Page 54 of Love Song, Take Two

In his arms, she felt like she could conquer the world, save the dolphins and attain world peace. And that was enough.

Fletcher

Maybe I have a thing for Santa.

If he’d been okay with his quiet Christmases in the last few years, Fletcher no longer was. Because he was happy to have Micah in his arms every day and excited to teach Emery everything he knew about music. He hadn’t expected how busy he would be. Certainly not as busy as he used to be during their tours. He had been on Santa duty for a week already and he wished that he had all the free time to be with Micah.

Keeping their relationship a secret hadn’t lasted very long, not when he’d seen the sadness in her eyes the day she came into the store to celebrate his birthday. He’d wanted to hold and comfort her, kiss and remind her that no matter how terrible her stutter made her feel, it didn’t take away all the hard work she’d done over the years. And fuck, he loved knowing that she leaned on him during an emotionally trying time.

The first time he’d heard her stutter, Fletcher hadn’t known all that he did now. He didn’t know that she spent her whole childhood tripping over words and being told that if she worked harder, it would go away. Seeing her so sad, pushing through the worry in her heart to celebrate him made Fletcher love her even more.

And I should have been better prepared for these feelings.

Which was why it was bothering him that he hadn’t told her about his other job. Sure, she wasn’t a fan of the holidays, but she didn’t hate it. But he had certainly convinced himself that she would want nothing to do with someone who looked forward to Christmas every year. She’d invited him to spend the holiday with her and Emery, but Micah still only celebrated it because of her daughter. What if she had a negative reaction to his Santa role? What if that was a deal breaker? It was silly to sit in these assumptions when they hadn’t talked about the holidays much.

Every morning, he said he’d tell her and then as the day progressed, he’d forget. It wasn’t like he was keeping a life altering secret, Fletcher didn’t want to lose the two important things in his life over something like this. Then again, not telling her might actually backfire on him. As usual, he let those thoughts and fears fade away as he stepped into his role.

He’d been wandering the Village for over two hours by the time he took his first break—hot cocoa and chocolate chip biscotti to keep up spirits—with his helper elves, Portia and Kyle. The kids had been working at the Village as long as he’d been Santa, but that was their first year working alongside him. In the week since they’d started their routine, Fletcher had also noticed that Kyle had a crush on Portia, who returned the sentiment but was too awkward to do anything about it. He was in the middle of watching them flirt awkwardly when his phone buzzed in his pocket.

Erin

Who’s the girl?

Fletcher

What girl?

Looking around where they were seated at the fountain—he’d taken off his Santa coat and tied up his hair so nobody would approach him during his break—Fletcher frowned and then focused on his phone as another text came from Erin.

Erin

Oh, sorry. Who’s the woman?

Fletcher

Still confused, E.

Of course he now knew who she was talking about, but Fletcher had no idea how Erin knew about Micah. His best friend was a badass lawyer and clearly a super sleuth, because within seconds of his previous text a photograph appeared on his phone.

Erin

The woman in this picture of you taken by some tabloid slime ball.

Fletcher swore under his breath, but zoomed in on the picture—they looked happy. They were coming out of the Mermaid Mart after shopping for yet another cooking session together. Micah was laughing and Fletcher had one arm wrapped around her, while the other hand held onto their shopping cart.

Fuck, she’s beautiful. Takes my breath away.

Fletcher

Her.

The one I thought got away.

Erin

Now your rejection of me makes sense.

Fletcher

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