Page 18 of Stuck With My Christmas Crush

“A wizard, huh?”

“Yes.” I sit up tall. “I can sense that you’re skeptical about the world of magic and wizardry, but I can assure you it is very much alive and real… in certain realms.”

“Realms, huh?”

“I think you may have been deprived as a child and missed out on a little fairy magic.” I tuck my feet under Rocko’s warm furry body.

“You could be right.” Jason carefully opens the stove door with the tongs and tosses in a log. Then he settles back into the chair. “It’s going to be a long night.” Jason sighs. “We don’t have TV, so, please, tell me how you got to be a fairy. Is it a calling, like being a doctor or a teacher?Did you get picked out from a lineup? How does it work, Charlie? Enlighten me. Please do.”

“I’m not sure that you are in the right frame of mind to be enlightened.”

“Oh yeah?”

“You’re very closed off, Jason.”

“I am?”

“Uh-huh. If I’m going to share my fairy journey with you, I need to feel that you are not sitting there belittling me and having a laugh at my expense. We may be snowed in together and I fully appreciate you rescuing me, but if I am purely entertainment for you, I will need to charge by the hour.”

“Oh. Alright then.”

“If, however, you are genuinely interested in me, what I do, and my passion. Then, that is different.”

“Got it.”

“Are you sure?”

Jason laughs. “Yes. Charlie... And you’re right. I approached the getting-to-know-you conversation in the wrong way. I apologize. Should we start over, do you think?”

“Yes. That’s a good idea. How about you leave the room and come in again.”

“You want me to leave the room and come in again?”

“That’s right. But with a better attitude.”

“A better attitude?”

“Exactly. If you go out there...” I nod toward the bedroom. “... give yourself a shake, you know, to shake off your negativity, then come back in, and we’ll start over.”

Jason stands and walks out to the corridor. After a beat, he comes back and sits down on the chair again. He’s smiling.

“I can’t quite believe that I just did that.”

“But do you feel less negative?”

“I’m going to say yes to that, Charlie.” Jason settles back into the chair. “So, you’re a professional fairy. That’s unusual. I’ve never met a fairy before. Tell me. How did you get into it?”

“Well, Jason. Thanks for asking. When I was at design school, my friend, Lou, dressed up as a fairy for her niece’s birthday party. She did such a good job that all the parents who were there, booked her to entertain at their kids’ parties. Maybe you don’t know, but parents talk, and word gets around. Pretty soon, she was getting booked out left and right. And she asked me if I wanted to join in with some of the parties. So, I had this fun side hustle that was paying for my studies, and one day, I said to Lou, why don’t we make this our business? We did the math and made a website. That’s when Lou met Calvin. And westarted booking other entertainers and branched out into festivals and parades and even corporate events. Sky’s the limit. I’m mostly doing admin and marketing now, but the run-up to Christmas is our super busy time, so I’ll pull on my wings and get the glitter out.”

“I had no idea.”

“Yeah. We are doing very well. And overall customer satisfaction feedback is a four-point-eight, out of five, average.”

“Well, that is interesting.”

“Thanks. I think so.”

“And you didn’t finish your design degree?”

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