She was always angling to find a way to get Tate. It didn’t even matter that he wasn’t interested even before I came into his life. In her mind, I was just a nuisance that needed to be dealt with.
Since she was distracted with the whole Santa situation, I was able to circumvent the whole crowd with James in tow. She spotted the food and dragged us toward the large, festively decorated structure. It was double the size of the retail spaces and I smiled when I saw Rudolph’s face painted on the sign for Reindeer Run. Kettle corn and funnel cake were, in fact, on the list. I was pretty sure James was going to start clapping like one of the dozens of children running around.
“And you said there would be no fair food.”
“I stand corrected.”
Arms laden with sweets, James and I walked around the middle level of the village. She used her credit card with impunity and both of us carried all the bags with her purchases.
“Stop looking at me like that. I’m supporting local businesses.”
I laughed. “You sure are.”
“Hey, I have more people to buy for these days. All my band members keep pairing off. Ugh.”
“That’s a bad thing?”
“It is when they come with families. So annoying.”
There was happiness under the grumpy words. I led her down to the lower level where the crowd had thinned out a little. We ducked in and out of the smaller retailers. I ended up buying more ornaments for the little tree I was planning to put up in my room.
And maybe one at Tate’s.
I was minding my own business, shopping and laughing with James, when I first heard the murmurs. The hum of change put us both on alert. We’d been famous long enough to know the signs.
The murmurs were first. Then came the whispers. Then the phones came out.
I took James’s hand and pulled her out of the shop. Weaving through the crowd, we both moved quickly and efficiently as possible with an armload of purchases.
I felt the videos, more than saw the cameras. I glanced over my shoulder, knowing I shouldn’t. And instead of a stranger, I spotted Valerie. She was still on the hill where the photo op stations were. She was holding the stabilizer and zeroing in on me.
What the hell?
Suddenly phones came out of purses and pockets as the murmurs turned to excited voices. People were twisting their heads and scanning the crowd.
“Shit.” James said and nodded to the bottom of the path near the entrance.
I followed her gaze and swore. A fleet of people poured off a bus wearing my merch. Where the hell had they come from? Many of them had their phones out doing videos as they panned around the Wonderland. The first excited yell left me in a cold sweat.
A wall of people behind me, and to the left of us had accumulated while my attention was on the distant problem.
“Ambrose? Oh, my God. Can I have a photo?”
“Can we do a selfie? It’ll just be a second.”
“Ambrose, I love you. Are you going to sing ‘Christmas Fire’? Oh, my God.”
“Is she singing?”
They started closing in on us. Then the reactions doubled as they recognized James too.
“You two are friends? Is there a collab?”
“Are you a couple?”
My eyes widened. That was going to have legs on the internet.
“Now we’re boning?” James’s voice was amused as she turned until we were back-to-back. “Shit, they got close.”
