A Perfect Christmas Gift

by Wilde, Lori

  Chloe laughed and patted him on the arm. “You’re in for a big surprise. This parade pulls in visitors from all over Texas. Tiny Kringle will not be tiny tomorrow. It will overflow with people. In fact, you and Peter should head downtown early tomorrow with some lawn chairs and snag yourself a good viewing spot before they’re all gone. Crowds start grabbing the prime spots at sunrise.”

  “You’re kidding? For a small-town parade?”

  “You have no idea.” She grinned. “People love this parade. It’s filled with goofy floats and silly characters, and it’s all so much fun.”

  Evan figured he’d try it. “Sure. We’ll come. I must go buy some chairs today. I don’t think this house has any lawn chairs.”

  “Don’t worry. You and Peter can go with my mom,” Chloe offered. “She has plenty of chairs. She also can narrate the parade so that you know who everyone is.”

  Her offer was very nice, and Evan hoped her mother didn’t mind. It would be fun to have someone give them the inside scoop.

  “You sure she won’t mind?”

  “She’ll love it.” She cast a glance at him. “If you’re not too busy, maybe you can come by the clinic and help us out with our float this evening.”

  “I don’t mind helping, but I’m not really handy with tools,” he admitted. “I’m not sure how much help I’ll be.”

  “You can glue paper on the float. It doesn’t take any skills and bring Peter. He can use that time to show the people of Kringle how he’s changed. He really hasn’t talked to many of them yet. Most of the people I’ve spoken to at the clinic haven’t seen him since he returned.”

  “I know.” Evan realized Peter wasn’t doing his part.

  His boss had supposedly come to Kringle to apologize and have what he’d called the perfect Kringle Christmas, but he’d spent the last few days holed up in his room, working on the computer.

  “I’ll talk to Peter tonight. I’m sure we can stop by and help.”

  Chloe rewarded him with a bright smile. He loved the way she smiled. It was sincere and appealing and always made him smile back.

  “That’s great.” She gave him the address to her clinic, and her cell phone number and then headed for the front door.

  “Don’t blame me, though, if I make a mess. I have warned you about my lack of mechanical skills.”

  “I’m willing to take the risk,” she assured him.

  When they reached the foyer, she opened the front door, glanced up, and with a short wave, scurried out. Evan knew what she was doing. Since the kiss, they both avoided getting stuck together in a doorway, mistletoe or not.

  He might be smart enough to tell when she was trying to convince him to adopt Vixen, but he wasn’t smart enough to resist falling for Chloe.

  He would have to keep their relationship on a friendship-only level. When he returned to Dallas with Peter, he didn’t want to owe anyone in Kringle an apology, especially Chloe.

  Chapter 5

  “You need to make the spots bigger, and we should scatter them around.”

  Evan glanced at the young girl who was standing by his right arm in front of the float that he was decorating in the rear parking lot of Chloe’s vet clinic.

  The girl looked to be around ten, with sandy hair and bright-blue eyes. She had her hands on her hips and a you’re-a-dufus expression on her face.

  “What?” he asked.

  “You put the spots in a straight line.” She shook her head. “You’re doing it all wrong.”

  “I am?” Evan glanced at his work.

  So far, he’d only stuck four large black round spots onto the float, and now that he looked at them, they were in a line.

  Someone had assigned him the job of cutting out and gluing black construction paper spots to the white butcher paper wrapped around a pickup truck. The front part of the truck was being decorated by Chloe and a woman who worked for her named Suzannah. The kid belonged to Suzannah.

  Chloe and Suzannah were decorating the front of the pickup as the head and ears of a dalmatian, and he was working on the dog’s sides and back. It promised to look really cute, if he stopped pasting the spots in a row.

  The girl watched as Evan glued it to a fifth spot. She sighed and shook her head as if he were a hopeless case.

  He stopped and looked at her.

  “I gather this isn’t right either,” he said, struggling to resist the urge to laugh.

  The girl was so serious. “You’re terrible at this,” she said. “Dalmatians don’t have spots that go in lines. They are everywhere. Like when you have a rash.”

