Page 111 of Wilder

When she left the bathroom a couple of minutes later, she saw immediately that people had already started to arrive. The Christmas playlist she’d set up on her tablet played over the sound system.

Looking around, she spotted Wilder. Or rather, she spotted Santa. If she hadn’t known it was Wilder, she wouldn’t have recognized him as he walked around with a bit of extra padding and a white wig and beard.

“Look at you!” Wilder exclaimed, spreading his arms wide. “Santa is one lucky man.”

Lexi felt her cheeks flush with uncharacteristic heat as she gave an exasperated shake of her head. “The costumes seem to be working for you and the girls.”

“Yep.” He turned in a circle. “I think I could get some use out of this in the future.”

“You could get a job as a mall Santa next year,” she said.

“Maybe. But I think we should make this fundraiser a yearly thing.”

Lexi hadn’t thought much about where her future might take her, or if Wilder would continue to be in it. It made her feel a little sad to think that she might not be there in a year’s time. Or that Wilder might not be in her life anymore.

Pushing aside the pain, she said, “That’s probably a great idea because it already looks like people are excited to be here.”

Wilder turned to view the rink and the groups of people milling around the area. Some had apparently taken advantage of the café and were already sitting at the tables on the far side of the rink.

“Santa!”

A little boy came running toward them, his arms spread wide. Wilder didn’t falter at all. He dropped to one knee and allowed the little guy to hug him. The boy’s parents quickly approached them, apologizing for their son’s action.

“Don’t worry about it,” Wilder said as he got to his feet, still holding the boy’s hand. “It’s what I’m here for.”

“Oh, thank you so much.”

Somehow, the couple managed to pry their son away from Wilder. As they walked away, the little boy expressed his displeasure but didn’t pull away from his parents.

“Maybe we should circulate before we get on the ice,” Wilder suggested, offering her his arm.

After a moment’s hesitation, Lexi slipped her hand into the crook of his elbow. Even though her skates added a couple of inches to her height, she still didn’t match Wilder’s height.

Alexander grinned when he spotted them, which Lexi took to mean he was pleased with the events of the afternoon so far. Layla and Amelia joined them, skipping alongside her and Wilder as they circled around the rink. They stopped frequently to talk to kids who wanted their attention.

The parents and other adults who’d shown up to support the event—many even appeared to be guests of the resort—lingered at the tables, checking out the auction items, the baked goods and other items that were offered for sale. They’d rented out a few tables for people to sell homemade items. Everything about the rink—from the decorations to the music—screamed Christmas.

Though she hadn’t ever been a big fan of Christmas, it was clear that Wilder was, and she was catching his enthusiasm. As a skater, she was used to going into character for programs, so she easily slipped into the role of Mrs. Claus.

When it was time for them to get on the ice for their little program, she felt a new sort of excitement. She always had a level of nervous excitement when preparing to skate a program. But this time, it was more of a fun excitement.

Using the speaker system, Hudson let people know that Santa was going to be skating, and by the time the song started, people had gathered all around the edge of the rink.

Wilder picked up his hockey stick and then, with the girls on either side of him, he skated around the rink, the three of them performing the turns and jumps they’d practiced. When it wastime for Lexi to join them, Wilder handed off the hockey stick to Layla and held out his hand to Lexi.

She took it without hesitation, then they got into the waltz position. As she faced Wilder, he smiled at her. Lexi relaxed as he guided her around the ice, trusting that even though the program wasn’t being judged, he took it seriously. Still, they managed to have fun, and everyone watching seemed to enjoy it.

The program flew by, and soon it was over, and she was perched on Wilder’s knee, their arms stretched wide with the girls standing beside them. People around the rink clapped and cheered, and soon, kids were joining them on the rink.

Rori also came onto the ice, carefully making her way around to where there was carpet and a decorated chair set up for pictures. After Wilder had skated with the kids for a bit, the four performers joined Rori, and the children whose parents had paid for pictures lined up to have them taken.

Kayleigh was standing on the other side of the rink, coordinating the line up of kids. She and Rori would work on emailing the pictures out in the next week.

It seemed to all be going smoothly, which made Lexi happy and grateful, considering the mess they’d had at the start. Where they’d ended up was sure to be a success for raising money for the orphanages, and that was the best they could hope for.

Halfway through the afternoon, just as they’d finished skating the program for the third time, she spotted Mik and Irina standing at the edge of the boards, watching them. Lexi narrowed her eyes at them, but then she decided she needed to just ignore them. She still had stuff to do.

She had no idea how long they’d been there, but they didn’t appear to stay long after she’d seen them. By the time theywere done with the pictures for that time around, the pair had disappeared.

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