Christmas Magic

by Lucy McConnell

  While Ambia was supportive, the holidays were big for online orders and they needed every possible person on the phone and computers answering customer questions. Thankfully, Harmony did the online chats and not the phone calls. Only angry people called in, and she had enough anger in her life right now.

  She passed the saxophone guy, the one who was there every day. He played an upbeat version of “Angels We Have Heard on High,” moving his feet like a chimney sweep from Mary Poppins.

  She rounded the last corner and spotted Breck’s setup. He’d added an A-frame chalkboard sign with his channel name written across it in man-writing. She stood in front of it and frowned.

  Breck came up behind her, his strength and presence causing her heart to tremble like a sleigh bell on a harness with the horse running through the woods. “I thought it was a good idea,” he said.

  They’d texted back and forth several times over the last two days, the conversation ongoing. Therefore, talking in person was like picking up where their thread left off.

  Now that she was invested in the channel and the success of each video, she felt a need to help it along in any way she could. “Idea? Yes. Follow-through … meh.” She wobbled her hand back and forth. “Please tell me you brought the chalk.”

  He jerked his chin toward a black bag resting next to his table. “It’s in there. I have to find a spot for this last camera.” He scanned the nearby trees, glancing down at his phone.

  Harmony had no idea how to run all the electronic equipment. She could learn; she wasn’t a total dork. She paused while riffling through the bag to remind herself that she wasn’t going to be here long enough to need to learn all that stuff. She found the box of multicolored chalk and went to work.

  A few minutes later, Breck stood behind her. “That’s way better.”

  She rocked back on her heels and admired her work. “I think the elf is a nice touch.” She dusted off her hands.

  “I’m blown away.” Breck offered his hand to help her up.

  She took it without thinking. The moment their skin slid together, the breath whooshed out of her lungs and her knees turned to noodles. She held on tighter and pulled up, willing herself to get a grip. Breck was being a gentleman, not putting the moves on her. He had been the same way at the coffee shop. His hands were warm, strong, and safe, and they made her want to fall against his chest and see what his arms felt like wrapped around her. Those things would never happen, and she needed to get a handle on her hormones, or she’d end up a puddle on the sidewalk by the end of the magic show.

  “Are you ready to get started?” he asked. His hand was on her elbow, steadying her and causing the most wonderful distraction from the rest of the world bustling around them.

  “No,” she whispered. She was not ready for the feelings he stirred inside of her.

  His eyebrows went up. “No?”

  She chewed her lip. “I meant yes. Let’s get this show started.” Her part was pretty simple. She’d pick a volunteer out of the crowd. There was one trick that she was going to be the one to help with, but there were no special instructions. Basically, he could have done this show on his own, so she wasn’t really sure why she was there. But she’d committed to helping him, and—if things took off—she’d end up with a padded bank account. Bonus!

  “Ladies and gentlemen! Holiday shoppers!” Breck’s voice boomed out across the park, drawing curious looks and several scowls. “Gather round for a bit of Christmas magic.” He threw his arm in the air, and two turtledoves took flight, appearing to come right out of his fingers.

  Harmony clapped her hands. She hadn’t known he was going to do that! Several people stopped and stood several feet from the table.

  Breck pulled out a linen napkin and began to fold as he talked. “I know it’s a little early, but ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’ has always been one of my favorite songs. How about you?”

  “Bah!” grumped an old man in a Russian hat that had seen better days. “Worst song ever written.”

  Breck smiled easily. “I thought you might say that.” With a flourish, he turned the napkin around and revealed a paper goose. “So I only made one of these instead of six.”

  The lady next to the man chuckled. “Leave him be, Ron. I want to see the trick.”

  “Oh, it’s not a trick, ma’am.” Breck went around the table and handed her the goose, which she held in her palms. “If you’ll tug on his beak for me?” he asked Ron.

  She nudged him with her elbow. “Do it.”

