Page 8 of The Snuggle is Real
I buckled her in and got on the road, checking on her from time to time in the rear-view mirror. Charlie looked pale and drawn, the shadow of her usually bubbly little self.
“You okay back there? You hungry?”
“What’s Christmas Falls like?” she asked.
“You don’t remember?”
Charlie had lived there until she was four. After the divorce, she’d been back a couple of times, but never over the holidays. LuAnne had always detested the over-the-top festival and all the tourism that swept into town.
The festival kept the town alive, I’d told her time and again, but LuAnne had simply rolled her eyes and said, “The festival is a pain in the ass.”
She wasn’t totally wrong. Turning your town into a Hallmark-worthy event came with a cost. Christmas Falls could never be justmytown. I had to share it.
And if I wasn’t in the mood for Christmas? Well, too bad. It would be in my face 24/7. But on the flip side, our town hadn’t died when the old Christmas decor factory shut down in the late eighties. We weren’t reliant on industrial jobs or big corporate chains to employ us.
“I remember a parade.” Charlie’s face squished up in thought. “I think?”
“That’s right, there is a parade. It’s called the Parade of Lights. It takes place at night.”
She straightened a little in her seat, a spark coming into her eye. “Really? Mama said there’s all sorts of fun stuff there. She said Santa lives there, so I’ll have an amazing Christmas.”
Oh, boy.
“I have seen Santa here and there,” I said, because what else could I do? We did have a few events where Santa showed up. Didn’t mean Santa would hand me a bagful of amazing presents for Charlie though.
“You have to be nice or Santa won’t bring you anything,” she told me matter-of-factly.
“That’s true.”
“Does that mean Mama’s not getting any presents?”
I focused on the road as I took the on-ramp back onto the highway. “I don’t know. Do you think your Mama is naughty or nice?”
“They sent her away for being naughty,” Charlie said. “But she said she’s gonna try real hard to be nice and come back soon.”
“Then I reckon Santa will take that into account, don’t you?”
Charlie thought about it for a moment, then nodded her head. Then, she exclaimed, “Ford, I have to pee!”
“I just got on the highway?—”
“I gotta go! Now!”
I flipped the blinker and got into the exit lane. “Okay, hold on, Charlie girl. We’ll find a place to stop.”
She wiggled. “Hurry!”
“You want to stop and go behind a tree?”
Her eyes widened in horror. “What?”she screeched. “I can’t do that!”
“Okay, okay,” I said, trying to calm her down while I navigated my way off the highway and followed the signs for a gas station. “It was just a suggestion.”
“Girls don’t pee on the side of the road, Ford.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe you don’t know that.”
“I’m pretty sure there’s a lot of things I don’t know,” I said as I made the turn into a well-lit gas station. “Be patient with me, okay? I’m trying my best.”
She leaned forward to pat my shoulder. “It’s okay. I’ll teach you how to be a good dad.”
