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He turns his head to her and nods. ‘Sure.’
‘What’s it like?’
‘What’s what like?’
‘Lapland. Sorry, is that what you call it?’
He nods, pushing himself onto one elbow so he can look at her properly. ‘We just call it the workshop. It’s kind of hard to explain. I guess in some ways it’s like what you see in films. Lots of wood and stuff like that. But that’s just an area of it. It’s been expanded over the years to accommodate extra staff as they were brought in.’
‘How many people work there?’
‘Forty-two including me.’
‘Forty-one people live with you? Seriously?’
‘I’m lucky to have a great team supporting me and what I do. Eve looks after things for me for the most part, leaving me to do all the Santa stuff. She’s been my assistant since the start. I’d be lost without her. It’s a bit much sometimes having that many people living in the same building. That’s why we expanded a few years ago. Everyone has their own space. There’s a cafeteria, gym, games room, cinema. Everything they need to live a normal life.’
‘A normal life, working for Santa,’ she says with a smile.
‘You know all this sounded normal to me, before I met you. Now everything I say about it sounds fucking ridiculous!’
She laughs at the entirely fake hurt look on his face. ‘So sorry, Santa.’
‘Yeah and you can stop that too. It’s Nick. Not Santa. That’s just my job title.’
‘But I love the way you go all defensive when I call you that.’
‘Keep it up and I won’t keep you up until the early hours.’ She peers at him over the rim of her cup, as she takes a sip. The way Nick has been with her so far, means there isn’t a chance he’ll be able to stick to that.
‘How haven't you been found? It can’t be easy to hide all those people.’
‘The entire workshop is underground,’ he mutters, before reaching out to take his own cup off the floor.
‘Are you serious?’
He nods. ‘There’s the house on the surface, with everything else underground. It’s all hidden. While we’re there, we’re all safe. No one can find us.’
‘How did you find so many people to work with you. I’ve been in recruitment for a while. I can’t say I’ve seen anything mentioning working in Santa’s workshop.’
He places his cup back on the ground and grins at her. ‘Yeah, funnily enough we try to stay out of the spotlight whenever we can. Everyone there is just like me. Taken off the streets and given somewhere to call home.’
‘Really?’
He nods. ‘The way I see it, the workshop gave me a second chance. I wasn’t going to survive much longer the way I was going. If I hadn’t taken this job, I’d be dead. If I can offer the same chance to other people who have nothing, people who have no family, no money, no way to save themselves, then it’s a good thing.’
‘That sounds amazing, Nick. You’ve done an amazing thing.’
He shrugs, trying to brush it off.
‘I’m being serious, so take the compliment. What you do, who you are, it’s really special, Nick. There aren’t many people who manage to bring joy to millions of kids all over the world. That’s a great thing.’
He gives her a sad smile. ‘I couldn’t help you though.’
‘Me? What do you mean?’
‘I remember getting a letter from Scarlett O’Neill asking Santa to bring your parents back to life.’
Scarlett stares at Nick for a long time, not quite believing what he just said to her. After her parents died, she’d written one last letter to Santa, pleading for him to bring them back to her. She never told anyone about that letter. Not even her grandparents.