  He rolled his eyes and did as she demanded. The goose melted back into a napkin, and in the middle of her hands was a beautiful gold painted pear ornament.

  She gasped, and her hands dropped several inches as if the weight had suddenly appeared. “It’s beautiful.”

  Breck wrapped the napkin around it and gently pushed her hands and everything towards her chest. “It’s yours. Merry Christmas.”

  Her whole face lit up. “Merry Christmas!” She held the ornament to her, twisting like a child in the candy store who’d just gotten their favorite treat.

  Ron smiled warmly at the joy on his wife’s face.

  Harmony about swooned. This man! He was so giving. If this was just for rankings, then she’d be a nutcracker’s uncle.

  Next, he made ten handkerchiefs leap and nine candy canes dance. She kept looking for wires or strings but didn’t see any. She’d told him he had talent—or weird talent—at the coffee shop, but that was an understatement. He could do some serious magic. With each trick, her mind twirled and danced.

  By now, the crowd had grown to twenty or more. She beamed, thrilled for Breck. He needed to see how happy he made people.

  “If my lovely assistant will please choose someone out of the crowd to help with my next trick.”

  Harmony straightened. This was her one important job. Breck had told her to pick a child between the ages of six and ten. She scanned the group, finding a small boy tucked close to his mother. He was closer to the six-year-old side of things, but his eyes were as big as Christmas cookies. She made eye contact with him and motioned him forward. He didn’t glance at his mother for permission, which told her that he was caught up in the magic.

  She gave him an encouraging pat on the back. “I think this young man will be perfectly capable. I sensed something special in him.”

  The kid’s eyes grew even wider with wonder as they approached the table, and she had to stifle a joyful giggle. He was so stinking cute with his blue stocking hat and matching mittens dangling from strings at his wrists. She wanted ten just like him. Okay, maybe not ten, but two would do just fine.

  Breck handed the boy a stack of cards. “Will you look those over and make sure there’s nothing fishy about them?”

  The kid nodded and went to work, sorting through the cards, turning them this way and over.

  “Well, is there anything strange?” asked Breck.

  “Nope.” He handed back the deck.

  “Hmm. Wait a second. I was sure I handed you a green deck. Did I give you a green deck?”

  The kid nodded.

  Breck wrapped his knuckles on the deck. “Then why are they covered in snowmen?”

  The crowd gasped.

  The little boy looked up at Harmony. “How’d he do that?”

  “Magic.” She half laughed the word as she said it. “I don’t think he’s done, though.”

  Breck’s eyes twinkled as he lifted an eyebrow. “You’re right. I do believe there is something else inside this deck that—wait a minute.” He held it up to his ear. “Did you hear that?”

  He moved it to the kid’s ear. The kid listened and then shook his head. “I can’t hear anything.”

  “Hmm.” Breck shook the cards by his head like he was shaking a bell. “I could have sworn … There is it again. Hold out your hands.”

  The boy did as he was told, and Breck sprayed his hands with the cards. When he was done, a toy drum had appeared. The boy jumped in surprise. The crowd clapped wildly
.

  “Can I have it?”

  Breck nodded, and the kid scampered back to his mom’s side, where she hugged him. The smile on her face was worth twelve drummers drumming. When the attention swiveled back to Breck, he made a white handkerchief appear. “Of course, it wouldn’t be the holidays without snow, now would it?”

  Eager faces leaned closer.

  “Will you please inspect this to see if there’s any snow inside?” He handed the cloth to Harmony.

  “Help me out, guys.” She turned it front and back for everyone to see, holding it up high for the people in the back. Then she shook it out, wadded it up, and laid it flat. “No snow. Agreed?” she asked the crowd.

  They nodded and hollered their confirmation of her inspection.

  She handed the handkerchief back to him. His fingers brushed hers as he took it, and warmth shot up her arm. The temperature hit her cheeks like ice as they flooded with heat.

  “Do you like snow, Harmony?” he asked, the show suddenly narrowing down to just the two of them. His gray eyes swirled like clouds that were heavy with days of happy snowmen.

