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“Nothing like that. I don’t know why.” I downed my glass of water, feeling uncomfortable. “Did you hear most of my brothers are either married or engaged?”
“I did. I sent gifts,” she chuckled. “We are so good at being proper, aren’t we?”
“I don’t know what I’d do without Nicole most days,” I agreed. “Kinda pathetic, actually.”
“Tell me about the girl.” She stared into my eyes without blinking. “She’s gotten way under your skin and I like it. You deserve it.”
“There’s no girl. I’m just working a lot and enjoying what I’m doing.” I half-smiled.
“So, why do you keep checking your phone?” She grinned and reached for my cell. “I see your password is still the same. Alright, what do we have here?”
I could have taken the phone from her if I really wanted to, and the fact that I didn’t surprised me. Maybe I did want to talk to someone about it, and not one of my brothers.
“You’re gonna need to explain this. It’s funny, but what?” She handed the phone back.
“In a nutshell, I lost my cell, like I always do,” I chuckled. “Sawyer had me contact it and here we are, having conversations.”
“Nice try Ash. Keep going.”
“I have no idea who the person is. I’m not even positive it’s a female, or what age.” I cringed. “Yikes, I just realized that it could be a kid and I could get in trouble.”
“Nah, you haven’t said anything inappropriate.” She grabbed my hand. “Trust me, it’s a female, and not a kid. She seems to like you, too.”
“She likes the fun banter, that’s for sure, but I can’t get her to give up any other information,” I said. “As you can see, we talk like I’m talking to my cell phone, not a human.”
“Yeah, and it’s adorable. What a cute way to meet.” She still held my hand. “Do you want to meet her in person, or are you afraid?”
“Afraid!” I blurted out. “Ha, I didn’t realize I was afraid until now. I don’t know what to do.”
She picked my cell phone back up and scanned through the conversation. There was a lot of smiling, then she turned the phone toward me.
“What’s this text about a magical elf?”
“Ah geez, why does everyone keep saying that?” I grabbed the phone. “It’s nothing.”
“Nothing, like there’s no girl nothing, or really nothing?” She pushed for an answer. “Because I have all kinds of thoughts going on in my head right now about magical elves.”
“Do you promise not to laugh if I tell you?” I leaned my elbows on the table.
“Ash, you have always been able to trust me. Now spill it.” She leaned on her elbows now, too.
I proceeded to tell her about seeing what looked like an elf in the mall and about the trees being decorated overnight and no one knows who did it. She kept a straight face the whole time, until I finished. Then she let out a deep breath and laughed behind her hands.
“Sorry, I’m not laughing at you. This is amazing. Can I come stay at the mall at night and see if I can see this elf?” she begged. “I’m serious.”
“It’s probably too late. I have a group of Navy Special Ops guys in the mall. They’ll catch who or whatever this is.” I sat back in the chair. “Honestly, I don’t know that I want them to catch it as much as I want to prove I’m not crazy.”
“You have it on camera, so that proves you’re not crazy. So call them off and just let it be a magical mystery,” she said, matter of fact. “Let me come to the mall tonight. We can camp out and have fun.”
“Like I said, it’s too late. They are on the hunt now, as we speak.” I checked my phone. “Stop making that face at me, Lex.”
“Please, please, please,” she begged with praying hands. “You owe me for not coming to my wedding.”
“That’s a low blow,” I pouted. “Okay. Okay, let me see if they found anything yet.”
I messaged Gunner. I didn’t expect anything to have been found in the day with a mall full of people, but I went through the motion of asking. As I thought, nothing. I called him. Texting the request might sound stupid.
“I have an old friend who would really like to come hang at the mall tonight to see the elf.” I held my breath. “I owe her for missing her wedding. It’s still on if you can stay, but we’ll be joining.”
