Joaquin glanced past her at the boy. He gave her a slow nod and said, “I’ve got this.”
“Tyrese Walters,” he said. “It’s nice to see you. How have you been this year? Good?”
The boy’s jaw dropped. Savy turned away so he couldn’t see her smile.
“Uh, y-yes, sir,” the boy stammered. He stared at Joaquin in shock.
“You did apologize to Mrs. Dwight for throwing sidewalk chalk into her swimming pool, didn’t you?”
The boy’s eyes went wide and he pressed his hands to the side of his face as if he couldn’t believe the big guy knew what he’d done. Then he straightened up. “Yes, sir. I even jumped into her pool and got every bit of chalk out.”
Joaquin stared down at the boy while stroking his beard as if considering Tyrese’s answer. “I guess you get to stay on the good list, then. Ho ho ho.”
“Phew.” Tyrese sagged a bit in his shoes and Joaquin clapped him on the shoulder with one hand.
“You should probably go give your mom a hand,” Joaquin said. He pointed to a woman who was struggling with a shopping bag as she came out of the shop behind them.
“Yes, sir.” Tyrese hopped to it. Three paces away, he whipped around and said, “Since I’m on the good list, I just want to say that if it’s not too much trouble, I’d love a new bike for Christmas, one with gears and a headlight. Please!”
The boy spun around and ran to help his mother before Joaquin could say a word. He turned to Savy with a rueful look. “Remind me to ask his parents if he’s getting a new bike for Christmas. If not, I have some shopping to do.”
“I take it you know them,” she said.
“I went to high school with his dad, Carter,” he said. “He’s the football coach over at Fairdale U now. Thankfully, Tyrese didn’t recognize me.”
Savy nodded. That made sense. “Yeah, otherwise our doubter would have gone into full-on disbeliever.”
“Not on my watch,” he said. Savy smiled.
A couple walked by and she checked her bag to hand them the last of the candy canes. The bag was empty. She took out her cell phone and glanced at the time. They’d been here for three hours. Huh, it hadn’t felt that long. She glanced at the man beside her and he knelt down to hug a toddler. He was scary good at this; the kid didn’t even cry.
“We’re out of candy, should we head back?” she asked.
“Yes, please,” he said. “These boots are a half size too small and my dogs are killing me.”
He picked up the sign and led the way. Savy fell in behind him, waving to people as she went. It occurred to her that if anyone had ever told her that she would spend her morning dressed as an elf, passing out candy canes with a hot Santa by her side, she would have laughed in their face.
What was crazy was that the gig had actually been fun. She scrolled through the pictures on her cell phone. There were tons of adorable shots of Joaquin with kids, babies, and a few older ladies who’d enjoyed his attention. Then there was one of the two of them.
It was a posed shot in front of the Happily Ever After Bookstore sign. The woman taking the picture suggested that Savy kiss Joaquin’s cheek and she had, kicking up one leg in a playful pose. Even with her critical publicist’s eye, it was a great shot and she would absolutely use it to pimp the bookstore’s holiday titles. After all, what was better to fight off the holiday blues than a holiday romantic comedy? Nothing, except perhaps some spiked eggnog on the side.
“Hey, that’s a good one,” Joaquin said. He had put the sign down on the sidewalk in front of the shop and was glancing over her shoulder at the pic.
Savy started feeling guilty for looking at the pic too long, which was totally ridiculous as it was just a work thing. She shrugged. “Yeah, it’s okay.”
Joaquin tugged on his beard until it was below his chin. Then he grinned at her. “Of course, mistletoe kisses are totally better.”
He let go of his beard and it bounced back up to cover his face, but it didn’t muffle his laugh as he strode up the walkway to the shop.
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it,” she said to his back. She hurried to follow in his wake but he didn’t slow down and she felt as if she’d just lost a debate she didn’t even know she was in. Darn that man! And how did he actually make that horrible Santa suit sexy? Because he did, he totally did. Argh!
