“I’m here,” he assured her.
“Wishy!” she said, pointing to where the bell choir’s bells were knocked over one at a time in quick succession.Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding.“No!”
A moment later, the cymbals crashed to the floor. Charlotte dove through the air and landed behind a table with a long tablecloth blocking her from view.
Micah cringed. That couldn’t have felt good. “Come on; we need to see if she’s okay.”
By the time they got over to her, most of the auditorium had cleared out, and a strange man offered Charlotte a hand.
She took it gratefully. “I’m so glad you’re here,” her voice full of relief and warmth–familiarity and a hint of hero worship.
A stab of jealousy raced just under Micah’s skin. “Are we interrupting something?” he growled.
ChapterFifteen
Charlotte yanked her hand out of Nick’s grasp and shivered. He had a way of keeping people warm–-like a hot water bottle. The sensation was so pleasant, especially after chasing her wish all over the gym, dodging panicked parents and screaming children, and tackling it. Her hip hurt where she’d collided with the gym floor. Tucking her wish tighter under her arm, she turned to face Micah.
The man whose hand she’d been holding all night didn’t look happy to see her grasping onto Nick. She and Micah had snuggled like snowbirds until her wish sailed through the air and hit Lizzie’s wish with such force that it knocked the scenery over.
While grumpy was par for the course with him, this time, there was a tinge of jealousy in his beautiful brown eyes.
“This is Nick.” She motioned to her friend. “Nick–I’m sure you know who they are, so let’s start figuring this out.” He was a Kringle, after all, and Kringles knew everyone in the world. He’d also granted Lizzie’s wish, which denoted meeting her at some point.
Micah grunted and glanced away. She probably could have handled that with a little more finesse, but she was anxious to get their wishes under control and figured out once and for all. Her Christmas wish had ruined the pageant–in a strangely familiar way. She glanced at Lizzie in her angel costume.
“Why does this feel like my ruined pageant?” she asked the Kringle.
Nick rubbed his palms together. “Because–his wish was for the perfect Christmas for Lizzie.” He pointed at Micah.
“Aww,” she cooed toward Micah. He lifted one shoulder and let it fall–still holding onto his brooding demeanor like Linus with his blankie.
She tried to wrap her brain around the whole thing. “So what if he wished for a perfect Christmas? This is far from perfect, Nick.”
Nick rubbed at his chin as if he wore the Santa beard. He did not. He wore a black Norwegian Christmas sweater with two reindeer silhouettes facing one another over his chest. “Does anyone in your family refer to that year as the best Christmas pageant ever?”
Charlotte scoffed. “They all do. Mom, because she’s supportive, and my siblings because they think it’s hilarious.” Speaking of Mom… Charlotte lifted to her tiptoes and checked the empty auditorium.
“She’s in the parking lot,” Nick said as if he’d read her mind, “helping Robyn serve fresh hot calming chocolate and scones to everyone.”
Mom liked to jump in where she saw a need. “You brought reinforcements?” Charlotte asked in shock. Nick was a bit of a rogue Kringle and liked to do things on his own. He’d complained about having to work with Lux–who was at the top of the Nice List. If he couldn’t work with the genius daughter of Santa Claus, then he couldn’t work with anyone.
Nick narrowed his eyes. “You sounded desperate on the phone.”
Charlotte glanced at Micah. “I am never desperate,” she countered.
“Can we get back to what the heck happened here? I still don’t know how Lizzie ended up spinning around in her harness or everything came crashing down.” Micah threw his hand one way and then the other.
Lizzie held tightly to her wish. “He didn’t mean to be bad.” She sniffed.
Micah squatted down next to her. “Who didn’t?”
“Wishy,” she informed him, still hugging the ball.
Micah glanced heavenward. “Lizzie, Wishy is pretend. He couldn’t have done all this.”
“Actually–” Nick broke in before Lizzie had to defend herself.
Micah looked up at him with pure unbelief.
