by Scott, Lisa
Charlie scratched his head. “Uh, maybe he got scared off when he heard the police sirens.”
Morgan stuck out her lower lip and pouted. “Why are the police here? Is Santa in trouble?”
The cops looked at each other and Jessica stared at the ground covered in fresh footprints. She faced the little girl. “It was my fault, sweetie. It’s me, Jessica from across the street.” She pointed to her house.
Morgan stared at her, gripping a grungy stuffed animal under her arm.
Charlie turned to Jessica with an expectant look on his face.
Taking a deep breath, Jessica tried to channel her creative-lying gene. It was in there somewhere; she’d used it extensively throughout high school. “I heard something outside.” She pin-wheeled her arms, as if that might generate the rest of the tale.
“You probably heard Santa,” Morgan said.
“No, it didn’t sound jolly or like a reindeer…” She twisted her lips, trying to remember what noise reindeer made. “I didn’t hear any neighing.”
Morgan shook her head. “Reindeer don’t make noise. Their bells jingle, that’s all. You called police because of jingle bells?”
Jessica crossed her arms. “No, no. This wasn’t jingling. It was scary, like a monster.”
Morgan’s eyes widened and Charlie rolled his.
“No, no, no. It wasn’t like a monster, it was like…”
Morgan interrupted her. “It was Santa, and you scared him away before he could leave all my presents and he’s not going to come back.” She stomped her foot and stormed back inside, slamming the door behind her. Charlie chased after her.
“Nicely done,” the photographer said, snapping another shot of her. “It’s not as juicy as a Christmas hold-up, but this’ll make a nice fluff piece—Nosy Neighbor Mars Magic of Christmas.”
Her jaw dropped, but it was hard to protest the truth.
Mumbling to each other, the cops headed for their cruisers.
Well, good grief. Her Christmas funk was contagious. Maybe she should hunker down until after New Year’s.
Too bad she hadn’t stocked up on chocolate and wine.
***
Once she collapsed into bed, she stared at the ceiling. No visions of sugarplums danced in her head. Instead, she was haunted by Morgan’s sad face. Was Morgan going to give up on the magic of Christmas the same way that she had?
Of course, giving up wasn’t exactly right. She’d never bought into the joy of the holiday. She couldn’t remember that wonderful Christmas Lindy referred to so often. Jessica was only a year and a half old when their mother died. While Lindy was relishing the boatload of presents she’d gotten from Santa—which Lindy figured had been some sort of consolation prize since they’d lost their mother—Jessica had probably been chewing on her fist. Their father had always been sullen around Christmas as far as Jessica could remember. Lindy was the one who lived for the holiday.
She thought about the disappointment in Morgan’s eyes. A shot of pain clamped around her heart. I ruined Christmas for that little girl. She sat up in bed. “I’m going to make it up to her. Tomorrow, I’m going to give Morgan the best Christmas she’s ever had.”
She snuggled up against her pillow and smiled, thinking of all the wonderful holiday things they could do together the next day. Knowing Morgan’s hottie uncle would be there made her smile even more.
As long as she could forget that he probably hated her right now.
***
Once he was certain Morgan was asleep—it’d taken a good twenty minutes before she’d conked out—Charlie started wrapping the rest of her gifts. He had no idea how to salvage the holiday, now. He certainly wasn’t going to call Sally and give her the bad news. She felt guilty enough as it was missing Christmas morning with her daughter. But money talks; especially for a single mother offered triple time. He didn’t blame her. He just hoped Morgan didn’t either.
He clenched his teeth, thinking how close he’d come to pulling this off. If only that neighbor had minded her own business. But he felt guilty being angry, because she did have good intentions. And he couldn’t help but chuckle remembering her bemused face when she’d learned the truth.
He flicked off the lights on the Christmas tree and shuffled off to bed. He had no idea how he was going to make it up to Morgan the next day. They’d gone to church earlier that night. His mom was having a party for the family on Christmas night, and Sally wouldn’t be home until two o’clock in the afternoon.
