Ed had finished his shopping weeks ago. He’d even wrapped all his gifts. No frantic last-minute sprees for him.
He just about had his hormones under control when Joy rejoined him and sent them spiraling out of control again.
“Sorry, about that. Do you mind if we stop at my office before picking up the boys? There are a couple papers that I need to look at and sign.”
“No problem,” he assured her.
“Will the boys be okay?” she asked, looking a bit unsure.
After their behavior with Santa, he didn’t blame her for asking the question.
“Jake’s sixteen. I think he can handle his brothers for another few minutes. Especially in your gaming section. They’re probably all lost in the demos, trying out new games.”
Even as he said the words, he prayed he was right. Maybe he should go back and wait with them, but for reasons he couldn’t explain, he didn’t want to leave Joy.
“Great,” she said, a smile, a real smile, on her face.
Okay, maybe he could explain his reluctance to leave her. Maybe it had to do with her smile, which made her averageness all but disappear. It sort of lit her whole face up and overshadowed everything else.
They walked in silence back toward the Customer Service area. He had to admit, if only to himself, that he wasn’t just attracted to her…he was very attracted.
It had been a long time since that had happened.
Oh, he’d dated, and certainly noticed good-looking women when he encountered them. He wasn’t dead, after all. But he was busy, too busy to follow up on the casual dates he’d gone on or attractive women he encountered.
They reached the second floor and he watched Joy as she chatted with the receptionist.
He drew closer.
“Okay, I guess I’ll have to do it, Betty,” she said. “It’s not like I really have a choice. But I’m starting to feel like the Little Red Hen, doing everything by herself. Only I know at the end of this particular story, there will be no cake for me, just more work.”
“Sorry, Joy. I’d do it myself after work if it weren’t for my grandchildren….” Betty let the sentence trail off.
Joy nodded. “I know. Could you ask someone to load it all in my car? My keys are in my purse.”
She signed her name to something.
Betty nodded. “Sure thing.”
Joy turned back to Ed. “Okay, are we ready?”
Without waiting for his answer, she started walking back toward the elevator.
“What happened now? Another sick employee?” he asked.
She shook her head, sending her hair swishing to and fro. “Actually, a sick volunteer. Volunteers, rather.”
Her hair was slightly askew. Ed almost physically had to stop himself from reaching out to push it back into place. It looked soft and inviting. Too inviting for his peace of mind.
She looked so forlorn that he had more than just an urge to stroke her hair. He wanted to wrap her in his arms and comfort her, just as he’d done when the boys were small. He wanted to hold her tight and assure her that things would get better.
“So what other job are you going to have to do today?”
“It’s not a job, actually. To be honest, it might be fun. Harrington and Vine’s partnered with a local holiday organization, Secret Santas. It’s a volunteer group that works with various businesses in the Charlotte area, partnering them with a needy family. The families in question don’t have a clue they’ve been chosen.
“On Christmas Eve, their volunteers pick up presents from the business and drop them off at the family’s house. Our volunteers are down with the flu, and the organization doesn’t have anyone else to send. So either someone from H&V takes the gifts, or it doesn’t get done. And that would be a shame. We adopted a single mother with two kids of her own, raising three others she’s taken in from her extended family. There won’t be much under the tree if we don’t help put it there.”
“And you’re elected to play Santa’s elf and deliver the gifts?”
She shrugged. “Hey, I’m in charge. It’s one of those the-buck-stops-here things. I can’t imagine this woman. Five kids…” She let the sentence trail off.
“I can barely handle three,” Ed said.
“That’s what I mean. I’m just worried that there’s so much that I won’t be able to drop it all off without getting caught.”
“When were you supposed to deliver the gifts?”
“The neighbor has a key and the family will be out until around three. I’ll just have to go later in the day and try to sneak the stuff onto the porch.”
“Or…”
“Or?”
“Maybe we could help? Why don’t we have your staff load the gifts in my van. With five of us, we can make short work of dropping off the gifts. It would do my boys some good to volunteer and give us a chance to help you out. Then we’ll come back, try to get our shopping done so we can let you get back to your real job.”
“Dr. Ha—”
He gave her his dad-look and was surprised to find it worked just as well on adults.
“Ed. You don’t have to do that. I’m sure you have other plans.”
“Nothing that can’t wait another hour or so. I mean, if you can put your plans on hold to help out, so can we.” He paused, and then asked for a second time, “Speaking of plans, what are you doing tonight? We’re just staying in and having a quiet family meal.”
Rather than answer, she said, “You cook?”
“I have three boys, so of course I do. I mean, have you ever seen three teenage boys eat?”
She shook her head.
“Well, feeding them is scary. I had to learn to provide food often and in massive quantities or risk them turning on me. But I’ll confess, I’m having tonight’s meal catered at eight. A patient has a start-up catering business, and it was a great way to throw a job her way and guarantee we eat a bit better than our standard daily fare.”
“Which consists of?” she couldn’t help but ask.
“Let’s just say there’s a certain company that manufactures macaroni and cheese that we’re personally responsible for keeping in the black.”
Joy laughed. “Hey, that’s better than my usual bagged salad dinner. I mean, at least yours is hot. Maybe I should get that patient’s catering business’s number?”
