Page 63 of His Innocent Omega
Finally, we made our way to the line for Santa, and after Jules screamed bloody murder each time we tried to sit her on Santa’s lap, I ended up holding her while Wyatt and I both got in the picture too. I tried to talk him into sitting on Santa’s lap, but he wasn’t having it.
“Why are we buying so many pictures with Santa,” I asked him, reminding myself all of this was for a good cause and worth the exorbitant price.
He ticked his fingers off, “Miss Rose, Gigi, the Mama M’s, us, and I guess one for my parents. Though they’ll likely shove it in a drawer. We don’t really do presents, but I’ll say it’s from Julianna anyway.”
Tucking the receipt in my wallet, I smiled, “I’m sure they’ll love it. And I know the other ladies will.”
Glancing at my watch, I hurried him along, “We need to go so we’re not late.”
He frowned at me, “Late for what?”
“It’s a surprise.”
I walked over to a booth selling street tacos and ordered a dozen, making sure at least three were chicken. Because tacos made everything better, and while it wasn’t on Wyatt’s list, I would bet money he hadn’t ever had street tacos before. “Let’sgo.”
Pulling onto the football field at the high school, I parked next to another car, facing the wide screen that was currently black.
Wyatt glanced around suspiciously, while I fiddled with the radio dial, setting it to the proper channel. “What’s going on? This wasn’t on the flyer’s itinerary.”
“It was added last minute.” Handing him a napkin, I reached in the back and pulled the plastic bag out I’d placed on the floorboard earlier. Jule’s car seat hid it well. Handing him a sturdy paper plate, I divided the tacos up.
When I’d seen this on Wyatt’s list, I had made some calls to see if it was possible. The Sinclair Foundation was one of the biggest sponsors of the holiday festival, and Lachlan ran the foundation. What I had really needed was Wade’s help, and since he was Lachlan’s personal assistant I had asked for assistance from both of them.
When Wade had found out I wanted to do this for Wyatt, he’d taken over and here we were. When Wade Sinclair set his mind to something, he got things done. It had taken a few morepeople, but they had all been willing to help. In the short amount of time he had been in Sweet Alps, Wyatt had come to mean a lot to quite a few people in this town, and everyone had wanted to pitch in.
Wyatt bit into the chicken taco, smiling at the mix of grilled meat, onions and cilantro, “This is good. Really good.”
“Tacos are comfort food,” I agreed, “at least for me.”
Cars continued to find spots on the field, until it was more than half full. Suddenly the huge screen that they used on game day lit up, the opening credits of the movie playing through my car radio.
I knew the minute he figured out what was happening. “Oh my goddess! Is this a…are we at a drive-in movie?”
“Sort of,” I swallowed the bite of carne asada taco, and took a drink out of my bottle of water. “A makeshift one, obviously.”
He bounced in his seat, “What are they showing? OMG I can’t believe this! I’ve always wanted to go to a drive-in, but they’re hard to find nowadays.”
“I thinkThe Santa Clause. It’s an oldie but it holds up well, and it’s a good choice for kids.”
His eyes were so bright they looked like they had stars shining in them. “I’ve never seen it! This is so great!”
Jules started fussing, awake from the impromptu car nap she had fallen into. “I got her. You watch the movie.”
He grinned at me, and happily munched on his tacos, while I brought the baby up front with us and fed her a bottle.
When the movie was over, and we were headed home, Wyatt leaned his head against the window, a dreamy smile on his face. “This was the best night. Thanks for taking us.”
Smiling over at him, I took his hand and kissed his palm. “It was my pleasure. I’m just glad we got the logistics of the movieworked out.”
Wyatt stared at me, then whispered disbelievingly, “Wait. Did you…did you set the movie up for me?”
I’d realized my blunder as soon as the words were out of my mouth, but I was caught up in the high of the night and the happy waves strumming across our bond, coming from Wyatt.
“Yeah,” I admitted, “well, I asked Lachlan if I could borrow Wade and his expertise for getting things done, and he did the rest. He knows people who know people, and voila, a makeshift drive-in on the football field. We tried to keep it a secret from you, so all the vendors of the festival spread the word to people, as did the high school.”
Wyatt was silent, and then I heard a quiet sniffle. Whipping my head to look at him, I squeezed his hand. “Are you crying? Don’t cry! Please, don’t cry. I’m seriously no good with tears,” I begged, “unless they're Jules’. Those are the only tears I can handle.”
He shook his head and fanned his face. “These are good tears,” he sniffled, giving me a watery smile. “No one has ever done anything like that for me, Grayson. Thank you.”
