Page 35 of A Candy Cane Christmas
I let out a breath, and a bit of my tension loosened as I leaned in and caught his lips. They were oh so soft and warm and… I chuckled. “Did you sneak in a peppermint latte? What about us taking Hazel to the café after meeting Santa?”
Luci gave me a mischievous grin. “Maybe I was hoping for a double dose of caffeine today?”
Shaking my hand, I took his hand and interlaced our fingers. Hazel was already back to talking Linda and Joseph’s ears off about what she wanted to do on Christmas, and I let her babbling wash over me, as I rested my head against Luci’s. His curls tickled my skin, but I didn’t care. We rarely got thesemoments of calm and quiet when we were out in public, so I savored every single one of them. I cherished every tickle of his hair, every twitch of his fingers, every single bump of his knees against mine.
The line in front of us disappeared way too fast for my liking. In reality, we’d probably been waiting for ten minutes since Luci had joined us, but it felt like way too soon. I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t ready to let go of this moment of calm and enter the real world, in which my heart was on the line.
Because what if he said no?
“Welcome to the North Pole. I’m Lexy, one of Santa’s Helpers, and today I’m gonna make sure you get to meet Santa himself. Are you ready?”
I swallowed my ‘no’ and nodded faintly as Hazel skipped in front of us, jumping up and down in excitement. Luci watched her with fondness and love as she took Lexy’s hand without a second thought and let him guide us into the inner part of the North Pole, where a very much not old-looking Santa was sitting in a big wooden armchair, a huge smile on his face. His fake beard was a bit skewed, hanging loosely from one ear, but Hazel was too busy sneakily grabbing the gift-wrapped box from Linda to notice.
Some days, I wondered if she’d figured out that Santa wasn’t real. Other days, I was sure she still believed in him. In the end, it wasn’t important. As long as she didn’t say anything, I’d try to make Christmas as magical as possible for him.
“Ho-ho-ho,” Santa said and raised his hand. “And who do we have here?”
“I’m Hazel,” my daughter declared and climbed up on his lap.
“Hazel, Hazel… oh yeah, I remember. You’re definitely on my nice list, young lady.”
Hazel nodded with a satisfied smile. “I know. After all, I gave your elf a place to celebrate Christmas last year. Remember?”
The guy playing Santa looked a bit taken aback, but recovered quickly and nodded. “Yes, yes, I remember. And do you have a wish this year, young lady?”
Hazel nodded and turned her head to me and Luci. I gave her a small nod to encourage her to keep speaking. We hadn’t practiced this per se, but I was absolutely certain she would get her point across. Subtle she was not. “I do,” she said. “It’s not a wish you can fulfill, though. If that’s okay.”
Santa blinked, but nodded. “Sure, uh… why not?”
I raised my eyebrows at his confusion. I’d talked to Ben, aka last year’s Santa, and he’d assured me he’d tell the new guy about our plan. Either the guy hadn’t gotten the memo, or he wasn’t a good actor. Maybe both.
“It’s not just my wish, either,” Hazel plowed on, the gift firmly in her hand. “My dad and I have a wish. We want Luci to move in with us.”
Luci froze next to me, his hand grabbing mine, squeezing until my hand hurt like hell.
“You want… what?”
“You to move in with us,” she said and held out the gift. “No take-backs. If you take it, you have to move in.”
Luci snorted. “I’m not sure it works that way.” But he reached for the gift, nonetheless.
“It does,” Hazel insisted, but I barely noticed.
My sole focus was on Luci. On the way, he furrowed his brow as he looked at the small gift. The way he carefully opened the wrapping paper, even though I knew he wanted nothing more than to tear into it. I only had eyes for the way his mouth formed a silent ‘O’ as he pulled out the key on the keychain, and the wayhis eyes widened and filled with tears as he had a closer look at the pendant attached to it.
I was acutely aware of the fact that he hadn’t said yes.
But he hadn’t said no either.
Instead, he hugged Hazel, lifting her off the ground, whispering something into her ear.
Then he turned to me, key dangling from his hand.
“You mean it?” he asked, his voice so full of disbelief and wonder, it made me swallow. “Even though I’m chaos personified?”
I shrugged. “I like your personal brand of chaos.” And he really wasn’t that bad. His chaos consisted mainly of art, and I happened to like the pieces he came home with. Be it his own or his friends’.
“Even though I’m a night owl?”
