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“With you by his side, I’m sure he will make it through. You’ll just have to distract him in the best way possible,” I say with a wink.
“That won’t be a problem,” she smiles back.
“Finally,” Leia whispers.
My heart rate spikes as I assume she must be talking about Mike, but when Krista and I both look over to where she is staring, it's Emily and her family standing in the doorway.
I let out a sigh of relief, but yet my heart pangs with a feeling I can’t describe. Is it disappointment?
I shake off the feelings of war raging inside me as we walk over to them giving hugs and greetings. The boys immediately take off running, and for being a little over a year old, they are fast. Jake quickly grabs them both and takes them over to the kids’ area, while we get Emily something to drink.
“You look gorgeous, Emily,” I tell her.
“Do I really? It was a rush job. The boys didn’t want to cooperate, hence the reason we are late. I’m so sorry,” Emily says apologetically.
“You are right on time,” Leia tells her. “Santa should be arriving soon, and then that will be more excitement for the kids,” she says with a laugh as Emily groans.
Jake comes back over to us. “Okay, I think I have the boys occupied at least for the next five minutes,” he says exasperated.
“I told you they would be handfuls,” Krista tells them both with a smile.
“You did say that, didn’t you?” Emily glares at her.
Krista shrugs her shoulders. “You should have expected it, they are boys,” I say, lifting my glass to cover the grin forming on my face.
Emily turns her glare on me, and I can’t help the laugh that escapes me, causing Krista to laugh as well.
All of a sudden, the room fills with sounds of sleigh bells, and Leia calls out in excitement, “I think Santa is here.”
ChapterFive
MIKE
Ican’t believe I allowed my sister to talk me into wearing this stupid costume. What the hell was I thinking?I think to myself as I look at it.
“It will be fine, and you will make so many kids happy,” Leia says, pulling me from my thoughts.
I look over at her and see the huge smile plastered on her face with excitement shining in her eyes.
“You are so lucky you are my sister, and I love you,” I tell her gruffly.
“You are going to have so much fun, I know it,” she beams at me. “Now I need to get back out to the guests, are you going to be okay putting this on yourself?”
“Of course. It’s not rocket science,” I mumble.
“Don’t be so grouchy, you don’t want to scare the kids away. Remember, this is a charity event for the children’s wing,” she tells me.
“I will be fine, now go check on your guests. I still have plenty of time to get in this costume. By the way, what is that smell?”
“Seems the kitchen isn’t ventilated very well, and the chef is having issues with the temperature of the equipment, so some of the food is burning more so than others, but they promised me they would not serve any guest something burnt, let’s hope they keep that promise,” she tells me biting her lip.
“I’m sure it will be fine, and hopefully the chef knows what he’s doing,” I tell her to calm her down.
“You are right, and it’s only for a few hours. It will be fine,” she says, more to herself than to me.
When she walks out, I sigh deeply, while looking at the costume. “At least she cleaned it,” I mumble.
I decide to wait before putting it on, and I walk out of the room, into the darkened hallway to take in the scene of the venue. My eyes flit to where Leia is walking toward the entrance, and then my breath catches as I see her, Riley.
