Page 103 of Booked for the Holidays
“Dad! We’re next,” Mac announces. She pockets her phone. “What pose are we going to do?”
“Pose? I’m not posing. I’m going to smile. We’re going to take a picture. And that’ll be that.”
She rolls her eyes. “Boring. So boring. BB, any ideas?”
“A piggyback ride, maybe?” I suggest. “Then you won’t look like the creepy guy standing for a photo with Santa by himself.”
“I’m always going to look like the creepy guy standing for a photo by himself. But fine. I’ll agree to a piggyback ride.”
Mac cheers and Theo pulls out his wallet, paying the man—the elf—at the entrance to the North Pole. He bends down and mutters something in the guy’s ear, who nods and gives a thumbs up.
“Here. I’ll hold your bags.” I take the clothes from Mac and she frowns.
“You aren’t going to be in it?”
“This is for you and your dad, sweetie. You’re recreating the memories. I’ll be right over there.”
I shuffle to the side, letting Mac and Theo walk up to Santa. I laugh as the old man stays in character, asking Mac what she wants for Christmas and telling her a dog is definitely in her future. She climbs on Theo’s back, long legs and laughing, and they pose for a couple snaps of the camera.
“Bridget.”
Theo says my name in that special, precious way of his. It’s a cross between reverence, joy and adoration. I could listen to it on repeat forever, the emphasis on each letter. The swoop of each syllable. How he looks positivelydelightedto talk to me, even in front of three hundred waiting families and an actor ready to clock out for his lunch break.
People say my name every day, but hearing him utter the word is my favorite thing in the whole world.
“What’s up?”
“Come be in a photo with us.”
“No, this is your—”
“It’s not. Please?”
It’s different from the “please” on the day of the ladder and the rain. This one is deeper, insinuating if I walk over there, it makesusreal. It makesthisreal. His eyes stay on mine, brown, warm and bright. He’s patient, letting me decide for myself what I want to do.
“Okay,” I finally whisper.
I drop the bags to the floor, making my way over to the pair. Some of the women in line place their hands over their hearts. Mac is grinning broadly. And Theo…
Theo is looking at me like a man starved and I’m his only chance of salvation.
Maybe Chandler was right all those weeks ago. Maybe he’s been looking at me like this for a while.
I slide into the open spot on his right. Mac jumps off his back, taking the spot on his left. His hand snakes around my waist, giving my hip two squeezes.
“Big smiles, folks!” The elf behind the camera snaps a couple more photos. My heart thumps in my chest, powerful. Loud. Decided.
I want to live life with this man by my side.
“I was right,” Theo murmurs, lips ghosting over my ear. “Best Christmas ever.”
Mac grabs our photos and the cheesy mall Santa looks over at us.
“Happy Holidays,” he says. There’s a twinkle in his eyes. An understanding there. “I’d ask what you want for Christmas, but it looks like you might already have it.”
“Yeah,” Theo says. “I think we might. Took a few years, but it’s about damn time.”
As we walk to the car, Mac leading the way, Theo hooks his pinky with mine. A smile on his handsome face, looking at me like he’s decided, too.
