by Nancy Naigle
Why can’t there be more thoughtful men out there like you?
I’ve been so focused on my business for all these years I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I ever lost it.
All I ever wanted was to run that store. I couldn’t bear to lose it. But now I am.
Running that store is all I know. Okay, well that and a mind-numbing abundance of history and useless trivia about the small town I live in. We’re a tourist town, but rich in history. It’s a wonderful place to live. And visit. You should put it on your bucket list. Does Formerly Santa keep a bucket list? That makes me wonder, can you see the northern lights from the North Pole? They are on my bucket list.
Thank you again for the advice. I’ve decided to close the doors for good at the end of the day on Christmas Eve. I hope the big bad Christmas Galore is happy they’ve cornered the holiday market in Pleasant Sands.
Merry Christmas,
A
PS—put Pleasant Sands on your bucket list too.
Geoff stalled on the words “big bad Christmas Galore” but when he read Pleasant Sands, he outright lost his breath.
He grabbed for his glass and drained it.
Anita Miracle is Angela?
He looked to the ceiling and rolled his eyes. Why didn’t he see that before? It was Angela Carson who needed a miracle. Well, she deserved one. That’s all he had to say about that.
And that was the end of any hopes he had about getting a good night’s sleep.
He laid in bed, tossing, and then turning. First hot. Then cold. It was a waste of time to try to sleep when all he could think about was those letters. And Angela.
He pulled his pillow over his face, then flung it to the side of the bed.
* * *
The next morning, the doctor had released his mother from the hospital, and she was ready to go home. “Are you sure you wouldn’t be more comfortable staying with me?” Geoff had never seen her move so slow. “Mom, why don’t you let me take you to my house to recover. At least there are no stairs, and if you need anything I could take you wherever you need to go.”
“Don’t be silly,” Mom said. “I’ve got everything I need here. I can get around just fine. I’m not confined to bed rest, just have to take it a little easier. Maybe I’ll get hooked on holiday movies and watch them twenty-four-seven.”
“Somehow I can’t imagine you sitting in your pajamas in front of the television all day and night.”
“True.” His mom shuffled through mail that had piled up since she’d been in the hospital. “Half of this is junk mail.” She pulled the recycle bin open and started dumping catalogs and circulars into the bag. She started to dismiss the next piece then paused and opened it to take a closer look. “This looks interesting.”
“What’s that?” He sat down on the couch, crossing his ankle over his opposite knee.
“The town of Pleasant Sands is putting together a new tourism committee. I’m surprised they didn’t already have one. This would be something good to get involved with.”
“You should do that,” he agreed.
She laid the paper aside. “I meant you. Not me!”
“Me? Why would I do that?”
“To be a pillar of the community. Share your knack for coming up with wonderful ideas. It’s how you become part of a place. You have to participate.”
“What does the tourism committee even do?”
His mother flailed the paper in the air above her head. “I presume they will figure that out together. You’d be perfect. Plus, it would help you get a little balance in your life.”
Mom having time on her hands was likely to become a problem for him if she was going to spend it fixing him. “I said we’d both do better, but I’m not sure I want to make a commitment to being on some kind of tourism board. What kind of time would that entail?”
“It’ll take whatever time you give it, I suppose.”
That was easy for her to say.
She darted around the room checking on her plants, pinching off leaves and twisting the pots toward the sun. “They didn’t even miss me.”
Finally, she settled down into one of the chairs by the sliding glass window. “It’s such a beautiful day.”
“You’re just happy to be back home.”
“You’d have gone crazy in that hospital room too.”
She wasn’t wrong. He’d have been a worse patient than she’d been. That nurse probably would have kept him doped up to stop him from being a pain in her neck. That’d be one way to get a vacation. Just sleep through it. The truth was, whenever he tried to vacation all he could think about was work. He didn’t golf. He didn’t boat. He mostly just worked. “I can’t argue with you there, Mom.”
“So how are we going to slow down?”
“First, we’ll delegate some of the things that are easy to take off of our plates,” he said.
“If we get that programmer who made my app to put in some exception reporting, that would save me a lot of time on the review of the reporting for each store. I have a very specific set of criteria I look for,” she admitted.
“Now you’re talking.” He’d been begging her to allow him to do some automation for the last two years. He was sorry it took this to get her to budge on the idea, but thankful just the same. It would save him time too. “If you can outline what you’re checking, then I can put together the business requirements and get him started on it.”
“I can do that. It won’t take too long.”
“Good. The sooner the better. I was thinking … if you need me to continue answering Dear Santa letters, I could do that.”
Her face lit up. “You enjoyed it. Didn’t you? Admit it.”
He nodded slowly. “I actually did.”
“I’m delighted to know you enjoyed it. So, now maybe you understand how important those letters are.”
“I have to admit I have a very different opinion of them now.”
“Excellent. They say everything happens for a reason. Maybe this little episode and my landing in the hospital has offered up some good too.”
He had to shake his head. Mom always had a way of turning things her way.
