Love at Last (6 page)

     Callie looked at Noah, surrounded by the other kids. “Maybe other people would start to like us?”

     “Even if only one or two people became our friends, don’t you think that’s better than being alone?”

     “I do.” Callie got up off the cold ground and stood up. “Will you be my friend, Kristen?”

     “I’d love to, Callie.”

     Hand in hand, Kristen and Callie joined the other children. One of the coordinators found Callie an angel costume and placed her in a group with a few other girls. Kristen took a few moments to watch.

     One of the girls said something to her new nine year old friend and Callie looked embarrassed. Then Callie said something back and the other girls laughed. Callie laughed too, and one of the girls looped their arm through hers.

     “Are those tears I see in your eyes?”

     Kristen brushed her eyes with her hand and heat rose into her cheeks as she looked at Noah, watching her. “I - I’m just so happy for her. She’s going to be okay. Happy.”

     “What about you?”

     All of the sudden Kristen burst into tears. “I want to be happy too. I want friends to talk to and do things with. I want my life to be different.
I
want to be different.”

     Noah pulled the round metal ring out of his pocket and dropped it down the magical Santa string, where it swung back and forth like a holiday necklace. “You
are
different. You’re beginning to believe in Christmas.”

     She dropped her chin. “I don’t want to be alone.”

     “You don’t have to be alone anymore, Mrs. Claus. You’ve got
me.”

    
“Thank you, Noah. I’d really like it if we were friends.”

     “I’d like to be more than--”

     “Shhh,” Kristen whispered. “The play is starting.”

     Noah tried to concentrate on the kids in the play. They looked to him - Santa - for approval, which he gave with a smile, a wave, or a nod of his head. But all he could really think about was the way Kristen had connected with the girl and then broken down into tears. She
did
have a heart. A beautiful heart. A heart he’d like to get to know better.

     He didn’t want this to be their last day together. He wanted to find out what ice cream she liked, what ideas she wrestled with at work, what she really thought about Mr. Vanderbilt behind his back.

    More than anything else, he wanted to know what it would be like to kiss her.

    He and Kristen watched the play and then listened to the kids rattle off the items on their Christmas lists. Noah exchanged several warm looks with Kristen during the afternoon, but time drifted slower than he would have liked, and it was a relief when the clock finally struck five-thirty.

     “Today
was
fun,” Kristen said with flushed cheeks and an exuberant smile.

     He paused under an arbor of twinkling lights next to the parking lot and pulled her to a stop beside him. “That’s because now you believe in Christmas.”

     “Does this mean I won’t get a lump of coal in my stocking?”

     Noah grinned. “It does.”

     “What do you think Santa will give me?”

     “Considering the location, I think there’s only one thing I
can
give,” he said, removing the white Santa beard from his face.

     Kristen looked up, saw the mistletoe hanging above their heads and her eyes widened. But she didn’t protest when he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. In fact, she kissed him back. And her kiss was as soft and sweet as Noah had hoped it would be.

     “Why don’t you come with me tonight?” he asked, pulling off her wig and freeing her beautiful long dark hair. “My family always has a big dinner on Christmas Eve, followed by Christmas carols around the neighborhood, games, treats... lots of cookies and fudge.”

     Kristen shook her head. “I can’t.”

     Noah kissed her lips again and then kissed her chin, her cheek, and the tip of her nose.

    “How can Mrs. Claus turn Santa down on Christmas Eve?” he demanded.

     Kristen laughed. “Mrs. Claus is always away from Santa on Christmas Eve. Santa has to go in his sleigh and deliver all the gifts to children around the world with his flying reindeer.”

     “I could take you with me,” Noah said, dropping his voice. “Take a chance. Come with me. It would be an adventure.”

     He watched an assortment of emotions play out over her face, but she shook her head once again and stepped out of his reach. “I have to spend Christmas with my own family.”

     Noah wanted to tell her he understood, but he didn’t. He thought she’d changed, but maybe it was only temporary or she hadn’t changed enough. “Kristen, I--”

     “Yes?”

     He looked at her for several long moments, then he shrugged. “Call me if you change your mind.”

     Kristen thought about changing her mind several times that night. Noah’s kiss was not the kiss of a Santa, not the kiss of a co-worker, or even a friend. Noah’s kiss was warm and soft and made her head spin off-balance and her heart clamor like a wound-up toy. 

     She thought about calling him Christmas morning, but when she reached for the phone, she realized she didn’t have his number. Besides, her family was expecting her promptly at noon.

     Her mother greeted her at the door. “Your brother is here with his new girlfriend.”

     “I take it from your tone that you don’t care for her?”

     “I don’t know her well enough to form an opinion one way or the other.”

     “Of course not,” Kristen said, and frowned.

