Page 86 of Here Comes Santa Paws

Roman, bless him, studied the front porch pillars and then the tree. I knew he’d let me decorate however I wanted, but his opinion mattered to me. As long as it wasn’t his Scroogey “no Christmas decorations” bullshit. Fortunately, he’d left that attitude behind last year.

When we’d driven up to the house to tour it over the summer, Roman’s first comment had been, “The yard’s big enough for the inflatable army of your dreams.”

Roman hummed, pulling me back to the moment. “The pillars. Then you can hang those giant peppermint candy ornaments from the awning.”

“You’re a genius!”

I stretched up to kiss him. His cheeks were red from the November chill, but he’d bundled up and spent the last hour helping me figure out where to put all the new decorations I’d bought. I had a full house to decorate now, not half of one.

Two hours later, after my indecisiveness and Roman’s patience, we stood on the sidewalk to study our accomplishments. There was so much to take in, like the red bows hanging above each window, blinking snowflake lights dangling from tree branches, and Santa’s legs jutting up from the chimney with his reindeer and sleigh to the side. It was everything I’d envisioned when we first set eyes on the ranch-style home a few blocks from our old duplex.

“What do you think?”

Roman wrapped his arm around my shoulders as Tinsel and Nutcracker chased Carol around the inflatable gingerbreadhouse. “About whether they can see our house from the space station? I bet they can.”

I pinched his ass and laughed. “Scrooge.”

“Remind me to send a picture to Warren of the setup when it gets dark. He’ll love this.”

I was so glad that Roman had found his childhood bestie on Facebook earlier this year. They’d quickly resumed their friendship and made up for lost time. We’d had enough video chats with Warren and his partner that we’d decided to fly out to visit them in Dahlia Springs this summer. I couldn’t wait. I’d always wanted to visit Oregon.

“Though as we’re seeing it all together, it feels like something is missing.”

I looked between Roman and our house, which might actually be visible from space. “Missing? Like what? Santa and Mrs. Claus themselves?”

“I know just what we need.” Roman jogged over to his truck and lifted a tarp, pulling something from the bed, but I couldn’t see what it was.

“Need help?”

“Nah. Keep your cute butt over there. Nutcracker, quit provoking Carol. Carol, be nice.”

I snorted and watched the dogs ignore him. Our little blended family had its quirks, but the dogs napped on or around Carol more often than not. If it wasn’t for Roman’s logical arguments, our menagerie would’ve doubled in size from me keeping most of her puppies. He’d pointed out that I didn’t need to run a shelter at home too.

Fair enough.

“Close your eyes.”

It was an excruciating several minutes, but I didn’t want to ruin whatever the surprise was. I heard the familiar hum of an inflatable motor, but I wouldn’t let myself speculate beyond that.

“Okay. Open.”

It took a moment for the blur in my vision to go away. When it did, I took in the inflatable snow globe that had to be nearly ten feet tall. It had a backdrop inside with a snowy scene of Santa and a snowperson in front of a cozy cottage.

“You didn’t! Is that the one you can go inside of?”

Roman pulled away the backdrop and stepped into the globe to answer my question. “Evidence shows that I, in fact, did.” His voice was muffled through the plastic.

I ran over to him, slipped inside, hopped onto the inflatable base, and wrapped my arms around his neck. “You’re the best! Thank you!” I planted an enthusiastic kiss on him that inched toward NSFN—Not Safe For Neighbors—territory.

The sound was muffled inside the globe, but I heard a car approach. I was too distracted by Roman to worry about giving the passing neighbor a teensy show. Who could blame me?

A car door closed. Then, a second.

“Richard, snap a photo. You’re faster with your phone than me.”

Roman froze, broke the kiss, and gripped my arms.

Oh. Right. It was about time for my surprise.

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