  Evan couldn’t stop himself. He laughed and conceded the point. “You’re right. I am bad at this.” He tipped his head and studied his work. “Any ideas how we can fix it?”

  The girl bobbed his head. “Sure. I can help you. I’m really good at this. I’ll go get more black paper. We can put lots of little spots around the big spots you glued so they look okay. Be right back.”

  After the child ran off, Suzannah, the girl’s mother, walked over from where she was working on the front of the truck and smiled sheepishly at Evan.

  “I’m sorry about Abby’s brutal honesty,” she said. “I’ve been trying to teach her how to be politely truthful, but it doesn’t seem to work. She’s nailed the being truthful part. Not so the polite.”

  “She’s right, though. I’m bad at this.” Evan chuckled. “I’ve never decorated a float before.”

  Suzannah looked at him as if he’s grown three heads. “Not even when you were a kid?”

  He shook his head. “My family stressed academics over recreational pursuits.”

  She clicked her tongue at that but didn’t comment on it. “Let’s see if we can move a few of those spots.”

  Thankfully, since the glue was still damp, they could shift two of the spots, so they were no longer in a row.

  Peter had gone off with Ruby to begin his apology mission to the citizens of the town, leaving Evan to decorate the float with Chloe and her friends.

  Speaking of Chloe, where had she gotten off to?

  Evan glanced across the parking lot and saw Chloe and Abby headed toward him and Suzannah.

  They carried additional black paper, which he assumed was for more spots on the float. The two of them were chattering and laughing, having a great time.

  Seeing Chloe reminded him why, at least for him, coming to Kringle hadn’t been a bad idea. He was glad he’d come and glad he’d met her. She was special, and he knew that long after he left this town, he’d remember her.

  Thinking about leaving Kringle bothered him, and he must have been frowning when Chloe and Abby walked up because they both looked at each other and burst out laughing.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “You look like Scrooge,” Abby said.

  “Bah humbug to you too.” He glanced at Chloe. “Did Abby tell you that I’m doing a poor job?”

  Chloe grinned big and, as usual, whenever he was around her, Evan smiled. Whenever he was around her, he felt lighter somehow. Happy.

  “Abby reported your failings.” Chloe shook her head and muted her grin. To Abby she said, “I know you warned me, but I had no idea that you were being so accurate. Thank goodness you were here to see what had happened and correct things.”

  Abby beamed at the praise. “Told you that you were goofing up.”

  Evan hung his head, pretending to look contrite.

  “It’s not your fault you’re no good at this,” Abby said, trying to make him feel better. “I’ve been helping Dr. Anderson since I was little. She says I’m the best worker she has. When I grow up, I’m going to be a vet just like her.”

  “Is that so?” Evan smiled at first Abby and then Chloe. “Good job. Keep helping. You can learn a lot from Dr. Anderson.”

  “That’s all Abby’s ever wanted to be,” Suzannah said. “I better start saving for vet school pronto.”

  “Yes. You’ll want to get a definite head start,” he said, stopping himself at the l
ast moment from offering her additional financial advice. Suzannah hadn’t asked for his input.

  Chloe hugged Abby. “You’ll make a great vet, and you’re one of the best workers I have each year, but remember, everyone is a good worker because they are donating their time to help. We appreciate everyone’s help. Even people who might not be the best at knowing how to glue on spots on a dalmatian.”

  “How about you show me how?” Evan asked Abby. “We want this to be the best float in the parade. It represents Dr. Anderson and her clinic.”

  “You betcha!” Abby plunked onto the asphalt and started cutting out black dots of varying sizes from the construction paper.

  Her mother returned to the front of the truck to finish working on her part of the project, so Evan joined Abby at the bed. But instead of rejoining Suzannah, Chloe came over to them. The scissors Chloe provided were new, so it was easy to cut through the construction paper quickly. The three of them worked together. Evan cutting out the spots and Chloe dabbing on the glue before handing them to Abby, who placed them on the float.

