Christmas at Catoctin Creek by Natalie Keller Reinert

Author:Natalie Keller Reinert [Reinert, Natalie Keller]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Natalie Keller Reinert Books
Published: 2021-11-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter nineteen

Nikki

“I know,” Nikki said. “Mm-hmm. Uh-huh. Well, that’s what I’m telling you. Okay. Thanks, Don.”

She put the phone down and looked at the ceiling. Don down at the park ranger station was deeply annoyed, but that wasn’t on her. And she had enough problems, without borrowing some from everyone else in town. She groaned, rubbing at her side. The muscles in her lower back and side were cramping again, halfway between a backache and a stitch. Nikki felt as if she’d just gone for a long run and gotten herself dehydrated. In fact, now that she really thought about it, it seemed like for the past few days, she couldn’t drink enough water to keep her body happy. She was up all night peeing, and up all day drinking, and still her body craved more, demanded more. She took the glass she’d left on the coffee table and drained it.

Kevin came into the living room with a thick piece of chocolate cake. He set the plate before her. “You look like you could use some chocolate.”

“Kev, you have no idea,” she sighed, leaning forward to snag some icing with a finger. “Thank you. Today was just never-ending. First the media circus coming through, like I was their private catering company. Then the carnival meeting, which admittedly I did to myself, but I do feel better that everyone got the information from one place, instead of letting this damn town play telephone like it usually does. But then the phone starts ringing, right when I think my day is through.” She cleared her throat experimentally; her voice sounded raspy to her. “And do you hear my voice? Do I have a cold or something?”

“You just sound tired, and please don’t take that the wrong way.” Kevin sat down beside her. “The meeting was impressive, by the way. You really pulled everyone together. And at the last minute. It was smart; I heard about six different stories about the carnival on my rounds today. Word sure gets out fast around here.”

“The way Rosemary had gotten all those contracts together, and Nadine was working on funding along with school stuff, we had to just pull the trigger and make sure everyone was on the same page. I couldn’t let the rumor mill give everyone bad information, or we’d have people running in all different directions.” Nikki paused long enough to taste her cake. The rich, creamy frosting seemed to melt on her tongue, an explosion of sugar. “Gosh, I’m glad I’m a good baker.”

“Me, too. So, um, who was that on the phone?”

Nikki laughed. “You waited long enough to ask. Was it killing you?”

“The whole time I was washing the dishes, I was wondering how long before it was okay to ask.”

“Anytime, babe. No secrets here. That was Ranger Don up at the state park. Well, that’s who I called. It was William who called me.” Nikki took another bite of cake. “I was just the messenger in this one, and I made sure I had the story straight from William before I passed it on.

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