“Really?Oh, my goodness. Wow.” She covers her mouth. “I’m sorry, but this is fantastic. How very nice to meet you…” Paxton’s grandma says, holding her hand outto me.
“Oh…” In a bit of a daze, I shake her outstretched hand. “Very nice to meet you too.” I curtsy. I really wish I didn’t just curtsy, but I also wish I wasn’t wearing an elf costume, so fuck me, this is happening.
“Miss Cleo,” Paxton says, swinging his cookie-filled hand between me and his grandma, “this is my grandma. She’s my dad’s mom. I told you he had a date!” he says to his dad’s mom.
“Miss Cleo! Please call me Josephine,” she tells me warmly.
“It’s just Cleo. So nice to meet you,” I say. Did I already say that? What is happening?
“And look at that wagon behind you!” she exclaims. “Are those presents? You didn’t bring that many presents, did you?”
“Uh, no. Those are actually my props. I…came from work.”
“Joel!” Josephine softly calls out to a very impressive-looking gentleman in a beautiful suit who’s smoking a cigar and chatting with two other men. “Joel! Come meet someone!”
Joel also does a very good job of almost not staring at me like I’m a total weirdo.
“This is Miss Cleo!” Paxton says. “She’s not a real elf. She’s Dad’s date. Remember I told you that you don’t have to worry about him?”
“Well, what do you know?” He shakes my hand too, puts his cigar in the corner of his mouth, and holds my hand with both of his. “Fantastic. Glad to meet you.”
“Very glad to meet you too. You have a really wonderful grandson. And son!”I just have no idea who your son is.
He removes the cigar from his mouth and says, “You want me to call the valet to drag your wagon somewhere?” No acknowledgment of how wonderful his grandson is.
“Um? I’m not sure how long I’ll be staying.”
“Oh, nonsense, dear—you just got here!” Josephine says, patting her husband’s arm. “Joel, get a valet to take care of her wagon!”
“She doesn’t want me to.”
“She just doesn’t want to bother you!”
“Oh, butyoudo, huh?”
“You can finish your cigar while you go for a little walk—just grab her sweet wagon and take it out front. Oh never mind, I’ll do it!”
“For crying out loud, I’ll do it,” Joel mumbles.
Josephine takes the handle from me. “Miss Cleo, we’re taking your adorable wagon out front.”
There are so many important things of mine in there, but I really don’t want to get between two arguing married people and also I want them to stop talking about my wagon. “That’s very kind of both of you—thank you so much.”
Off they go, bickering about which one of them should drag my wagon.
The man who was giving a toast wraps things up. There’s applause. I look down at Paxton. “Is this where you live, Paxton?
“Half the time, yeah. My mom moved in with Barry this year. They just got married.”
“Tonight, huh?”
“Yeah. It wasn’t a big deal thing,” he says. “Because they’ve both been married before. So they decided to have a holiday party too.”
“Well, that sounds nice and low-key. Mazel tov. Are you happy?”
“Uh-huh.” He finishes his cookie and wipes his fingers on his suit jacket. “Oh, here’s your money.” He reaches into a pocket and holds up a small envelope that has his name crossed out andMIS KLEEEEOwritten under it in red felt pen. “It’s two hundred dollars. Is that enough?”
“Oh, Paxton. I don’t think I should take your money. I think there’s been a big misunderstanding. I thought you were hiring me to entertain kids tonight!”
