“Anytime,” he managed to say before he headed back to Santa’s chair.
Chapter Eight
All in all, Wade took over about an hour’s worth of carol-oke, which was atonof time for Santa Claus to spend away from center stage. He did it in bits and pieces scattered across the whole day, and it was like he always knew exactly the right time to step in. Whenever she could feel her nerves fraying and her headache creeping back in, Wade would appear her side and give her a chance to grab some much-needed peace and quiet.
The tinny, staticky, repetitive carol-oke singalongs were bad enough, but Mira couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to ping-pong back and forth leading those and playing Santa—the most stressful role in the Christmas Village, with the highest stakes. Either Wade was superhuman, with untold levels of resilience, or ... or he needed this day to end even more than she did.
Mira was guessing it was the latter.
And that meant a lot. As she stood on the sidelines, savoring the last few seconds of this five-minute break and watching him steer a pack of tiny towheaded kids in identical reindeer sweaters through “The Chipmunk Song,” she felt like no one had ever witnessed a greater act of chivalry. Noblewomen in King Arthur’s court might have watched their would-be lovers joust or duel enemy knights to the death, but was that any more impressive than this? She was going to say no.
Against all odds, she’d been lucky enough to meet a sweet, devastatingly hot guy who would sing squeaky-voiced holiday novelty songs in public just to give her a break.
Never mind whether or not they had cobbled together enough time with each other for it to feel like they’d already had their first date: she was starting to think she would happilymarryhim.
As “The Chipmunk Song” faded out, Mira went to relieve him.
“Thank you, Santa,” she said, wincing a little at the raspy croak her voice had turned into over the last few hours. “I can take it from here.”
The reindeer-sweatered children took the changeover as the natural ending to their carol-oke experience and issued sweet thanks of their own before galloping off to meet up with their parents.
“You sure about this?” Wade said. “You sound—”
“Like a frog in emotional distress?”
“I was just going to say ‘not great.’”
“That’s very diplomatic of you. I’m fine, honestly. I don’t know if you heard any of my singing earlier, but this might actually be an improvement.”
She could tell he was about to embark on some valiant defense of her voice, but then they both spotted Marsh on the horizon. She made sure to get the ear plugs out well before he had the chance to spot them.
“An ominous presence grows near,” Mira said in her best Galadriel voice. “Closer by each moment, and we cannot stop its approach.” She reverted back to normal. “Better get back to the chair.”
Wade eyed Marsh’s distant figure with real dislike, something she hadn’t glimpsed in him all day, no matter how overwhelming and trying things had gotten.
He gave a tight nod. “I don’t want to get you in trouble.”
“I don’t want to get you in trouble either,” Mira said, because it was true—but she had to admit that they weren’t exactly evenly balanced on that front. Wade was only going to work here a week, so he had no scheduled bonus to lose. She was the vulnerable one, and he had been looking out for her. She wished there was something she could do for him in return.
She kept thinking about that even as she led a new group of kids through “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” It was a handy way to distract herself from her sore throat.
Maybe she could get Wade a proper Christmas present? The Christmas Village closed a little earlier than the rest of the mall, so she would have time to do some shopping after work.
But she was trying hard to save every spare cent she could, since it was all going into the retirement home fund. If she bought him anything, she would have to eye the price tag and keep it on the low end, and she wanted to feel generous, not careful.
What she wanted to give Wade, as over-the-top and way-too-soon as it sounded, was herself.
I could tie myself to his bed with red and green ribbons and wish him someveryhappy holidays.
But that would be a present for herself at least as much as it would be one for Wade. And it was probably something that should wait until after they had had their first kiss.
Mira was just finishing rasping out the end of “Rudolph” when Marsh came up to glower at her.
The kids must have instinctively sensed that he was a downer, because they yelped, “Thanks, angel lady!” and scurried away.
“Why are they calling you an angel?” Marsh said.
Mira gestured at the Galadriel dress. “They thought I looked like the one their parents put on top of the Christmas tree. Minus the wings.”
