Christmas Wishes and Mistletoe Kisses: A feel good Christmas romance novel (10 page)

He glanced over at her, a grin on his face. Perhaps he’d enjoyed their time together today.

“So you
want
to take us?”

“If I didn’t want to, I wouldn’t have put the seat in the back. I was serious when I said it the first time.”

“Okay,” she said, still not convinced.

As they drove, and she started to get used to the comfort of the Mercedes, it dawned on her that, if they were getting Max, Nick was going to have to go into her apartment. He would meet her mother who was watching Max. She knew her mom would probably want to freshen up, and tidy the apartment, but she didn’t know how to warn them.

“Which way?” Nick asked as they came to a four-way stop.

“Straight. …I’m just going to text my mother and let her know she needs to have Max ready. Maybe she can even send him out, so we won’t have to get out of the warm car. Let me just make sure Max has his Christmas outfit on…” She pulled out her phone and quickly texted:
Nick Sinclair is on his way over to my apartment! I’m with him! You have five minutes. Put Max in his red sweater and make everything look awesome! I owe you!

Her phone lit up in her hand moments later.
WHAT?! HE’S COMING HERE! I CAN’T…
Abbey quickly swiped the message away so that Nick couldn’t see it and dropped it into her handbag.

As Abbey directed Nick to her apartment, she was thinking about the impression she’d be making. She thought about her tiny Christmas tree, the red felt stockings she’d made with Max, their names in wobbly glitter across the tops. She wondered if her bed was made. Had the dishes been done? Had she left that little pile of dirty clothes in the corner of her bathroom?

They pulled up to her apartment and parked. “I’ll just text Mom and see if she can send Max out.” She pulled her phone from her handbag.

She typed very quickly:
Mom, send Max out.

Only a moment later her phone immediately lit up:
I can’t find his red sweater. I texted that to you but didn’t hear back.

She wracked her brain for any idea as to where that red sweater was. She texted back:
Is it on the dryer?

Her mom:
No.

Abbey:
How about in his third dresser drawer?

Nick looked over at her. “What’s the problem?”

“My mom can’t find Max’s sweater.”

“So why don’t we go in and help her?”

Abbey bit her lip as she scrambled for a response.

Nick turned off the engine, got out, and walked around the back of the car. He opened her door and motioned for her to get out. With a feeling of dread, she exited the car and headed toward the staircase leading to her apartment. Her phone was still lighting up but she ignored it. When they got to apartment C8, Abbey slid the key in the lock and opened the door.

“Mama!” Max came running toward her, holding on to his Spider-Man action figure. He wrapped his arms around her and buried his head in her torso. Then, he pulled back and looked up. “Hi, Nick!” he said with a big grin.

“Hello,” Nick said to Max with a smile before looking up and greeting Abbey’s mom. She had clearly put on lipstick, the color clashing with the red of her shirt. Abbey knew how she felt. She wanted to spruce
everything
up. “Nick Sinclair,” he said with authority as he shook her mom’s hand.

“Leanne Fuller.” Her mom smiled nervously and took a step back. “Would you like to have a seat?” In a rush, she collected the storybooks, one of Max’s pillows, and a few toys from the sofa cushions.

Nick thanked her and sat down.

“Would you like something to drink?”

“No, thank you. I’m just fine.”

An awkward silence slithered between everyone after that. Max had run off to his room, and her mom was still smiling, wringing her hands, and glancing back and forth between Abbey and Nick.

“We’ve had a slight change of plans,” Abbey said, breaking the silence. “I’ve had a little car trouble so Nick is taking us to see Santa.”

“Oh!” her mom said a little too enthusiastically. “How wonderful.”

“Did you find his red sweater?”

“No,” her mom said.

“Would you help me look for it?” Abbey asked, trying to tell her more with her eyes as she asked the question.

Max came running out with his magic question ball. “Look what I have, Nick!” he said, climbing onto the sofa and leaning on Nick’s lap. Abbey worried he’d wrinkle Nick’s perfectly pressed trousers. “It answers your questions. Watch.” Max turned the ball over. “Will Santa think I’m a good boy this year?” He shook the ball and read the answer. “It is probable.” He looked at Nick. “What does probable mean?”

