Page 83 of Cabin Fever Baby
“Think Ma told me about that place. They had a bad fire last year. Totally rebuilt it and reopened for Halloween.”
Finn whistled. “Impressive. This town doesn’t have typical small-town vibes. They seem to be… I guess, progressive is the word I’d use. Unexpected.”
“Sounds like you’re going to take the job.”
Finn tapped the steering wheel. “I’m seriously thinking about it.”
I understood what my brother meant about the town. The less built-out areas turned into Main Street, where there were typical small-town spots like a local bar called The Spinning Wheel. Then there was Jersey Angel’s sub shop, which gave me a quick twist just because of the name.
A quick flash of Ocean’s smile and angel-bright hair was like a knife in my chest.
I pushed her out of my head as my gaze landed on the wine tasting bar near the opening for a park with a stunning view of the lake. That didn’t seem like any small-town I knew.
Or the shiplap and glass hair salon with the massive wreath over the name To Dye For. That looked like someplace that would be in a high-end shopping plaza. A flash of blond hair had me craning my neck to take a better look, but it wasn’t her.
The blond was a hairdresser, for God’s sake.
Was every blond going to give me a hard moment?
Finn pulled up next to a gift shop called Every Line A Story. “Maybe this will be more personal. Though I still don’t know what to get her.”
I jumped out into the slush and slammed the door. “Only one way to find out.”
The place was slammed with last-minute shoppers. A stunning woman with dark hair manned the counter while another one with pink and teal hair was wrapping gifts.
I elbowed Finn. “You can even get it wrapped.”
“Sweet.”
We picked around the shop. It was heavy on books and crafts, but there were a lot of unique things as well. I ended up getting a crystal decanter for my father’s favorite whiskey while Finn lucked into a pair of vintage hairdresser sheers in a shadow boxthat Ellie could put up at her shop, as well as a stunning hand knit shawl in a cloud-gray color for our mother.
Finn wandered into the coffee table books area, stopping to flip through an architecture book. I fought my way in front of a glass display case of locally crafted jewelry. A snowflake made up of icy aquamarine gems caught my eye.
“Can I get you anything?” The brunette looked a little harried, but her voice didn’t show it.
“The snowflake.”
For Ocean.
I shouldn’t. I didn’t even know if I could make us work, but it had to be hers, no matter what.
“Oh, great choice. The designer is very local. Like in the apartments a few doors down. Hadley McTavish is definitely going places. But we found her first.” She winked. “I’ll get you a box and put it behind the register for when you’re done.”
“Thanks.”
Finn and I fought over who found the Grinch hat, which would be perfect for Christmas Day. Finn, Len, and I usually took turns passing out the gifts on Christmas morning.
In the end, I let my brother have it. It would be worth the photos of him in the hat.
As we were waiting in line, we both found a few other trinkets for Cara and Faith for their stockings. All of us pitched in with filling them to bursting since we now had kids to buy for.
It was still kind of crazy that Cal had two kids now. Not to mention the fact that our folks had added Cara to our roster too.
Three hundred dollars later, we both had two bags full of wrapped presents in tow.
“What was that box at the register?”
“Nothing.”