Chapter Six
QUINO could hear her behind him but he resisted the urge to look around just like he resisted the urge to stare at her whenever she was in his vicinity. There was something about Savannah Wilson that flipped his switch. Maybe it was her sassy personality, or that crazy mane of red hair, or maybe it was the vulnerability he saw in her pretty green eyes. Probably, it was a combination of all of the above. He didn’t much care, except he wanted her to give them, him, a chance.
Now that they had a common purpose, saving Maisy’s shop, maybe Red would actually take the time to get to know him. Up to now, she’d been civil but avoided being alone with him as though she thought he had a bad case of fleas. Today was the longest amount of time they’d ever spent on their own and he liked it—he liked it a lot. More accurately, he liked her. She talked to everyone and laughed with everyone and managed to charm people silly within minutes of meeting them. Is that what she’d done to him?
No. He thought back to the day he’d met her. He still remembered his first sight of her as she burst into the office of the bookstore, where he’d been talking to Ryder. She’d been wearing a slim skirt and a pretty blouse. Her long red hair had been an untamed mass of curls around her head and she had completely ignored him to give Ryder the business about how he was botching his courtship of Maisy. Within seconds, Quino had been 100 percent smitten.
When he’d asked her out, she had straight up refused him. That was the moment he fell in love with her and he’d been pining ever since. He supposed it was bad of him to use Maisy’s financial troubles to get closer to Savannah, but if she was really planning to leave, he was running out of time. Also, if it helped Maisy keep her shop open, it was a good deed no matter the motivation, right? Yeah, he wasn’t going to look at it too closely.
As he stepped up onto the front porch, he spun around and took Savy’s hand in his, pulling her past the family of blow-up snowmen that Ryder had put up that morning, over to the side of the porch. Since they hadn’t had any snow and the day was only in the midfifties, the snow family seemed a bit premature, but given that he was dressed as Santa, he couldn’t really judge, now, could he?
“What are you doing?” she asked. She glanced up as if looking for mistletoe and Quino grinned. He did like his women smart.
“We need to talk,” he said. He could hear the soft sound of Christmas music playing in the shop and a peek through the window showed that the place was rocking. King George, the gray bookstore tabby cat, was sitting on the counter swatting a tinsel garland as if it were a snake he had caught.
“What about?”
“Should we say anything to Maisy or Ryder about what I overheard?” he asked.
“No,” she said. “We don’t even know if Ryder knows that the bookstore is in trouble.”
Quino made a face. He didn’t like withholding information from his friend.
Savy met his gaze. “I know you think you should tell him,” she said. “But Maisy was talking to someone in confidence. Probably, she’s going to tell him on her own, in her own way. We need to stay out of it.”
He considered her words. “I suppose, but what if she needs help and she doesn’t ask? She could be trying to shoulder all of this worry alone.”
“Well, someone was on the other end of that call, so someone knows,” she said. “Maybe it was Ryder and perhaps the chance to talk to them about it will come up, but in the meantime, I think we need to play it cool and just look for opportunities to help.”
“Fair enough,” he said. He looked down at
her and was struck by the earnest expression on her face. She cared. A lot. And wasn’t that a heartwarming thing to see, because he couldn’t help but wonder what it would feel like to be on the receiving end of that sort of care and concern. “We need to make some plans, though. We have got to keep the foot traffic coming into this shop for the next month.”
“I’m already way ahead of you,” she said. “I have a calendar of events for the next few weeks that will blow your beard off. I just wish . . .”
Her voice trailed off and Quino found himself leaning in, eager to hear what it was she wished for. “What?”
She waved a dismissive hand. “Never mind, it’s just a crazy idea.”
“Maybe crazy is exactly what we need,” he said.
She opened her mouth to answer him when the front door opened, and Maisy poked her head out. She had to hop up on her tiptoes to see them over the snowmen.
“Hey, you two, how did it go?”
“Great!” Savy said. “We ran out of candy canes, so we figured we’d come back and see how things are going here.”