“It means that it’s likely. It’s possible.”

Abbey grabbed her mom by the arm and yanked her down the hallway.

“Would you like to explain to me what’s going on?” her mom whispered, her voice breathy and almost desperate for answers. “Quickly.”

“My car didn’t start at his house!” Abbey said as quietly as she could. “He just showed up and offered to take us to see Santa. I didn’t ask him. You know I never would.”

Her mom clasped her hands over her mouth to stifle an excited giggle.

“Shhh.” Abbey batted her laughter away. “Help me find Max’s sweater before Nick gets a chance to take in any more of my house! I wish I’d have known. I would’ve cleaned better.”

The two women rummaged around in Max’s room, tossing things left and right. They were quiet but the nervous energy was palpable. It wasn’t often that Abbey had a millionaire sitting on her sofa, his Mercedes parked out front, waiting for her to get herself and her son together.

“Found it!” she said, grabbing it off the top of a pile in the closet. She held it up, and her mom looked visibly relieved.

Abbey walked out into the living room. Nick was still on the sofa, but he was sitting on the edge of it, Max on his lap, and they were asking the magic question ball questions. Max was bouncing on Nick’s knee and the two of them looked so natural and relaxed, like they’d known each other all their lives. Max looked up.

“Let’s change your sweater,” she said. She worried about Max taking a liking to Nick. Their time was limited, and Max might be disappointed when he didn’t get to see him again. “And then we get to take a ride in Nick’s fancy car!” she said, trying to shake the worry.

“We do?” Max hopped up and ran over to his mother while simultaneously pulling his arms inside his T-shirt. Abbey pulled it over his head and draped it on the chair. Her mom came in behind her and scooped it up, headed for the laundry. Then, Abbey put the sweater over Max’s head, and he assisted her by finding the sleeves himself and pushing his arms through.

Her mom came back in with a comb. “Just check his face and hair,” she said, handing Abbey the comb while she bent down to adjust the cuffs on his jeans.

“Get your coat,” her mom said, clearly displacing her nervous energy on Max. “It’s cold. You’ll need to bundle up. How’s his hair?” She turned him around. “You look fantastic.”

“Let me get my list!” Max said, pulling free and running down to his room. He returned with a small sheet of paper wadded in his fist. As Nick opened the door for Abbey, Max smoothed his list out. “Nick, do you know what I’m asking Santa for this Christmas?”

Abbey mouthed, “Thank you,” to her mom and her mom smiled, waving in return as she closed the apartment door.

Max was reading his list to Nick as they walked side by side down the walk to the car. The snow was really coming down. Her sneakers were covered in snow, the canvas feeling wet against her feet. Max was rattling off the end of his list to Nick as he looked up between items, trying to catch snowflakes in his mouth.

“That’s a great list you have there,” Nick said.

“It’s all my favorite things. I hope Santa will get them for me, but Mama says sometimes he just can’t fit it all in the sleigh. I tried to make my list full of small things so he could fit them.”

Nick nodded but made eye contact with Abbey, thoughts clear on his face. Was he reading between the lines? Did he realize that she didn’t have enough money to pay for Max’s presents? Well, this year, she would. He opened the car door for Max.

“Whoa!” Max said, climbing in. “It’s like a space ship in here!”

Nick smiled as he allowed Abbey to get in. She slid inside, and he shut the door for her.

“Mama, this car is cool!” Max said. Nick smiled again as he got in on his side. He seemed to enjoy making Max happy.

“It is cool,” Abbey said.

Nick started the car, the windshield wipers pushing the snow to the sides of the glass. He put the car in gear, and as they pulled away, he looked back at Max once more. “Off to see Santa Claus.”

“
I
thought
we were going to the mall?” Abbey said as she realized that Nick wasn’t driving in the correct direction. She said it quietly, trying not to let Max hear it. She didn’t want to alarm him.

“Santa isn’t at the mall,” he answered, his eyes not leaving the road.

“Yes he is,” Max said from the backseat.

