Page 59 of Clause & Effect
“His sweet tooth didn’t kick in until then.”
I stare at him with wide eyes. “I find this very hard to believe.”
“Oh no, my dear,” Santa shakes his head. “He was quite the precocious child. Rebellious in every way. There was nothing sweet about him.”
“Nothing?” I smile at Stetson who’s staring down at his beer in silence. “I find that hard to believe.”
“Believe it,” He declares quickly. “He was not always this well-mannered, docile man you see before you. He drove us all crazy with his wild antics. Sometimes I thought he had to be Scrooge’s offspring and not mine.”
I laugh.
“So he just turned a leaf at thirteen?” I prod, wanting to know as much about Stetson as I can.
I can totally picture him as a wild child… even if he was salty, I’d bet anything he was still adorable.
“Thirteen is a pivotal year for us,” his father tells me. “That’s when the shift happens and it’s as though you were never anything but this.”
I allow his words to settle in.
What a legacy. I can’t even imagine the weight of it— because I know there must be a ton of that.
“Now enough about the unruly Stetson,” he says with a wink. “My perfect boy in every way.”
He takes off his spectacles—I’m guessing there’s only one optical shop in the village because he too has a pair that look like they were made in the sixteenth century—and wipes them clean.
“I hope you saved room for dessert,” he says. “I have so many treats from Star and they’re all delicious.”
“I can’t eat another bite,” I tell him as I hold onto my stomach and lean back in the chair.
The feast before us is insane, especially for three people.
Stetson and his father impressed me with how much they can eat. I’ve never seen anything like it, seriously. Like they have some bottomless pit of a stomach that can fit food for an army.
I look over at Stetson and clock his mood again.
Since we’ve been here with his father the energy between us has shifted. He’s aloof and closed off, very different from what he was before. I didn’t give it much thought until now. I assumed it’s because we ran into his father when we were about to fool around.
I mean, I don’t blame him for feeing awkward.
His dad is Santa Claus.
“So what do you kids have planned for the rest of the night?”
Awkward.
Silence.
“I was going to show Charlie more of the village.”
“Ahhh,” his dad rubs his beard like he’s thinking. “Maybe a sleigh ride?”
Stetson has a sip of the Claus Lager and shrugs.
“She gets cold,” he says this like I’m not sitting there listening in. Why is he suddenly pushing me away?
“There are warm blankets and hot cocoa and I’m sure she will find it as magical as we do,” he tells his son.
“I’m okay with the cold,” I lie easily.