“However, I will take that duty back over. It’s almost Christmas. I can handle those, and you all can handle everything else around here until after the holidays.”
He stood silent. There was certainly more to this. No way would she back off on everything except those letters so easily. He’d been ready to lay down the law with her. Even call Virgil for backup.
“Why are you just sitting there?” She pulled one balled fist to her hip.
“No reason. Maybe I’m just a little stunned.”
“I promised I’d follow doctor’s orders. I always make good on my promises.”
“Alrighty, then. This is good.”
“I’m inviting some ladies over for tea tomorrow afternoon too. Nothing fancy. I’ll have Garvy cater it for me. I figure I owe him since I collapsed in the middle of his breakfast rush.”
“He’s been checking on you. You worried him. You worried all of us.”
She waved a hand. “It’s going to take more than that to take this old girl down.”
“I hope so.”
“I’ve got other things to do. By the way, that nurse of mine has a niece. I told her we’d all do dinner one night.”
“Why would you do that? It’s the holidays. Our biggest season. I don’t have time for—”
“You promised that you were going to cut back too. What better way than to meet someone nice to do things with? You could do a movie or go out to dinner. I heard they have karaoke down at the bar near your condo on Thursdays. Wouldn’t that be fun?”
“No!” He didn’t like the sound of this at all. “More like funny. I can’t sing. You know that.”
“That’s what makes it fun.”
“I’m not sure I’m going to like this side of you.”
Chapter Twenty-four
Dear Santa,
If you can�
��t make what I want this year, then you can just give me tens and ones and I can go shopping online. Or you could give me a credit card.
Thanks,
Frank
Sales had been strong for the last week, and Chandler had handled every problem with ease. Even with Mom on hiatus, things were going great.
So, the following Friday night Geoff invited Chandler to dinner after work. He and Chandler sat down in a booth toward the back of the Blue Pelican, a nice restaurant that overlooked the water. The blue booths were bright against the whitewashed plank walls. Nautical lights hung from heavy ship ropes, and the windows that overlooked the water looked like portholes. The only pelican in the place was the giant one on the roof of the building. It had to be twenty feet tall, and wore a tiny sailor hat. Geoff had always thought the sailor hat was a weird addition. He hoped that the pelican had found the hat abandoned on the beach, but at twenty feet tall, it wasn’t totally unlikely that he’d eaten the poor sailor and kept that hat as a souvenir.
But that was a beach town for you. It had a quirky vibe all its own.
“It’s been a while since we’ve been out to dinner. Thanks for the invite,” Chandler said.
“It’s been too long.”
The waitress brought their drinks to the table and took their order.
“Thank you,” Geoff said, then lifted his glass. “To another successful Christmas Galore.”
“To many more,” Chandler said.
The restaurant was busy, but not packed like a normal Friday night.
The waitress slid by. “Your salads will be up shortly.”
“Thank you,” Geoff said.
“Everybody must be out Christmas shopping,” Chandler remarked.
“I was just thinking the same thing.”
“Hopefully in our store.” Chandler took another sip of his drink.
The little blue-eyed waitress swung by their table sliding two salad bowls stacked up one arm in front of them, then placed a trio of salad dressings on the table. “Vinaigrette, ranch and Thousand Island. Anything else I can get for y’all right now?”
“One thing,” Chandler said.
Geoff rolled his eyes. Here it comes.
“Are you an interior decorator?”
The cute waitress looked confused. “No. Why?”
“Because when I saw you, the whole room became beautiful.”
Chandler used that tired old line all the time.
She grinned. “You have me confused with someone else. Your entrées will be right up.” She whisked away with a little wiggle in her walk.
Chandler threw his hands up. With a shake of his head, he said, “These girls down here just don’t get me.”
“Oh … I think they get you. But that’s a whole other story. I wanted to talk to you about something.”
“I wondered what was up with the nice dinner when we’re so busy at the store. What’s going on? You’re not firing me, are you?”
It was hard for Geoff to wrap his head around staying in Pleasant Sands forever, but for his mom he’d do it for a year or two. Then he’d decide if settling down in one place was for him or not, but Chandler shouldn’t have to be tied to his decision.
“We’re not opening another store next year. We’re going to take a year off.” He could see the disappointment in Chandler’s face.
“But sales are great. So why stay here for longer than the usual?”
“I agree. Sales are terrific, but Mom’s ready to call Pleasant Sands her perma-home, and we’re going to take one year off opening stores.” And surprisingly, saying it out loud, he was feeling good about sticking around too. “I don’t want to lose you, though. I know you love the moving around. Being involved in all of the stores.”
“I do.”
“So, effective January first we’re promoting you to sales director. You’ll spend your time in all of the stores, however you see fit, keeping them motivated and pushing those sales numbers up.”
A smile spread across Chandler’s face. “Has my name all over it.”
“It does. You can call whatever town you like home. Just let me know where you’d like to land. I’ll admit it’ll be about seventy-five percent travel.”
