Page 21 of Temporary Santa's Knotty Workshop
Chapter 12
Campbell
Holy snowflakes, it all went to shit so quickly I was getting whiplash.
One minute we were on target, the next we were looking at several day delays at every station, something that would take days to recover from. Assuming we didn’t have any more issues.
I could see why Willy didn’t want to introduce any new ideas or products this late in the season. It would be chaos. It already was chaos.
As much as I promised I’d take care of everything myself, I wasn’t able to keep that promise. I had no choice. I had to call Nick.
The rule was that I couldn’t call Nick or be in contact with him in any way. But let’s face it, my brother and I had never followed the rules. Ever. We’d been making mischief together since the day we were born, and if there was ever a time to make mischief, it was now. We needed to save Christmas.
I grabbed my phone, and even though I knew it was possible the call wouldn’t go through, I hit send when I found his name. To my surprise, it rang. He answered on the second ring. My guess was the rules had a family clause or something and if I’d called from the office it would’ve failed.
“My workshop had better not be burning down.”
I couldn’t tell if he was serious or not.
“Your workshop is fine… mostly,” I said. “It’s me who’s burning down.”
“Well, that sounds ominous. What’s going on, little brother?” His tone shifted. He was no longer Santa, he was Nick, the guy who used to take the blame for me when I epically messed up.
“You’ve got an elf here that has me all tangled up in knots like I’m in a shibari demonstration,” I admitted
“Ah, Willy.” And then he ho-ho-hoed.
“Wait, how did you know?”
“You might have my magic temporarily, Brother, but I know a match when I see one.”
I rolled my eyes, not that he could see it. “You haven’t even seen Willy and me together.”
“Didn’t need to. I just know.”
Oh, how I hated his instincts, but also, I loved it. At least that saved me time on explaining my predicament. I suspected his instincts were Percy-shaped, but I’d take what I could get.
“Did you pick me to fill in for you so that I would meet my mate and live happily ever after?”
“I picked you because you’re good for the job. The mate thing was just a bonus. Percy and I were talking about how we could get the two of you together even without dragging you all the way up to the North Pole. The vacation is just a bonus.”
“Willy doesn’t think I’m serious. He rejected me.”
“Have you told him you’re serious?”
“Well… yeah.”
“In words?”
“Not those exact words.”
“Well, then tell him again and again until he believes it.”
“The workshop is falling apart right now.”
“Of course it is. Currently, Santa, albeit a temporary one, and his mate are fighting. You think it’s all sunshine and roses when Percy and I don’t get along? Your magic is inherently tied to that place and how it runs. Straighten out your relationship, and everything else will follow.”
Great. It wasn’t that I hadn’t done my job well enough to keep the place running, it was that I was actively ruining it.
