“Urgh, nope. I didn’t know that. I’m going to go now. But promise you’ll call me if you need me.”
“I will. Sunny, are you all right?
No way she was going to put her problems on the woman who was ill.
“I’m fine,” she said in a bright voice. If things weren’t great, just fake it, right?
Because that worked out well for her in the past.
“I’ll call later and check on you. If you change your mind about the soup just let me know,” Sunny told her.
“Thanks. Bye, honey.”
Feeling like she should stay but knowing she couldn’t exactly force Jewel to open her door, Sunny headed back towards her car in the parking lot.
She wasn’t sure if she wanted to stay for Jewel. Or for her.
It was only ten in the morning. She didn’t have to be at work until four. She was supposed to be getting the majority of her Christmas shopping done today. Duke wasn’t big on shopping.
Truth was, neither was Sunny. Not now anyway.
She drove to the closest mall and sat in her car, staring out. People quickly left their cars and rushed towards the doors and the warmth inside. Still, she sat there.
A knot of dread sat in her stomach. She couldn’t move.
Call Duke.
Maybe it would help her nerves. Maybe he’d forbid her to go into the mall on her own.
Either way, she won.
She got out her phone. The call went straight to voicemail. Well, shoot. He’d told her he had something to do today. She wasn’t sure why he’d have his phone off though.
Truth was, Duke was being kind of secretive lately. She wasn’t sure if it was a Christmas thing. Could be he was just trying to keep her gift from her. But it felt like it was more than that. He was working a lot too.
It doesn’t mean anything.
If she didn’t know better, she’d wonder if he had someone else. But this was Duke. He’d never cheat on her.
He loves me.
Right. Time to find some courage and get out of the car and into the mall.
“You can do this, Sunny,” she muttered to herself.
Once she was in the mall, she’d be fine. It was the getting to and from her car that was the issue. That’s why she’d hoped Jewel would come with her. Having someone by her side kept the panic at bay.
She climbed out of the car and locked it.
One step at a time.
She felt her heart race and despite the cool air, sweat gathered on her back. This wasn’t the same mall she’d been at when she was kidnapped by Forrest’s goons so they could use her to get to Betsy.
But her body didn’t seem to care about that fact.
You need to tell Duke about this.
She knew she should. But she’d been hoping it would get magically better.
“Yeah, that’s worked, Sunny,” she muttered to herself as she prepared to race inside. What she needed was Millie’s pepper spray. She should ask her where to get some.
“Go. Now.”
She ran towards the mall, her heart thundering, stomach clenched tight. She slid on a slippery patch of ice and nearly went careening on her ass.
Fudge!
Someone grabbed her arm, hauling her up.
A scream erupted and she turned, ready to fight.
Only to come face to face with Santa.
“Not the real Santa, of course,” she muttered through heaving breaths. It felt as though she’d run a marathon. Her legs trembled, her heart pounded and she swayed, feeling light-headed.
Air. She couldn’t get enough air.
“Easy,” a low gruff voice said. “Breathe.”
To her shock, he placed his glove-clad hand on her chest. But instead of feeling weirded out or uncomfortable, calmness overtook her.
Her breathing slowed. Her heart no longer felt like it was going to leap through her chest.
“Good.”
What a deep voice. She peered up at him, but it was hard to make out anything about him but his eyes, which were a kind of murky blue. Nothing that would stand out. His skin was lightly tanned, a few lines around his eyes although she had a feeling he wasn’t that old.
The way he’d grabbed her, half-lifting her, told her that he was strong despite his round stomach. That could be part of the costume, however.
“Come.”
Seemed he was a man of few words. Maybe he was tired from talking all day to kids. That could be it.
He gently led her into the mall. A few people gave them strange looks, but no one commented.
“Um, thanks for helping me. I appreciate it. But I’m gonna go now.”
“Come.” He tugged her forward.
“I really have to go do my shopping.”
He continued to pull her along.
“I’m meeting a friend. She’ll be looking for me.”
He didn’t reply.
“I have pepper spray in my bag and I’m not afraid of using it.”
Although it seemed kind of wrong to pepper spray Santa.
You don’t even have pepper spray. And he’s not actually Santa.
He led her to a coffee shop. Relief flooded her. He was just being a good Samaritan. Now, she felt really bad about threatening him with pepper spray.
“Want a coffee?” he asked.
“Oh, yes, but I’ll buy it.” It would make her feel better for threatening to pepper spray him. “What would you like?”
“Pumpkin spice latte.”
She ordered while he found a table. People gave him some odd looks but no one approached him. When she had their coffees, she shuffled over to the table he’d snagged.
“For some reason, I didn’t think you’d be a pumpkin spice drinker,” she said as she sat and handed him the large coffee. There was something vaguely familiar about him, but she couldn’t figure it out. And it wasn’t like she could see much of his face with that huge white beard. How was he going to drink a coffee with that on?
He took a big sip. “Don’t get them back home.”
She had to grin at that. “No Starbucks in the North Pole, huh?”
“Nope. And the elves broke my coffee machine.”
She gasped. “How dare they! Although I never realized Santa drank coffee. I thought he’d be a hot cocoa fan.”
“I’m sweet enough. Have you been a good little girl?”
“I’m not so little, but I think I’ve been pretty good.”
“Hmm, only pretty good? Can’t be perfect all the time, I guess.”
Sighing, she looked around. “Sometimes it would be nice to be perfect, don’t you think? To never make mistakes? Never hurt anyone you loved. Never have to keep secrets or tell lies.”
“You hurt someone? Or did someone hurt you?” he asked.
“Neither,” she said. “I know that life can’t be perfect, it’s just a silly dream. You know, I used to be scared of Santa as a kid.”
He raised an eyebrow. They were gray and bushy. Fake? Or was he older than he seemed?
“That so?”
“My mother would tell me that Santa liked to kidnap naughty children and take them to the north pole to use as his slaves. So I was always terrified when I saw Santa in the malls and on TV.”
He stared at her. “That’s an odd thing for your mother to tell you.”
“I know.”
“You know you shouldn’t run on ice, you could hurt yourself.”