by Melody Anne
Once Kyla set the heavy bags on the counter, Billy began emptying them and putting everything away. Impressive, she thought, for a child that age.
“I’m in kindergarten this year,” he said shyly.
“That’s wonderful, Billy. Do you have a lot of friends?” Kyla really wanted to help Vivian, but was afraid to offend the woman by offering.
“Not yet, but I just started at my new school,” Billy said and then a sheen of tears appeared in his eyes.
Before Kyla could ask another question, the teapot whistled.
“Do you like cream and sugar with your tea?” Vivian asked.
“Yes to both, please,” Kyla answered before thanking Vivian and joining her at the small kitchen table.
“Ah, a woman after my own heart. Not too many people like cream in their tea,” she said with a smile.
“I spent a semester of college in London and got used to the overseas habit. Now, I’m hooked,” Kyla said with a fond smile. At that moment in her life, everything had been beautiful and the world was at her fingertips. She had never been able to break the European way of drinking her tea, and she hadn’t want to.
By the time she left, Kyla had even more questions about Vivian and Billy, and the sadness that seemed to reside in both of their eyes even when they smiled. Hopefully she would get to know them both well enough to feel comfortable asking where his parents were. But what if it was something awful? She didn’t know if she could handle that.
Sometimes, questions were better left unanswered. As she moved into her apartment and looked at the picture of her family she kept on her living room wall, she thought of all the unanswered questions she still had about her own life and those nearest and dearest to her.
Curiosity caused pain. Maybe she should just not worry about Vivian and Billy. And yet, as she moved toward her room, she knew that wasn’t going to happen. With a sigh, she got ready for bed. This holiday season continued to hang heavy on her shoulders.
Chapter Eight
Three days.
It had been three long days and nights, and Tanner hadn’t managed to get two seconds alone with his neighbor. Today was the day. He’d been avoiding letting her know that he was Santa, but she was good at avoiding things, too — or rather at avoiding him. He hadn’t seen her in the apartment building since the day he moved in.
He’d paced the long, freezing-cold hallways, and he’d already called in to have the heating fixed. They were sure taking their sweet time getting the problem solved, though. How had his tenants put up with this for so long? Anyway, there he paced, hoping Kyla would come out.
She never did.
So here he was at the mall an hour early, with a cup of coffee in his hand. He’d strike up a conversation, ask her out on a date, and they’d go from there.
Oh, hell. What in the world had he been thinking? He couldn’t ask her out on a date. He wasn’t allowed to go anywhere but the stupid mall and the even stupider apartments. How was he supposed to get laid when he wasn’t able to use his best moves?
Wait!
He didn’t need to buy her an expensive dinner to get her beneath him. He was great-looking and charming, wasn’t he? And he knew how to get a girl. Not that he’d had to do much chasing. Women naturally chased after him. As a matter of fact, he couldn’t remember a time he’d had to be the pursuer. Of course, that was when he could flash his money and family name, and he couldn’t do that now. This might prove an interesting challenge — courting a dame with just his looks and charm alone. Challenge accepted.
This could be fun.
Stepping into the break room, which also happened to be the changing area, he smiled when he found Kyla sitting on the bench, her costume in hand as she rubbed at her eyes sleepily.
“Good morning,” he said.
Her head snapped up and she eyed him warily.
“What are you doing here?” She glanced over at the door as if she thought he was a stalker ready to pounce and she was ensuring a safe exit strategy.
He’d never had that reaction before. No, it wasn’t quite the ego boost he’d been expecting from her.
“I’m just getting ready to go to work,” he said as he approached — slowly, carefully, unthreateningly, he hoped — and held out the coffee.
She eyed it as if it were poison. Sheesh. His first attempt at giving a woman coffee was an epic fail. Sure, it was mall coffee, but it still had caffeine in it, for crap’s sake.
“You work here?”
She still didn’t take the offered cup, so Tanner set it down on the bench next to her before heading over to his assigned locker and reaching in for the costume. When he pulled out the Santa suit, her eyes widened.
“You’re Santa?” she gasped.
“Yep, been working with you all week,” he replied, and he began stripping down to his boxers and tank top before piling the padding on.
“I…uh…didn’t know,” she said as she stood up stiffly.
Tanner couldn’t fail to notice her shooting him what she thought was a covert glance. She didn’t look to be too horrified by what she saw, he thought, grinning to himself.
He knew he was a bit arrogant about his looks. Yes, the basics might have been the gift of good genes, but the body was something he worked hard for. He ran regularly, at minimum five days a week, and he lifted weights at the gym as often as his schedule allowed. Well, before he was in a facility without the option. Maybe he should consider having the contractor build a makeshift one just so he had somewhere to burn some of his pent-up time and frustration. Ahh, then again, it was under a month — now about twenty days — until he regained his freedom. His incredible physique could handle it.
“Like what you see?” he asked with his field-tested seductive smile.
She pressed her lips together into a grim slash as she took him in, starting with the bottom of his feet — thick socks covered his ridiculous ankle device, he was happy to remember — and then moving her eyes slowly upward, pausing pointedly on the padding he’d just placed around his middle. Her only reply was an unimpressed raised eyebrow.