“Santa is at the Children’s Museum.”

“What’s the Children’s Museum?” Max asked, and a swell of shame pelted Abbey’s cheeks.

The Children’s Museum in Richmond had replicas of caves for children to explore, real working trains on which to take rides, whole rooms for painting and stages with all the dress-up costumes one could imagine. It was a child’s dream. Abbey always tried to give Max the best of everything, but funds were limited, and she’d only been with Max to the Children’s Museum a handful of times. It’s not that she didn’t want to take him to a kid’s wonderland full of the latest educational activities and toys, but she just didn’t have enough money. Clearly, it had been so long that he didn’t even remember.

“Do you remember the place where you sailed the boats in that big water table?” she asked him, recalling how he’d stayed there for hours when he was only about three years old.

“No. Will I get to sail boats today?”

“If you want to,” Nick said. “We can play after we see Santa.”

Abbey didn’t want to have to admit that she didn’t have enough cash to pay for all their entrance tickets to the museum, and she was nearly certain that the photo packages for Santa were going to be more money than she had. She’d planned to snap a few photos on her phone, and she didn’t know if she’d be allowed to do that at the Children’s Museum. It was a good thing she was getting paid for decorating. She’d have to put it on her credit card.

As a child, she’d heard of the Santa at the Children’s Museum. He used to be at the old department store, Miller and Rhoads. Her friends at school would talk about having tea with him or the big Christmas breakfast that was offered for those who had the money for the most expensive tickets. Her mom, who was a secretary before she retired, had the same money dilemma that Abbey now faced, and Abbey had never been able to go to Miller and Rhoads.

She’d always gone to the mall. As a kid, she’d heard that the Miller and Rhoads Santa was the
real
Santa and all the others were just his helpers. She remembered looking very closely at Santa’s beard to see if she could tell if it was real. Luckily, her mom had always found a pretty good Santa, and so, when Max was born, they made sure of the same.

Nick pulled the car to a stop in the parking lot. The lot didn’t look very busy, which was surprising since she’d heard that the line usually snaked around the whole place and poured out the doors at times. Since it was just after Thanksgiving and a weekday, they’d gotten lucky.

The heat of the Children’s Museum lobby warmed her, giving her a shiver, as she ushered Max through the glass doors. Nick was holding it open for her, and she had to duck under his arm to get in. Burgundy velvet ropes stretched throughout the lobby like an enormous Christmas maze, and at the front were a few families waiting to get in. Max ran ahead of them through the ropes.

“Slow down, Max,” Abbey called. “You don’t want to ruin your clothes by falling.”

Once Max was out of earshot, she turned to Nick. His face was calm and content as he looked down at her. “We could’ve just gone to the mall,” she said. “I know you have work to do—I’ve kept you from it all afternoon.”

“You get to do this every year,” he said, his face honest. “But I don’t. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Santa Claus.”

Happiness swelled in her chest, making her smile at his comment. He certainly could be charming when he wanted to. “It
is
fun,” she said, looking over at Max.

They caught up with Max and moved through the double doors to the carpeted, plush room where Santa sat. The line was busier in there, the snaking velvet ropes continuing on through that room as well. The throne was large and golden, the seat and back a deep spruce green.

A gorgeous red Santa hat with a dangling white snowball at the end was draped on the back corner of the throne, but Santa wasn’t there. Abbey noticed the concern on Max’s face as the line shuffled forward. A girl dressed like an elf sat smiling at the register. The throne was sitting on a slight stage, and behind it was a real-looking fireplace. On that stage, at the very corner, sat a young woman in a white dress—the dress was so beautiful it could’ve been a wedding dress. She was wearing a diamond tiara, long, white gloves, and what looked to be a very small microphone. It was hardly noticeable.

“Santa will return shortly,” she said, her voice like wind chimes. She was so young and strikingly beautiful that Abbey almost believed she could be someone magical. “He’s just feeding his reindeer. If you’d like, children, you can sit quietly in your places in line until he returns.”