He reached into his pocket and handed her a set of keys. “Let us help. The van’s in row K, way at the very end. It’s a maroon Chevy Lumina. I’ll go get the boys and meet you…?”
She handed the keys back. “Better yet, why don’t you go get the van and take it to our service door, around the side of the mall? You know where your van’s parked, after all. I’ll go get the boys and meet you there.”
“You’re sure?” he asked.
“You don’t think I can get three boys to the van unaided?”
“It’s not so much the getting them to the van, it’s the getting them away from the video games.”
“I manage a department store, surely I can manage three boys.”
Ed tried not to worry about the famous-last-words feeling that came over him as Joy assured him she could handle it.
Getting the boys out of an electronics department… Well, he’d had years of practice, but even he wasn’t looking forward to the job.
He loved his boys, but understood their weaknesses. Video gaming certainly fell into that category. He kept strictly enforced time limits on the gaming at home.
He walked at least half a mile back to the van.
Okay, maybe not that far, but the uncharacteristic cold and gloomy weather certainly made it feel that way. The clouds were dark and ominous, just as his mood had been before his coffee with Joy.
He realized he was whistling a very off-key rendition of “Deck the Halls” and couldn’t help a small internal chuckle. He hoped his earlier sentiment wasn’t Joy’s before the day was through.
She still hadn’t said what she planned to do for the holidays. Knowing she was
new to the area, that her family was on the West Coast, that she admitted her only friend was up in Pittsburgh, he suspected she didn’t have any plans. And that didn’t feel right to him.
He found the van and climbed in, kicking on the heat to warm it up before the kids and Joy got in.
He drove to the service entrance, as she’d instructed, and was surprised to find she was already waiting there, boys in tow.
“What on earth did you do?” he asked, as the boys obligingly offered to help put the presents in the back of the van. “I’m their father and doubt I could have gotten them away from the games that fast. And they’re all too old to use Santa and lumps of coal as a threat.”
“I don’t know,” Joy said with a wicked smile. “I did suggest that rumor had it the pictures we took with Santa weren’t all that wonderful and maybe we’d have to do retakes, but if I got these presents delivered on time, I could probably be counted on to simply Photoshop what we had on hand.”
“You’re a devious woman, Joy O’Connell.” He paused a moment and added, “And it looks good on you.”
“Ah, that’s not it. If that didn’t work I was totally prepared to threaten some cheek pinching aren’t-youcutes in a loud, draw-attention-to-them manner.”
“My appreciation for your deviousness only increases.”
“But worse than that, much worse, was my final threat. It’s so bad, I was hesitant to even say the words out loud, much less act on it.”
“Dare I ask?”
“Christmas carols. I was going to serenade them. My first choice was ‘Deck the Halls’…the rap version.”
“I was just thinking there was a possibility that might become your favorite song before the day’s over.” He laughed.
Her laughter harmonized nicely with his. “To be honest, today is going much better than I anticipated.”
“Really?” he asked.
She nodded and shot him a smile that heated areas of his body Ed had almost written off as hopelessly atrophied and unusable.
“Much, much better,” she told him, her voice all throaty.
“Me, too,” he admitted.
* * *
JOY REALIZED she’d been flirting with Ed.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d flirted with anyone, not even her most recent ex. He’d been the flirter in their relationship. He’d spent so much effort at it, she’d felt almost obligated to date him. Then she’d felt obligated to go out again since he’d spent so much effort on setting up their first date.
After that, she’d sort of fallen into the habit of him. Then one day she’d realized, that there was no way their relationship could progress further. Habit and a sense of familiarity wasn’t enough of a reason to date anyone. So she broke up with him and concentrated on work.
Things had gone well, she’d been busy, happy, then she’d moved. And now?
She was still busy, still happy, but…
She realized she wanted more.
She glanced at Ed, who was driving his van, then turned around to see what the rather quiet trio in the back was up to.
“So who are these presents for?” Jake asked when he saw that Joy was looking at him.
“A family who doesn’t have a lot. A single mom with two kids of her own, who’s opened her home to three more children. Their neighbor suggested that they might need a few things, so…” Joy nodded at the back of the van. “The store donated the gifts and we’re going to deliver them, covertly. The neighbor’s going to let us in and we’ll put everything under the tree, then leave.”
“But she won’t know that it’s you,” T.J. said.
“It’s not me, but Harrington and Vine’s. And the family not knowing, well, that’s the point. Sometimes knowing you’ve done something that needs to be done is enough. That’s the point. It’s not having anyone else know you did it. It’s just knowing that you did it—that you made a difference.”
“I think this is it,” Ed said as he pulled up in front of a modest, two-story brick home.
Joy nodded. “And that one should be the neighbor’s. Let me just go get her and then we’ll see how fast you guys can move.”
She hurried to the small ranch-style house and knocked on the door. The door opened and a gray-haired lady with a smile that seemed to bubble up straight to her eyes said, “Merry Christmas,” by way of a greeting.
“Mrs. Jeffreys?” The woman nodded. “I’m Joy O’Connell from Harrington and Vine’s.”