  Evan couldn’t remember the last time he’d done something simply for the fun of it. He spent his time on emails, phone calls, and contracts. Meetings, workshops, and travel dominated his life, and while he enjoyed the challenges of business, it had been a long time since he’d just relaxed and let himself play at something that didn’t really matter.

  The float was turning out to be very cute. It really looked like a dalmatian wearing a Santa hat.

  “Who rides in the truck’s bed?” Evan asked.

  “Abby will ride in the back with me,” Chloe said. “One of my vet techs, Stanley, will drive. This is his truck. His two dalmatians will ride in the front seat with him. They love people.”

  “Dr. Anderson and I will dress as elves,” Abby said.

  “Where will Santa and Mrs. Claus ride?” he asked.

  “They’ll be on a different float.” Abby leaned forward and whispered to Evan, “My mom is Mrs. Claus this year, and her best friend, Zach Delaney, is playing Santa.”

  Evan didn’t know who Zach Delaney was, but he glanced at Abby’s mother, Savannah. She was young, slender, and pretty. She didn’t look a thing like how he envisioned Mrs. Claus should look. But hey, what did he know? A lot of things in this town baffled him. Maybe they planned to dress her up—or in this case, dress her down—so that she looked like an elderly woman.

  They finished up the floats, and time flew by. Before Evan knew it, darkness had encroached on their party, and everyone was saying goodbye and drifting to their vehicles to head home.

  Leaving just him and Chloe standing in the parking lot.

  “Hey.” He smiled at her. “Want to grab some dinner?”

  She shook her head. “Sorry, I can’t. I’ve already got a date.”

  “Oh.” Evan felt as if she’d kicked him squarely in the gut. He shouldn’t have been jealous, but dang if he wasn’t. “I see. Well, have a delightful time.”

  “It’s a date with my cousin and his family. They’re in town for the parade.”

  Relief washed over him.

  “You know, I could ask him if it’s okay for you to join us.” Her smiled warmed him up like hot chocolate on a cold winter morning.

  “No, no.” He waved away her invitation. “Go. Enjoy your family. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Chloe’s smiled softened, and she wriggled her fingers. “Good night and thanks so much for helping us out today.”

  “It was my pleasure,” he said, and realized that he absolutely meant it.

  “I had fun.”

  “Me too.”

  “Until tomorrow?”

  “I’m looking forward to it,” Evan said, and wondered what it would be like to wake up to her beatific smile every day for the rest of his natural life.

  * * *

  “This parade is even lamer than I remembered,” Peter grumped as they watched the Kringle Hardware float go by. They rigged the trailer to look like a giant hammer with people dressed as nails riding on it. “These floats are terrible.”

  Evan had to use all his self-control to avoid saying something rude to his boss. Peter was in a real mood today, complaining about anything and everything. Since the parade had started, all he’d done was gripe.

  Honestly? Evan loved the kitsch and whimsy of the local parade. From the Kringle Memorial Hospital float complete with employees in scrub suits and stethoscopes dancing clumsily but enthusiastically to “Bad Case of Loving You,” to the Kringle Karate Akademy float with participants dressed in gis and performing slow motion tai chi, to the Kringle Koffee Klatch float featuring a giant platter of chocolate chips and an oversized coffee cup to match. Despite its amateurish simplicity, the parade—and the town—had such heart.

  They’d met Ruby at seven, and people were already lining the road. She’d snagged them a great viewing location smack in the middle of Kringle Avenue, the major thoroughfare leading to the town square. She’d set up lawn chairs in front of the Kringle Library so that they all had a comfy place to sit.

  “Hot chocolate?” Ruby asked, holding the thermos and paper cups she’d brought with her.

  “Not unless it’s got whiskey in it,” Peter said.

  “You can’t have alcohol,” Evan said automatically. “Doctor’s orders.”

  Peter glowered at him.

  “Hot chocolate?” Ruby repeated. “I have peppermint sticks to stir it with.”

  “I’ll take some,” Evan said. Not because he really wanted any hot chocolate, but more because Peter was acting like such a stick-in-the-mud when Ruby was bending over backward to be nice.

