Page 76 of Santa of the Creek

What is Dean doing in a Santa suit? I thought he’d returned it to JoBeth.

“He’s waiting for you,” Gloria says as she rolls to a halt as close as she can to the tree and turns to me.

“This is a set up,” I say.

She beams at me. “Totally. Go get your man. He has something to say.”

I stare at her.

She stares at me. Finally, she loses patience.

“Go on then. Or he’ll think you don’t love him. And remember, you both owe your Aunty Gloria.”

Aunty is a bit much, but it’s Gloria so I lean over and kiss her cheek. Then I slide out of the car and walk carefully over to Santa by the tree. He doesn’t seem to notice me, lost in a world of his own.

I cough lightly. “Santa?”

He turns and his smile melts my heart. “I thought you’d gotten lost.”

“Yeah, well, thanks to your messenger I had no idea what was going on, or I’d have been here sooner.”

He wrinkles his nose which is all kinds of adorable above the beard. “That was my fault. I asked her to make it a surprise.”

I swallow hard. “I thought Geraldine needed you.”

He shakes his head. “I wanted to talk to you by the tree.”

He’s so nervous, I can see that, so I hold out my arms and he falls into them.

“What do you want to say, sweetheart?” I whisper in his ear as I hold him close.

Chapter Sixteen

Christmas Eve

Dean

Ithink I breathe for the first time when Echo holds me to his heart. When I called her earlier, Gloria assured me she could pull this off, but I wasn’t convinced. I should have known better.

“Have fun, Santa,” she calls from the car.

We both wave at her. I mouth, “Thank you,” and her smile lights up the square.

She drives me nuts, but Gloria really is the angel on top of the tree.

Then she’s gone, and Echo grins at me, his eyes twinkling brighter than the Christmas lights on the tree. “I thought you’d handed in your Santa suit forever.”

I give him a sheepish grin. “I did. Then I turned around and drove back to my brother’s to ask if I could borrow it one more time. JoBeth handed it over without a word, although she insists I clean it again.”

“Good idea,” he says. “You don’t want a suit as crusty as Randy’s was.” He shudders in my arms.

“JoBeth’s suit isn’t that bad,” I protest, pulling back a little to look down at it.

Echo strokes my arms up and down. “It’s very soft. It’s like cuddling a cloud. And it fits you like a dream. It could be made for you.”

“I think it was.” Although JoBeth will never admit it.

“So why did you get the Santa suit back?” he asks.