White Magic Christmas

Chapter 12: December 6

The Sunday workload at the inn was relatively light, now that all the new guests had arrived and would be staying for at least a week, so after lunch Ivy and Brynn began the hike up the hill to Slate House to see if Shep was there. It occurred to Ivy halfway up that maybe Shep wouldn't be working on a Sunday, but as soon as they crested the rise, they saw his red truck, this time parked right in the front driveway.

Ivy kept an eye out for Tink, since she didn't feel any urge to clean her coat yet again, but no dark shape came bounding toward them. They walked around to the side door where, to Ivy's surprise, she found a second copy of Shep's truck, parked where it had been the other day. Tink sat nearby, tied to the iron downspout and panting with a huge doggy grin on her face.

Brynn jumped back with a shriek.

"It's okay, it's okay! She's an absolute sweetheart." Ivy demonstrated by approaching Tink and offering her a hand to sniff. Instead of sniffing, Tink licked her hand, leaving a trail of slime that coated both hand and coat sleeve. Ivy sighed, but gave Tink an affectionate ear-scratch anyway. Brynn continued to keep her distance.

"We're not seeing double, right?" Ivy asked. "There's an identical red truck in the driveway?"

Brynn glanced around the corner. "Not exactly the same, yeah, but pretty close."

Ivy tried knocking on the door they had used when she'd gotten the tour earlier in the week, but without much hope. If Shep were working in a far corner of the house, he'd never hear the tiny sound.

"Shall we go see?" Ivy asked, only feeling a little illicit as she opened the door.

Brynn apparently echoed her feelings. "Are you sure?"

"No problem," Ivy said more confidently than she felt. "We won't be sneaky. Don't ever give anyone the chance to accuse you of sneakery, unless you really are being sneaky."

They stepped into the dim hallway. Ivy led them along it until they reached the formal entry hall, where she cupped her hands around her mouth and hollered, "HULLOO?" Brynn jumped a little at the noise, which bounces around between the plastered walls and tiled floor.

A moment later, voices that were not simply their own echoes reached them from somewhere above. Two men appeared at the top of the left-hand staircase. They were deep in conversation, and appeared not to have heard Ivy's call. "Hello?" she asked again. Per her advice to Brynn, she really didn't want to take them by surprise.

This time, both men turned to look at them. Shep smiled. "Ivy! Brynn! You made it up!" He came down the stairs toward them and the other man followed.

The stranger wore a very proper black suit and tie, and carried a clipboard in one hand. He had close-cropped gray hair and a very tidy mustache.

"Here for the tour?" he asked Brynn. She nodded, reverting to shyness in the company of a stranger.

"Cam," Shep said, "allow me to introduce you to Ivy and Brynn."

The man - Cam - accepted the hand Ivy held out to him with apparent disinterest.

"Giving tours of the place, are we?" he asked Shep.

"Just returning a little favor," Shep said.

"I don't know that it's appropriate for you to be admitting people into a property which is not yours to show," Cam said.

Ivy stiffened, but Shep shrugged the comment right off. "Ivy is a specialist, and I'm fully authorized to enlist the help of qualified professionals as I deem necessary. And as I said, I owe Brynn a favor, and she needs some info for a school report she has to write."