“Hey, you’re the one who said you had a Santa fetish,” he reminded her with a wink.
“I also said that it, whatever it is, wasn’t going to happen with you,” she replied.
“Not exactly. You said I wouldn’t get to hear about it. I much prefer show over tell.” He could play this game with her all day long if she wanted.
“Let me make myself a bit more clear, then. It won’t happen with you. Ever. Under any circumstances.”
“That’s because you don’t know me. I’m a great guy,” he said, trying to strike a sexy pose — not too possible in this pathetic fat suit.
“Should I be wowed because I met you for two minutes the other day?”
“Well…yeah,” he said, pulling up the large Santa pants after giving up on trying to do anything even remotely resembling sexy.
She laughed. Actually laughed at him. Tanner really didn’t know how to handle that reaction.
“You are quite sure of yourself, Tanner.”
Kyla walked into the small bathroom, he assumed to change into her costume. Too bad she wanted to hide. He wouldn’t mind seeing her without much on — he’d prefer nothing at all, actually.
When she returned, he gave her an appreciative look, which she ignored. She eyed the coffee as if she really wanted it but was unwilling to take the chance the contents might be poisoned. So he sighed with exasperation, walked over, and picked up the cup. Pulling off the lid while looking straight at her, he took a gulp before putting the lid back on and holding the coffee out to her. “See, it’s not poisoned.”
“Okay, then,” she said. She accepted the cup and took a long swallow, sighing. “Mmm, you obviously pay attention.”
Yes, Tanner was very observant. He’d listened as the elves all spoke before they went on coffee runs. He knew she liked extra caramel in her coffee.
“I always pay attention to what a woman wants,” he sai
d, using his best come-hither voice. She sauntered toward him with wantonly flared nostrils, parted lips and drooping eyelids, and Tanner was about to spring….um…to his…feet.
When she ran a finger up his padding, Tanner cursed the layers between them. “Good. I like a man who listens,” she purred, and leaned closer. He also leaned forward, getting ready to connect their lips.
The flat of her hand slammed against his chest.
He looked at her and waited. Huh?
“Not gonna happen.” With that, she turned and sashayed from the room. He was sure the added wiggle in her hips was just for him.
Instead of being angry, he allowed a huge grin to spread across his lips. She was obviously playing hard to get. But if she wanted to be chased, he could certainly accommodate her.
With a whistle springing from his lips, he followed her out the door. He didn’t even mind that he was about to be accosted by a pack of stinky kids. His eyes would be glued to her sweet ass the rest of the day anyway.
Well, maybe that wasn’t the best idea while he was holding kids on his lap. He’d save the looking for breaks.
Chapter Nine
Tanner’s day was coming to a close when a small boy climbed up onto him. He had only this last kid to appease and then he could go home. Let’s do this, he said silently with what little sarcasm he had left after a full day of every sarcastic comment he could think of running through his brain.
“What do you want Santa to bring you for Christmas?” Tanner asked with a half-assed attempt at a Santa chuckle.
The boy peered up with wide eyes and a trembling lip.
Great. Just great.
“Come on, kid. How is Santa going to know what you want if you don’t tell him?”
The boy whispered something beneath his breath, but Tanner couldn’t hear it, so he leaned down. “What’s your name?”
“Billy,” the boy whispered.
“Well, Billy, what toys can Santa bring you this year? I’m sure you have a long list.”
“I don’t want any more toys,” he said as a tear slid down his cheek.
Tanner’s stomach tightened as he looked at the grief on this child’s face. He didn’t understand why he cared, but the grief was so obvious. No. It had to just be that the kid was having a bad day. Where in the hell were his parents? He looked out and couldn’t see anyone likely.
“Of course you want some toys. Don’t all good little boys want toys?”
“I haven’t been a good boy,” he whispered, a sob coming up from deep down inside.
“How old are you, Billy?” Tanner asked.
“Five.”
“Well, don’t you want a set of Legos or maybe a Transformer?” Tanner hoped to speed this along.
“No.”
“Maybe a racetrack and some cars?”
“I just want my mommy and daddy back,” Billy choked out.
Tanner was stopped cold. “What?”
“They went to heaven, my grandma said, but I don’t want them to be in heaven. I promised my grandma I would be a good boy, that I wouldn’t chase Mary around the playground with my fake snake again. I promised to eat my vegetables. Grandma said it wasn’t my fault, but it has to be my fault. I just want them to come back home. I miss my mommy and daddy.”
This small child and his devastated eyes left Tanner speechless. How was he supposed to respond to that? What could he possibly say to ease the boy’s pain?
Nothing.
There was nothing he could say or do. This wasn’t something that even his money could fix; it wasn’t something tangible that he could put his hands on and twist until it got better. This was grief, and there was nothing but time that would heal it. If even that.
“Billy, it was nothing you did. Sometimes, the people we love the most have to go away. I don’t know why, but I bet they are watching out for you every single day, and they’re so very proud of you.” Tanner just hoped that his flailing around for words didn’t screw up this child for the rest of his life.
