Page 75 of Jam and Jingle Bells
Mel patted my shoulder and thanked me, then headed back the way she came, obviously hurting after the long night on her feet last night.
Cameron’s dad pulled him off Santa’s lap and they gave Holly and I wide berth as they left. Cameron waved at Holly, but I noticed Holly withheld any greeting whatsoever.
“You ready to talk to Santa again?” I asked, taking her hand as we walked to the sleigh. “I’ll lift you up onto his lap. No one else is waiting, so take as much time as you need.”
She put her arms up and I lifted her, sitting her next to Santa instead of on his lap since I wasn’t sure if she was feeling thesit on a strange guy’s lapvibe.
“Hi, Santa,” she said shyly to Ellis who beamed with happiness. She pointed at the bench opposite the one Santa sat on. “Could Addie sit with us?”
“Ho-ho-ho, of course,” he answered, patting her head with his gloved hand. “Anything you’d like Holly.”
He offered his good hand and I took it, using the one iron step to hoist myself up into the sleigh. It was comfy there and Santa offered me a blanket to put across my lap. I shared it with Holly to keep her warm.
“I have a problem, Santa,” she said extremely seriously. “I thought we might need Addie’s brainpower to figure it out.”
Mine and Santa’s brows went up at the same time and I bit the inside of my lip to keep from laughing.
“See, she knows my dad, Mason. I know you know him too, but she lives here, so I thought maybe she could help you once we figured out a plan.”
Santa nodded along as if he knew exactly what she was talking about. “Sure, that makes sense. Way to think that out, Holly. Tell Santa what the problem is first.”
She twisted her hands on her lap and stared over my left shoulder toward the gazebo. “Last night, my mom and Mason got married.”
“Ho-Ho,” Santa said. “I was there. It was so fun to watch Mason all grown up and starting his own family.”
I worked hard not to roll my eyes becauseholy lay it on thick, Santa.
“You were here? I didn’t see you!” she said downtrodden. “You said anyone who believes in you can see you.”
Santa patted her shoulder. “Of course, and that’s true, but I was hiding over there,” he said pointing to the woods beyond the tree. “I stayed hidden so no one spotted me and got too excited. After all, it was Mason’s day. Or was it your Dad’s day? I’m not sure if he’s Mason or your Dad.”
She tossed her hands up in exasperation. “He’s both, silly!”
Ellis gave me a brow and I mouthedgo with itbefore she noticed.
“Okay, so Mason is also your dad. I don’t understand what the problem is yet,” Santa boomed.
She glanced at me and I did the palms up because I didn’t know either.
“Yesterday was exactly one year since I moved here to Bells Pass,” she said and Santa nodded.
“That’s what Mason said last night at the wedding. He said it was the day he would remember forever.”
She nodded her head up and down like a puppet. “He said it was the day we brought our daughter home.”
I reached out and took her hand that was fidgeting on the blanket. “Why does that specific sentence matter, Holly?”
She puffed out air and it circled around her head like smoke. “Because I blew it.”
“You blew it? Blew what?” Santa asked, caring and concern filling his voice.
“I was still sad last night when we got to the park,” she said and I squeezed her hand.
“We talked about how that was okay,” I said, “remember? I thought you had a pretty good night, though. You remembered to laugh at least once and smile at least twice.”
She nodded thoughtfully. “Here’s the thing, Addie and Santa, when Mason said those things to me at the wedding, my sadness flew away.” Her hands linked like a butterfly and flew out into the air. “It was just like you said, Santa. It was like the butterflies that kept making my heart tumble around in my chest flew out into the night. I was so happy all of a sudden I wanted to cry. Well, I did cry, but they were happy tears,” she promised.
Santa hugged her for a moment and patted her back. “I’m happy to hear your sadness flew away, Holly. I don’t think you blew it at all. I think your sadness going away last night was just right.”
