Page 34 of Architect's Christmas Nanny

“Oh,” she said, letting go immediately. “Sorry about that.”

“You’re fine,” he told her gently, grabbing her hand in his and squeezing it briefly. “We’re only going to top out at about three miles an hour.”

“Thanks,” she whispered.

“Jillian is afraid of heights,” Josie said casually.

“What?” Brad asked sharply.

“How did you know?” Jillian asked her.

“I just know,” Josie said, shrugging. “You always take me on rides and down the water slide, but I can tell you don’t like it.”

“Is that true?” Brad demanded.

Jillian shrugged.

“You put a container garden out on the balcony,” he said in disbelief.

“You said you missed the farm,” she said. “I thought it would be nice to have some greenery around.”

“It was incredibly nice,” he said. “But were you scared every minute you were out there?”

She actually had been, but she shook her head.

“Not really,” she told him, not meetinghis eyes.

“Merry Christmas,” Santa called out to the people standing in front of the Co-op Grocer’s.

Parents and grandparents with children waved back, some of the littlest kids jumping up and down with excitement.

The truck turned out of the parking lot onto Columbia, and Jillian reached instinctively for Brad again. She pulled back at the last moment, but he took her hand in his again and held it firmly.

“You’re okay,” he told her. “We won’t go any faster than this and there are only a few more turns.”

Jillian nodded, and felt relieved when he didn’t let go, even though an older lady with a little boy was giving them both a knowing smile that she was pretty sure Brad wouldn’t like if he noticed it.

“We still need a picture with Santa,” Josie whispered worriedly.

“Don’t worry about that,” Brad whispered back, leaning forward to see past Jillian to his daughter. “I’ve got you covered. We’ll wait until they stop in front of the library, and we’ll just grab a quick selfie.”

“Really?” Josie asked.

“Definitely,” Brad assured her. “I’ve been on this fire engine ride every year since I was a little boy. I know all the places where they stop to wave at everyone. And there are always lots of people in front of the library looking for Christmas trees.”

A local farm donated trees to the fire department each year, and the firefighters took shifts selling trees to raise needed funds to maintain the trucks and safety equipment. It was one of the first things Brad had pointedout when they arrived this morning. Josie was already after him to bring a tree home tonight, and Jillian was pretty sure they would, since it was getting awfully close to Christmas.

The firetruck lurched again and the siren went on, causing the children onboard to cheer. They were on Park Avenue now, heading toward the library.

“Moment of truth,” Brad whispered, looking like he was kind of getting a kick out of their illicit plan. “When the truck stops, Josie make your move and Jillian slide over.”

“Make her move?” Jillian echoed.

But Josie was already sliding out from under her arm and onto Santa’s lap, and Brad was crawling out in front, his phone held out like it was the holy grail.

Jillian slid sideways in the still-moving truck until she was smack against the jolly old saint.

“What the heck?” Santa demanded, looking down at the child in his lap.

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