Page 26 of Decorated

Bax and Rebecca gaped at him.

“What are you, his boyfriend?” Rebecca asked, a smile growing on her face. “You seem to know him awfully well for someone he just met.”

Alfie sent her a sly look in return as he gathered up some garland and stepped toward the ladder a few feet away, by the part of the wall where the decorations had fallen from. “I work in logistics,” he told Rebecca as he stepped up to rehang the garland. “And I have experience managing potentially volatile situations.”

They were just words on the surface, but they gave Alfie an inner thrill. Leave it to him, a usually steady and straitlaced guy, to find himself attracted to an adorable trainwreck. Blaine needed managing, and the idea of being the one to keep him in line was an exciting one.

Far more exciting than a commission and posting in Cyprus.

Of course, the whole thing would have been easier if Blaine had stayed in one place instead of slipping away from Alfie for the next hour, like a schoolboy trying to avoid the headmaster.

“Do you want to sit down and have a talk?” he asked when he found Blaine in the kitchen, trying to help Leland, the house chef, prepare kid-friendly snacks for the evening. Really, Blaine was just getting in the way.

“No, I’m needed here,” Blaine said, avoiding Alfie’s eyes, like he was afraid he was in trouble.

“You’re really not,” Leland said in a flat voice, rolling his eyes at Alfie.

“Alright, then I need to make certain the entertainment is ready for the kids,” Blaine said, then scooted around Alfie and darted out of the room.

Alfie exchanged a knowing look with Leland.

“It means he likes you,” Leland said.

Alfie huffed a laugh. “I know.”

He left Leland and the kitchen staff to their work and returned to the dining hall. Instead of working on whatever entertainment had been arranged for the kids, Blaine was now helping the crew that had come to set up tables and chairs in one part of the room.

“Are you running from me or are you running from another problem?” Alfie asked as he reached the table where Blaine was trying to straighten the tablecloth. Instead of making the conversation into a confrontation, he started taking chairs from the dolly they’d been brought in on and arranging them around the table.

“Me? I’m not running from anything,” Blaine said without looking at him. “I’m just trying to get the decorations right. We have a whole box of specially made crackers around here somewhere.”

He finished with the tablecloth, then fidgeted as he glanced around looking for the box.

“And this has nothing to do with your business partner trying to get in touch with you?” Alfie said, shifting closer to Blaine as he continued to set chairs. He felt like some sort of wildlife tracker stalking his prey.

“Dave?” Blaine’s voice went up an octave at the suggestion. “No, why would I be worried about Dave? Is he here?” He jumped and looked around in a panic.

Alfie didn’t answer any of the questions. He needed more information.

“I’m just trying to make your toy drive party as amazing as it can be,” Blaine went on. “Oh, look! The kids are here!”

Sure enough, one of the groups of children from a local home had just arrived. They were more than twenty minutes early. Alfie noted a harried woman who looked to be in charge of them apologizing to Robert Hawthorne for their early arrival. Robert was gracious in welcoming them, though.

So was Blaine.

“Hi, kids!” he greeted them enthusiastically, arms extended. “Welcome to your party! Who wants to do a Christmas art project?”

Alfie finished the job he’d started with the chairs as Blaine led a dozen kids over to a long table at one end of the room that had been set up with crafts of every kind. The art table was a brilliant idea, as far as Alfie was concerned. It would keep the kids occupied until the party began and the food and presents were handed around, and it was something of an advertisement for the classes Hawthorne Community Arts Center taught.

“This looks fun,” he said, heading over to join the kids as soon as his job with the tables was done. “What are you making?”

“I’m making a Santa hat,” one of the girls said, proudly holding up the triangle of felt she was decorating with glitter and fabric paint.

“I’m painting a reindeer,” a slightly older boy said as he splotched paint across a small, flat canvas board.

“They look lovely,” Alfie complimented them both, slipping into the softer voice and friendlier demeanor he had when he was around kids. “And what are you doing?” he asked in that same voice, glancing across the table to Blaine.

“I’m supervising,” Blaine said, cheeks going pink. He was still trying to avoid looking directly at Alfie, which was a sure sign that he was in panic overload mode.

---