I opened the gift bag and pulled out the snow globe… the stupid snow globe from my bet with Chris. I barked a laugh, covering my mouth with my hand. “You know we were desperately trying to get rid of this… it was the whole reason you got the gig as an elf here.”
“Oh, I know.” There was a twinkle in Ed’s eye. “I’m old, not deaf. But yesterday morning when you two were ice skating… you looked just like Mr. and Mrs. Claus in this snow globe. I could hear your laugh clean across the park. The only time I ever laughed like that was with Mary Lou. Decades ago when we were in love as teenagers.”
I shook my head. He must be exaggerating. I’d seen Ed around town for years. He never looked outright happy, but did he always look miserable? Oh, my God. Yes. He always looked miserable… until this week.
“I want you to have this snow globe as a reminder,” he said. “A reminder to not end up a grumpy old bugger like me.”
“We’re from different worlds, Chris and me…” I shook my head and a single tear fell onto the top of the domed glass, slipping down the curve.
“Nah, c’mon,” Ed gently hugged me again. “You two aren’t so different. If the Grinch can learn his lesson, then it’s not too late for you. Let’s get you on that float with your Mr. Claus.”
I still wasn’t so sure… but Ed had thawed my heart, just a little.
I wasn’t sure what to feel as I approached our float in the parade. From behind, I could see Chris sitting, dressed in his Santa costume, the back of his white wig peeking over top of the red velvet chair.
My heart slammed in my chest. I didn’t want this to be goodbye. I didn’t want us to be from two different worlds with irreconcilable differences. More than anything, I wanted to make it work. I looked down at the gift bag from Ed where the snow globe was sticking out.
“Chris?” I hopped up on the float, my heart pounding in my chest.
Santa popped to his feet at the sound of my voice… or rather, Santa popped to her feet. It wasn’t Chris in that costume. It was Mallery.
“Avery!” she cried. “What are you doing here?”
“What am I doing here? What are you doing here?”
“Chris said you weren’t feeling well and probably wouldn’t make it to the parade today.”
I gulped. “He said that?”
“Was it too much celebrating?” Mallery leaned in, whispering. “You left so early last night, we were all bummed we didn’t get to toast to your new promotion.”
Oh, yeah. In that horrible fight last night, Chris said something about a promotion… a raise.
“This is huge,” Mallery said. “You’re the first board member to ever come up the ranks having worked as a manager in a store first.” She paused, rolling her eyes. “Well, I guess Chris and I worked in the stores, but that was different. Those were really just summer jobs during college.”
Fog enveloped my brain. “I’m sorry… what did you just say?”
She paused, looking at me like I had sprouted elf ears. “Uh… summer jobs?”
“No… the part about me being a board member?”
“Chris nominated you last night and the board voted last night to make you an official member. Plus, you’re heading up our new non-profit division.” She paused, taking my hand in hers. “Are you okay? Did you… not know any of this?”
I shook my head, trying to clear out the fuzziness. “But Helena…”
Mallery rolled her eyes. “Oh, she made some flimsy attempt to get herself onto the board by convincing Tristan to nominate her last night, but it was quickly voted down. We all saw right through that stunt as easily as we could see through her dress. That girl has never held down a real job in her entire life. As hard as she’s tried to squeeze her way into this family, she’ll never fit in.”
I clamped my eyes shut. Oh, God. I had to ask… I had to know. “Mallery, last night… when you were talking about someone being dressed inappropriately, did you mean…”
“Helena. Of course. Her dress was so low cut, her boobs were nearly dipping into her salad,” she whispered, then waved at some families walking by the parked float.
My stomach sank. “I’ve made a horrible mistake,” I said. “Where’s Chris? Why isn’t he here as Santa?”
“I’m just filling in for the parade. He said he’d be back in time for the meet and greet at the store.”
“I need to find him now. Do you know where he is?”
She pulled open her phone and tapped on his name under text messages. “He said he had to deliver the store’s presents to the group home. Do you know where that is?”
My heart squeezed. “Of course.” I blinked as a tear slipped out of my eye. “Of course that’s where he went. We’re not so different.”
I spun to run down the stairs off of the float and came face to face with Ed. He was beaming. “When you get there, be sure to look at the bottom of that gift bag! Might be something useful in there for you!”
I leaned down and gave Ed a quick kiss on the cheek before Kringle and I took off running for my car.
Chapter 24
Chris
“Ho, ho, ho!” I gave my best deep, belly laugh for the kids. A few of them squealed in joy at the sound of my voice. The group home wasn’t too far outside of Maple Grove. And with the help of my mom and dad, it was easy to load up the toys through the back door of the loading dock and storage room to bring them over without entering the store or bothering Avery.
She clearly wasn’t ready to talk yet, though I had left her a letter on her desk and dozens of voicemails trying to explain what I thought happened last night. Though it seemed there were other things said to her all night that I was completely unaware of.
My dad sat at the back of the room, his crutches balanced against the wall behind him and his leg propped up on some pillows. My mom had warned him that if he even tried to get up and help, she’d give him a second broken ankle to match the first.
Mom leaned into the large red bag of presents and pulled out three boxes tied together with ribbon. I remembered wrapping this one specifically, then handing it to Avery to secure the three gifts together. This sweet kid had asked for warm socks and a new pair of jeans. I couldn’t bear to watch him open a solely practical gift, so I had bought him another gift myself—a transforming RoboBear. This year’s hottest toy. We even had carried it at our StoryBook locations, as we do every year with the projected ‘hot toy.’
Mom handed me the gifts and beneath her breath whispered, “I thought I taught you better than this. Look at this pitiful bow.”
I smiled, biting my lip to keep from outwardly laughing. “That’s not me. That was Avery,” I whispered, suppressing my bouncing laugh at the world’s worst Christmas bow. For a girl who loves Christmas, she really needed to learn how to wrap a damn present.
“Well, we’ve got to teach your girl how to tie a proper bow.”
My girl. The words stuck to me like wadded gum. If only she was mine. I wanted to be the type of person who fought until my last breath to win her back, but this was her choice as much as mine. Even if her choice was no. But I had to make sure she knew the whole truth… then, she could make the choice that best suited her.