The lady stepped toward the till, speaking in a voice a little louder than a mutter. “Well, I can double check if you need to know card numbers, but you both had a few credit cards which we used to split it all up.”
“A few?” My jaw dropped as my eyes immediately pulled back to theemptyaisle and I started to do math.How many toys did we buy!
“Oh yes,” she went on as she tugged back the lid on the old-fashioned receipt printer and pulled out the yellow receipt log. “We maxed out the first card with just the first load.”
The knot in my throat swelled at an alarming rate. So much so, I figured it would suffocate me in a second. The good news was I wouldn’t have to worry about credit card bills. Since I was suffocating, I figured nothing worse could come from getting more clarification. “So, do you remember how much the total bill was?”
“Oh yes.” She nodded, still smiling as if she thought this was the most exciting thing to ever happen. “It was seven thousand, three hundred dollars—”
“Oomph!” I called out, grabbing my stomach, fighting hard not to faint. My feet involuntarily flopped in a circular pattern as if I had sprouted flippers with no training wheels. Clearly, I had lost my ability to balance.
“I just threw up in my mouth.” Nick proclaimed as one hand flew over his mouth. His other hand clambered to the nearest counter as if he was also suffering from the inability to stand. He steadied himself by leaning on the counter but raised his face to the woman. “I drive a Honda. Where on earth did we put all these toys?”
She waved her hand in a dismissive way. “We loaded them in Santa's sleigh, and he was off to deliver them.”
Nick’s gaze slammed to mine, a look of determination budding in his eyes as he declared through deep measure breaths, “We must find that Santa!”
I nodded because making a sound wasn’t possible. At this point, I felt like a windstorm had blown me over, and I dropped my head between my knees as I struggled to breathe.
Now that my head was between my legs, I could see the dog who had apparently been behind me this whole time, tongue hanging out as if he was as happy as can be.
At least someone was still happy.
eight
Nick
“Thisissomuchworse than getting married,” Charlotte huffed out, as she climbed over the driver’s seat in my Honda, shimmying to the passenger side while trying to not get hung up on the handbrake. “I don’t have money to blow on kids I don't know.”
I wasn’t happy about the unexpected expense but in retrospect it could have been worse. At least it was only money. I was more upset about Charlotte getting so stressed out. It still felt surreal that I wasn’t able to remember anything about last night. I’m usually always the responsible guy, and I can’t believe I let all this happen.
“It’s Zemblanity.” My voice was low while I waited for the dog to climb into the back seat. He seemed used to us by now, obeying me when I asked him to do things. He was turning out to be an easy keeper, even if he didn’t take his eyes off the giant bag of dog food that I sat in the seat next to him.
Charlotte peered over her shoulder. “Zemblian—what?”
“It’s the opposite of serendipity. Instead of a happy accident, it’s a bad discovery.”
“It’s exactly what you said. It’s super Zemblian.” Charlotte fretted while dropping her head into her palms, burying her face. Her words muffled as she continued, “I can’t afford to spend that kind of money on anything. What are we going to do?”
As much as I wasn’t ecstatic about the money, I just wanted to make Charlotte happy again. “It'll be okay.” I slid into my seat, pulled the door closed, and placed my arm on her shoulder. “We still have no idea if she was telling the truth. We can call our card companies to verify. Maybe she was wrong?”
“I saw the receipt.” Her voice was pitching louder now, and she was starting to wail. “We are stuck paying for this!”
I hated seeing Charlotte this upset. Feeling this failure deep in my gut, I gently squeezed her forearm, forcing a calm tone even though I felt the panic plucking away at my voice. “It’ll work out. It’s not even Christmas. I’m sure the town Santa hasn’t delivered the presents yet, and he is stockpiling them. We can find him and negotiate something. Maybe we can take most of the toys back in exchange for helping him hand them out. If we explain everything, he’ll see it was a huge misunderstanding.”
Charlotte’s words were barely audible as she sobbed into her hands. I couldn’t comprehend a single word, but it tugged at my heart. I felt entirely responsible. I should have protected her more, and we wouldn’t have all this confusion and heartbreak. My brain was still so clouded, and as hard as I tried to remember what had happened, I had a void in my memory with no real solution on how to get my memory back. Evidently, asking around town was making everything worse.
This weekend was not turning out the way I had hoped. I had planned a whole romantic weekend, full of all the Christmas card-cute activities, hoping Charlotte would finally see me as more than a friend. Now, I’d ruined her whole life. I didn’t have the money to pay for the toys any more than she did, but she looked so hopeless as she sobbed into her hands. I reached my arm all the way around her shoulders and pulled her into a hug. “It’s okay. I’ll pay for all the toys.”
“You can’t pay for them all,” she sniffed into my shirt, “it’s too expensive.”
“Nah, I can write it off as a donation under my business expenses,” I downplayed the offer, but I really had no clue if I could do that or not. I didn’t want her to worry. Then in the most honest voice I could muster up, I tacked on, “I’m sure it was my idea more than it was yours.”
“It doesn’t matter.” She lifted her face and swiped at her nose. Her being this close to me, with this much vulnerability was having a strange effect on my heart rate, making me feel like I was doing some vigorous activity, instead of just sitting here holding my breath. I got scared to talk, afraid I’d say the wrong thing. Only inches from her, I stared into her bright green eyes, feeling a zing of something spicy rocket right to my heart. It wasn’t new. I chalked it up to all the stupid ways my body reacted when I was near Charlotte. I pretended not to notice the mascara streaks she left on my good shirt. Oddly, it made me feel good that I could be the one to hold her this close and end up with her mascara stains. Even if I was still in the friend zone.
“It was obviously both of us who bought them, so we should take responsibility together.” She dabbed both of her eyes, and spoke softly as if she was talking more to herself. “I’ll have to see if I can get a waitress job, or something on the weekend, and I can pay the bill off faster.”
Finally, her tears stopped cascading, and she held her gaze steady as if she were deep in thought. Her face was still only inches from mine, and I was mesmerized by her. Her beauty was so striking, it was like time stood still. For me, anyway. The world around us faded, and all I saw was her gorgeous face staring back at me. Until she broke my daydream. “Where to now? We returned Rudolph. Do we want to continue to the chapel or track down this Santa guy?”