What was he going to do with a disappointed seven-year-old during all that time?
***
Disappointed or not, Morgan was up at 8:00 a.m., raring to go. “Uncle Charlie, let’s open presents!”
Rubbing his eyes, he followed her out to the Christmas tree. She gazed at all the presents, then put her hands on her hips and leveled him with a stare. “You finished wrapping the presents, didn’t you?”
He thought about lying, but then said, “I did. I wasn’t sure if Santa had time to come back or not. How did you know?”
“They’re really messy. Santa’s presents always look very pretty.”
He laughed. He’d been in a hurry, what could he say?
She shrugged and found a spot to sit in front of the tree. He snapped a few photos, and then let her attack the presents.
Paper and bows flew through the air as she unwrapped art supplies and stuffed animals. Morgan squealed when she peeled the wrapping off some giant plastic contraption with little animals. At least putting that together would keep him busy for a while.
When it was all over, the place looked like the scene of a home invasion. If the cops had shown up now, they’d surely think he’d robbed the place. He sighed, remembering how thrilled he’d been with his setup outside—until it had become a potential crime scene.
“When’s Mommy coming home?” Morgan asked. “I miss her.”
He gathered her on his lap. “Later today. She’s helping people get home to their families for Christmas.”
“I wish she could get home to our family.” She sniffed. “How come Daddy didn’t send me any presents?”
“You’re going to see Daddy in a few weeks when he comes home. He’ll have your presents then. Remember, he told you on the phone yesterday?”
She stuck her thumb in her mouth and leaned against him. Sally had been so worried about this regression in Morgan. She hadn’t sucked her thumb since she was three. But her doctor said it was normal for kids going through trauma.
Trauma. He winced at the word. Then he squeezed her arm. “Why don’t I get your animal thing set up and you can start working on some of those crafts?”
“Okay. But I’m hungry. Mommy always makes a special Christmas breakfast. Are you going to make it?”
He stifled a groan. Sally hadn’t told him about that. “What does she make?”
Morgan shrugged. “A breakfast pie.”
What? Charlie was lucky to pull off toast that wasn’t burnt, or cereal that had the right balance of flakes to milk. “Maybe she can make that tomorrow. Let’s see what we’ve got in the kitchen.”
While Morgan went back to examine her presents, Charlie inspected the contents of the fridge. Talk about the cupboard being bare. He rifled through the cabinets and found some Pop tarts, marshmallows, and peanut butter. Kids liked that stuff, right?
He piled the selections on a plate and brought it out to Morgan. She looked up at him, alarmed. “What’s this?”
“Stuff. Fun stuff.”
Morgan crossed her arms. “Not for Christmas breakfast.”
“Want cereal—without milk?”
Tears spilled out of her eyes. This was going to be a long day.
***
Jessica was waiting in front of Save Land when the doors finally opened at nine. Her sister put the store keys in her pocket and blinked at her. “What’s going on?”
Jessica pushed past Lindy and grabbed a cart. “I ruined a little girl’s Christmas last night and I’m trying to make
it right.”
“Oh, so you’re acknowledging that it’s Christmas today. I thought maybe you weren’t recognizing it this year.”
Jessica rolled her eyes.
Lindy’s gorgeous new boyfriend, the store manager, came up behind Lindy and hugged her. She recognized him from his TV interview when Lindy had gotten locked in the store overnight.
“This is my sister, Jessica,” Lindy said.
“Nice to meet you and Merry Christmas.”
“Same to you.” Jessica shook his hand. “I was just telling my sister I need some major holiday mojo this year. Last minute of course. Thank God you’re open.” She cocked her head. “Do you guys sell Mrs. Clause outfits here?” Maybe that would get everyone in the spirit.
Alex pinched the bridge of his nose. “No, but I promise, we will next year.”
“Alex and I are going out to dinner tonight. Want to join us?” Lindy asked.
“Probably not.” Jessica hurried back to the toy department and froze as she eyed the aisles and aisles of toys. She had no idea what seven-year-old girls liked these days. She tried thinking back to when she was seven, but couldn’t remember much beyond coloring books and crayons. Did kids even do that today?
