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“Like who?” Sage asked, raising her voice. Leave it to Saffron to expect Sage to pull a believable real Santa out of thin air.
“I don’t know,” Saffron admitted. “Someone who’d be kind enough to pretend for Ricky’s sake.”
“You don’t understand. Ricky isn’t going to be easily fooled by a red suit and a fake beard.”
Saffron’s deep sigh came over the phone. “I’m sorry, sis, I don’t know how I can help. You and Ricky are in Seattle and I’m over two thousand miles away.”
Sage closed her eyes and hung her head, not knowing how best to solve this problem. Meeting the real Santa seemed vitally important to Ricky. He’d wanted nothing to do with the fake one in the mall.
“Perhaps I should tell him…” Sage stopped before she could finish the suggestion. Now wasn’t the time to fill Ricky in on the news that there wasn’t a real Santa. Ricky’s entire world had been turned upside down. Saffron admitted this would probably be the last year he put his faith in the guy with the white beard. She needed to let him believe this fantasy for now.
“Please don’t,” Saffron pleaded.
“I won’t.”
“I have faith in you,” Saffron added. “You’ll figure something out; you always do.”
Sage would; she just didn’t know how.
Monday morning, when Sage arrived at the office, Erica was waiting for her.
—
“Today’s the day the Christmas tree is being delivered and decorated,” her assistant reminded her. “Did you tell Ricky you had a surprise waiting for him this evening?”
“I did. But I have another problem. He insists on talking to the real Santa.”
Erica’s expression revealed her puzzlement. “The real Santa.”
Sage explained the situation. “I have no idea how I’m going to find someone believable to pass muster.”
“I’d ask Leo,” Erica said, offering up her husband for the task, “but he’s tall and thin, with red hair.”
Her assistant was right. Ricky would never accept a skinny Santa.
“What about Ethan?” Erica suggested next. “I bet he’d be willing to help.”
Sage immediately dismissed the idea. “Nope. Not Ethan.”
“Do you have time to be picky? I heard Ethan plays Santa for his nieces and nephews. Don’t you remember he showed us photos of him with his family last Christmas?”
Unfortunately, Sage did remember.
“He was good enough to fool his family; he could probably fool Ricky, too. And didn’t he say he’d be willing to help with Ricky if you needed?”
Sage remained unconvinced. “Not a good idea.”
Her assistant didn’t seem to appreciate the shift in her relationship with Ethan. It would be exceedingly awkward to ask for his help.
“Why not?” Frowning, Erica spread out her hands as if to say Sage wasn’t making any sense.
“He’s my competition.” Sage didn’t know how many times she needed to remind Erica her relationship with Ethan had changed. She was uncomfortable asking a favor of the man she was basically competing against.
“So what’s the big deal?” Erica seemed determined to champion Ethan. “You’ve run into nothing but dead ends. If Ethan offered to help, the least you can do is talk to him.”
Erica had a good point. “Okay,” she reluctantly agreed. “I’ll think about it,” she said, although asking Ethan for help would be a last resort.
“Good.”
