First things first, though. Nick signed his name to the suggested list of employees to be laid off at the accounting firm. He grabbed his jacket and made his way to his secretary’s desk. “Cindy, give this list to Todd and thank him. I signed it, so he can go ahead with the layoffs. I’ll be at Freeman’s if you need me. I’ll keep my phone on.”
Nick hated this whole thing. He hated having to lay people off, especially with Christmas coming up. He hated having Todd do it for him, but he really needed to get over to Freeman’s. Todd was a good manager and Nick was sure he would handle it with care. Todd knew Nick had inherited the store, and he knew how strongly he felt attached to it and why.
Nick had talked to him about running both businesses, and asked if Todd was willing to step up and do more of the managing of the accounting firm, especially while he got acquainted with the store and how it operated. Todd assured his friend and boss that it was the off season at the accounting firm and he could and would handle things. He also wished his boss luck, and Nick knew he was sincere. Todd was a good friend, and he was lucky to have him at the accounting firm.
Right now, he had to focus on his job at hand. He was about to meet the manager of the store, Russ Myers, and the woman who would be his secretary at the store, Rachel Simmons. He knew there were decisions that had to be made, especially about the upcoming Christmas season. Coming in at the busiest time of the year was not ideal, he knew, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it. He’d just have to make the best of it.
Noelle was disappointed when Todd had called her into his office and gave her a layoff slip, but she couldn’t really say it surprised her much. She knew that when the manufacturing company left so did a lot of the firm’s business. She couldn’t blame them for not keeping her, but it certainly did cause a problem for her.
She had bills to pay, like her rent, utilities and car payment. She had enough saved up for maybe a month, but beyond that, her savings would be depleted. In short, she needed a job. She knew the economy had a lot to do with losing her job, but she had to admit it wasn’t the only reason. Sure, she was one of the newer accountants in the firm, but she was honest enough with herself to admit that lately she’d had a problem getting along with some of her coworkers.
That didn’t used to be a problem with her, but it certainly was as of late. In fact, recently she’d had a problem getting along with about everyone. She had to get that under control if she expected to get and keep any job. But unfortunately, knowing what she had to do was one thing; knowing how to do it was proving to be something altogether different.
She’d had two weeks to figure it out and get it together, but that had ended this past Friday, as had her paychecks. Today was Monday, and she had to go out looking for another job. She’d done her homework on the internet over the past week. As she suspected, there weren’t any jobs to be found in Milan. There really wasn’t much keeping her in Milan, except her apartment. She’d signed a year’s lease, and she was a woman of her word. She may be hard to get along with at times, but she didn’t go back on her word. With that in mind, she had expanded her search to include Ironton, roughly a half hour drive from her apartment, and Rosedale, about forty minutes away.
She went to Ironton first and was disappointed. Two jobs had already been filled, and the manager considered her overqualified for another. She filled out applications at two places, but neither sounded very hopeful. She went to Rosedale that afternoon and had similar luck. She filled out three applications there, but again, none sounded promising. She went home that evening and got back on her computer.
By the end of the week she was getting desperate. She’d applied everywhere that had an opening listed, along with many places that didn’t. Most places were friendly and agreed to keep her application on file for when they did have an opening, but she knew that really wasn’t something she could count on. One of those might turn up something in a month or two, but she needed a paycheck now.
Saturday evening, she found a new listing for a job in Rosedale at Freeman’s, the department store there, and clicked on it to see what it was about. It was probably for extra cashiers for the holidays, but at this point she would at least look into it. Although she knew it would only be temporary and wouldn’t have benefits, at least it would be a paycheck. Even if it didn’t pay much, maybe she could stretch her one month’s savings into two or even three months if she was careful with her money and could get enough hours.
Reading the ad, she was right; they were looking for cashiers over the holidays, but another position caught her attention, as well. They were also looking for a few ladies to play the part of Mrs. Claus to work with Santa. They would keep the children occupied while they were waiting to see Santa, and give them a cookie afterwards. That sounded easy enough, but the part that caught her eye was that it paid more than being a cashier.
Noelle enjoyed being an accountant, and they generally got paid fairly well. The problem with the profession was if there weren’t any job openings in your area, there weren’t many other jobs your training qualified you for. There certainly didn’t seem to be any jobs in this area right now, after Milan Manufacturing closed, putting their four accountants and numerous backup staff out looking for jobs over a year ago. Numerous other smaller companies had also closed since then, a result of the loss of the largest employer in the area, and it added to the number of people looking for jobs.
So, with no local job openings for an accountant, if playing the part of Mrs. Claus paid more than being a cashier, count her in. Monday morning she found herself filling out an application along with way more other women than she’d hoped would apply. She listed her first preference as Mrs. Claus, but she would also be interested in being a cashier if her first choice was already filled. She was told they would be taking applications for two days, then would call the ones they’d chosen in for an interview. She went home hoping to hear back from them sometime later in the week.
