Page 13 of Her Secret Santa

That’s not going to stop me from giving him a piece of my mind.

“If you can’t be kind, keep your mouth shut,” I hiss out between gritted teeth. “You’reSanta.”

I march back toward the line of children before he has a chance to respond, focusing on the excitement on one of the little girls’ faces instead of my own annoyance. She and her sister look to be twins, barely over six, if I had to guess. They’re both vibrating out of their skin with anticipation. I kneel down in front of them, grinning widely.

“Good evening, young ladies!” I say brightly. “Are you two ready to meet Santa Claus?”

They both babble out a thrilled agreement, taking my hands and letting me lead them down the path toward Santa. I shoot him a warning look as I help the first girl up onto one of his legs, then help the other girl up.

“What do you two want for Christmas?” he asks as I turn away to head toward the camera.

I’m a bit conflicted because this is my first day on the job, but I kind of want to pull him aside once we get off and have a discussion about his behavior. I’m not his manager, and we’re both new, but these are kids we’re dealing with. Would it really kill him to act alittleenthusiastic?

I take the picture and walk the girls back to their parents with a big smile.

“Have a happy Christmas!” I say, holding out a Santa sticker for each of them. “Jack the elf will take you to where you can pick-up your pictures with Santa.”

Jack herds the kids over to the photo booth, and they’re all vibrant childish energy and bouncy curls. I glance at the line, relieved to see it finally dwindling to the last few stragglers. We’re almost done for the day, and I’m exhausted. Even working as a waitress didn’t take this much energy.

The rest of the line goes by smoothly, mostly older children who are being dragged along to this by their parents and are more than happy to speed through the process. I close off the rope lines as Jack leads the last family to pick-up their photos, relieved at the thought of getting off my feet. I only have to be in character for a few more minutes as I make my way to the break room.

Santa is already halfway there by the time I turn to head over myself.

Our break room is down a separate line of ropes, decorated as an entrance to the North Pole.Santadoesn’t seem to like it much, huffing and puffing and looking completely miserable, but I think it’s adorable. I mean, come on, there are little reindeer statues outside. What’s not to love?

It was a long day, for sure, but I really did enjoy it.

Needing some time to relax and blow off steam, my first priority is calling Allie to tell her about my day. I pull my phone from my pocket and call her as I open my locker. The dial tonerings in my ear as I fumble my elf ears and the jacket off before unzipping the shoe covers and stacking everything on the little shelf for easy access tomorrow.

“Allie Mitchell,” she answers, sounding distracted.

“Oh, Ms. Mitchell, have I caught you at a bad time?” I ask playfully.

She makes a small, startled noise on the other end of the line, and I chuckle as I pull my elf jacket off and hang it up. She must have been really absorbed in work if she didn’t even look before picking up my call.

“Clara, babes, sorry,” she says with a laugh. “I didn’t realize it was you. How was your first day?”

“The other elves are all really nice, and I can never complain about working with kids. Certain… other things were really frustrating.” I glance behind me as I pull my backpack out, surprised to see Santa still in full costume even as he gathers his things. I would have expected him to toss it all off as soon as he could, considering his attitude. “What do you say we blow off a little steam? I’ve got a bottle of pinot at my place if you want to come over.”

“I can’t tonight. One of the Hawthorne Mall pieces needs a complete rework,” Allie says apologetically. “But, I do have a surprise for you. Save that bottle for tomorrow night? I can come by after you’re off work.”

“Of course! I should probably go see Brooke and the kids for a bit and make sure they don’t need anything. They all had such a good Thanksgiving yesterday, but I’m sure I can help out somehow. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I look back at Santa one last time as I end the call and slip out of the break room. If he wasn’t such an ass, he’d be really attractive. His eyes are dark, and he’s obviously built beneath the suit now that the fake Santa belly is out of the way. It’sa shame his shitty attitude sours any attraction I might have toward him.

It’s not like it matters, anyway. Like I told Allie, I don’t have time for a relationship.

Eye candy, though? I could use some of that. Maybe he really did just have a bad day today. I can afford to give him the benefit of the doubt and hope he’ll be less of a jerk tomorrow.

Chapter Six

CLARA

“Ijust don't get it!” I whine, leaning against the cracking surface of my kitchen counter.

Allie pours us both a full cup of wine, shrugging her shoulders as she laughs.

“Maybe he just sucks?”

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