“You know I’m good with that.” Chandler stabbed a forkful of lettuce. “That’s great news. Thank you. This is unexpected.”
“We’ve worked together a long time.”
“Tell me about it.” Chandler groaned.
“Funny.”
“That’s why you keep me around. Comic relief.”
“No. It’s because you’re great at what you do. You’re a pain in the neck. But good. You could use a new pickup line, though.”
“Hey, that usually works.” Chandler pointed his fork at Geoff. “You wait. She’ll be all over this.”
“Whatever. We’ll announce the promotion at the New Year conference. It’ll come with a salary increase and a company car. I thought it might make your holidays brighter knowing what’s coming your way.”
“You bet.”
Chandler paused. “So, I can’t believe it. Geoff Paisley settling down in one town.”
“Sure. It’s a nice little town.”
Chandler shook his head. “Never thought I’d see the day you weren’t restless for the next place.”
“I didn’t say I wouldn’t be. Just never tried. With Mom recovering I’m trying a lot of new things. I’ve been answering her Dear Santa queue,” he said as he ate.
“You? What was she thinking asking you to do that?”
Geoff laughed. “I thought the same thing at first, but don’t knock it until you try it.”
“Please don’t make that part of my new job duties. I will quit,” Chandler said in a serious tone.
“No worries there. That’ll never happen, but I’m going to admit … I enjoyed reading and responding to those letters. In fact, I’m a little sorry Mom’s taking it back on now that she’s home.” Thank goodness he’d routed those letters with Anita—Angela—to a new gotmail account that he’s made just for correspondence with her.
“Well, look at you, Tin Man. Did you pen-pal with Oz to get a heart?”
“Real funny.” But it wasn’t so far from the truth; those letters had softened him in a way he’d never expected. “I have been sort of writing back and forth with someone else too.”
“One of those Dear Santa kids? That’s not creepy.” Chandler took a sip of his wine.
“No.” Why did I even mention the letters? “I’ve been exchanging emails with a woman, but I did meet her through the Dear Santa app.”
“Well, sign me up. I haven’t found anyone good on my dating site.”
“It wasn’t like that.” Geoff said. “Anyway, it’s a long story, but we ended up emailing each other. She’s nice.”
“You’re hooking up with someone who sent a letter to Santa?” Chandler wiped his mouth with his napkin. “Still don’t think that’s just a little weird? Does she know you’re not, like, a hundred?”
Geoff felt an unfamiliar need to protect his new friend. “It just so happens Anita is a very nice person. I’m enjoying her letters. But we haven’t met.”
“Seriously, Geoff. Come on, man. What kind of woman writes letters to a Dear Santa app, and then responds to the response? She’s probably a real fruit loop.”
“She’s perfectly sane.”
“Then she’s probably a professional con. Hold on to your wallet.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
Chandler hesitated. “Man, I’m just going to say this as a friend. You need to get out more.”
As Geoff watched the hostess walk toward their table, she stopped in the center of the room, just a few tables ahead of theirs.
His heart stalled.
“What’s wrong?” Chandler looked around.
“Angela from Heart of Christmas. She just walked in.”
Chandler spun around in his chair. “Oh. Let’s not have another altercation like the one at the parade, boss. That’s
all over town. Why can’t the two of you be polite to each other?”
Geoff again regretted letting that get out of hand.
Chandler glanced over his shoulder in Angela’s direction and turned back nodding. “Very pretty.”
“Just because something is beautiful doesn’t mean it’s good. She was a wildcat the other night. Tore me to shreds.” He still couldn’t believe that Anita and Angela could be the same person. The two of them seemed so different. Which of them was authentic?
Angela sat at the table alone. Her dark hair hung down her back in soft curls. The way she had it pulled back accentuated her face. She smiled at a couple walking by to another table.
“She is pretty,” Geoff said.
“Go make nice with her,” Chandler urged.
“I can’t do that. Not in another public venue. That could end up catastrophic … again.”
Chandler leaned forward. “Yes, you can. It’s now or never. And if it’s never you may as well pack up and head out of town with me.”
He had a point. Geoff slid toward the edge of the booth, and then sat back.
“What’s the matter now?”
Geoff watched as the waitress brought Angela a glass of tea. “I’m a little nervous.”
“You?” Chandler snickered, then pulled his phone out of his pocket.
“What are you doing?” Geoff asked.
“I’m marking this day on my calendar.” He exaggerated his typing. “Geoff. Nervous. With a Woman.”
Geoff pushed himself out to the edge of the table again. “You’re right. She’s just like any other woman. I’ll walk over, apologize and offer to buy her a drink, or dinner, or—”
“Don’t overcomplicate it. Don’t bribe her. Just apologize and tell her to have a nice day. Simple.”
“Simple.” Geoff nodded.
“Right.” Chandler sounded like an NBA coach sending his team out after a losing quarter.
“You’re right. I’m going to do it. We’re done here,” Geoff said. He pulled out his wallet and threw down enough cash to cover their dinner with a nice tip for their waitress.
