“Perfect. My mom is about that size, and she has several pair you can try on. I’m sure one will fit. She also has some ski gear—hats, gloves, the works—whatever you need. Come on.”
Luke was already heading out of the kitchen.
Riley stood up but hesitated. “Luke, I can’t wear your mom’s clothes. Can’t we just run into town and I can buy something there?”
“You’re not even going to make it out the door in those shoes you’re wearing. I’ll just grab you some stuff of my mom’s. You wouldn’t believe how much stuff she has, and she loans it out to the guests all the time. It’s like her own store of winter clothes. She would insist, and so do I. I can’t have you going out in that,” he said, pointing at her outfit, “and breaking your neck or getting frostbite. Then who would host the Christmas Camp?”
When Comet barked and wagged his tail, she saw that she was outnumbered.
“Okay,” she said reluctantly. “But I’m only going to borrow the boots. I’m fine with this outfit to get us to town.”
Luke shook his head. “You’re going to need a good coat, hat, and gloves, at least. Trust me. I know what I’m talking about.”
As he started to leave the kitchen, Riley doubted she would ever trust him. She wasn’t exactly the trusting type. She preferred to rely on herself.
He turned around and saw her still standing there. “You coming?”
She took a deep breath. “Coming.”
Chapter Fifteen
A few minutes later, wearing Luke’s mom’s borrowed winter gear, Riley stood in her room, staring at herself in the mirror.
“You’ve got to be kidding me . . .” was all she could say.
When she looked over at Comet, who had followed her into her room, even he appeared to be laughing at her.
He was lying down on the floor by the fireplace and had covered his face with his paws.
“Even you can’t look at me,” she said, exasperated.
When she turned back to the mirror, her mind tried to process what she was seeing.
Luke had brought her a box of his mom’s clothes and two pairs of boots to choose from.
Riley had been stunned to find that the items inside the box looked like his mom had raided a Christmas-themed store. Every single thing she had to choose from screamed Christmas.
She took everything out and decided there wasn’t one thing she could possibly wear. She was putting everything back inside the box to give back to Luke when he knocked on her door.
“Everything okay in there?” he asked.
Riley had no words . . . “Uh, I’m fine.”
Fine. She laughed at her own words. Fine if she were in a Christmas insane asylum. Fine if she were ten years old in a Christmas play. Fine if she were in an episode of Christmas Horror Stories. She didn’t know if Christmas Horror Stories was a real thing, but if it was, she was sure she could star in the show.
“Is there anything else you need?” Luke asked, interrupting her pity party. “My mom has everything.”
“I can see that.” Riley cringed as she picked up a red scarf that had snowmen on it. “Does she have anything that’s not Christmas themed?” she asked hopefully.
She could hear Luke’s deep, rich laugh though the door.
“Christmas Camp is Christmas-themed, so you want to look the part, right?”
“Right,” Riley said as she picked up a Christmas sweater that would have won any ugly sweater contest. It had a giant reindeer face on it. Its antlers had long tufts of fur sticking out of them and the reindeer’s pink tongue moved from side to side. The rest of the sweater was covered in reindeer tails that were hanging off the front, the back, and even the sleeves.
“Okay, great,” Luke said. “I’ll go start the truck so it’s warmed up when you’re ready.”
“Thanks,” Riley said, realizing she was no closer to deciding what to wear.
She picked up a red-and-white stocking cap that had elf ears attached to it and whispered to herself, “Kill me now.”
When Comet barked at her, she quickly put the hat down. “I agree,” she said. “We’re definitely not wearing this one. So what’s it’s going to be? What won’t get me arrested for looking Christmas crazy?”
Comet put his nose in the box and came out with a red hat in his mouth. He dropped it at her feet.
“This is your pick?” she asked Comet, laughing.
She grabbed the hat and checked it out. Actually, she thought, it wasn’t that bad. It was a red knit hat with a white faux-fur snowball on the top. The snowball was pretty huge, but thankfully, there were no elf ears.
She gave Comet an appreciative look. “Okay. What else ya got?”
Comet trotted over to an emerald-green sweater that had fallen to the floor, grabbed it, and brought it over to her.
Riley laughed as she gently took the sweater from him. It had a Santa Claus on the front who was going down a chimney with a bag of toys. A teddy bear and a tiny toy soldier were dangling from the bag.
Riley laughed. It was another contender for the ugly sweater contest, but at least it wasn’t covered in reindeer tails. She didn’t even want to know what the little brown specks were underneath all the reindeer tails.
“You’re right, Comet,” Riley said, holding the sweater up. “This appears to be the best of the worst.”
When Comet barked his approval, Riley knew she had a winner.
“Now, which boots?” she asked.
She modeled her left foot, where she was wearing all-white, furry, knee-high boot that looked like it belonged to the Abominable Snowman.
Comet barked.
“Or this one?” she asked. This time she held up her right foot, where she was wearing another knee-high snow boot, only this one was all black and looked suspiciously like something Santa would wear—a stylish Santa because it had a white fur trim and sparkling gold, crisscrossing shoelaces that had big,