Wednesday morning when Nick came into work he’d made a couple decisions. First, he was going to be one of the men playing Santa Claus. He wanted to hear what people were saying about the store, both good and bad, and he saw this as an opportunity to hear it firsthand. Not many people in Rosedale knew him very well, and it wasn’t yet public knowledge that he’d taken over ownership of the store. Even if news did get out, no one would be expecting him to be dressed as Santa and performing that job. With that in mind, he asked Russ and Rachel to keep that to themselves, so no one would suspect one of the Santas would be the new CEO.
The other decision he’d made was to go through the final round of applications and pick the people he thought would work best, then turn them over to Rachel and Russ. She would call them and make arrangements with them, and Russ would be in charge of training them.
With those things in mind, he sat down at his desk and looked at the stack of vetted applications in front of him. He wasn’t expecting this many, but the only way to get through them all was to get started, so he picked up the first one. Three hours later he was about done when he came upon the application of Noelle Clipman. He paused a moment and thought about her. He’d absolutely hated having to lay her off, and his first thought was to definitely hire her now. This would at least give her an income over the holidays.
But then he thought about the reports regarding her problems with coworkers. The positions he was hiring people for, cashiers and Mrs. Claus in her case, all required working with the public. Hiring someone who’d had problems working with her coworkers and clients might not make sense. Once again, he found himself wondering about why that had become a problem. In his mind, something had to be going on in her life to cause that change. He’d love to find out what it is, and maybe he could even help her resolve it. If he hired her and could get to know her, he might be able to do just that.
He decided he would hire her and give her a chance, but have her be a Mrs. Claus. More specifically, she would be his Mrs. Claus. That would allow him to keep an eye on
her. If he saw a problem begin to develop, he could step in, and hopefully, head it off. He talked to Russ and told him to pair-up each Santa and Mrs. Claus and always schedule them together. The more they worked together the more they would be comfortable with each other and seem like Mr. and Mrs. Claus. He also told Russ to schedule Noelle as his Mrs. Claus.
Noelle was ecstatic when she got the call saying she would be hired as a Mrs. Claus. She was to go in for training on Monday and would sign all the paperwork and learn her hours then. She didn’t care when she worked, whether it was during the day or the evening, or even on weekends. She was free anytime, since she basically had no life.
Hopefully, being available anytime would help get her a few more hours. She was willing to work as many as she could get. She would keep looking for a permanent position somewhere, but until then, she wanted to get the most out of this one as she could. She had to stretch her savings out as long as possible.
She was excited Monday when she went in for training – which she was happy to find out they would be getting paid for. She didn’t even mind the silly costume they had for the ladies who would be Mrs. Claus. They had several of them, and everyone found two that fit well. They would keep them for the duration of the job, so they had one to wear while the other was being washed.
She liked the way they planned on doing things. Parents would sign their kids in, and they would go into a playroom of sorts. There were lots of toys and games, and pictures they could color with crayons that had glitter in them. They were free to play with whatever they wanted while they waited. Mrs. Claus would call out the name of the next child on the list, and have them ready and waiting, so when Santa was done with one child, the next was set to go. Hopefully, the kids would be happier playing while they waited, rather than standing in line. It sounded like a good idea to her. All she had to do was watch the children while playing, call the next one up so he or she was waiting when Santa was ready for them, and afterwards she would give each of them a cookie for being a good boy or girl.
They said they planned on keeping the Santa and Mrs. Claus teams together, always scheduling them at the same time, thinking they would get to know each other and work more smoothly together. That seemed like a good idea, as well. She was to be paired with someone named Nick. They were training half of the people on Monday, and half on Tuesday. Apparently, Nick was one of them coming in on Tuesday, because she checked with the Santas that were there and none of them were Nick. She sure hoped he wasn’t a real jerk, because, somehow, she had to make sure she got on well with him, as well as with her coworkers and the public. She needed to be able to use this place as a reference for a future job.
Chapter 2
Nick didn’t see Noelle until their first day working together. He’d never met her before and had no idea what she looked like. As far as he knew, she wasn’t aware of who he was or what he looked like, but he couldn’t say that for sure. He knew there was a picture of him and his father at the accounting office she’d worked at, but he didn’t know where it was. She may have seen it, but he doubted she had, or that she would recognize him. Just to be sure, though, he waited until he had the Santa suit on before going to the break room where they were to meet.
“You must be Noelle,” he said, looking around and noting she was the only one dressed as Mrs. Claus. “I’m Nick, or in this case, your husband, Santa,” he said with a smile and an extended hand.
She laughed as she shook hands with him. “Hi, honey,” she answered with a mischievous grin that was nothing short of adorable. She patted the large belly of his suit. “It looks like you’ve been into the cookies again. You know you have to stay in shape for Christmas Eve.”