“Why did they have to leave?” Billy asked, gazing up at Tanner with such innocent eyes.
“I don’t know, Billy. Even Santa doesn’t have all the answers. I do know that they love you very much, though. You are one special little boy.”
Billy gave a watery smile, then leaned against Tanner’s chest and wrapped his arms around him.
“I love you, Santa,” Billy whispered, resting his little head beneath “Santa’s” chin, and Tanner’s heart felt as if it were going to melt.
What was this small child doing to him?
“I love you, too, Billy.” Tanner’s voice was slightly strained. Those were not words he ever spoke, and when he said never, he meant never. He cleared his throat as he felt an odd sting in his eyes.
Billy held on for several more minutes before he climbed from Tanner’s lap and climbed slowly down the steps with the help of one of the elves. He turned back and attempted a smile.
“I know you’re magic, Santa, ’cause my mommy always said that Christmas was magic and no dream was impossible when you came. So maybe you can just bring them back,” he said, sounding far older than a five-year-old child.
Tanner stood up and moved to Billy, kneeling down in front of him. “All the magic in the world can’t undo some things, Billy. I wish it could. Just don’t give up on Christmas or the things your mother told you that magic can do,” he said with desperation. For some reason it mattered to Tanner that this boy didn’t lose his love of Christmas and the magic of Santa.
Billy said no more as he walked away. Tanner watched him, looking for someone to take the young child’s hand, but he was still alone as he turned a corner. Who was at the mall with him? Should Tanner go and chase him down? Not knowing what to do, he just kneeled there, emptiness filling him. He’d never experienced a pain like what Billy was currently going through. He’d been too young to feel the impact when his mother had walked out on him and his siblings, and his family was close — or they had been close until the last few years.
But even that was changing again and he was speaking to his siblings a little more — really speaking to them — and even to his father. To top that off, he’d discovered he had all of these cousins. He’d never been alone and afraid like the child who’d just looked so trustingly into his eyes.
If Tanner was alone, it was by choice.
When he looked up, Tanner’s eyes connected with Kyla’s and she didn’t even try to hide the tears streaming down her face. She came toward him and touched his shoulder.
“You did a very good thing there,” she whispered before turning and walking away.
Tanner was stunned. After several long moments, he rose to his feet and went through the mall to the changing area. He needed to get as far from this place as he possibly could.
This Christmas couldn’t come and go fast enough.
Chapter Ten
Unable to shake the image of the boy with so much pain etched in his features, Tanner decided to trudge back to the apartment building instead of taking a cab. He tried to blank his mind during the fifteen-minute walk, but the boy’s face refused to leave his vision. What he needed, obviously, was a good night of sleep. Halloween was long gone, and he refused to be haunted.
As he pulled open the ridiculously heavy front door, he found himself looking at the building through new eyes. A couple of kids were playing in the hallway, laughing as they chased marbles on the ragged floors.
Just yesterday, he’d growled the words noise pollution to himself as he passed other children in the building. Now the laughter almost cheered him. Almost, but not quite. These people considered this their home, their place of safety, but he’d done everything in his power to take them away from it. He never looked at individuals, just the whole of a situation.
Was it profitable? What could it do for him?
But, hey, he was a businessman, trying to make a lot of money for a lot of individuals. That didn’t make him a monster. He was just living the American drea
m. Wasn’t that what everyone wanted?
So he wasn’t the bad guy here. Businesses weren’t charities, and it would be insane to start thinking that way. But this punishment was taking its toll on him. He had to get out of here before he had a meltdown, or became empathetic. He didn’t know which would be worse.
Coming around the corner, he heard raised voices and went on instant alert. What in the hell was going on now? This place was just a barrel of fun each time he stepped into it. One minute he saw children playing, the next someone shouting. What would be next? Dancing monkeys?
Instead, he saw two men pinning Kyla between them, her face panicked, and fury rose within him.
“Stop!” she cried just before one of the men leaned in and mashed his lips against hers.
The man right in front of her leaned back only slightly to ogle her again. “Come on, baby. I saw the way you were looking at me in the mall.”
He held her arms pinned behind her back and ground his hips against her. His accomplice laughed, and both of her assailants had their hands all over her.
“Please stop,” she cried.
“Not until we’re finished. Get her key, Mike.”
Why hadn’t anyone come out to help?
Tanner moved swiftly forward, and before the accomplice knew what was happening, Tanner grabbed his shoulder, spun him around, and slammed his fist against his eye. One down; one to go.
The main attacker instantly released Kyla, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife. “Ah, ya think you’re gonna be a hero today, do ya?” the man taunted.
Tanner said nothing, but he looked unflinchingly at the weapon the man was swinging around. Kyla had backed away and was also watching the flashing blade.
“I got no problem spilling your blood,” the man said, and he lunged forward.
Tanner stepped to the left, then kicked the man’s knees, making him scream in pain, drop to the ground and lose his grip on his knife, all in a moment’s time. One more swift kick to the guy’s head and the asshole was moaning on the hallway floor.
