Page 32 of The Santa Swap

Like the previous contest, once the clock clicked closer to the finish time, the hubbub of voices rose. With Olivia’s stocking done, she took the time to circle the other tables, giving encouragement to the red and blue teams. She was admiring Tara’s stocking when a loud cheer went up from the blue side.

A large man ran to the front of the room, proudly displaying his stocking. Icicles dangled down from the cuff which had the name “Lane” written on the front in a smooth cursive. The front of the stocking had been turned into the outside of a house, with a large window looking in. The windows framed a detailed Christmas tree surrounded by presents. Instead of a stocking, it was a work of art.

“I’m stopping the clock. That took your team 31 minutes, which means the blue team has accumulated an extra six minutes for the next round.”

A loud cheer followed her announcement. Olivia stood at the front, expecting the red or green teams to charge forward, but the clock kept ticking down with no one coming. There were two minutes on the clock when Susan ran to the front of the room. She lay her stocking next to Lane’s, the two designs polar opposites.

Susan’s stocking, not surprisingly, was filled with glittering gems. The gems in the center formed a sprig of holly berries, with vibrant green leaves extending down towards the toe. Olivia was impressed.

“That’s two extra minutes for the red team,” she said. She glanced over at her team, which was engaged in a heated debate. It was time to check out what the holdup was.

“Are we going to put a stocking up?” she asked when she got close.

“We can’t decide between these two,” Luke said. The first stocking had a puffy snowman in the center, with every detail from the pipe in his mouth and the carrot nose to thin stick arms. The second stocking was more abstract. It had been divided into sections, with each section showing a new design.

Olivia knew which one she preferred, but it was a team choice. “We’ve got less than a minute. Luke, can you take a vote?” She stepped back and let them vote, watching the clock with her stomach in her throat.

“Thirty seconds until you are disqualified,” she said, crossing her fingers behind her back.

“Fifteen,” she said. There still wasn’t any movement. The other teams began the countdown.

“Ten. Nine. Eight.” Jasmine broke away from the blue crowd and began running to the front, but it was going to be close.

“Seven. Six. Five.” The chanting was growing louder as she ran closer.

“Four. Three.” At three, Jasmine plopped the snowman stocking on the counter next to Susan’s, and raised her hands high in the air.

“That’s time.” Olivia said. “You’ve earned two extra seconds on the clock.”

That earned a chuckle from the crowd.

“I think everyone deserves a hand for that effort,” Olivia said. She waited until the cheers died down. “Now, you know the drill. Please send two people from each team to the front.”

As the six volunteers walked forward, Olivia met Luke’s eye. He was nodding encouragingly, with his thumb in the air. If nothing else, she had succeeded in pleasing her boss.

Once the totes were in hand, Olivia sent the blue team running. This time, the other teams had to wait for four minutes until the red could start. She grinned when she called for the green team to begin.

The tables were still covered with decorating supplies from the stockings, so all the bins held were the clear globe ornaments. Like before, people scrambled to get what they wanted for decorating.

Olivia was excited to get started. She grabbed a handful of beads and began to string them together. The hubbub around her grew still as she focused on her task at hand. When she finished with her string of beads, she stepped back to look at it.

Crystal blue, shiny white, and clear glass beads hung from a string, ready to be glued onto the globe. She reached for the white glitter glue and began to carefully paint snowflakes around the globe. The tricky part was holding the ornament up so the glue could dry.

Luke reached over the table with a paper folded like a fan. “Here you go,” he said. “This might help.”

Olivia took the paper, glancing past him to the table where Susan was watching the exchange with interest. “Thanks, Luke. It’s good to have help for the team.” Her generic response couldn’t be construed as flirting.

When Susan looked away, Olivia let out a little sigh of relief. She was trying to act totally relaxed around Luke. All it would take was one coworker recognizing her as the woman Luke was hanging out with and her hard work pushing him away would have been for nothing. If anyone figured out that she was the mystery woman in the photo, she would have pushed Luke into Susan’s arms for no reason whatsoever.

She turned her attention back to the ornament in her hands. The paper Luke had given her was working great as a fan. After another few minutes of fanning the paint, it was dry.

Olivia gathered her ornament and the long strand of beads and headed to the hot glue gun station. She applied a small dab of glue to the top of the ball and pressed a bead into it. The next part was a little trickier. She wound the string of beads around the ornament, finishing at the end with a strand that dangled down from the bottom.

The last step was taking the creation back to the table. She fed a small piece of wire up through the remaining beads, gently curving it around her fingers until the beads were tightened into a small cone. The end result was a mix between an ice cream cone and a party hat, depending on which way you turned the ornament.

Pleased with her results, Olivia made her way around the table. Although she was playing it cool, she had to stop when she came to Luke’s ornament. This time he had actually tried to make something respectable. It looked way better than the reindeer had.

Luke had removed the top of the ornament and was slowly painting streaks on the inside. He had a small frown of concentration on his forehead that was incredibly endearing. Olivia paused for a minute. “Great job, Luke,” she said. Then she forced her feet to walk on.

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