Max sat down, a giant smile on his face. He didn’t sit long though before he popped up. He gasped and pointed at the fireplace. Abbey followed his line of sight. To her astonishment, there, floating in the empty space inside the fireplace were two thick, black boots.
How did they manage that?
she thought. Abbey was just as captivated as her son.

With a thud, they hit the ground, and she could see the dark red fur of Santa’s costume. Slowly, carefully, he bent down, his white beard showing just as the sound of jingle bells came from somewhere on the roof. He ducked out of the fireplace and stood with a loud, “Ho ho ho!” It all was so realistic that Abbey got goose bumps and she had to rub her arms to relieve them.

Santa’s hair was long and white, perfectly combed and parted down the middle. His cheeks were rosy like they were in the storybooks Abbey had read as a child. His coat was thick and furry, deep red like his trousers, with white fluffy cuffs that met his white gloves. His beard, clearly real, curled just slightly against the front of his coat. Santa pulled off his gloves and set them on the side table next to his throne.

“Thank you for waiting, children,” he said in a deep dreamy voice that projected across the entire room. “My reindeer get hungry and if I don’t take a break and feed them, they start stomping on the roof! It’s very annoying. Now, let me just get comfortable,” he said, sitting down on his throne. “Our snow queen, Catherine, will keep you company while you wait your turn.”

Abbey watched as the first child walked up to the woman in the big, white dress. She looked every bit the part of a snow queen. “Hello,” she said quietly as Santa wriggled himself comfortable in his chair. “What is your name?”

“Timothy,” the little boy said shyly.

“Timothy,” she said slightly louder, and Abbey caught on to their theatrics. “Timothy,” she said again, “have you come to sit on Santa’s lap?” Santa scratched his ear as the boy nodded. “Well…
Timothy
, you may go right ahead.”

Across the stage, Santa, who seemed too far away to hear Timothy’s conversation with the snow queen, turned and said, “Well, Timothy! It’s great to see you! How have you been this year?” The boy climbed up on Santa’s lap, and Max turned around with an astonished look on his face. Watching it all play out, seeing Santa Claus greet every child by name as they climbed up on stage—it was like a real fairytale.

Before she knew it, it was Max’s turn and he was talking to Catherine. After she spoke to him, she was nodding, smiling, and he looked nervous standing on that stage under the bright lights, but as Santa called out, “Max!” his face lit up and he nearly ran to Santa and climbed on his lap.

A bright bolt of light flashed, causing Max to blink several times. When he seemed to clear his vision, Max unrolled the balled paper in his hand and began to read his list. “I’d like an iPad, a skateboard, a scooter, a Willie Mays baseball card…” That baseball card was because of Gramps. It was his favorite player. The bare minimum value for a Willie Mays card was probably a hundred dollars. They went up to the thousands. Abbey swallowed to alleviate the lump that was forming. This Christmas, she’d have the money for all those things.

With a wave to Santa, Max came barreling toward her, slamming into her and wrapping his arms around her waist. “That was the
real
Santa!” he said.

Max would know better next year, and he’d never believe the mall Santa was the real Santa. She’d have to bring him back here next year. Making sure to keep the magic of believing in Santa alive was important to her.

When Abbey was a girl, her mom had worked hard to keep the magic alive, and when she’d finally told Abbey the truth, she explained that Santa was really a way to explain faith. We have to have faith in things we can’t see sometimes, and if we believe, we may discover goodness beyond our dreams. That had stuck with Abbey all her life, and she wanted to be able to have that same talk with her own son. But she wanted the timing to be just right. She didn’t want that magic ruined by a Santa at the mall that didn’t live up to this moment.

Nick stepped away just as Max pulled at her arm. “Mama! Can you believe we really met the real Santa? He was so different! We’ve been going all this time to the mall and that was only his helper! He knew my name! Maybe that’s why I never got what was on my list! Now, I’m sure to be one of the kids this year!”

Abbey tried to squelch her worry. If they continued to visit the Children’s Museum each Christmas to see Santa, would Max expect to get everything on his list every year?

Nick returned, carrying a small white bag. He handed it over to her. “I got five three-and-a-half-by-five-size photos, six five-by-sevens, and four eight-by-tens. Just to be on the safe side, I paid to have the digital image emailed to my personal account because that has copyright release. I’ll forward it to you. I would’ve gotten your email, but I was already paying, and Max had your attention.”

