Page 4 of Just A Dash of Holiday Magic
Chapter 2
WILL
I can think of ten ways in just this moment that this wouldn’t be happening if I had done this my way and not followed Harry blindly into this job.
“Hands where we can see them!” the officers yell as they burst into the apartment.
I guess I did trip an alarm. But even if I hadn’t, this woman would have caught me here, despite Harry claiming she’d be gone all night.
I raise my hands. The woman raises her hands too, but the terrified expression on her face when she first saw me is gone. She knows she's safe now, not that I would have ever laid a hand on her. I may be a criminal, but I have a code, and hurting people is not what I do.
One of the officers checks the rest of the apartment while the other one stays with us. He doesn't lower his gun, but I notice that he isn't pointing it at the woman. They know the drill. It doesn't take a super detective like Sherlock Holmes to decipher the clues of this situation. There is no question who the desperate criminal is and who the wealthy heiress is.
“All clear,” The other officer calls out and returns to the living room.
“Miss? Are you okay?”
The officers begin to question us, but I know my rights. I’m not about to give them anything about me or why I’m here. They’d know it was bullshit anyway.
“Do you know this man?” The officer with a mustache asks, pointing to me.
The woman looks at me and down to the necklace still in my hand. I don’t understand why she isn’t telling them everything.
“Yes.” A look of determination I don’t understand crosses her face. “He’s my boyfriend.”
If a pin had dropped, we all would have heard it. Instead, the officers look between the woman and me.
“You’re boyfriend? We got a call about a man climbing in through the window of this apartment.”
She nods like she is well aware of how I got in here. "He was trying to surprise me, you know, pretending to be Santa and all."
What?
“He gets a bit caught up in the romance of the holiday and didn’t think about how it might look to others with him climbing up the fire escape and into my window.”
Both officers turned to me with a look of disbelief.
“Is that true?” Officer Mustache asks.
No.
“Yep.” I nod. “Just trying to surprise my girl.”
“Shouldn’t you be in a Santa suit or something if this was your big romantic gesture?”
I glance down at the all-black ensemble that I'm wearing. "The store was out of Santa suits. Besides, black is slimming."
To my surprise, the woman snorts but tries to smother her laugh with her hand. I feel a warmth in my chest that surprises me when I see her smile. It’s a feeling that I haven’t felt in months, not since—well, not since we got the news about Billy.
“So, this was all some romantic gesture for you to give your girlfriend her Christmas present?” The other officer asks, pointing to the necklace in my hand.
I look down at it and then up at the woman. “Surprise, babe.”
The officers shake their heads, grumbling something about dealing with crazy people during the holidays. The woman thanks them for coming and walks them over to the door. I stand rooted in my spot, wondering what the hell just happened? I should be in the back of a squad car, ready to spend the next five years of my life in prison.
The woman closes the door and spins around. “Who the hell are you? And what are you doing in my apartment?”
Those are both fair questions, but I have my questions for her too.