She turned down an aisle and stared at the rows of Barbies and Barbie-look-alikes. Every girl likes those, she thought. She didn’t know if she could make it up to Morgan with gifts, but Lindy had never forgotten that bountiful Christmas so long ago, so maybe it’d be the same for Morgan.
Jessica tossed three different dolls in the cart along with outfits, and a Barbie dollhouse that cost an astonishing amount of money, but would be worth it. She grabbed crayons and coloring books—just in case—and snagged a roll of wrapping paper. There wasn’t much left and she wasn’t thrilled with the polar-bears-conducting-trains design, but what else could she do?
She wheeled her cart to the register and, of course, Lindy was manning it. “Seriously?” she asked.
Jessica crossed her arms. “Let’s just call it major damage control.” Her eyes popped when Lindy announced the total—even after Lindy applied her employee discount.
“Hope this helps, kiddo,” she said.
Jessica gulped. “Me, too. You two have fun tonight.”
“We will.” Lindy giggled that newly-in-love giggle that sounded like unmanicured fingernails on a chalkboard to Jessica. But her big sister deserved to be happy.
“Merry Christmas, Lindy.”
Lindy hurried around to hug her. “You, too. You never know, it could be a Christmas to remember.”
She forced a grin. “I am one-hundred percent positive this is going to be a Christmas to forget.” I only hope I’ll be able to, she thought as she dashed to the car with her bags.
When she got home, she quickly wrapped the gifts, then double-checked her hair and makeup. As if Charlie would give her second look after she imploded their Christmas. But she didn’t need to worsen the situation by scaring Morgan with dark circles and eye baggage.
Taking a deep breath, she put on her coat and carried the gifts across the street. She rang the doorbell and stepped back, resting her chin on top of the Barbie house and holding the rest of the gifts in a bag. She hoped the door wouldn’t be slammed in her face.
The door opened and she sucked in a shock of cold air. Somehow, Charlie looked even more handsome without the red glare of the police lights, especially with his stubbled chin and tousled hair. He looked entirely adorable in his flannel pajama bottoms and long-sleeved red shirt. With a reindeer on front of it—the perfect snuggle-on-the-couch outfit.
She shifted from one foot to another. “Hi,” she said. “It’s me. From across the street.” Her insides hummed despite her nervousness. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt like this just looking a guy.
He forced a grin and nodded. “I remember.”
She cleared her throat. “Well, it looks like Santa left some of Morgan’s presents at my house. Can I come in?”
He looked at the presents and then into her eyes, a bit uncertain. “Sure.” He gestured for her to come inside, then reached out and grabbed the newspaper that had been delivered on the front porch. He tossed it on a bench in the front hall, and she spotted the headline at the bottom of the page, “Nosy Neighbor Mars Magic of Christmas.”
He must have seen her wince, because he flipped the paper over so the headline was no longer visible. “I thought he was joking about that.”
She groaned. “I wish. But my Christmas wishes usually don’t come true.”
Morgan scampered over to the front hall. She crossed her arms and glared, probably replaying the scene from the night before in her head. “Jessica? Why are you here?”
Jessica set the pile of presents on the hall bench. “I woke up and found all these presents from Santa at my house addressed to you.”
Her eyes widened. “Really?” she whispered.
Jessica nodded. “Santa must have gotten confused last night with all that police business. Why don’t you open them?”
Morgan hopped around and squealed while Charlie carried them into the living room and set them in front of the tree. “Go for it, kiddo.”
Jessica clapped. “Isn’t this the best Christmas ever? Bonus presents! That hardly ever happens. I never got a present as big as that one when I was little. Never. And I always wished for a huge, big surprise present.” She shrugged. “Never got one. But you did. Open it!” Gosh, she sounded like one of Santa’s helpers. How was she pulling this off? She sat down on the couch to enjoy the show.
