Inappropriate - Vi Keeland Page 0,53
kid onto his lap. The more I watched, the bigger my smile grew. Especially when they put a little girl on his lap—one about two or three—and she immediately started to cry. I actually chuckled to myself and watched how he handled it.
He tried in earnest to get her to calm down, even lowering his beard so she would see there was a man underneath, but the little girl wasn’t having it. The look on Grant’s face was pure stress until an elf finally helped him out. As I continued to watch, the line whittled down to only four kids, so I decided to join it.
Grant shook his head and laughed when he saw me waiting behind a five year old. Our eyes caught a few times as each kid ahead of me took their turn. I couldn’t seem to get the smile off my face. The entire scene was just so amusing. When the other kids were done, I walked up and plopped my ass down on Santa’s lap.
I wrapped one arm around his neck and patted his stuffed belly. “Big lunch?”
“I was supposed to be done with this shit before you got here.”
I gave a little tug to his beard. “I kind of like it. You can pull off white hair. I bet you’ll look hot when you get a little salt and pepper going.”
“Glad you think so, because some of these kids gave me a few grays today.”
I chuckled. “I saw the little girl in the pink dress. She wasn’t a fan.”
“I was doing fine at the beginning because I had a bag of candy next to me. When the damn thing ran out, I had nothing to bribe them with.”
“You must be hot in that suit.”
“I am. I should go get changed before any other little monsters get in my line.”
I smiled and wrapped my other arm around his neck. “Don’t I get to tell Santa what I want for Christmas?”
“He already knows. More Disney DVDs.”
I laughed and went to get up, but Santa held me in place. “So let’s hear it. What do you want for Christmas, little girl?”
“Hmmm.” I tapped my finger to my lip. “Whatever package Santa wants to give me.”
“Oh, Santa wants to give you his package, alright. Anything else?”
I’d been feeling kind of down before I got here today because of something that came in yesterday’s mail. “How about a zoning variance?”
“Zoning variance?”
I sighed. “Yeah. I opened my mail this morning, and I had something from the City. They issued me a stop work order on my construction. Apparently an inspector came by and realized the contractor built my garage a foot too close to the road, and now I need zoning variance approval to keep it. Or I need to get rid of the garage. I called the architect to see what it would take to get the approval, and he said we should get it without a problem. But the City is backed up, and it will be a few months before we could get the required hearing. Oh, and I had a fight with the contractor over it, and he quit on me.”
“That sucks. What will you do?”
“I don’t know. I need to think about it.” I stood. “But let’s go get you changed. I can feel the heat radiating off your body.”
Grant nodded and led me over to the main building. He waited until we were inside to take off the hat and beard. “I could use a shower, but I’ll have to settle for a change of clothes for now.”
We navigated through the building until we came to an office. Grant took keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door. Inside the large space was a duffel bag on the desk. He unzipped it and pulled out some clothes, then started to take off the Santa suit.
I leaned against the desk and watched him unbutton the red jacket. “I met someone named Liz who was giving out literature on the program. She said this was your first time playing Santa.”
Grant peeled off the jacket and tossed it on the desk, then started to step out of the red wool pants. He shook his head. “My grandmother may look like a sweet, old lady, but negotiating with her is impossible.”
He tossed the pants on top of the jacket. Underneath he wore a pair of gray sweats and white T-shirt. Thinking nothing of it, he grabbed the hem of his shirt and tugged it up and over