Page 33 of Shy Santa

Neither said a word but looked at each other. “It’s probably nothing, but this afternoon some rando tried to talk to Alice-Grace at the diner. He ran off when I came back but freaked her out.” Addy rubbed her hands on her thighs. “She saw him again hanging around the cider booth.”

Instantly on alert, I scanned the area for anyone who didn’t feel right. This was something I was trained to look for. Something I was good at. “Can you give me a description, Ace?”

“White, a little taller than Ms. Addy and had black scary doll eyes.” Ace shivered, her focus on her cup.

“Doll eyes?” I asked, not sure what she meant by that.

“Yeah. They looked empty. But this afternoon they were all red.” Ace came around the table. “Can I sit between you?”

“Yeah honey, come here. The guy’s probably long gone. It was just a coincidence. A guy who kinda looked like the one who scared you at the diner.” Addy scootched over and pulled Ace into her arms.

My girl might be young, but her mom was brilliant with spotting details and reading people. I’d seen a little of that spark growing in Ace.

“Hey, let’s knock these drinks back and go get that tree.” I tried to keep my tone light and cheerful. But all I wanted to do was get my girls the fuck out of there.

The shiny happy feeling I’d had since getting here long gone. But I didn’t want to ruin the evening. We neededsomehappy moments.

Standing, I helped both to their feet, and we headed back to the cart. “Let’s ride out and at the stop we can grab the hand cart to bring the tree back.”

I glanced at Addy while we stood waiting for the hayride to swing back around. I think they had a few of those carts taking people around because the one that ambled over and stopped was driven by a young kid. He didn’t look old enough to handle the horses, but he secured the reins and hopped down to help people on and off.

We climbed up and I scanned the passengers and people hanging around. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a guy in a fancy black long wool coat. He had a stocking cap pulled low and his back to us. Something about the way he kept looking around bothered me. Given that the coat looked too big for him, and he couldn’t hold still, set off all sorts of warning bells.

I nudged Addy and nodded toward the guy, but when I looked back, he was missing. The man was probably looking for his family and eager to leave. But I still felt like there was more to the dude.

Addy shook her head subtly. “So, what kind of tree do you like?”

“Let’s get a small fat one.” Ace smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

“I like the trees with short needles.” Addy smiled big. “What do you like, Bear?”

“Short needles are fine. And we can get as big a tree as you like, Ace. We don’t have to do small. We can go as tall as ten feet. Need to leave room for Gran’s angel on top.” My words sounded fake to my ears. But I was trying.

“No, smaller is better.” Ace insisted. A little of her sparkle coming back. “Mommy and I used to find a tree as big as me. She said that we could see how much I grew based on how many lights and ornaments the tree needed.”

“Okay, small tree it is. I like the idea of measuring your growth by the tree.” Addy grinned, grabbing my hand and weaving our fingers together.

At the second stop, we hopped off. The trees in this section were closer to Ace’s height. “Let’s head that way.” I pointed to the far side of the field where there were some short-needled trees.

Ace took Addy’s hand and dragged her down the row, giggling and pointing out different trees. I grabbed a handcart from the line of them by the post.

Heading the direction they went; I scanned the area. Even though the guy was gone, I wouldn’t slack. That’s when things went FUBAR.

The sound of Ace’s laughter drew me to them.

“This one. It’s the perfect tree.” Ace stood proud next to a plump tree a little taller than her. “What do you think, Bear?”

A grin spread over my lips at how carefree and happy she sounded. “I think you picked a magnificent tree. Stand back and I’ll chop it down.” After a few good whacks with the sharp ax, the tree fell over. “Make sure you tap it down. We don’t want to take any friends home with us who live out here.”

Addy and Ace stood the tree up and shook it a few times. I knew the shop would shake and wrap the tree up for us. But it was fun to watch my girls getting into the moment and jumping with the tree.

Movement out of the corner of my eye had me turning. A barrel of a gun pointed at me; a few inches from my face.

“You ruined everything.” A gravelly voice screeched.

“Um…” I held up my hands. My eyes flicked to Addy, tucking Ace behind her. “Hi.”

“You had to come in and break us up.” The man raved, his back to my girls. “She loves me, not you!”

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