Page 34 of Shy Santa

The man ranted, waving his gun between us. “I’m sorry sir, but I’m not sure who you’re talking about.” Subtly, I tried to signal Addy to get Ace out of here and find help.

She stood there frozen, but Ace slipped Addy’s phone from her purse. With eyes on me, Ace tugged at Addy’s arm, and they slipped around one of the evergreen trees.

“Addison and I are perfect together. She’s a wildcat and liked to play hard to get.” The man pulled the hat off his head. Sallow skin and bloodshot eyes stared back. “Dad didn’t believe me. After you left, he fired me. He said if I made things right with Addison, then I could get my job back.”

This was the guy who was hassling Addy? The difference was night and day. No longer was his long hair tied back, but it fell in a greasy, stringy mess. It looked like the man had been drinking his meals, judging by the unsteady rock of him.

I prayed Ace and Addy were running to get help. Clearing the area of anyone who could be collateral damage.

Taking a deep breath, I tried to keep the unhinged man focused on me. “Oh, you’re Sutton's son. He had good things to say about you.”

“Shut! Up!” Sutton yelled, pointing the gun for emphasis.

The only good thing about this situation was the guy, at least in his inebriated state, clearly had good trigger control. His pointer finger ran along the barrel and didn’t sit on the trigger. “You’re lying! Daddy never has anything good to say about me. He hates me. Always said Momma coddled me too much.” Sutton started pacing back and forth, muttering to himself.

I stood there, waiting. Hoping he would wear himself out. “Addison was always so sweet to me. She never looked at me cross wise. Always so sweet.” He paused and looked around him. “Addison? Addison, where’d you go?” He shouted.

Sutton ran from tree to tree, peering around like he couldn’t figure out where she disappeared to. “Addison, I have it all figured out. Come back. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“She took my kid to the shop. She’ll be right back.” I said, trying to get the guy’s attention back on me. His finger slipped onto the trigger, and it was only a matter of time before he shot something or someone.

“Good, good. I’m not a monster. Better the girl’s not see this.” Sutton paused his frantic search and calmly walked over to me again. I’d seen crazy eyes like his before. On men who knew their next move wasn’t right but didn’t care. Their only focus was the goal.

A slow smile spread over his lips. “Maybe we could take the girl in. She’s cute. Addison does amazingly well with her. She’ll be a wonderful mom to our kids.”

“Yeah, my daughter likes her a lot.” My heart rate picked up as a manic grin spread across his face.

“She’ll make a great Mom. Momma always said look at a woman’s eyes when she talks to kids. It gives everything away. Momma is special. She’ll like Addison. I’ve already told her all about the love of my life.” Sutton sighed. “Momma’s been on me to bring Addison around. She wants to meet her proper like. But she understands we wanted to keep snuggled up in our love nest.”

Movement to the left caught my attention, but I don’t move a muscle. I kept my eyes trained on Sutton and the gun.

CHAPTER19

Addy

“Ms. Addy.” Alice-Grace’s harsh whisper broke through the fog that surrounded me. “Come on. Daddy wants us to get help.”

She led me through the trees. Keeping Chadwick in her sights, but us out of his. How she knows what to do when I’m a grown-ass adult and at a loss, I don’t know. “Alice-Grace, we need to run for it. Not go so slow.”

“Shh… And yes. Mommy always said to go slow, to be safe if you can hide.” She hands me my phone. “I didn’t know your password. You need to call 911.”

Opening my phone, I enter the code and make the call.

“9-1-1 what’s your emergency?” a female voice filtered through the phone.

Alice-Grace spotted a family walking our way and ran over to the man. They looked at me and snatched their kids and took off in the direction of the hayride stop.

“Hi, there’s a man with a gun at the tree farm outside of Kissing Springs.” I whispered into the phone.

“I’ll connect you to the local authorities, ma’am. Hold a moment.”

“Kissing Springs Police Department. How may I direct your call?” Maya’s voice hit me.

“Maya?” I asked, weirded out that she’d be on the other end.

“Addy?”

“Yeah, I need you to send the whole department to the tree farm. My old boss is here with a gun and waving it around at Bear.” I peek around a tree and saw Chadwick pacing in front of Bear. “It’s bad Maya.”

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