Page 4 of Wrapped Up in Christmas Hope
The boy nodded. “My mom loves me a lot. She moved here to give me a big Christmas.”
Again, Andrew found himself wondering what the kid’s story was. “Nothing wrong with having a big Christmas. Pine Hill is definitely the place for it. The holidays are everyone’s favorite time of year.”
“Greyson.” The blonde gave a nervous-sounding laugh as she stepped up to them. “You’re the only student who hasn’t had your photo taken with Santa.”
The kid gave her a pretty please don’t make me leave yet look.
“You need to thank the fireman for his time and let someone else take a turn talking to him.” She placed her hands on the child’s shoulders.
“No worries, Ma’am. Greyson and I were just swapping firefighter stories. I was telling him how our crew could use a good, safety-conscious firefighter like I know he’ll be. I’ve no doubt that he’ll work hard and make his dreams come true—in the safest way possible.”
Andrew met the boy’s gaze and winked conspiratorially. As he’d hoped, Greyson’s face lit up and he winked back. Andrew grinned at the exaggerated wink. Yeah, he liked this kid.
The boy handed his helmet back to Andrew. “Thank you and sorry I held up your line.”
Andrew reached out and patted the boy’s shoulder. “Are you kidding me? I’m the one who held up my line because you’re an awesome dude. I enjoyed our man-to-man talk.”
“Me, too.” The boy eyed him as if he’d just promised him the moon.
It made him feel a little guilty—and maybe a bit undeserving. Andrew was proud of the work he did. But he didn’t want the kid idolizing him. He was just doing his job and being friendly to a kid who reminded him of himself as a child.
“Good luck with the contest and on becoming a firefighter. You’re going to make a great one.”
Digging in his heels as his mother tried to nudge him along, Greyson continued to look up at Andrew. Then, he smiled. Andrew got the impression this happy, full-on smile didn’t happen to Greyson nearly often enough. The reaction from the boy’s mother seemed to confirm that. Her hand fell to her side and her conflicted gaze went back and forth between him and the kid. Kids deserved to smile—lots. That this kid obviously didn’t was a problem. One that made him want to be a problem solver.
“Thank you, sir, and good luck to you, too,” Greyson said, and then to Andrew’s surprise, the boy hugged him. His little arms felt warm and tight as they wrapped around Andrew’s thighs. “Your secret is safe with me. Pinky promise forever.”
The stunned blonde’s eyes widened even further at the last comment. Andrew was fairly stunned himself. He and the blond watched the kid skip over to where Santa Cole had finished up with his last kid.
“What kind of secret?” she asked the second Greyson was out of hearing range, looking very much the mother hen who might attack at any moment.
“It was a comment I made about firefighting, nothing more,” he said, putting his hands up defensively.
“Okay. I...well, I,” she shook her head a little, then gave a forced smile. “Thank you for your kindness. You made Greyson’s day. But he shouldn’t have occupied so much of your time. Your line is backed up and the other children are waiting to get their firefighter helmets.”
“No problem,” he assured her. “It was my pleasure. Great kid you have there.”
Something flickered in her green gaze, then she nodded and motioned for the next kid in his line to step up. “Jace, thanks for being so patient while waiting for your turn.”
Then, without meeting his gaze, she headed toward Cole’s line where Greyson was now talking to Santa.
“Hi,” he greeted the kid who’d stepped up to him and handed the boy a plastic helmet while answering the kid’s questions. Laughter from across the room caught his attention, and when he looked up, the woman was smiling at Santa Cole.
What would it be like to have that smile aimed at him?
For the remainder of his time in the classroom, Andrew’s gaze kept bouncing between Greyson and his mother. Which wasn’t difficult as, although she helped with multiple students, she was never far from the future firefighter.
Greyson had gone to his seat, taken out a box of crayons and started coloring one of the pictures in the fire safety booklet. Most of the kids were paired off or in small groups, but Andrew hadn’t seen Greyson speak with or interact with any of the other children. No chattering or smiles or laughter. Wearing the plastic helmet Andrew had given him, along with one of the badge stickers Ben had given him, Greyson looked totally absorbed in the coloring book while around him noise and chaos abounded.
His aloneness tugged at Andrew’s heart and sucked him in further. It couldn’t be easy being the new kid in town.
Cole and Ben joined him, finished with their groups of kids while he still had a handful left to talk to. Great. He was never last except when it came to leaving a burning structure. Then, he always made sure all his crew was out safely before he himself got out.
“Miss Hilton was wondering if you would have time to talk to her first-grade class, too?” Suzie asked, smiling at them all. “I think the other teachers were a bit envious when they found out I’d made arrangements for you to talk to all of the kindergartners about the Christmas Coloring contest.”
“Yeah, sure,” Cole agreed in his regular voice, then corrected himself. “Ho. Ho. Ho. Of course, Santa has time to talk to the other good boys and girls.”
“So long as no calls come in.” Ben patted the two-way radio at his waist. “We’ve got more coloring books, stickers, and helmets in the truck.”