     The familiar route of neutrality that ruled most conversations in the Lockhart family suddenly felt... impersonal, and left her wanting more. Eager to meet the newcomer herself, she hurried into the living room.

     “Kristen, this is Sue,” her brother introduced.

     Kristen searched his face to see what he thought of his new girlfriend, but couldn’t find any answers there, either.

     “Hi Sue!” Kristen handed her the brightly wrapped gift she’d picked up from the mall after leaving Noah at the Children’s Center. “I hope you like it.”

     She’d thought about buying her brother’s girlfriend a sweater. A sweater was always a safe gift to give when you didn’t know someone. Then she remembered her brother telling her on the phone that his new girlfriend owned a horse.

     “A horseshoe necklace,” Sue exclaimed. “How thoughtful of you, Kristen!”

     Kristen opened Sue’s gift in return and forced herself to smile. Of course, it was a sweater.

     In fact, she got three sweaters for Christmas. One from Sue, one from her aunt, and one from her own mother. And for the first time in more years than she could remember, she was disappointed.

     “The caterers really outdid themselves this year,” her father commented.

     Her father was right. The Christmas banquet could have served an entire homeless shelter and was pretty enough to have been laid before a king.

     “I’ve hired them for New Year’s Eve,” her mother assured him. “Plan to be here at eight, Kristen.”

     “I’m not coming.”

     Both her parents stared at her as if she’d grown two heads. Even her brother put down his fork and looked her direction.

     “What do you mean you’re not coming?” her mother asked. “We always get together New Year’s Eve.”

     “Not this year,” Kristen said, and a warm tingly feeling swelled up inside her.

     “Then what do you plan to do?”

     Kristen smiled, thrilled that for once she didn’t have a plan. She looked at her mother and shrugged her shoulders.

     “I don’t know.”    

     Monday morning Kristen couldn’t wait to get to work. She was so happy she’d get to see Noah today that she greeted everyone she came into contact with. She greeted Jeff the doorman, Davie the busboy on the elevator, Emma the cleaning lady, and even Nicholas Holly, the plant guy. She greeted her co-workers one by one - handing out peppermint candy canes to all, even Mr. Vanderbilt.

     “Kristen.” Mr. Vanderbilt pointed to the fellow beside him. “This is Barry Winters, head of the Children’s Center. He wants to know if you’ve come up with a slogan for the advertising campaign?”

     Kristen handed Mr. Winters a candy cane as well. “How about ‘Fun, Friendship, and Unforgettable moments - The Children’s Center - Building a community where relationships matter.’”

     Mr. Winter raised his brows. “I like it.”

     “So do I,” Mr. Vanderbilt said, his face full of surprise.

     Kristen smiled and made her way down the hall to find Noah, but when she arrived at his office, the door was locked.

     “He’s not here today,” Mr. Holly informed her.

     “Not here?” Kristen shook the doorknob again. “He has to be here. I can’t wait another whole day to see him.”

     “He lives over on Thirty-fourth Street. Second house on the left. Blue mailbox.”

     “You’re a saint!” Kristen exclaimed, handing him another candy cane. “Thank you, Nicholas.”

     Kristen wished she could dash right over to Noah’s neighborhood, but she needed to put in a full day’s work first. And while she worked it snowed. When she stepped out of the advertising agency at six o’clock there was at least three inches covering the road.

     Kristen got in her Mercedes wishing she owned a sleigh. The snowflakes grew bigger and came down faster and faster.

    
Please be home. Just please be home.

     Her car slipped a couple times, but driving slow, she managed to turn on to Thirty-fourth Street without getting stuck. She didn’t know how she’d get back to her own house. All she cared about was seeing Noah.

     Kristen spotted him standing along the edge of the street dressed in a blue ski jacket, jeans, a wool hat, and winter gloves and boots.

     She parked the car, got out, and was almost to his side when a large snowball came barreling toward her face. Throwing her hands up in front of her, she caught the powdery missile and laughed as bits of snow sprinkled all over her.

     “Care to join in our snowball fight?” Noah asked, grinning from ear to ear. “The neighborhood kids have me outnumbered three to one.”

     “I’d love to,” Kristen said, “if you’ll join me on New Year’s Eve. Unless you’re busy, of course... a guy like you probably already has a date.”

     “A guy like me would love to go on a date with a girl like you,” he assured her. “What do you have in mind?”

     “This afternoon I volunteered to supervise the New Year’s Eve celebration at the Children’s Center.”

     Noah’s eyes sparkled as he put his arm around her. “There’s hope for you yet.”

     “You think so?” Kristen asked, her voice dropping off as Noah’s face came within inches of her own.

     “I
know
so.”

     Kristen didn’t doubt him. Wrapped in Noah’s arms, she lifted her mouth to his.

     And she believed.

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