Page 53 of Sleighing You
Chapter 24
Chris
“Ho, ho, ho!” I gave my best deep, belly laugh for the kids. A few of them squealed in joy at the sound of my voice. The group home wasn’t too far outside of Maple Grove. And with the help of my mom and dad, it was easy to load up the toys through the back door of the loading dock and storage room to bring them over without entering the store or bothering Avery.
She clearly wasn’t ready to talk yet, though I had left her a letter on her desk and dozens of voicemails trying to explain what I thought happened last night. Though it seemed there were other things said to her all night that I was completely unaware of.
My dad sat at the back of the room, his crutches balanced against the wall behind him and his leg propped up on some pillows. My mom had warned him that if he even tried to get up and help, she’d give him a second broken ankle to match the first.
Mom leaned into the large red bag of presents and pulled out three boxes tied together with ribbon. I remembered wrapping this one specifically, then handing it to Avery to secure the three gifts together. This sweet kid had asked for warm socks and a new pair of jeans. I couldn’t bear to watch him open a solely practical gift, so I had bought him another gift myself—a transforming RoboBear. This year’s hottest toy. We even had carried it at our StoryBook locations, as we do every year with the projected ‘hot toy.’
Mom handed me the gifts and beneath her breath whispered, “I thought I taught you better than this. Look at this pitiful bow.”
I smiled, biting my lip to keep from outwardly laughing. “That’s not me. That was Avery,” I whispered, suppressing my bouncing laugh at the world’s worst Christmas bow. For a girl who loves Christmas, she really needed to learn how to wrap a damn present.
“Well, we’ve got to teach your girl how to tie a proper bow.”
My girl. The words stuck to me like wadded gum. If only she was mine. I wanted to be the type of person who fought until my last breath to win her back, but this was her choice as much as mine. Even if her choice was no. But I had to make sure she knew the whole truth… then, she could make the choice that best suited her.
And no matter what, she deserved this promotion. I couldn’t force her to take it, but I would step down from my duties on the expansion if it meant her getting the job she’d so earned.
I cleared my throat and, in a deep voice, called out the name written on the presents. “Is there a Benjamin out there?”
A little boy, couldn’t have been more than five years old, raised his hand. “That’s me.”
“Well, come on up here, Benjamin. I’ve got some special presents for you!”
He seemed wary of me at first, edging closer and closer until he finally took the three presents that were nearly taller than him. “Go ahead, Benjamin. Open them,” I urged.
He only hesitated another moment before tearing into the first two gifts—the jeans and socks. He gave a relieved sigh and hugged them to his chest. I pushed the third gift toward him. “You forgot one.”
“This is all I asked for. The other one must be meant for someone else.”
“Nope,” a small, sweet voice said from behind me. My breath lodged in my throat. I swear if I could have choked on oxygen, I would have in that moment.
“Avery,” I whispered. She moved in front of the chair with Kringle at her side. The velvet red skirt swept the floor and the bodice of the Mrs. Claus dress was still gaping, even though she had stuffed the pillow beneath her dress again this morning.
And she looked as gorgeous as I’d ever seen her.
She exhaled and pushed the overly large sleeves up to her elbows, bending down to Benjamin’s level. She pointed to his name scrawled across the wrapping paper in her cursive. While I might be better at bows, she had me beat at handwriting. “See? Right here, what does that spell?”
“B-e-n-j… Benjamin!” he cried with a hop.
“That’s right. This one is yours, too.”
He opened it, tearing the paper off the box in strips. “Whoa!” he exclaimed, holding the box up. “It’s RoboBear!” He hugged it to his chest. “Thank you, Santa!” He launched himself into my lap, giving me a big hug, crushing the RoboBear box between our bodies.
I lowered him back to the floor, giving him a quick pat on top of his head as he went charging back into the crowd of kids toward his friends.
I stood up from where I’d been sitting. “Excuse me, kiddos! Santa needs a glass of milk and a cookie break! I’ll be right back!” I walked toward the back room where I could safely tug the beard down without being seen. Avery followed me, Kringle obediently at her heels, as always.
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” Avery started.
“Interrupt?” I shook my head. “Avery, this whole thing wouldn’t be possible without you.”
“What are you talking about? This wasn’t my idea. I’d always wished we could bring Santa here, but—”
“You inspired this. There was no reason StoryBook wasn’t doing more for our communities. You showed me that. I tried to tell you last night,thisis what you should do with your life, too. I want you to run our charity division.”