  “I do.” The words felt like a premonition—like one day she’d be standing before a preacher and saying them again. She blushed deeper. Those kinds of thoughts were what had gotten her into a marriage that she should have run away from instead of jumping into it.

  “I hope so.” He made a fist and stuffed the handkerchief inside, sticking his tongue out one corner of his mouth like he was concentrating really hard. It was adorable and sweet and heart-melting. “Well, I’m not Jack Frost, so my snow won’t be good for snowballs, but I hope it fills all of you with the Magic of Christmas.”

  Once there wasn’t any white handkerchief showing, he asked Harmony to blow on his hand. She did, feeling like they were the only two people in the park. All sounds had disappeared. All the people faded to the background and might as well have been trees for all she knew. His marble-gray eyes were so intent on her, she felt like he was looking at the real her—a woman she hadn’t seen for quite some time.

  Breck tossed his fist into the air, and white and silver confetti rained from his open hand, shooting up, up, and then floating down over all of them. There was so much more than he could have held in his palm.

  Harmony held out her hand, tipped up her chin, and let it fall on her cheeks. It was soft and happy. She glanced over and found Breck watching her with an odd look in his eye—one she hadn’t seen before but found that she liked.

  Children squealed. Ron let out a hearty, “There you go, son!”

  Breck bowed, then motioned for her to do the same. She did, although she hadn’t done much of anything to earn applause. Still, it was fun to take a bow, and it brought a real sense of accomplishment with it.

  Several kids ran up to the table and began asking Breck questions about his show. He didn’t give away any secrets, but he handed out magic coins, which earned him two hugs and a whole lot of knuckles before moms and dads pulled their children away. The adults cleared out faster, a few of them shook Breck’s hand, and she saw him pocket money. That was nice. He hadn’t asked for tips.

  Once everyone cleared out, he grabbed her up in a hug and then set her down quickly. The whole thing was over faster than she had time to register the fact that she’d been in his arms.

  “Did you have fun?” he asked, his eyes full of hope.

  “I did. Who knew I was such an attention hound?” She laughed at herself, feeling almost giddy. This must be a performer’s high.

  He winked. “Careful, this is addicting. Next thing you know, you’ll be checking our views every twenty minutes to see if they’ve gone up.”

  She laughed. “I hadn’t thought of it, but now that you said that, I’m going to have to.” She helped gather up the tinsel around his table and fold the tablecloth while he took down the cameras. She checked her phone. She had twelve minutes to get back to work. “So what’s next?”

  He hooked his elbow around her neck. “Funny you should ask.”

  “Why?” She eyed him playfully, ready to deliver an elbow to his ribs if he was joshing her.

  “Because I’d like to cut you in half.”

  She released her elbow.

  He grunted and rubbed his side. “Come on! I’ll buy you dinner tonight and explain.”

  “If you’re going to cut me in half, you’d better buy me dessert too.”

  His whole face lit up like the North Pole on Christmas Eve. “Deal.”

  She smiled all goofily at him for ten seconds longer than was appropriate, but she didn’t even care. It felt good to let this warmth in her heart come out. She’d been trying to hold it back for so long, trying to protect herself from being hurt again, that she ached. Her phone alarm went off, and she jolted. “That’s my warning that I’d better be on my way back to work.”

  He motioned for her to walk.

  “Thanks, Breck. This was … fun.” She ducked her head and took off at a brisk pace. Saying that much felt like she’d bared part of her soul. But she did have a good time. The kids in the crowd were genuinely astonished and amazed, and the adults smiled and laughed. They’d brought the Christmas spirit to quite a few people in the park, and once the video was up, they’d spread it even more.

  Maybe that was why she was so light and airy—because she’d done something out of her wheelhouse, or because she had a hidden performer waiting to jump out.

  Or maybe it was Breck.

