Page 54 of Daycare Santa

Gina leaned against the wall, wondering if she could stop Zack en route. What had possessed her to call him when she was in the middle of a disaster?

Seya.Her sister was the one responsible for that moment of madness, but Gina couldn’t put off speaking with him any longer. Not if she expected to have a good Christmas holiday. Zack was on his way over while she had her entire work life to rearrange.

She reached for the phone in her pocket. If he wasn’t here yet, she might be able to stop him before he arrived. She speed-dialed his number, and he picked up after the second ring, as though he’d been waiting for the call.

“Hey, this may be inconvenient, but can you take a rain check on that conversation I wanted to have?”

“Sorry.” Zack sounded crisp and clear as he walked through the door. “I’m here already.”

Her face fell before she could mask her disappointment. He was a full fifteen minutes early.

Zack didn’t take his eyes off her as he ended the call. “What’s the problem? You look like the Grinch made off with Christmas.”

Her wan attempt at a smile matched her ragged emotions. “Trust me, it seems like that’s exactly what’s happened.”

He glanced around, taking in the empty boxes stacked in one corner of the room. “You’re moving?”

“Against my will,” she said.

Zack’s eyebrows peaked, and his attention returned to the cartons. “Now?”

Hot tears burned her eyes and Gina wanted to do nothing more than walk into Zack’s arms and have him close them around her, but that wasn’t an option. Her tears would carry in her voice, so she nodded, but didn’t speak.

“You want to tell me what happened?”

She pulled in a breath, cleared her throat, then laid out the situation in a few sentences.

Zack bounced on the balls of his feet with both hands in his pockets. “This is what you didn’t want to tell me last week?”

She nodded to avoid talking.

After a stretch of uneasy silence, Zack gazed at the seven-foot synthetic Christmas tree on the other side of the foyer, then focused on her. “You’re a tough nut to crack, you know that?”

She didn’t want to laugh, but Zack had the weird ability to lift her spirit and make her heart sing. Even with a less than complimentary remark, like the one he’d just made.

“I don’t appreciate you referring to me withnutin the same sentence.”

“Oh, I believe you’re a nut. A fierce independent one, who would rather die than let other people in.”

Her breath hitched, and she mirrored his stance, except for the defensive folding of both arms across her chest. Although she wanted to devour him with her eyes, Gina stared at her sneakers. Better that than have him think she missed him. Now that he was here, she couldn’t lie to herself. She was happy to see him. In fact, ecstatic.

His Clarks and the bottom of his jeans came into her line of sight, and when she raised her head, he murmured, “I’d hug you, but you might throw a fit, so I won’t.”

She surprised herself when she smiled. “Why would you think that? A quick one wouldn’t hurt.”

Before she drew her next breath, Zack pulled her close. “I was never one to miss a good opportunity. Come here.”

Gina hugged him back, her nose pressed into his navy polo. He smelled of vanilla, citrus, and musk. His soft beard caressed her forehead and she would have stayed locked in his embrace all day, except she had people coming and going. Any moment, someone would interrupt them.

As though wired to the same frequency, they stepped away from each other.

Zack pressed a kiss to her forehead, then asked, “How can I help?”

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