by Lola Kidd
“Fancy seeing you here!” Dottie walked up from behind him as he was going into the building. “I can’t believe you got hired too.”
“Yeah, I’m an elf too. We’re both going to be in the workshop.”
She squealed and then jumped up to hug him. Wyatt caught her in his arms easily. She was so tiny. He loved feeling her in his arms. He could hold her all day and night, but he put her down.
“That’s so great,” she said when he’d put her down. “We’re going to have so much fun. But it is a little funny. You’re going to be the biggest elf!”
“I know. Maybe I can get a cool nickname, like Tiny.”
Dottie giggled. “I’m so glad we’re going to see each other every day.”
The way she looked at him made his heart flip over in his chest like it was doing Olympic-level gymnastics. His gorilla wasn’t nervous anymore. It was just excited. Maybe she did like him. She wouldn’t be looking at him like that if she didn’t. She was probably waiting for him to make the first move.
He cleared his throat. “Speaking of that, what would you think about seeing me tonight? Maybe we could have dinner or something?”
She stopped walking. “Oh, well, I’m having dinner with my parents tonight. The pot roast is already in the slow cooker and everything.”
“Well, maybe tomorrow night? I’m free whenever. I don’t really have dinner with anyone ever.”
She looked at her shoes. “That’s not a good idea.”
“Why?” he asked, surprised. “Would you rather we just talk through PM at first? Because that’s fine with me too.”
“What?”
“You know, on LK Brides. I didn’t message you back last night because I figured we could talk in person today. But we can message instead. It’s no big deal.”
“Could you excuse me for a second?”
She hurried away before he could answer. He didn’t know what he had said, but obviously, he’d already ruined everything. He was going to apologize when she came back and only ever talk to her on private message.
But he wasn’t going to give up. She was his match and probably his mate. He was going to do his best not to mess this up again.
Chapter 6
Dottie rushed to the ladies’ room. Thankfully, it was empty, and she could be alone with her thoughts. She was confused. Her parents had said she had no match. But Wy was claiming that he was her match. Both of those things couldn’t be true. How did he even know she was on LK Brides? None of this was making sense.
She needed a moment to figure out what was going on. She tried calling her parents, but neither of them picked up. They also didn’t return her texts. She was on her own. The orientation meeting for the day was going to begin soon. Time was running out for her to make a choice about her next move.
Her parents wouldn’t lie to her. Wyatt must’ve heard her talking about it. She didn’t remember talking about the dating site, but maybe in her excitement she had forgotten. But there was no way he was her match. If she’d gotten matched, her parents would have told her.
She liked Wy, but she couldn’t go on a date with him. She’d already agreed not to do that. It was a strange thing to lie about, but she wasn’t going to hold it against him. It was dishonest, and she was going to pretend like that part had never happened. After all, he was a very nice man, and she wanted to be his friend. It was so great that they were working together that she didn’t want to ruin it all.
In her experience, whenever she told a man who had asked her out “no, thank you,” it didn’t go well. If you turned someone down, there was a good chance they would stop talking to you. Telling Wy no would be the easy part. Getting him to agree that not dating was better could be hard.
She looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. Yes, that would do. If she looked happy, maybe he would feel happy and smile back at her. That was a thing, right? Like if someone yawned, you would yawn too. That was what she would do. She would happily tell him that she couldn’t date him, and then he’d feel happy too.
If that failed, she was going to quit this job. It would be no fun if Wy didn’t want to talk to her anymore.
She left the pink and white bathroom and slowly walked back to him. With each step she took, her panic rose. Her butterfly beat nervously against her chest. Even her animal wanted to be far away from here.
He was standing in the same spot she had left him, his big hands shoved inside his jeans pockets and his shoulders rounded forward. He looked so hopeful, she almost said yes. She hated that she would have to hurt his feelings.
“Wyatt.” She smiled so big, her cheeks hurt. “Since we’re working together, I don’t think it would be a good idea if we tried to go on a date.”
He nodded quickly. His face fell for only a second. Then he smiled brightly too and squared his shoulders. “You know, you’re right. It’s better that we don’t date, because it could make things awkward here at work, right? We should keep things professional. But I’d still like to be friends, if that’s okay with you.”
The butterfly in her chest didn’t slow, but Dottie sighed with relief. “Right. That’s exactly what I was thinking. I’d love to be friends.”
“Well, great minds think alike.” Wyatt laughed easily. “I’m glad I’m working with someone as cool as you. I was worried I wasn’t going to like anyone here, so I’m glad I met you.”
“Me too.” She grabbed his forearm and squeezed it tight. “I was ready to quit if we couldn’t be friends. Really, Wyatt, you’re the nicest person I’ve met in Maple Creek.”
He nodded. “Thank you. Have you ever done something like this before?”
“Not often. I don’t have very many friends.”
“Me, either. But I meant, have you ever worked as an elf or done a job where you had to dress up?”
Dottie laughed. “Oh, no, I haven’t really worked much. My parents preferred it if I stuck to my schooling. I had a tough time finding a job after college, since I had no work experience. I worked part-time as a grocery cashier over the summer before I moved here, though.”