“I know! I’m so lucky. This is awesome! I’m going to open the small one first. Then the big one.” Morgan’s face glowed with excitement and she tore open the giant box of crayons and the coloring books. Then her smile faded. “Crayons? I don’t remember asking for crayons. I wonder why Santa brought them?”
Charlie cleared his throat. “Santa must know how much you like doing art projects.”
“Right. But I use pastels and colored pencils, now. I haven’t used crayons since I was three.”
Jessica’s heart fell, but she kept her grin in place. “Maybe he thought you should give them another try.”
Charlie gave Jessica an apologetic smile. He turned to Morgan. “Open the rest of them.”
“I can’t wait to see what’s in the big one!” She looked more closely at the paper, made a funny face, then shrugged and ripped off the wrapping. She scrunched up her nose and looked at Charlie. “A Barbie house? I don’t even like Barbies. Santa knows that. I told him so at the mall” She cocked her head and looked at Jessica. “Are you sure these were supposed to be for me?”
Her throat was tight as she faked a smile. “That’s what the tags said. Maybe Santa confused your list with someone else’s?” She shrugged and tried to sound breezy.
Morgan quietly opened the rest of the gifts; all those Barbies she didn’t like. She sighed when she was done and wandered over to Charlie, leaving the toys strewn about the floor. “Can we call Mommy?”
Charlie rubbed her back. “She told me she’d call when she got a break.”
Morgan nodded. “What are we going to do until then?”
Jessica felt like running back home and crawling under her covers. For a week. But no, she refused to give up that easily. She stood and held up a finger. “We are going to make Christmas cookies.”
Charlie grinned at her. “Good luck with that. There’s not much in the fridge.”
She reached for her coat. “Then I’ll go raid my kitchen and be right back.” Tears filled her eyes as she trudged across the street. Only she could show up with gifts and make a child’s rotten holiday worse.
Raiding her kitchen, she filled a grocery bag with flour, sugar, butter, milk and the decorating items she’d need to make cut-outs. That was bound to be fun and they could take their time decorating them. That ought to please the little artist pouting over crayons. Jessica had made cut-out cookies once years ago, but grabbed her recipe book in case she’d forgotten how.
>
***
As Charlie balled up the wrapping paper, he kept his lecture on being grateful short. He got eye rolls from Morgan anyway. The phone rang and Morgan dashed to answer it. “Hi, Mommy!” she said, even before asking who it was.
Though it must have been Sally after all, because Morgan rambled off the list of presents she’d received, explained about the police, and then Jessica’s visit. She held the phone out. “Mommy wants to talk to you!”
I’m sure she does. Charlie grabbed the phone. “Merry Christmas, sis.”
“I work one measly holiday and all hell breaks loose. What happened?”
“I’ll explain it all later. Her dad called and talked to her last night, but she’s still feeling down. When are you coming home?”
“Two o’clock. Then I’m going to rest a while before we go to Mom’s.”
“So, Jessica seems nice,” he said, rubbing the back of his head.
“Is my little brother interested in somebody finally?”
“No, no. I’m not.” He never could lie to his sister very well. “I just mean she’s pretty. And funny. Unintentionally, anyway.”
“I don’t know her that well. I’m surprised she’s going to such lengths for Morgan.”
“She feels really bad about last night.”
“It’s good to know she was looking out for me. Hang in there, I’ll be home soon.”
When he hung up, the doorbell rang. It was Jessica again, holding an armful of baking supplies. “Who’s ready to bake up some holiday fun?” Her cheery attitude seemed forced, as did her smile. He had to fight back his own grin.
Morgan followed her to the kitchen table. “I love cookies. What kind are we going to make?”
“Cut-outs. Can you get me a mixing bowl and some measuring cups?”
Morgan nodded and hurried to the cupboards.
Jessica turned to Charlie. “Do you know how to work the stove?”
Holding up both hands, he took a step back. “I could barely manage cereal this morning.”
She rolled her eyes, but laughed. “I’ll figure it out.” She inspected the buttons and knobs on the stove, and managed to turn it on.