be staying a while.”
She looked up at him. “With any luck, you’ll be staying here with me forever.”
“That sounds like a dream come true, Susie Q.”
They walked arm in arm down the sidewalk, and SuAnn couldn’t believe her good fortune. Maybe she was going to have her own second chance after all.
* * *
“But where is he?” Julie asked, holding the phone to her ear. How could a Christmas festival be this incredibly stressful? “The kids are already lining up… I understand that he’s not feeling well but…”
She paced back-and-forth on the grass right in front of the nativity scene. For some reason, she felt very exposed right in front of baby Jesus. She didn’t want to say anything inappropriate, but she was getting pretty irate.
The man they had hired to play Santa Claus for the children’s pictures had called out sick an hour before he was set to start the job. He had been Santa Claus at the Christmas festival for the last six years, but he had to pick this day to come down with the flu.
“I understand. Thank you for letting me know and please tell Wendall that we hope he feels better soon.” Right now, she honestly wanted to throttle Wendell, but it didn’t seem in keeping with the Christmas spirit to say that out loud.
As she pressed end on the call, she couldn’t help but freak out a little. There was already a line of kids and parents forming in front of the Santa Claus display, and the only person there was an elf who looked very lonely. She didn’t know what they were going to do.
“Janine!” she called from across the grassy area. Janine was helping to set up the cakewalk game that they would play later in the evening.
“What’s up?” she asked, breathless from running across the square.
“We have a major problem. Santa Claus has the flu.”
“Oh no, I hope Rudolph doesn’t catch it!” Janine said, laughing.
“This is no time for joking. Kids are lined up already, and there’s not going to be a Santa Claus.”
“Well, what are we going to do?”
“Do you think William would…”
“Absolutely not. William vowed never to put that costume on again. He’s glad to give it to someone else, but he’s not the jolliest Santa Claus I’ve ever seen.”
“I don’t know what to do…” Julie looked around at all the people. “Wait. I have an idea.”
She ran off in the other direction with Janine watching her in confusion. She had seen her mom and Nick walking around the square, arm in arm and obviously not having problems anymore. Now was the time to strike if she needed a favor.
“Mom!” she said, running up behind them.
“Julie? Dear, you are really messing up your hair by running around like this. Do you want to be sweaty in front of all the people in town?”
Julie rolled her eyes. “Please. Not now. You must be Nick?”
“Yes, I am. It’s very nice to meet you, Julie.”
Julie smiled. “Nice to meet you too. Listen, I’m in a bind so I’m going to cut right to the chase. I can’t help but notice how much you look like Santa Claus.”
“Julie! Honestly, remember your manners!”
“It’s okay, Susie. Everybody says that.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude, but I’m kind of in a time crunch here and our Santa Claus just called out sick with the flu. I have a line of kids over there ready to sit on Santa’s lap and get their picture taken.”
Nick chuckled. “And you’d like for me to put on a red suit and sit in that chair, right?”
She put her hands in the prayer position. “Please? You’ll save the Christmas festival if you do this.”
“No problem. I’ve played Santa Claus my fair share of times in my life. Susie, would you like to be Mrs. Claus?”
SuAnn shook her head. “I think I’ll give you a no on that one. Besides, I have to get back and help Darcy at the store. We’ll be closing early today to take part in the festival, and I’ve left her there alone for a couple of hours already.”
Nick leaned in and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you in a little while.” As Julie walked away with Nick, she saw him look back one more time at her mother.
“You two are very cute.”
He chuckled. “I have to tell you, I can’t remember a time in my life that I’ve been so happy to see somebody again. Your mom is just