“You went to college?” He nodded approvingly. “I stopped at high school. That’s cool.”
“I only did an associate’s degree,” Dottie explained. “But I didn’t do it right. I majored in basket weaving.”
Wyatt looked confused. “That’s not a very good major. No wonder you couldn’t find a job. I can’t imagine there are many places hiring basket weavers.”
Dottie giggled. “That was a joke. I must have told it wrong. My dad says it all the time. I majored in entrepreneurship, but it may as well have been basket weaving. It was just as hard to get a job, and as you can see, I’m working as an elf.”
“Oh.” Wyatt laughed too. “Well, you’re going to have to communicate at this job. I bet you’re going to communicate circles around all of us with your fancy college degree.”
“I don’t know. I’m really not much good at communicating. Like I said, I can’t really make friends. I don’t think I learned much of anything practical.”
“Why’d you pick it, then?”
“My dad thought it was a good idea, and my mom agreed. At the time, it seemed like a great plan. I thought I’d be able to find a job lickety-split. It didn’t work out like that.”
“I understand,” Wyatt said. “I thought it would be much easier, too. My job is great most of the year, but getting laid off these couple of months in the winter really sucks.”
“I didn’t realize it was every single year. That must be so hard.”
He shrugged. “Most of us get jobs plowing snow or something. I want to do something different this year. When I heard they were opening this Santa Shop, I knew I wanted to try it out.”
“Is this brand-new?” Dottie asked. “I thought this was your Christmas tradition here.”
“We have a parade, but this is the first year we’re going to have a Santa. This was Tim’s idea. We’re kind of the guinea pigs. If everything goes well, we’ll do it every
year.”
“That sounds nice. I can’t believe you guys didn’t have a Santa before.” The idea of Christmas without a big festival was sacrilege to Dottie. Going to all of the festivals and events was one of the best parts of the season.
“Yeah, I really am looking forward to being an elf all season. Seems like a lot more fun than sitting at home alone.”
“I’m not home alone anymore, but I’m glad to be out and about, too. Ever since I got to town, it’s just been me all the time, and it was no fun at all.”
“You and your parents just moved here, right?”
He leaned back against the wall behind him, stretching out his long body. Dottie was distracted for a moment as his shirt rode up, revealing a slim line of tight abs. Shifter men did have the best bodies, and Wyatt was no exception.
She tore her eyes away and looked at his face as she talked. “It was just me at first. My parents came down occasionally, but now they’re here for the holiday break. I’m glad to have them. It gets so lonely.”
He shook his head and gave her a lopsided smile. “I wish I’d known you were here. I would have had you over any time. I hate living by myself too. I used to have roommates, but now it’s just me.”
Dottie nodded. “Yeah, that’s how I feel too. My parents are my roommates, and I miss having them around. Why don’t you live with your parents if you hate being alone?”
“That’s not really an option.” Wyatt shifted uncomfortably and moved away from the wall. “It looks like they’re starting orientation. We’d better get inside.”
Dottie followed him into the auditorium. They sat together and quietly waited for the presentation to start. She could see she had said something that had made him uncomfortable. Probably talking about her parents. Stupid. No man wanted to be friends with someone who lived at home like a baby. Wyatt probably lived all by himself, like a real adult.
She hoped he wouldn’t hold it against her. Even though she lived with her parents, they let her have her freedom most of the time. It wasn’t that much different than having any other kind of roommate. She wouldn’t bring it up again.
After they’d finished orientation for the day, she and Wy walked to the parking lot together.
He walked her to her car. “See you tomorrow?”
“You know it.” She waved and gave him a hug.
She was so happy that it had all gone well. After that initial hiccup, they had managed to recover. Wyatt really was a special kind of guy.
When she got home, she couldn’t wait to tell her parents all about her day. First, she had to ask them about the weird thing at the beginning about LK Brides.
“So, Wy asked me out,” she told her dad after she found him in their office.
His eyebrows shot up. “I see. What, like a date?”
“Yeah. I told him no, of course. The funny thing is, he said that we were matched on LK Brides.”
“Hmmm.” Her dad grabbed a magazine from the table and started flipping through it.
“What a strange thing to say,” her mom said from across the room. “She doesn’t have any matches does she, dear?”
Her dad’s face blazed red. “Well, you might have had some kind of match. I clicked that I wanted to receive more information, but I haven’t checked it again since then.”
“Are you kidding me, Dad?” Dottie was crushed. “You said I didn’t have any matches.”
“None that have been completed,” her dad said carefully. “That’s different. I don’t know anything about him yet, so I didn’t want you to get your hopes up. I can go in and check now to see if he was your match. If you’d like me to, that is.”
Dottie contemplated it. She did like Wyatt, but she barely knew him. If they did try to date, there was a good chance it would all get ruined, anyway. Being friends was really better than being boyfriend-girlfriend. She didn’t want to risk the burgeoning friendship just for a chance at romance.
“It’s okay,” she said finally. “I really like being his friend. I don’t care if we’re matched. In fact, you can delete my profile. I don’t really want to be matched anymore. I’ll find my mate the old-fashioned way.”
