Page 49 of Fa-La-La-La Faking It
“What’s going on?” Adaline whispered as she joined her circle of friends. Fuzzy wiggled in her arms, anxious to get down so he could greet his doggy friends on the hardwood plank floor.
She set the puppy down, and he scampered around Ginger, Peaches and the ever-patient Lady Bird.
“Santa’s not here yet,” Jenna said, casting a meaningful look at her smartwatch.
“I think the kids can sense it, and they’re getting restless.” Belle tipped her head toward the line, where more children were starting to fuss. “Trust me. I work in an elementary school. I know a brewing tantrum when I see one...or ten.”
“Has anyone from the chapel reached out to Santa?” Adaline asked. Maybe whoever they’d wrangled to volunteer for this gig didn’t realize it was still running as scheduled after the ice storm. “Who was our contact person for this visit?”
“Tammy-Jo Williams, the chapel secretary.” Maple glanced over her shoulder. “Oh, good. Here she comes now.”
Tammy-Jo, a fifty-ish woman who—to Adaline’s recollection—favored colorful cardigans and lavender-lemon cupcakes, swept into the vestibule looking as white as a sheet. Her wide-eyed gaze darted around the noisy room until she spotted the pups in their therapy dog vests, and then she scurried toward the Comfort Paws girls.
“We have a situation,” she said with a gulp.
Adaline gave Tammy-Jo a sympathetic smile. “Whatever it is, I’m sure we can help.”
“Santa fell on the ice yesterday and sprained his ankle. I had no idea until his wife called just now.” Tammy-Jo’s gaze darted to the line of children waiting to tell Santa Claus what they wanted for Christmas and then back at Adaline. “I don’t know what to do. Do you really think you can help?”
“I’m sure between all of us, we can come up with a substitute Santa.” Adaline offered up the name of Gram’s friend at the senior center who’d volunteered to play Santa for Comfort Paws before the fundraiser got downsized.
Tammy-Jo winced. “I’m afraid that’s the same Santa we’d originally booked. He has that lovely, natural white beard.”
Belle frowned. “That’s unfortunate.”
“There’s got to be someone else. I’d get Cam to do it, but he’s on his way to Houston. His foundation is hosting a holiday party today at the children’s hospital, and the entire starting lineup for the Rattlers is going to be there.” Jenna gnawed on her bottom lip and glanced at Maple. “What about Ford?”
Maple pulled a face. “He just texted me. One of his patients stepped on a glass ornament and needs stitches, so he’s on his way to his office for an emergency call.”
Adaline stared at the floor and tried to make herself invisible. Apparently, the roster of potential emergency Santas was made up exclusively of Comfort Paws significant others, which meant she knew exactly where the conversation was headed.
Surely she wasn’t going to be forced to call Jace and ask him to climb into a ratty red fur suit and mingle with dozens of children when she hadn’t spoken to him in days. That seemed above and beyond the call of duty for a fake holiday boyfriend—especially when she was still trying out the whole cleanse thing. The thought of trying not to fall for a man while he held babies all day and whatever pillow they stuffed in his red fur suit shook like a bowl full of jelly seemed like a losing proposition.
“Adaline, do you think Jace might be willing to help?” Jenna asked.
And there it was. So much for trying to disappear into the woodwork.
“I’m sure he’d be happy to step in...”if he was actually my boyfriend and I wasn’t the biggest liar in the state of Texas“...but he needs to move all his trees back to the town square today if he’s going to get the Christmas tree lot back up and running this evening.”
At least her excuse was based on the truth. Adaline breathed a tentative sigh of relief.
But then Maple spoke up and burst her bubble.
“He’s already got the lot all set up for tonight. Ford helped him first thing this morning.” Maple gave Adaline an odd look. “Jace didn’t tell you?”
Panic swirled low in Adaline’s belly. Her brother volunteering to help transport an entire Christmas tree forest—again—certainly seemed like the type of information a boyfriend would share with his girlfriend.
Lack of legitimate romantic feelings aside, now that she thought about it, she was surprised Jace hadn’t said anything.
“My phone was dead all morning,” Adaline said, despite the fully charged cell phone sitting like a rock in the Comfort Paws fanny pack currently strapped around the waist of her skinny jeans. “I must have missed his call.”
“Here.” Maple pulled her phone out of the kangaroo pocket of her Comfort Paws hoodie and thrust it toward Adaline. “You can borrow mine. I’m sure with a little sweet talk you can convince him to be our Santa.”
“He does loves sweet talk,” Adaline said. “So much.”
What was she even saying? It seemed like with all the lying she’d been doing recently, she might’ve gotten better at it. Not so, apparently.
“That’s probably more than I needed to know about Jace, but good for him, I guess,” Jenna laughed. “So you’ll call him?”
