Page 7 of Naughtying Up St. Nick

“It’s called a moment of weakness,” I reply. “Now, third rule: this ends after New Year’s Day. I’m heading to school in January, and I’m not looking for a relationship right now.”

His cheeks redden. “I never thought you were.”

“I know. I just want to make sure we’re clear.”

He looks like he wants to say more, but instead he asks, “Where are you going to school at?”

“UCLA.” I wait for him to ask why I waited so late, or if the cheating issue in freshman year had anything to do with it.

Cal doesn’t ask anything like that. His eyes light up, and a grin breaks out across his face. “I live thirty minutes outside of LA.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, I’m going to grad school there.” He clears his throat suddenly. “Not that I’m suggesting we be friends or anything. But it would be nice to know someone there. My best friend Min is going to school in Arizona when I start at UCLA.”

I frown. “The ground rules never stated that we couldn’t be friends.”

As the words leave my mouth, I know I should take them back. Because I know that despite my best intentions and all my rules, I’m going to find it hard to walk away from Calvin. In high school, he was the one guy I wanted but couldn’t have. And now that there’s the promise of being with him, I don’t know if I can let go of that.

Except…I’ll have to. Cal isn’t looking for anything serious either. Not with me anyway. He said he felt comfortable around me, and that’s what he wants. Someone to help him recover from what happened with that prick he was seeing. Once he’s done that, he’ll move on from me just like everyone else does.

Five

Calvin

The next day at work is a blur. I don’t remember getting dressed up in the Santa suit or even going out there and sitting in the red chair again. I try to tune in when the kids start coming in to talk to me. They wait so long for a chance, the least I can do is be present when they do.

But I can’t stop my gaze from roaming the village to look for Harlow. When he said he worked behind the scenes, he really meant it. I only see him once before my lunch break, and that’s just a fleeting glimpse while he hurried from the front building into the sugar palace playground.

“A kid got stuck at the top of the slide,” one of the elves—a pretty girl named Aubrey—tells me as we head to the office in the back to grab some food.

“And they had to get Harlow for that?” As soon as we’re safely in the office and away from the eyes of the kids, I ditch the beard and hat and wig so I can breathe a little easier.

“Um…” Aubrey’s gaze flicks to the door, making sure we’re alone, before she leans a little closer and lowers her voice. “The woman who’s in charge this year? Jacklyn? She kind of made everything worse by telling the kid that if he didn’t get down, Santa wouldn’t bring him the toys he asked for because he doesn’t give gifts to bad kids.”

My eyes widen. “Are you serious?”

She nods. “Unfortunately.”

I’m not sure why I’m surprised; it does sound like something Jacklyn would say. I guess I just thought she’d take it easier on little kids. What the hell is she even doing in this place if she’s going to treat them that way?

“We were all hoping Harlow would get put in charge,” Aubrey adds, her voice still mostly a whisper. “He’s so good with the kids.”

He does seem great at this job, and the kids obviously love him. “Do you know why they didn’t put him in charge?”

“No.” She gives me a little shrug. “My best guess is that Jacklyn knew the woman who was in charge before her. Apparently, Jacklyn grew up here.”

“She did,” I say, opening the small pantry to grab a container of Ramen noodles. “I went to high school with her.”

“Hmm.” Aubrey moves around me and pulls an apple from the basket on the counter. “Between you and me, she has no business working with kids.”

I’ve known Jacklyn a long time and don’t really want to say anything negative about her, but Aubrey’s only saying the truth. “She does seem better suited for a different job.”

Aubrey laughs. “I’m going to miss your diplomatic answers when you go back to California.”

“Well, she is better suited for a different job.”

“Yeah, but you could just as easily have said what we’re all thinking: that she’s an entitled brat who shouldn’t be working with kids, especially around the most magical time of the year.”

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