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Maddie nodded that this was true.
"I was thinking about kangaroos," I said. "You caught me."
"Me too," Maddie said, and let out a giggle. And she did have kind of a weird look on her face, I decided.
"When your dad is finished with my lights, I think I should make him finish decorating the tree while we have some hot chocolate. We can stir it with those candy canes we bought. You in?"
The girls clapped and hopped up and down while Cormac grunted from his perch atop the ladder.
"You're doing a good job up there, bro," I called up, winking back down at my grinning nieces.
"Shut it," Cormac called back.
I watched the girls dance and cheer excitedly, running back and forth in front of my big house while my brother finished stringing lights. Maybe life wasn't as empty as I’d imagined it to be, after all.
Maybe I could learn something from these little girls. Maybe I could be resilient too.
9
Tipsy in Santa’s Shack
April
Ireturned to the inn, shaking my head at the overabundance of red, green, glitter, and candy-cane striping that festooned every available surface. I wondered briefly if this was some version of that old show,Candid Camera, and if someone was giving me some kind of immersion therapy by subjecting me unrelentingly to the very thing I dreaded most in the world.
"Cup of cheer?" Annabelle asked, appearing in front of me with one of her elf ears askew and her rosy cheeks rounded in a welcoming smile.
"Sorry, what?"
"You look like you could use some peppermint tea." Annabelle's eyes scanned my face, and her smile dropped, turning into a pensive line. "Or maybe something stronger?"
I let out a bitter laugh. "Is there a bar in this place?" I looked around. I’d run through the lobby so quickly every time I’d been in here I hadn't noticed. Plus, it was hard to see around all the little houses of the Christmas village that had been erected around the space.
"Kind of," Annabelle said, winking at me. "I'm off in ten minutes. Meet me back there." She angled her head to the back of the lobby.
I looked around, but wasn't sure where exactly I was being told to go. "Where?"
"Santa's house. Far corner."
Aha. The huge gingerbread-style house in the far corner of the expansive lobby, which was fronted with drifts of snow and cording to keep the excited kids in an organized line once Santa showed up. "Santa won't mind?"
"Nah, you'll see."
I went up to my room to deposit my bag and my disappointment, trying hard not to think of the hard anger I’d seen in Callan Whitewood's eyes when he'd basically banished me from his property. Not only was I not going to finish the job I was sent to do, but I’d somehow alienated the one person I’d felt a connection with recently. I didn't have a ton of friends back home besides Lynn, and having someone to laugh with this afternoon had been surprisingly nice. It had awoken something inside me I hadn't realized was sleeping. And now that my desire for companionship had been roused, my loneliness was that much more tangible.
That was the only reason I headed back down to the lobby, picking my way between snowmen and elves to Santa's cottage. There was a Dutch door leading into the little house, and I opened it carefully and sat at the small round table inside. I didn't take the armchair, choosing instead to sit on a low stool. The chair was obviously intended for Santa. And while I’d never actually met the guy, and didn't really appreciate much about his holiday or traditions, I also didn't want to incur any bad holiday juju by sitting in his chair. I had enough bad holiday karma as it was.
"Hello," Annabelle called, tiptoeing into the little cottage holding two glasses and a bucket of ice. She put the ice bucket on the table and deposited a glass in front of me. Then she extracted a silver flask from somewhere inside her voluminous skirt, and set it on the table. Finally, she added two small bottles of tonic water, which had also been stored somewhere inside her elf costume.
"There's a lot of storage in your skirt," I commented.
"Elves are very resourceful," Annabelle said, sitting in Santa's chair without apparent remorse.
Annabelle was probably at least fifteen years older than me, and her clear enthusiasm for all things holiday-related didn't make her an obvious choice for a friend, but her open smile and willingness to spend her free time with a guest made me willing to get to know her a bit. Even if the pointy ears might make serious conversation a bit difficult.
"I brought the tonic because the Half Cat Moonshine is a bit stiff."
I cleared my throat in surprise. "Moonshine?"
