Page 5 of Sexted By Santa
She huffed and crossed her arms, looking far too old for her age and sending a shiver of fear through me at the thought of a teenage daughter.
I broke into a jog to catch our neighbor before he left. “Professor Kringle! Can I talk to you for a minute?”
Calling out his name cast a shadow of my old life over me. I’d once sat in his office and talked about my future—which had been falling apart thanks to an unplanned pregnancy and a girlfriend who’d decided she could no longer handle being a mom. To say Kringle wasn’t very sympathetic would be an understatement. He’d told me point-blank that I’d ruined my life by being irresponsible.
And yeah, I had made mistakes. Big ones. In retrospect, I realized that trusting my mom to take care of my family had been a mistake. A sign of my immaturity and naivety. Mom was never the most reliable person. But she’d pushed me to stay at Hayworth, to earn a degree so that I could better take care of my child in the long-term, and it’d made sense at the time. It’d also been the easier choice for me. The one that kept my life on the expected track. But not one that had been most fair to Marissa. I just hadn’t seen it at the time.
I should have done more for her—especially once Mom bailed to marry a man out of state. Marissa had told me she had a place to stay, that she was fine, and I’d taken her word for it. We weren’t close any longer, and our relationship had grown past strained to nonexistent, but I should have done more than send her some money each month and visit every couple of weeks. I should have made sure she washappy.
Thatwas the mistake, not Tori. I’d never regret my daughter or refuse to take responsibility for her. She hadn’t ruined my life; she’d given it meaning.
The professor looked up as I neared, a tight expression on his face. “I have to be going.”
“I know,” I said, not even surprised he didn’t greet me. “I’m sorry to bother you, but my daughter saw you in this…outfit.” I waved at the big red coat. “She’s excited and wants to talk to Santa.”
Christian’s gaze flicked past me. I glanced back to see Tori finally dragging a thick winter coat on while she watched us intently. I breathed a sigh of relief. Tori’s health was difficult enough to manage without a fever in the mix.
“No,” Christian said, his tone clipped.
“What?” I whipped my head back toward him. “I know you’re leaving, but maybe just a quick—”
“I said no. Bad enough I have to wear this getup and make a fool of myself, but I won’t entertain the whole damn neighborhood.”
“It’d only take a few minutes…”
I trailed off as the professor got into his red Lexus, which had already defrosted with a keyless engine start, and closed the door in my face.
“Okay, then. Nice chat,” I muttered as I watched his car reverse out of the driveway.
What a miserable grinch. Christian Kringle was the rudest Santa I’d ever met.
Tori sagged with disappointment when I returned empty-handed.
“Sorry, sweetie. Santa was in a big hurry to, uh, get to his workshop.” I forced a smile even though I still wanted to shake Professor Kringle into some semblance of human kindness.
Tori looked as if she saw through my excuse. “It’s okay, Daddy. He’s probably busy making all those toys.”
“Exactly! But you don’t want any toys this year…”
“What?” She squawked in protest as she came down the steps. “I want sooo many toys!”
“Nah, you’re too big for toys,” I teased as I resumed clearing the drive while my own car idled, struggling to defrost itself even after the thorough, muscle-burning scrape I’d given it. I should be thankful the Toyota Corolla had remained reliable despite getting bashed to hell in a fender bender. I imagine Professor Kringle scowled every time he saw the dents that I’d decided not to fix in lieu of keeping the insurance money for other expenses.
Tori vibrated with indignation beside me as I worked, forgetting all about her Santa sighting as she recited every gift she wanted this year—starting with the highly improbable trampoline and following with a list of more attainable objects: a remote-control Jeep; an art kit complete with glitter glue that would make the house sparkle for eons; a Nintendo Switch, with a number of games she was happy to list; a pair of gamer headphones topped with kitty ears; and a whole set ofWanda Willadventure books.
Guilt swirled as I finished shoveling. I couldn’t afford to buy Tori even half of her wish list.
Without extended family, I was all she had. Her entire holiday hinged on me. It was times like these I wondered if I’d made a mistake shutting my mother out. I’d felt betrayed by her actions, but should Tori really pay the price? She could have a doting grandmother.
Or one who lets her down…
“Come on, let’s get you over to Shirley’s place,” I said.
“I wish you didn’t have to work.”
More guilt. It piled up these days. But working today meant an extra day off later during Tori’s winter break. “I know. But we’ll spend tomorrow together, okay?”
She perked up. “Can we set up the Christmas tree?”