“Yes, dear,” he managed to say before breaking out in a full laugh. This was going to be fun. Nick loved Christmas and everything about it, and had actually been looking forward to being Santa. But now that he met his Mrs. Claus, he was even more excited. He had a feeling getting to know her was going to be an adventure in itself, and he couldn’t wait.
They talked a bit about how they wanted to do things, making sure they were both on the same page, and when the Santa pair that had been out on the floor before them came back to the break room, they got a few last minute tips from them. He turned to Noelle and offered his arm. “Are you ready, dear?”
They were both smiling as they made their way out to the Santa house. Nick made a show of waving to the kids in the waiting room / play area. “We’re back. Everyone having fun?” After a chorus of cheers came from the kids, he turned to Noelle. “Okay, dear, let’s get back to work.” He leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on her cheek, which brought another round of cheers from the kids and their parents, who were all smiling or laughing.
“Okay, let me look at my list here to see who’s first,” Noelle said. “We keep lists and like to check them to make sure we don’t miss anyone. We check our lists twice around here.”
Nick joined the parents and a few of the older kids as they chuckled at her antics.
“All right, where’s Tyler Garaway? It looks like you’re up next.” She got the little boy, who was suddenly becoming a bit nervous, and had him calmed back down in no time.
Once he was in Santa’s lap, she checked the list and found the second child and led her to the ‘next up circle.’ When the little girl started getting nervous, as well, Noelle began talking to her about the elves, telling her a funny story about an elf that spilled paint all over himself just the other day. The little girl was soon laughing and not at all nervous. When Tyler was done, Noelle led her up to Santa, took Tyler’s hand and led him over to her kitchen area so he could pick out his cookie before taking him back to where his parents were waiting for him.
She went back and checked her list again to start the whole process over. She soon got into a routine and was thoroughly enjoying herself. The kids were so full of Christmas spirit it was catchy, and she found herself becoming as excited as they were.
Nick was enjoying himself as well, but he was also keeping an eye on Noelle. She was wonderful with the kids. There were a couple times a little scuffle broke out when two kids wanted to play with the same thing, but she handled it easily and had both of them laughing again quickly.
Back in the break room at the end of their shift, Nick tried to compliment her and talk for a few minutes, but she interrupted him. “I love the idea of talking a bit, but could we do it without the costumes, please?”
After a quick moment of thought, he decided if she recognized him, either by the picture or his name, it would happen sooner or later, so why hide it? “Sure,” he answered. “Let me change out of this and I’ll meet you right back here in a few minutes.”
“Great. Thanks,” she said as she left for the ladies restroom.
Nick stood when she walked back into the room five minutes later, and the smile on his face was real, not just good manners. Noelle was a very pretty little lady who would have gotten his attention under any circumstances. He’d been told in the past that he was the epitome of tall, dark and handsome, with his athletic build, height a bit over six feet, and jet black hair. From the look on her face he wondered if she felt that way about him as well. She was looking at him from head to foot with that deer in the headlights sort of look.
But his mind wasn’t on what women like, he was thinking about the ideal lady for him: five feet six inches or shorter, long brown hair with subtle waves, expressive eyes, and not a stick figure like so many of them seemed to strive for these days. He liked a lady with feminine curves, and Noelle definitely had them. She was not heavy in any sense of the word, but was, well, in his mind she was perfect. At about five four she was the perfect height, and her beautiful brown hair had natural highlights of slightly lighter brown hair, and fell halfway down her back in cute waves. This was all topped off with the most gorgeous brown eyes he’d ever seen. They sparkled as she smiled, and the whole package seemed to pull him in. Uh oh, this could be dangerous.
He shook his hea
d a bit. “I’m sorry, Noelle, I didn’t mean to stare. You’re a very pretty Mrs. Claus, but you’re a beautiful young lady.”
“If you need to apologize, so do I,” she said easily. “You look very different as well. You’re the first Santa that’s gotten my attention like that. It’s nice to meet you, the real you, Nick.”
“It’s nice to meet you too. My stomach’s telling me it’s missed dinner. Can I talk you into joining me and we can get to know each other a bit?”
“I’d love to, as long as we don’t go anywhere too expensive,” she said, blushing.
“When I ask a lady out, I buy her dinner,” Nick said casually “So don’t worry about that, especially since I know the holidays are coming up and that involves some extra expense. So, what do you say? Will you let me buy you dinner and we can get to know each other?”
“I’d love that,” she said, tucking her hand in the arm he was offering.
He took her to a little Italian restaurant he’d discovered just a couple days previously. The food had been good, the prices not very high, which he assumed she would notice, but what he liked most about it was the privacy. The tables weren’t really close together, which he appreciated.
They both enjoyed their meal, and getting to know each other. There were no awkward moments, trying to find something to talk about. Conversation seemed to flow freely between them, and they both did a great deal of smiling and laughing.
12 Naughty Days of Christmas 2018 Page 21