“The BOGO idea was genius,” Maisy said. “We’re clearing out some inventory and bringing in cash. Do you mind taking a turn at the register? Jeri’s got to get home to her kids and I’m expecting an important phone call.”
“Not at all,” Savannah said. She glanced at Quino and muttered under her breath, “We’ll talk later.”
He watched as she bustled into the shop behind Maisy. Yes! They were going to talk later. He wanted to do a fist pump or a dab but he didn’t think a Santa should be caught doing that when he was standing alone on the porch of a romance bookstore. Instead, he struck a pose, waving at people coming in and out and walking by on the street.
When the heat of the suit and the itching of the beard got to be too much, he decided to call it a day. He wondered if he should disregard what Savy had said and talk to Ryder about what he’d overheard. He rejected the idea. He didn’t know if Ryder knew and if he didn’t, Savannah was right, it was really up to Maisy to tell him. The best thing he could do for his friends would be to brainstorm with Savy about how to save the bookstore.
He glanced through the window into the shop and saw Savy chatting with a customer while ringing up her purchases. There wasn’t a woman alive who could pull off wearing the elf suit as well as Savy did. As if drawn to her by a force he simply didn’t have the strength to fight, he found himself pulling open the front door and entering the shop.
He had hours until Desi was due home from Asheville, and according to her last text, she was shopping like she had unlimited credit. It was just the neighborly thing to do to help Maisy out. And if it meant he had to be in close proximity to Savy all afternoon, well, he’d just have to suffer through it.
“Nice suit, bro,” Ryder said from the doorway to the office. “Thanks for stepping in for me. We had an electrical problem at the house I’m working on.”
“Nothing serious, I hope,” Quino said.
“It didn’t burn to the ground if that’s what you mean,” Ryder said. He looked stressed. “Come on, you look like you’re going to suffocate in that thing.”
He waved Quino into the office and Quino headed to the bathroom to peel off the heavy suit and change into jeans and his Christmas sweater. He made quick work of it, happy to lose the beard and the hat, which was making his head sweat. He ran his fingers through his hair, relieved to feel the air on his scalp. He hung up the suit and left it in the bathroom, joining Ryder, who was sitting at the drafting table he still maintained in Maisy’s shop.
When Maisy had inherited the old Victorian and hired Ryder to renovate it, she’d set up a work area for him in the main office. Even though Ryder had started taking on new projects of his own, he still worked out of the bookstore.
Quino knew it was so he could spend his days near Maisy and he was surprised by the sudden spurt of envy he felt. Oh, he was happy for his friend. If anyone deserved a loving relationship, it was Ryder. But Quino keenly felt the lack of such a thing in his life, and he had no idea how he was going to get Savy, the only woman he’d ever imagined in that role, to give it a go. And after their kiss this morning, he was more determined than ever.
“Look at you,” Ryder said as he glanced up from his desk. “You look like you just lost about forty pounds.”
“It’s called the pillow diet,” Quino said. Ryder laughed, and Quino studied his friend, wondering if he knew how precarious the bookstore’s finances were. Given that Ryder seemed relaxed and wasn’t out front cajoling customers to buy books, he figured he didn’t. Oh, boy. He had to play this smart. “So, how is Maisy liking the book business?”
Ryder got a warm look in his eyes and said, “She loves it. It suits her perfectly. Connecting readers to books, it’s her passion and she’s so good at it.”
Quino glanced toward the door. Yeah, he’d seen Maisy in her element over the past few months. He couldn’t imagine how devastated she’d be to lose this place.
“But I think the bigger question is how are you and Savy getting along?” Ryder asked. “I saw you two out on the street corner when I drove back to the shop. You looked to be working well together, and by working well, I mean she wasn’t trying to bite you.”
“Ha! Funny. Yeah, it’s been an interesting day,” Quino said. His mind went back to their kiss and suddenly he wondered where Savannah was in the bookstore, and was it too soon to try and kiss her again? Probably, but his feet were already moving in the direction of the door. “That reminds me. I have a thing . . .”