“Oh my, you did make it. The woman on the phone said the volunteer was out sick.” If it was possible, her smile seemed to grow even broader.
“That’s true, so we’re filling in.”
“Wonderful, wonderful. They’re going to be so surprised. Just let me get Anne’s key and my jacket.”
“I’ll tell the guys to start unloading.” Joy hurried back out to the van. “This is it, fellas. Let’s start emptying the car. Mrs. Jeffreys is coming over to unlock the door.”
Ed and the boys opened the back of the van and started carrying the myriad of packages to the front porch.
“Hey, it’s snowing,” T.J. hollered.
“Snowing is a bit of a generous term,” Ed noted.
He was right. The sky had opened and a scattering of big, lazy flakes drifted down, hit the cement and immediately melted. Then abruptly stopped.
“Ah, it’s done already,” Tim said, looking forlornly at the sky, as if waiting for more.
“Hey, we’re in North Carolina. This counts as snow,” Joy told him as she juggled a stack of gifts.
“Unless there’s enough for a snowball, I’m not counting it,” Jake grumbled, but despite his words he was grinning.
Mrs. Jeffreys hurried over onto her neighbor’s porch. “Here we go,” she called as she unlocked the front door.
“We’re just going to put them all under the tree,” Joy instructed her crew.
The tree looked as if a lot of care and attention had been spent on it. The decorations were predominantly the made-them-in-school-as-an-art-project variety. Construction paper stars with school photos in the middle, cotton ball snowmen. And some frozen orange juice lids with designs that had been very cleverly punched through.
“These are cute,” Joy said, more to herself than anyone else. She knelt on the floor and began piling her stack of gifts under the tree, arranging them as neatly as she could.
“Oh, they’re always bringing home things like that from school,” Mrs. Jeffreys said. “I don’t think Anne’s seen the front of her refrigerator in years. It’s completely covered in artwork. Come to think of it, neither have I. The children keep me well supplied in addition to their mom.”
“It looks like my tree at home.” Ed set his load down in front of the tree. “I’ve got the angel T.J. made in kindergarten at the top of mine.”
“Dad,” T.J. hollered.
Joy looked up and Ed grinned. “I don’t think it’s cool to talk about a teenager’s kindergarten angels in public.”
“Talking about it is almost as bad as putting it up on the tree,” Jake teased. “Dad gets all sentimental, pulling out those old bits and pieces. Why, when he looked at the little construction paper circle Tim made that read World’s Best Dad I swear he got tears in his eyes.”
“I might have gotten a bit sentimental, but there were no tears.” Ed looked as affronted as T.J. had a moment ago. “And there’s nothing wrong with having a father who thinks you hung the moon…or made the Christmas star as it were.”
The three boys just rolled their collective eyes.
Joy started to stand and Ed offered her a hand up.
“Lame jokes aside, some day you’ll all understand,” Joy assured the boys.
Their expressions said they doubted it and that made the adults laugh again.
She realized she was holding something and looked down. It was Ed’s hand. How on earth had that happened?
She dropped it as if it were a hot potato.
When he’d helped her up they’d some
how forgotten to let go.
She didn’t even make eye contact to see if he noticed they’d been holding hands and weren’t now.
“Come on, guys,” she encouraged, “let’s finish this before the family comes home.”
It took a few more trips to bring in everything. They spent a few more minutes making sure it all looked perfect.
“You all do good work,” Joy assured them. “And speaking of work, what do you say we head back to the store and see if we can get to work on your shopping lists?”
The boys hollered their approval and hurried out past the adults to the van.
“I just want to thank you again,” Mrs. Jeffreys said as she locked the door. “They’re a very special family and I just know this is going to mean so much to them.”
“We were delighted to help,” offered Joy.
She and Ed started back to the van.
“Joy?” Ed said.
She ignored the quiet nature of his voice, suggesting whatever he was going to say was for her ears alone. She felt nervous and uncomfortable as she suddenly remembered her initial assessment of Ed’s attractiveness. This was business, not a date.
She pretended she hadn’t heard him say her name and instead called out, “Let’s go, boys.”
“Hang on a minute,” T.J. said. He hurried back to the porch and left the mass of paper airplanes he’d had in his back pocket on a chair.
“Maybe the kids’ll like them,” he said with a quick shrug.
For a moment, just one brief second of insanity, Joy wanted to take Ed’s hand again and give it a squeeze. Instead, she made eye contact and smiled.
“Nice kid,” she mouthed.
He nodded back, agreeing.
“Okay, guys. Time to shop.”
CHAPTER FIVE
“NOW, YOUR DAD SAID you’d put together a shopping list? Why don’t we start in the toy department and get your half siblings done.”
“Can’t we just buy them each a Game Boy?” Tim asked.
Jake shook his head. “Nintendo DS.”
Not one to be left out of a fray, T.J. cried, “PSP.”
Joy could see another comic-book-type argument starting. Hoping to circumvent it, she said, “When you’re shopping for other people you’re supposed to look for something that will make them happy. Do you really think your little sister wants a handheld game?”
Dashing Through the Mall: Santa, BabyAssignment HumbugDeck the Halls Page 20