  Evan still found her attitude toward her ex-fiancé surprising. She didn’t seem to have any bitterness about what Peter had done to her or the town. She also seemed fairly immune to Peter’s snipes and complaints about the parade. She also seemed to be immune to the stream of flattery he directed her way. Maybe now that she knew what he was capable of, she took nothing he said seriously.

  “We should attend the amusement park tomorrow and do some sledding,” she suggested.

  Evan glanced around. It was cooler today than it had been the last few days, but there wasn’t a speck of snow in sight. What was she talking about, sledding? “How?”

  “The sledding is indoors.” She smiled knowingly. “Kringle Village makes artificial snow.”

  “Sounds ingenious. And like a lot of fun.” He turned to Peter. “What do you think? Maybe you can run into more of the citizens at Kringle Village. Some people you might have missed last night.”

  Peter shrugged. “I guess, but I’m more focused on the party these days. I think I’ve talked with enough folks that they realize that me advising the Madisons to move their candy shop to Dallas was just business. Now that it’s been a few weeks since my heart attack, I realize I may have overreacted. I did what any good businessman would do—I saw an opportunity, and I took it. Nothing wrong with that.”

  Evan felt as if Peter had thrown a bucket of cold ice water on his face. “What are you talking about?”

  “I need not apologize for doing what made good business sense,” Peter waved a dismissive hand. “I don’t know why I thought I did.”

  “You had a massive heart attack that caused you to reevaluate the way you were living your life,” Evan reminded him. “You realized how much you’d stepped on the backs of the people in this town to make more money.”

  “I didn’t step on anyone’s back,” Peter denied.

  Gobsmacked, Evan stared at his boss openmouthed. Since when had his attitude changed? They still had another week in Kringle, and this entire trip had been his idea. Making amends was his entire reason for being here.

  Or so it had been.

  So much for changing. Since he’d started feeling better, Peter was turning back into his old self.

  Although Evan was glad his boss’ health improved, he was sorry to see him revert to his old, selfish ways. Peter had sounded so sincere when he had talked about
apologizing to the people of Kringle and making it up to the people he’d hurt, that Evan couldn’t help feeling disappointed.

  His boss wasn’t the man Evan had thought he was trying to become.

  He glanced at Ruby, who was sitting between him and Peter. If Peter disappointed her, she didn’t show it. She made no comment about it and instead told them about each float as it passed by as if Peter had said nothing.

  They represented quite a few local companies, including the local bakery, Kringle Kakes. Peter launched into an overview of the small, family-owned bakery and its potential for growth as the float slowly rolled by.

  “You seem to know a lot about Kringle Kakes,” Evan pointed out, curious why his boss was so well-informed.

  Peter didn’t answer, and Evan wasn’t sure whether it was because he didn’t want to or because the parade had gotten loud again.

  Chloe’s pet float was passing by, and Evan stood to get a better look. Next to him, Ruby was cheering on the small truck, waving her hands and calling out, “Go Chloe!” Inside the truck, next to the driver, sat two dalmatians. They had their heads partway out of the passenger window, barking gleefully.

  In the back of the truck, Chloe and Abby sat on chairs and tossed candy to the children. A Christmas carol featuring dogs barking played loudly from the truck’s stereo, causing laughter from the audience.

  Abby and Chloe dressed as elves, and as Evan had noticed the last time that he’d seen her dressed this way, Chloe made a very cute elf.

  She waved at him and her mother as the truck passed by. It was funny how proud Evan felt about the float. Objectively, there was nothing special about it. It was just a regular pickup truck dressed up to look like a dog. But he’d had fun decorating it, and in his opinion, it was the best float in the parade.

  Once the float passed by them, Ruby sat back down, and Evan followed suit. He hadn’t noticed before, but Peter had remained sitting the entire time.

  “Are you feeling okay?” Evan asked.

  “Fine.” Peter pursed his lips.

  “Why didn’t you stand for Chloe’s float?”

  “I just don’t see a lot to cheer about,” Peter muttered. “It’s just a truck with a few decorations.”