She opened the bag and slid an eight-by-ten out to view it. Max was adorable. He had a gorgeous smile on his face as he looked up at Santa Claus.

“Thank you,” she said, feeling a little uncomfortable about taking the photos. Nick had easily just spent a hundred dollars or more and she wasn’t used to receiving gifts of that size. She wouldn’t be able to repay him with a gift of comparable sentiment.

“You’re welcome.”

“Can we play with the boats now?” Max asked.

“Yes, we can,” she said, rummaging in her purse as they crossed the lobby to the ticket counter. She only had seven dollars. That wasn’t enough for one admission ticket. She pulled out her credit card.

Abbey had one credit card for emergencies. She never used it because she was terrible at keeping track of what she’d spent, and she didn’t make enough each month to pay it off. She believed that if she couldn’t pay for things with cash, she didn’t need to have them. Even knowing she was getting the money, it felt odd using it.

“Two, please,” she said to the woman behind the counter.

“I invited you,” Nick said. “It’s my treat.”

The woman behind the counter paused, holding the credit card, clearly unsure of how to proceed.

“You don’t have to pay for us,” she said.

“I’m sure I don’t, but I want to. As a friendly gesture.”

“Do you want me to run this credit card?” the woman said from behind the counter. Max was sitting on the floor, waiting, his knees pulled up, and his arms around them.

“Yes, thank you,” Abbey said back to the woman. She turned to Nick, feeling awkward about having her employer spend his money on her. Even though he had it to spend, she wanted to do this on her own. “Thank you so much for your offer, but it’s really fine.”

The woman walked from behind the counter with a pen so that Abbey could sign the receipt. With one hand, Abbey pressed the receipt against the wall and wrote her name with the other.

Max ran ahead to a life-size apple tree. It spit red plastic balls out of chutes that kids could collect with baskets as if they were apples. “Max, the boats are over here,” Abbey said, smiling at his excitement.

Max dropped his basket and followed her to a long, narrow water table that snaked through the museum. It had little waterfalls, canals for the boats, and different levers and hinges to change direction.

One of the attendants bent down next to Max. “I’m Carrie,” she said with a warm smile. She grabbed an apron from a peg on the wall nearby and put it on Max, tying it in the back. He already had his hands in the water, grabbing different boats and moving them along their paths. Abbey smiled at the woman’s easy way with children as she helped each one up to the water table.

“This really is an amazing place,” Abbey said to the woman.

“I agree,” Carrie said. “I transferred here last year from Wilmington. I love Richmond. It’s a good place to raise kids. My husband, Adam, and I are expecting our first! Well, I have two stepchildren—twins. They’re very excited.”

“Congratulations,” Abbey said.

“Thank you! We’re all planned and ready!”

“Look, Nick!” Max said, pushing his boat under a waterfall that made it spin and go in a different direction. Nick smiled and leaned over his shoulder to see.

Abbey watched Carrie walk away, hoping she knew how lucky she was to be having children at a time when she felt completely ready. How much easier it would’ve been for Abbey if she’d been able to plan and prepare. She’d had to build her confidence as a mother, but now, looking at her son, she wondered if things really did happen for a reason. They were just fine now.

“I love boats,” Max said, making a motor noise and pulling a handle to change the path.

“Have you ever been on a boat before?” Nick asked.

“No. Have you ever been on a boat, Nick?” he asked.

“I have.” Nick smiled down at Max, and Abbey could see a gleam in Nick’s eyes. He was enjoying himself.

Max played for ages. When he had finally told Abbey that he was getting hungry, she asked if Nick would take them home. Nick politely drove them through the city headed to her apartment, but something in her clicked. Maybe it was the spruce wreaths on all the buildings, the Christmas trees on every street corner, or the white wicker animals the city put out every year that peppered the lawns of the high-rises, every inch of them covered in white lights. Abbey felt, suddenly, that she wanted to do something for Nick. Why did
he
have to show
her
a good time? She had an idea.