Her dad sighed with relief. “Great. What movie do you ladies want to watch tonight?”
The matter was settled. Wyatt would probably prefer it that way, too. They were free to continue their friendship without any fear of bringing romance into the equation.
Chapter 7
It was the second day of work, and Wyatt was excited to see Dottie again. Today was the day they were all going to be fitted for the costumes.
It wasn’t much work getting trained. It had taken less than six hours. Since they had all filled out the information on hiring day, there wasn’t any paperwork to do, either. That helped speed things along. They went over the employee handbook, and Tim talked about when they were going to get paid.
Wy loved working with Tim. At his spring-fall job, they had spent almost two weeks on orientation before they could get to the real work. Wy hated having to listen to people talking all day. It was like being in school all over again. He just wanted to get to work and be able to talk freely with his coworkers all day.
He toned out most of the orientation. This part was the same as when he’d gotten his job with the grounds crew. He already knew all the rules and where everything was. Instead of listening, he spent his time studying his new coworkers. They were mostly cool. He knew most of them except for the teenagers who were working part-time.
The most stressful part of the whole thing was making sure he didn’t spend too much time starting at Dottie. He was dying to talk to her, but he couldn’t. She was sitting two seats over from him. She had gotten there first, and there were people sitting next to her. It was probably for the best that he wasn’t right next to her. He would have probably bothered her.
She had been cool after their first conversation on day one. She hadn’t messaged him last night, but that was fine. He could wait until she was more comfortable. He didn’t want to creep her out before she got a chance to really know him.
“Hey, Wyatt.” Dottie slid down when she saw him. “Are you excited about the costumes?”
“I am. Did you know we get to customize them?”
She nodded excitedly. “I have some ideas for mine.”
“Tell me everything. We have some time before work starts. I’d love to hear any ideas you have. I’m not good with creative stuff.”
“That’s surprising. You seem like a really imaginative guy. But I don’t think you want to hear my ideas. They’re a little out there.”
“No, I do want to hear them. I’m all ears.”
“Really? My parents weren’t too excited about it. But it would be nice to have the opinion of someone else who actually works here.”
Wyatt sat back comfortably. “Like I said, I’m all ears. And I’ll be honest, too. Don’t worry about it.”
“Okay, then. First, I’ll show you my inspiration pictures.”
Wyatt leaned in closer so he could see what she wanted to show him. Dottie got even closer, so she was practically sitting in his lap. Wy was fine with that. She could get as close as she wanted.
She held up her phone. “See, I was thinking something like this. Lots of glittering color. I think the traditional red and green is going to be done by everyone. I’d really love to give my costume a little more. Something a little more unique.”
It was a picture of a girl labeled Unicorn Glitter. The woman had some kind of blue glitter around her eyes and forehead. It looked a little crazy, but also kind of cool. Wy didn’t think he would be one for glitter on his face, but on Dottie, it would be beautiful.
“I like it. No one else will have makeup like that. You’ll look great.”
“Do you really think so? My parents said it was going to be a bit much.” Dottie looked longingly at the picture. “They said I should try to dress like everyone else and only wear conservative makeup. It might take too much attention away from Santa, and i
t isn’t in keeping with the Christmas spirit.”
Wyatt shook his head. “No way. I think it would add to the festive feeling. When people really like their jobs, it makes everyone around them happy. Nobody wants to work with a sad sack. I think if you just let yourself have the most fun, it’ll be better for everyone. The kids will love it, too. What little girl doesn’t love glitter?”
“That’s so great to hear. Now I’m extra-excited.”
She put the phone away, and she was smiling so wide that Wy couldn’t help but smile too. Her happiness was contagious. He would do anything to keep her smiling like that.
“I’m glad I could help.” He noticed some motion on the stage. “It looks like Tim is ready to get going.”
Tim was on stage, opening the events for the day. They were going to go to a room down the hall and try to find costumes that fit. Preferably two apiece, if they could. That way, they could have a backup. The deposit for the costumes would come out of their first check. As long as they returned the costume unharmed, they would get the money back at the end.
“I didn’t know you were working here, Wyatt.” A tall brunette woman walked up and hugged him.
He recognized her from going to the gym. She was friends with one of the trainers he hung out with.
“I sure do. Great to see you, Jen. This is my friend Dottie.” Wy introduced the two. “Dottie, Jen works at the front office of the pool. She went high school with me, and we hang out in the same circles.”
“And now we’re both elves. Great to meet you, Dottie. You’re so perfect for an elf,” Jen said. “I was hoping for Mrs. Claus, but apparently, I’m not what they were looking for.”
She made a face, but Wy agreed. She didn’t look anything like Mrs. Claus. She was very fit and looked like she could bench press him if she wanted to. It was shocking that she wasn’t a shifter or some kind of supernatural creature.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around town before,” Jen said to Dottie. “Are you from around here?”
“I’m new,” Dottie said. “But I’m trying to get to know people. I might not be in town much longer, but it would be nice to have friends while I’m here.”