Page 22 of Sleighing You
His grin was slow and languid and heat pooled low in my belly at its low, graveled tone. “Does that mean I’mnotHans Gruber?”
“I don’t know… let’s see how the rest of the week goes. Come on.” I jerked my head to the storage room in the back where I kept the folded craft tables. “We need to set up before the kids get here.”
“Kids?” I could hear the click of his dress shoes against the floors as he followed me toward the back.
“That’s right. Tons of them are coming here in about thirty minutes.” I hoisted one side of the table up. “Grab the other end. Then after this, we can eat breakfast.”
“Man, you’re intense.”
You have no idea. I glanced up at him to find his eyes locked onto mine. And though I didn’t think he meant it to be so sexy, the moment shimmied between us like the current in a live wire. One step in the wrong direction and either of us could be zapped.
It wasour busiest letter writing day at the store in all my years here. There was a line of families outside the store, wrapping around the block. And since we could only take about twenty kids at a time at the table in the back, that left dozens of people outside waiting in the cold.
My employee, Tina, came running up to me, urgency twisting her brows and mouth into a frown. “It’s below twenty-degrees today,” she said to me. “I’m getting worried about the people outside waiting. Plus, they’re blocking the entrance and we have people who aren’t here for the event… people who were planning to just come in and shop who are turning around and leaving because they think the line is to get into the store.”
Crap.I knew the event was getting bigger and bigger each year… I didn’t expect it to grow this exponentially. I blew out a breath and looked around to find Chris behind the register, helping ring up other customers who were here shopping.
“I have an idea,” I said and rushed to the other side of the register. Ducking below the counter, I shoved items to the side until I found the roll of tickets from last summer’s carnival where we had a Christmas in July booth.
“Here.” I handed the roll of tickets to Tina. “Pass these out and make a note in your phone the numbers you’re distributing—they’re all in numerical order, so you just need to know that if the roll starts on number 104, the next ticket is 105 and 106, etc. Tell them to wait over at Latte Da and we will swing in there to call them by their numbers when it’s their family’s turn.”
“Latte Da can only hold around twenty… maybe thirty people tops,” Chris said, chiming in on the conversation as he handed a shopping bag to the customer. “There’s at least fifty out there in line.”
I threw my hands up, frustrated. “Do you have a better idea?”
“Tell them to go to either Latte Da or Nick’s Pizzeria… where he is now serving StoryBook peppermint hot chocolate.”
“Nick’s is two blocks away… Latte Da is right next door. Who’s going to run two blocks every time we have a spot open up at the table?”
“I will,” A low voice said from somewhere behind me.
I spun to my right, and thank God I wasn’t drinking anything, because I was pretty sure I would have snorted it out of my nose. There stood Grumpy Ed Williams in bright green leggings, a red and white striped tunic, and a pointy Santa hat perched on his head. The outfit combined with his hunched back, cane, and his glasses hanging precariously on the tip of his nose was hysterical. “Ed?”
“This week, I’m known as Wrinkles, the Elf.”
I pressed my lips together to hold in my laughter.
“Uh, wow,” Chris said. “You’re uh, really taking this elf for a week contest win seriously, aren’t you?”
“You promised me hot chocolate and cookies,” he said, his voice darkening and his gaze shifting beside me where the hot chocolate station was. We had premade pitchers of it warmed in the crock pot and had several canisters of whipped cream and sprinkles for decorating.
“And you will get all the hot chocolate and cookies you can eat, Ed.” I lunged for a plate of cookies stacked high on the counter, pushing them toward him. I wasn’t about to kick a gift horse in the mouth. We were swamped today and could use all the help we could get. “Although, I don’t think I feel comfortable sending you back and forth from here to Nick’s several times today.” My gaze fell briefly to his cane clenched tightly in his fist. I’ve seen that man try to walk around the park… it would take him thirty minutes just to walk there and back once.
Ed reached over and snatched a cookie off the tray, taking a bite. “Don’t send me back and forth. Send me to Nick’s. You can call me with the numbers when you’re ready for them. As long as I can take this plate of cookies with me…”
I looked to Chris who gave a shrug. “It’s not a bad idea.”
“And I’m sure Nick and Lex would appreciate the extra business,” Tina chimed in.
I gave a final nod. “Let’s do it.”
I bent and pressed a quick kiss to Ed’s cheek. “Thanks, Ed. You’re a lifesaver.”
“Ahhhh,” he waved off my affection and shuffled his way toward the front door. “I’m just here for the cookies.”
“Sure you are.”
Chris watched me, a small smirk tilting the corners of his mouth. “What?” I asked.
