Page 43 of Santa of the Creek
I give a tired chuckle. “I like entertaining kids.” I’d forgotten how much fun I had making kids laugh.
“You’re so good at it. You had the kids eating out of the palm of your hand. Why not take it up as a side hustle?”
“Don’t joke.” I beg.
“Who’s joking? Not that Randy would ever give you the time off.”
“He’s already asked if you and I could do another show before Christmas.”
I swear the color drains from his face as he processes that.
“No, no way. That was my one and only.”
“But we were so good together.” I waggle my eyebrows. “Randy thinks we could fit in two more parties before Christmas.”
“One or two?” he mutters. “Just because this worked.”
It had gone so well, parents who’d wandered in during our performance had been begging for a repeat showing and at least three had asked for our card so they could book us. It amuses me no end that they all came to me, not Dean. The town treats him as if he’s fragile, and I’m his handler. Actually, that doesn’t amuse me at all.
“What did you just think of?” Dean stares at me in the mirror, his brow furrowed. “You look angry.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Just tell me,” he coaxes.
I turn my head to press a kiss to his cheek. “I think Collier’s Creek saw a new side of you today.”
Dean gives a wry smile. “Playing a screw up for laughs instead of for real?”
“You’re not a screw up.”
“I am, but it’s okay. I’ve learned to live with it.”
I open my mouth, but he puts a finger over it.
“I’ve been called worse things, Echo. The names don’t hurt me. The town cares about me like it does everyone else, they just don’t always understand.”
I’m not convinced. “You spend all your time helping people. Don’t they see that?”
“Some of them do.” He gives me a squeeze. “I can spend my day volunteering and helping others. I’m okay with that. You don’t need to be my bodyguard or my handler or the guy who shows me how to live again.” As I flinch, he gives a rueful chuckle. “Gloria isn’t subtle. But you can be my friend. I don’t have many of those.”
“Just your friend?”
Was that all Dean wanted from me?
“Boyfriend is good too. I meant it when I introduced you as my boyfriend to Burl. I just want it to be our choice and not that of the well-meaning folk of Collier’s Creek.”
I kiss his cheek again. “I’m your friend always and I’m your boyfriend too, but it doesn’t have to be heavy.”
Dean looks relieved. I can see he wants to claim boyfriend status, but the idea scares him. In some ways, he’s still the eighteen-year-old boy finding his way in the universe because his world stopped then, and it’s only just restarted. I want more. Even after just two weeks I know that, but I can take it at his pace.
“And now you owe me a foot massage,” he declares.
I squint at him in the mirror. “Are you still going on about your feet?”
“You’re the one who insisted we do this. You owe me a foot massage.”
“Which one of us has the sprained ankle?”
