Page 20 of Hiding for the Holidays
Chapter 8
Rosalie
“Eww, what even is this?” I scrunch my nose up in disgust at the strange liquid spilled over one of the train seats.
I grab the firmer brush and spray more cleaner on the seat, using some serious elbow grease to get the stain out.
“Of all days to suggest moving around equipment, I had to pick today!” I grumble to myself as my body cries out in pain. My lower back is the worst, but my arms are quickly catching up, thanks to spending the last few hours scrubbing away at the Christmas train.
When the seat looks clean, I stand up, groaning, as I stretch out my back and shoulders.
I look up at the brightly decorated Christmas tree and smile. The best part of the job was getting to see the decorations while I worked. Hmm, that gives me an idea. Maybe after we’ve finished renovating the gym, they’ll let me put up some Christmas decorations.
Singing Silent Night to myself, I make my way to the last train car. I groan when I see there are even more stains in here.
Hoping it’s just eggnog, I start at the closest seat and work my way through each row. By the time I reach the last seat, I’m completely exhausted. Why was I even doing this job? Now I worked every day at the gym, and for a much higher hourly rate, staying here seemed less important.
But when I think about my disgusting room and my lack of any belongings other than the few extra sets of clothes I’d bought after my first day of work from the secondhand store, I know I need every extra dollar I could get.
Maybe after a few weeks I could quit this job.
A loud bang has me jumping in alarm, my eyes flying to the back of the train. After a moment I hear footsteps moving towards me and I drop the cleaning spray and reach into my pocket, searching for my knife, but it’s not there.
Grant took it.
Why didn’t I ask for it back? I had completely forgotten until this moment. I step backwards as the door slides open, and relief fills me when a woman dressed in an old-fashioned train attendant uniform steps into the car.
“Oh! You must be the cleaner?”
“Yes, sorry, I’m done, just putting everything away now.” I glance out the window and realize the sun is already rising. It took me much longer today.
“That’s fine. Take your time. You’re doing a great job, by the way. I know yesterday must have been especially bad. There was a school booking, so the train was filled with eight to twelve-year-olds.”
“Ah, that explains the stains,” I say with a smile as I pick up my belongings.
“Yeah, they’re little monsters. But they enjoy it. And there’s something magical about hearing them all belt out the lyrics to Christmas songs that warms my heart,” she tells me, and I smile at the thought. I’m sure it’s easier to enjoy when you don't haveto clean up after them. She did have to serve them though, so I’m sure her job wasn’t much easier.
“It sounds lovely,” I tell her as I put my stuff in the cupboard.
“It is, you should ride it one day; it truly is magical.”
Not wanting to admit I couldn’t afford it I just nod. “Yeah, I might just do that. Well, I’m off, have a nice day…”
“Selena. And you, too…”
“Clara.”
Her eyes widen in excitement. “Clara? Really? It’s like you were born to love Christmas!”
I laugh as I push the door open. “See you around, Selena.”
“Bye!” she calls as I step into the train yard.
I smirk as I think of my fake name. Clara Wolf. Clara, because I loved the Nutcracker, and Wolf was the last name of the main character in my favorite movie, The Tenth Kingdom.
I knew Scott wouldn’t look twice at the name. He never really knew me, and knew nothing of my love of the Nutcracker or my favorite movie. My mom and I watched it many times together.
We were halfway through a rewatch when the cancer finally took her life. That was over a year ago now, before I met Scott. I haven’t been able to watch it since.
