coffee down to take a bite, and the table erupted in laughter as I smeared the frosting all over my chin. Chuckling, I grabbed a napkin and wiped it off quickly, then took another bite of the flavor-filled roll.
“I’m sure that’s him, Sarah. It looks just like him.”
The hushed whisper, spoken much more loudly than I was sure the young girl intended, caused the rest of the people sitting at the table to grow quiet. I saw the questioning stares pointed my way, and I grinned. Picking up my coffee, I winked at the twin teenage girls. “It’s our secret.”
They both blushed, but before they could reply, I thanked Mrs. Roop and ran. I finished my breakfast on the way upstairs to grab my leather jacket, then left the bed and breakfast and headed down the street toward the shop Noah had pointed out. It was cold, but not nearly as bad as it was the night before. It had quit snowing, and someone had already been out to scoop the sidewalks and blade the roads. I stopped and took the time to look around and enjoy the small, picturesque town. Inhaling deeply, I let a small smile turn up the corners of my mouth. It was quiet, peaceful, so different from the larger cities I was used to.
After a moment, I continued on to Noah’s shop, wondering what it would be like to live in a town like Santa Claus. To not have to hear the sound of horns honking and people yelling at all hours of the day or run into more than one person just walking down the sidewalk to the nearest coffee shop. Hell, most of the time I couldn’t even take a step outside my condominium complex without being bombarded with camera flashes. Here, there weren’t any cameras in sight. No one was vying for my attention or asking me for autographs. Not yet, anyway.
I debated on knocking on the door when I reached Chase Automotive but ended up just pushing it open and walking inside. I was surprised to see my bus taking up the majority of the large shop area. I knew there wasn’t a chance Noah had the part we needed and was sure he had other things to work on.
Hearing a muted voice toward the back of the building, I headed that way, stopping just outside the door of the small office Noah was in. My eyebrows rose at the sight of the Santa pants he sported, a pair of black suspenders holding them up, along with what looked like a pillow shoved down the front of them.
Noah glanced my way, holding up a hand. His eyes narrowed, his gaze darkening as he said, “You owe me, little sister. If I have to take that piranha out, then you are going to do something for me.” There was silence, and then he said, “Fine, you can wash my truck for a month. Every weekend. And wax it on the third weekend. And don’t forget to clean it out and vacuum the inside.”
I couldn’t help but grin at the expression on his face as I listened to him talk to his sister. It was obvious how much he loved her, and would do anything for her, even take someone he had no interest in seeing out on a date. It made me think of my brother and all the things he’d done for me until he just up and left. Before that, though, we’d been really tight.
“Fine. See you in an hour.” Noah hung up the phone and turned my way, shaking his head. “Damn little sister.” It was said with affection, and his brown eyes were shining with laughter.
“Yeah?’
“Woman needs a favor,” he grumbled, walking past me to make his way over to the bus. “She runs this wedding coordinator business, and I guess the bride and groom getting married tonight forgot to pick up their marriage license.”
“Seriously? Isn’t that one of the most important things to have when getting married?”
Noah chuckled. “You would think. But, since they forgot, Evie is running around like crazy trying to get it so they can still tie the knot tonight.”
“And somehow you got dragged into the situation?”
“Yep. The one person who can get her what she needs, just happens to be her rival from school. The two women have hated each other since they were five years old.”
I looked at him closely, noticing there was no anger on his face, just amusement. “Somehow, I get the feeling that you don’t really think of this date being pushed on you as a hardship.”
“Nope, but I’m not going to tell Evie that. Not when I’m finally getting what I really want but wasn’t allowed to have for years.”
“What’s that?”
“Penelope Harris.”