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Luke yanked on my hand. “Come on, Mom! It’s my turn next!” I pasted an automatic smile to my lips as I glanced at him, and then it immediately disappeared as I began to search for the shop again.
I tapped the envelopes in my hand as I waited impatiently for the child ahead of us to finish. Santa chuckled, the sound deep and joyful, and for the first time, I looked at him.
The man seated in the big chair had blue eyes that sparkled at the little girl on his lap. He had one hand on her back between her shoulder blades, and the other hand on her knee to keep her balanced. The little girl was talking at superspeed, and I wasn’t sure if Santa was even able to understand half of what she was saying.
When she paused to suck in a breath, he found his spot to jump in and gave an big ole jolly laugh. “Wow, Jill, there sure is a lot on your list. Are you sure you’ve been a good girl this year?”
The little girl nodded dramatically. “Yes, Santa! I’ve been perfect, except when I hid my brother’s hockey stick in the trash can, and the trashmen took it, and when I gave the cat a bath with Mommy’s favorite shampoo, and I told Todd that I’d give him my lunch if he did my homework.” She cocked her head. “Oh, and I don’t always eat my meat. Sometimes I give it to the cat under the table.”
I tuned the little girl out as she rambled on, and I peered at the child’s mother. She was elegant and stylish in knee-high boots, tight jeans, and a glamorous sweater. She was also on her phone, totally ignoring both Santa and her daughter. I was pretty sure her lack of attention might have been the reason the little girl got herself in trouble.
Finally, Santa found a way to get the little girl off his lap, and I saw him shake his head at his elf, who was snickering behind her hand as she approached Luke.
“Hi, there!” the female elf dressed in a cute little green outfit said to Luke. “What’s your name?” She bent over, and Luke grinned.
“Luke McMillian.” I found myself smiling as the elf took Luke’s hand and brought him toward Santa. I glanced at Santa and found his mouth parted as if surprised, and his eyes shifted to me quickly. The surprise in his features seemed to grow, but then he blinked and returned his attention to Luke.
“Luke McMillian, it sure is good to see you, young man. Come on up on Santa’s lap and tell me if you’ve been a good boy this year.”
Luke practically jumped onto Santa’s lap, and I hastily dug into my purse to find my phone so that I could take a picture. I ended up dropping both of the Dear Santa letters, but I did manage to get a shot. When I bent down to pick up the letters, Santa watched me, and I gave him a brief smile before I started looking around at the shops again.
I stepped over to the elf. “Um, do you know where the cocoa store is? It’s been here for years, but it used to be down on the left.”
The elf who looked like she wasn’t more than seventeen years old looked baffled. “Quite a few of the stores have hot cocoa,” she finally replied.
I tried not to frown as I turned back to Santa and found Luke climbing off his lap. “Mom! Santa said he wants to have my Dear Santa letter right now! He said he would take yours too and deliver it to the elves in person.”
My brow popped. “Oh, he did, huh? Well, isn’t that nice of him?” I peered at Santa and found him observing me.
“It would be my pleasure to read over them and make sure that they get fulfilled,” Santa said in a deep jovial voice.
Yeah, I doubted that would happen. Santa stood and stepped forward, and I found myself surprised to see how tall he was. Most men weren’t tall to me since I was five foot ten, so to find a man standing at least six inches taller than me was surprising.
“Mrs. McMillian,” he said huskily, and I wasn’t sure why, but I was oddly aroused by the way he was looking at me. Thoughts of doing dirty things to Santa slipped through my mind, and I chastised myself.
“Um, here.” I handed him the letters quickly and then pulled Luke back by the shoulder.
Santa stared at me for a moment longer. “The cocoa shop that you want is down on the right now. They moved into a bigger storefront.” I frowned. How did he know which one I wanted? He winked. “Santa always knows what you want, Faith.”
Chapter Two
Peter
Santa always knows what he wants too, and right then, it was to ditch the itchy suit and beard and find out why Faith McMillian was back in Merryland. Faith and my best friend, Jeremy, had left town for good when they had graduated from college and moved to New York City so Jeremy could work on Wall Street. His dream since he was old enough to understand what a market was and that you could win big or lose everything in one bad investment.
Jeremy had said he would never come back to this small town, and he hadn’t for twelve years. Why was he back now? While I hadn’t seen Jeremy in years, we traded Christmas cards and the occasional email. I remember when Luke was born, he had sent emails out to everyone he knew, sharing his joy. While the kid was cute, I’d been more interested in the woman holding the baby.
I’d had it bad for Faith all through high school, but she had been with Jeremy since ninth grade. They were the perfect pair—at least to everyone else—voted most likely to celebrate a fiftieth wedding anniversary together, as well as prom king and queen. No one knew that I’d been fascinated with Faith since the eighth grade. It was something that I had buried deep within me, especially after Jeremy made it known that he liked her. When they started dating, I had held off hope that one day I would get my chance. Sadly, that never happened.
It was evident that Faith didn’t recognize me, but it had taken me about two seconds to pull up the last photo I had seen of her from my internal memory banks and put two and two together. I should have said something to her, should have found a way to let her know who I was. Something had stopped me, though.
I looked at the two envelopes and set them beside my chair. At least I could figure out what they wished for this year. Maybe it would give me a clue as to why they were in town. I’d have to reach out to Jeremy tomorrow and see how he was doing.
After I took a seat, the line began to grow, and I happily went from one child to the next while keeping my eye on the passing people to see if Faith and Luke would come by again. Unfortunately, they never did, and when it was time to close down the line, I was quick to grab the two envelopes and bring them with me.
One of the assistants in the Santa Depot helped me get out of my costume and then brought me a plate of food. I sat at Santa’s desk and ate while I skimmed over a few letters left for me. A few times, I glanced to the side at the two envelopes I’d collected myself. Something told me to hold off on opening those until later.
“Busy night tonight, wasn’t it, Peter?” Donna, the manager of the Santa Depot, said as she breezed into the room, her Santa cap askew.
