“I guess,” Leia said with another sigh.
“Tell you what,” I said, a thought occurring to me. “The costumes are all jumbled in a bunch of boxes, and I haven’t opened them yet. How would you like to start sorting them out?”
“Really?” Leia squealed, making her dad and me laugh. “Yes, please!”
“Are you sure?” I teased. “There’s a lot of them!”
Colby laughed and rose to his feet. “Why don’t you let me give you a hand, princess?”
“Do it myself!” The little girl’s growl caught me by surprise before I remembered that most of the kids in this group were shifters.
Her dad just grinned indulgently. “Let’s take a look at what Jolly needs done and then we’ll discuss it.”
The stupid nickname had me rolling my eyes as I led them to the stack of boxes in the corner of the room, thinking for the hundredth time that I was going to get even with my roommate if it was the last thing I did.
~*~
My scheduledtwo hours of children’s theater somehow morphed into nearly six by the time I’d gone through the stacks of newly-sorted costumes and mended the ones that showed more than a little wear. I stood and stretched, the kinks in my back threatening to cripple me. Glancing up at the ancient wall clock, I winced when I saw that I only had thirty minutes to race home and change my jeans and sweater for something more formal before my bell-ringing presentation at the hotel down the block. If I’d realized my entire day was going to be shot, I would have brought a change of clothes with me, but hindsight and all that. My eyes drifted over to the newly-mended adult-sized elf costume I’d tossed over the chair by the door.
“I can’t,” I muttered aloud, glancing around guiltily even though I knew that there wasn’t anyone else in the building. “Can I?”
I blew out a breath and weighed my options.
If I left right then, I would barely have time to make it home and back to the hotel that was only five minutes away. If I used the elf costume, I’d be adding a touch of seasonal whimsy and saving myself from battling through the crush of holiday shopping traffic.
Granted, I didn’t have permission to take the costume, but it wasn’t stealing if I brought it back, right? I mean, it needed cleaned anyway, so, really, by using it and returning it clean, I’d be doing the theater a favor, wouldn’t I?
Deciding I’d talked myself into it, I grabbed the costume and headed for the men’s room to clean up as best I could before my performance, planning to slip the costume on over my street clothes and then put my best poulaine forward.
Chuck
Waking up on my first full day of vacation – everyone knows that travel days don’t count- I’d settled in for a leisurely breakfast before deciding that a touch of sightseeing was the plan of the day.
The cross-city trek from my hotel to the Andy Warhol Museum was well-worth the effort, but I was exhausted when my Uber dropped me off under the canopied entrance to my hotel next to a crowd of onlookers several hours later. Curious as to what was drawing their attention, I worked my way through the throng when the melodious sound of bells began to fill the air.
Off to the side, a bell ringer stood beside a large red kettle from a local charity organization, but it wasn’t the bell in her hand filling the air with the melodious harmony. In fact, she was staring with the same open-jawed amazement as the rest of the spectators at a cheerful Christmas elf standing before a folding table, his hands dancing over two-dozen gleaming handbells as they chimed out a soul-touching rendition of Silent Night. As the final tone began to fade, the crowd burst into applause and pressed forward, arguing playfully about whose turn it was to drop their donation into the kettle.
Pulling a twenty from my wallet, I held back until the worst of the crush had dissipated before stepping up to drop the money into the kettle but gave up on my mission to compliment the musician as the throng of music lovers closed in around him. Smiling at the thanks from the young woman, I made my way into the lobby, stifling a yawn while I waited for the elevator.
As tired as I was, I still needed to eat but the room service menu held no appeal. Dropping the purchases I’d made during my outing, I splashed some water on my face and trudged back out on my search for sustenance, planning on snagging something quick and easy at the sandwich cart in the lobby. Those plans were promptly forgotten when I glanced a familiar face through the window of the hotel bar.
“Fancy seeing you here,” I teased in greeting, dropping down onto the bench seat opposite the attractive man I’d met the night before. Clearly the bartender had made good on his promise. “Did I miss a call?”
Warm brown eyes widened as his plump pink lips opened and then clamped shut. “Um, no?”
“No worries,” I said breezily, reaching for the menu sitting on the end of the table. “You’re here now and I’m glad you decided to give me a chance,” I said with a grin before realizing we still hadn’t officially been introduced. “I know it was on the card as Charles, but I usually go by Chuck.” His eyes widened even more, so I rushed on. “And you’re Julian, right?”
“Um, yes?”
I laughed. Julian was so shy that it was cute. “Is that a question?”
Julian shook his head. “Um, no. My name is definitely Julian, but I usually go by Jules.”
“Great,” I sighed happily, flipping the menu open. “What’s good here?”
“I..” Julian was still staring at me with a confused expression, making me think that maybe I was overwhelming him.
“Am I being pushy? I’m just really glad to get to see you,” I tried to explain. “I’m not usually this excitable.”
