Page 6 of Santa Loves Curvy Girls

The good news was that Sarah and I were about the same size. The bad news was that this costume probably hadn’t been dry-cleaned since Mom had started working here. And that was ages ago.

I sighed.

There were little kids and families out there who came to experience some Christmas magic today.

I didn’t realize I’d be a part of it when I woke up this morning, but that was life as the oldest daughter of the manager of the Garland Mall. Just last year I’d gotten stuck spraying fake snow on all the shop windows. And the year before that, I had to help dispose of reindeer poop from Santa’s petting zoo. (Goodthing the live animals weren’t coming back this year. That was a mess.”

After making a quick change in the ladies’ room, I checked myself out in the mirror.

My legs didn’t look half bad in this bright green elf skirt and candy-striped tights. As long as you ignored the way the top tugged around my stomach and arms.

And I could certainly do without the little gold bells on the neckline and the pointy hat.

After dabbing on some lip gloss from Mom’s purse and doing the best I could for my hair, I stepped out, ready for a day of corralling kids, watching for line-cutters, and threatening to report rule-breakers to the naughty list.

“Oh, honey, you look adorable!” Mom said. “You’re my hero for stepping in today.”

Before I could chime in, letting her know she owed me a cup of hot cocoa, she was running off again.

I spotted my cookies under some tinsel at the table next to Santa’s armchair. Then I walked over there to rescue them.

“Who put these here?” I said to myself. I made quick work of organizing the table so it didn’t look such a mess.

A few other elves roamed around. One got the line of kids in order. Another one took a seat at the registration table where a couple of moms were waiting to sign their kids up for pictures with Santa.

Mom called the first kid in the line forward. The show was getting started, and I needed to get out of the way. Santa would be here any—

As I spun and attempted to walk in that direction, I hit something hard.

Hard, yet red and soft.

Before I could fall back, he caught me.

“Whoa there,” he said, his voice deep and strong.

He helped me regain my balance.

Bright blue eyes stared down at me. I couldn’t see the rest of his face behind the thick white beard—and the thick white eyebrows too—but I could tell from the way his eyes crinkled that he was smiling.

I froze, unable to form words all of a sudden.

I’d bumped straight into Santa Claus.

4

NICK

For a guy who was supposed to be married to Mrs. Claus, I sure didn’t expect to have a very pretty elf in my arms as part of this gig.

As she got her bearings, I let her go.

“Hi,” she said, still wide-eyed.

“Hi,” I replied. I couldn’t help but smile down at her, noticing her wavy brown hair beneath the red and green striped hat and her pretty ice-blue eyes.

Her hat was on the ground. I picked it up and handed it to her.

“Thanks,” she said, surprise still etched on her face.

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