Page 66 of Stay this Christmas
The little girl turned her big brown eyes up to me. Her black hair had been set into two braids that looped in on themselves like hard candy curls, and the tiniest chocolate smudge graced one corner of her mouth.
Kind of thought he’d been joking about the banana splits.
“Hi, Willa. That’s a very pretty dress you’re wearing.” She wore a red smocked dress that reminded me of Clara’s nightgown in the Nutcracker, only about ten times fancier. “I like your shiny shoes.”
“The skirt twirls.” She did a few quick spins to demonstrate, never quite letting go of Sam’s hand.
I clapped in appreciation, making her grin.
“And this is Finn,” Sam said, indicating the little boy who had joined us.
“Hi, Finn. You look ready to meet Santa.”
Finn wore a red plaid suit complete with green tie covered in Christmas trees, his dark hair slicked back making him look like a little banker. Well—a festive little banker, who also sported remnants of his banana split on his face.
He smiled but went back to ogling the board game store’s window and all the video games laid out front and center.
I leaned closer to Sam. “I feel seriously underdressed.”
His gaze raked over me, taking in my old jeans and blush sherpa hoodie. Nothing very nice or remotely revealing, but his eyes heated in approval anyway.
“Not underdressed,” he said, his voice gravelly. Then he seemed to snap out of it. “They’re over the top. My dad’s wife gets a little extra over the holidays. Like some people.”
“It’s normal Christmas spirit, Samuel.”
Willa’s head whipped around. “Is your nameSamuel?”
He shot me a stern look before turning his attention to her. “Don’t sound so horrified. It’s a good name.”
She laughed, clutching her stomach with one hand and rocking back and forth in perfect mime of a belly laugh. “Samuel. That’s so funny.”
“Off to a great start, Harps,” he muttered.
His eyes still sparkled, though, so it couldn’t have been all that bad.
“So when are we going to see Santa?” I asked, hoping to right the ship a little bit.
“Maybe we should do that first and then look at decorations. If we do the reverse, they might get dirty before their Santa pictures.”
“Yeah, we wouldn’t want to do anything risky like give them ice cream first.”
His mouth thinned, his eyes narrowed on me in a way that made my stomach dip low. Getting easy-going Sam irritated should not give me a perverse thrill, and yet…
Oh, no. I was becoming as bad as Eliza.
That knowledge did not stop the stomach-swooping going on at the moment.
“In my defense,” he said, “I did not know the banana splits would be so big.”
A high-pitched cackle bubbled out of Willa. “They were super big, Samuel.”
He stared at me, his eyes flat, before cocking one eyebrow in silentAre you happy now?
I really was.
“Georgia said Santa is set up in the pavilion in town square,” Sam said. “Let’s head that way.”
“You know, the night market is just another block away.”