“Uh-huh,” Ryder said, but Quino closed the door, not bothering to hear what else Ryder had to say.
Instead, he paused outside the door to get his bearings and scanned the area for Red. He didn’t see his elf anywhere.
When he did spot her, he noticed she was talking to Hannah Phillips, the local veterinarian, who had an office down the street. He knew that the two women, along with Maisy, had all attended Fairdale University together and Hannah had helped them save King George, the sad little kitten they’d found abandoned on the bookstore porch six months ago. He felt a tug on his shoelace. Speaking of the devil.
He bent over and scooped up the gray tabby, who settled into his hands as if he’d just been waiting to be picked up. He rubbed the side of his face against Quino’s sweater and made a sound that was more chatter than meow. Perry, chief cat wrangler, thought Little G believed he was a person and was trying to talk. Quino glanced around the bookstore. There were at least five different conversations going on, so the little guy certainly overheard enough chatter. Perhaps Perry was onto something.
He approached Red. He didn’t really have an excuse to talk to her. Their gig as Santa and helper was done, but he figured he should update her with his theory that Ryder didn’t know anything. They were in this saving-the-bookstore thing together, after all.
“Hi, Quino, how’re things at Shadow Pine?” Hannah asked as he joined them. She paused to scratch King George under the chin.
“Good,” he said. “We’ve had a nice run of good health out there, even Esther, who’s getting up there in years, has been feeling her oats.”
“Glad to hear it,” she said. “Luke said as much when I saw him the other day.”
Hannah glanced up from Little G, who swatted at her hand when she stopped petting him as if he thought he could antagonize some love from her. It worked. She immediately began to rub his head.
“Now you’ve done it,” Quino said. “He’ll never let you leave.”
Hannah laughed. “All right, King George, that’s all the love you get for now. I’m off to deliver a litter of puppies at the pound.” She turned to Savannah. “We’re overdue for a girls’ night out, Savy.”
“It would help if your patients would stop dropping litters every time we set one up,” Savannah said.
“Agreed.” Hannah made a phone gesture with h
er hand and said, “Call me.”
She walked over to the counter where Maisy was ringing up sales, leaving Quino with Savy. Of course, King George decided to leap out of Quino’s arms at that moment to chase a reflection on the floor made by something sparkly in the sunlight. Quino was left staring at Savy in her elf suit, not remembering why he’d needed to see her, because she laughed at Little G’s antics and the sight of her smile made his brain fritz.
“George is such a scamp,” she said. She shook her head. “The other day when I was bagging Mrs. Di Marco’s books, he climbed in the bag. She almost walked out with him. If the bells on the doors hadn’t scared him silly, she might have.”
Quino forced his gaze away from her face and looked at George, whose head was whipping from side to side as he couldn’t seem to figure out why the light he was so certain he’d caught between his paws kept escaping. Quino felt his own lips part in a smile.
He turned back to find Savy looking at him with the same sort of awareness he felt for her. Well, that was encouraging.
“So, Snowflake Sparklepants, here’s the latest intel,” he said.
She frowned at the elf name, the severity of which was ruined by the pointy ears sticking out of her hat. Then tipped her head to the side. “What do you know?”
“I talked to Ryder and it’s more like what he doesn’t know,” he said. He lowered his voice and backed her up away from anyone who could overhear them. “I don’t think he knows that the store is in trouble.”
“I was afraid of that.” Savy heaved a sigh and then asked, “Are you sure?”
“Not completely, but he was way too relaxed while talking about Maisy and the shop,” he said. “I know him. Ryder would be freaking out if he thought she was going to lose the place she’s worked so hard for.”
Savy nodded. “I can see that. And I can see why she didn’t tell him. They’re still pretty new in their relationship and she might be thinking that dumping all of this on him will be the kiss of—”
“Kiss of what?” Maisy popped up beside them and Savy let out a little yelp. She looked at Quino in panic and he glanced up over her head. Perfect.
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