“What?” Fitz turned quickly and lost his balance. He yelped and flailed his arms as he fell back, but Leo didn’t intervene because Noel was already there. “Noel?”
“Careful, Fitz.” Noel placed Fitz on his feet. He handed Fitz his fallen hat and earmuffs. “Here.”
The two of them talked about something, but Leo got distracted by the garland. It was really pretty. He’d made the right choice with the white frosted flower garland. Hmm, he’d need to pick up some white hooks from the hardware store. It had taken him some time to choose the color scheme, but in the end, he’d gone with winter white and a blue that reminded Leo of King’s eyes.
Merry moving caught Leo’s attention, and he looked up just as Fitz turned around, jumping with a start. He put a hand to his chest.
“Merry, you scared me.”
“You’re having dinner with him?” Merry asked.
Dinner? Fitz was having dinner with Noel? Weird.
“Yes, but we’re?—”
“I need to go.” Merry ran off before Fitz could say anything else.
“What just happened?” Fitz asked, confused.
Leo frowned. “You accepted dinner with the man he has a crush on.” He turned to Fitz, puzzled. “Why?”
“I accepted because I’m fairly certain Noel wants to talk about Merry, and from the looks of it, I’m going to need all the help I can get.”
Oh, that made sense. Leo liked Merry. He was really nice. The other day, he’d brought Leo a fish-shaped chocolate chip cookie the size of his head, and it wasdelicious. He hoped things worked out for Merry and Noel. They seemed to really like each other. Leo understood the whole short-circuiting around your crush thing. He’d done that a lot when he’d first met King. Well, if anyone could help them, it was Fitz.
Leo sent a quick text to Santa to confirm they were still on for later. He got a thumbs up and a Santa emoji in return, which made Leo snicker. As soon as they’d finished for the day, Leo hurried off to the Ice Castle.
Santa had told him to use the back entrance of the Ice Castle so no one would see him coming and going. Good thing, too, because he could hear several of the guys talking. Leo was very careful when he closed the door and made sure to take a peek down the hall before he snuck toward the Blue Ballroom. Leo tapped on the door, it quickly cracked open, and he darted inside.
“Hi, Santa,” Leo said cheerfully. “Operation King’s Christmas continues.”
Santa—or rather Christopher—chuckled quietly, his blue eyes sparkling. Leo had called him Santa the first time they met by mistake, but Christopher said he was so used to it that he didn’t mind if Leo continued to call him Santa. At this time of year especially, he kind of was Santa.
“Are you sure Clara doesn’t mind you helping me like this?” Leo asked. “When we came up with the idea, I didn’t think you would spend so much of your time helping me.”
“Clara and I are so excited for you. She doesn’t mind my helping at all. In fact, she wishes she could be here to help.” He winked at Leo. “Christmas gifts are my specialty.”
Leo laughed softly. “I guess they are.” He removed his mittens, hat, and scarf. “There’s still so much to do, and the tech equipment hasn’t come in. Do you think we’ll get it done in time?” He placed his coat on the chair by the wall. He’d never put together a wedding before, and if it hadn’t been for Clara and Santa’s help, he doubted he would have been able to pull it off, at least not without bringing his family in on the secret.
Clara had helped him with a color scheme. She also helped him pick out all the garland, flowers, and decor. Some of it had come from the next town over, and since not everything was Christmas decor and they didn’t require bulk quantities, it meant everything was in stock. Santa just had to drive over to pick it up.
So far, Santa had managed to avoid Leo’s family. Clara had suggested it. According to her, her husband was terrible at keeping secrets. Mostly because he got so excited that he’d forget it was a secret.
“Oh, Clara sent over some snacks for us,” Santa said, removing Tupperware from a large bag.
Leo hurried over and gasped. “She made more fish-shaped Rice Krispies Treats!” He took one and bit into the gooey, chewy yumminess. Clara had found out about his love of fish-shaped snacks, and since he and Santa had started working in the Blue Ballroom, she made and packed lots of delicious snacks for them—all cut, shaped, or decorated to look like certain cute smiley fishes. “She’s so awesome.”
“She is,” Santa agreed with a smile. “Now, where will the screens go?” he asked as he picked up a fish-shaped sugar cookie.
“On the outside of the aisles along the walls so no one will trip. We’ll angle them toward the front.”
“Have you told them?”
“Sort of? I told them that on Christmas Eve something really special and important was going to happen, and that I needed them to be available for a video call.”
Santa smiled at him. “And I bet they’ll all be there.”
“I hope so.”
