Page 8 of Naughty Santa

Incredibly enough, Aunt Lydia had somehow fixed the volume on both so that unless she was standing where Jaden was, Paris only heard one or the other, not both. It seemed almost magical.

“That’s incredible,” she murmured, finding herself charmed by it.

“Did you meet the reindeer yet?” Jaden asked.

She shook her head. She didn’t do farm animals, so she wasn’t touching anything that had antlers, alive or dead.

“They’re the second-best thing in the store,” the little boy informed her.

She was relieved. If they were in the store, they were probably decorations, not living animals. As they crossed into the Christmas shop, Paris started to feel guilty about her plans to sell the store. It was obvious Sandy and Jaden loved it. She wondered if she could find buyers who would agree to let Sandy continue working here. Or maybe Sandy could afford to buy it herself.

They passed a wide array of blow-up yard decorations. It appeared Lydia had been the one supplying her neighbors. Then Jaden stopped in front of a display of life-size reindeer statues.

Wow. They were all there. Rudolph and Donner and Blitzen and...

Jaden patted the nose of the lead one. “Hiya, Clint.”

“Clint?”

Jaden looked at her and nodded earnestly. “Yeah. This one is Clint Black. He’s the leader.”

She pointed to the red-nosed reindeer. “Rudolph isn’t the leader?”

Jaden rolled his eyes as if she’d lost her mind. “That’s not Rudolph. That’s Tim McGraw. He’s got a cold.”

“Did you name the reindeer?” Paris was amused by his departure from the traditional reindeer stories.

“Me and Miss Lydia did. She said we could call our reindeer whatever we wanted. That one back there with the red lights around her antlers is Shania Twain. And that one with the chipped hoof is Alan Jackson.”

She followed the direction of his finger and spotted the damaged reindeer. There was a sign around its neck proclaiming it was sold as is with a large discount due to the damage.

“Poor Alan. How did he get hurt?”

Jaden pointed to the lone shopping cart in the Christmas shop. “Millie and Max ran into it with that cart.”

“And Miss Lydia didn’t make them buy it since they damaged it?”

Jaden giggled. “No. On account they don’t got no money. They’re only four.”

Paris grinned. “I see.”

“Anyway, this one next to Tim is Faith and that one is—” Jaden stopped mid-sentence, his eyes going wide. “What’s that?”

She glanced down and noticed Louis had made his way over to us from the Feed and Seed side. “Oh.” Bending down, Paris picked up her sweet bichon. “This is my dog. Louis Vuitton.”

Jaden frowned. “Is he named after a singer too?”

She shook her head. “No. After a fashion designer. He made purses and wallets and watches.”

Jaden was wholly unimpressed. “That’s a weird thing to name your dog.”

She laughed, considering this was coming from a kid who’d tossed a two-hundred-year-old poem to the curb in favor of naming his reindeer after country singers. He basically had the entire Grand Ole Opry roster in the Holly Jolly.

“So who are the others?” she asked.

Jaden petted Faith on the nose, then introduced her to Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith, Martina McBride, and Taylor Swift. Taylor was obviously the little boy’s favorite, which pleased her because Paris was a diehard Swiftie herself. “The Tortured Poet’s Department” had been playing on repeat on her Spotify since the day it dropped.

Paris said hello to each of the reindeer, amused by Jaden’s affection for the statues.

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