  Chapter Seven

  Breck

  Later that night, Breck hunched over the computer, putting the final touches on his post before uploading the video. He kept getting caught up in the sound of Harmony’s laughter. It pealed through the air like silver bells and made all heads turn her direction. Well, all male heads. He’d watched the video enough times to know that the men in the audience were drawn to her. Her head tipped back, slightly, and then the bells rang, and every guy in the crowd swiveled her direction. He hadn’t noticed while they were performing because he’d been so caught up in her.

  He hit the back button to start the video from the top. The beginning was just him doing an introduction. He lifted his eyes from the screen and studied the round ball he’d cut the top and bottom off of. That would be the main body of the snowman costume Harmony would wear during their next performance. He’d studied many ways to cut someone in half, but they were always lying down. He had to find a way to keep the box vertical, or in this case, the snowman—er, snowwoman—standing upright. The logistics were thrilling and kept his mind turning so fast it was hard to fall asleep at night. He hadn’t told Harmony anything about the trick except that he wanted to saw her in half because he wanted the snowman part to be a surprise.

  He wanted to see her eyes light up. That moment when they sparkled with wonder was the best. It filled his chest with this warmth that tingled and made him want to do crazy things like kiss her beautiful lips.

  He leaned over to check the ball next to it that would be the next part of the snowman. He was halfway in, checking to see if the epoxy had dried, when someone knocked on the outside, startling him. He jerked and scraped his neck on the plastic on the way out.

  “What?” He glared at his roommate, John, as he rubbed the soreness away. The guy wasn’t ever here, but when he was, he did his best to make Breck’s life miserable.

  “What’s that?” John pointed a finger at what looked like a snowman homicide scene in the kitchen/living room. Three large balls, wires, weights, a soldering iron, bits of wire and scraps of papers with plans were scattered about.

  “Just a prop.” Every magician kept their secrets close, and Breck wasn’t any different. Everything about John, from the college football jerseys he insisted were business casual to the guy’s constant mockery of all things magic, told Breck to never reveal so much as a card trick. If this hadn’t been the only apartment available …

  John scratched his nose. “Weird.”

  Harmony’s laughter rang out, causing both of them to
turn their attention to the screen.

  “Who’s the babe?” asked John, his eyes bugging out like a cartoon character.

  Breck had a choice to make. He could hide Harmony from this guy, or he could flaunt her in front of him. And perhaps it wasn’t the smartest move, but there was a part of Breck that was dying to one-up John in something. So, for all the times John had made fun of Breck for liking magic, for all the comments about him never getting a woman because he was a magic geek, for the moments when he’d bring a woman back to the apartment and dismiss Breck as if he were a piece of the furniture—Breck smiled knowingly and said, “My new assistant.”

  “Lucky dog!” John offered him a fist bump. “What’s wrong with her?”

  “What do you mean?” He sat taller. Harmony was perfect, and any man who said otherwise was going to get his butt kicked.

  “I mean, if she’s that gorgeous, why is she wasting her time with magic? She should be modeling.”

  “Maybe she likes magic.”

  John lifted his chin slightly. “Oooh. You guys are a thing.”

  “No. We … I …” Breck hated that he couldn’t find the right words to explain that he liked her and he thought she might like him but she was closed off. “She’s not available right now.”

  John pounded him on the back before making his way to the coat rack. “That’s what a woman says when she’d not interested in you. I guarantee, if the right guy came along, she’d be all over him.” He clipped his keys off the hook by the door. “Don’t wait up.”

  Breck held his ground until the door slammed shut before he deflated. John probably knew what he was talking about. While Breck spent high school playing with cards, John was wooing the captain of the cheer squad. He was eons ahead of Breck when it came to understanding women.

  “Stick to magic,” he muttered to himself. If he wasn’t the right guy for Harmony, there was nothing he could do about it, no matter how much his heart told him otherwise. Even now, as he uploaded the video, he felt a whisper that there was something for him and Harmony, something more than a few magic tricks and a paycheck.