Chapter 4
CHAPTER 4
ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS CLUES
Annette
I walk with Hammy to the corner of Keyhaven Park to meet the Lancaster family before heading into the holiday market and festival. The air is crisp and fresh and although it’s cold, it’s not bitingly so. The sun has set, but the entire park is well-lit.
I used to bring my kids to this event. There are vendor booths, a stage where local groups sing Christmas songs, and Santa’s Workshop and Village . We loved it all. This event always draws lots of families.
I’ll admit I was a little thrown a couple of nights ago when Hammy pulled out a second cell phone, probably because of everything with Bryce . I decided not to freak out, especially because Hammy and I had so much fun! I didn’t want the night to end. He must not have, either, because we sat by the fire, talking, until they kicked us out.
I spot five people waiting at the park’s corner. A woman who’s about my age and looks like she could take charge of any situation is talking to a younger couple whose backs are to us. A tall man with broad, beefy shoulders stands with a blond, athletic woman. Hammy waves, but they don’t react. As if they didn’t realize he was waving at them.
As we get closer, Hammy says, “ Hi , everyone,” and the couple whose backs are to us turn around, and their faces light up in recognition.
“ Hammy !” the woman says as she hugs him. “ I’m so glad you could come!” She’s probably in her mid-twenties and has wavy brown hair.
“ I wouldn’t miss this event for anything,” Hammy says. Then he introduces me to the woman, Mackenzie , who was his physical therapy tech. Her fiancé, Jace , is at her side, the beefy man is Jace’s brother, Ledger , the athletic blonde is his girlfriend, Zoe , who apparently is meeting Hammy for the first time, and the woman my age is Evelyn . She’s the matriarch.
More join us, including Charlie , and I’m introduced to three more brothers— Emerson , Blake , and Miles —and a toddler named Heidi . They’re a lovely family. I can see why Hammy is so fond of them.
But except for Charlie , as each of the others neared, they seemed to initially not recognize Hammy . Yet as they interact, it’s obvious that they all know him very well. I don’t know what to think about it.
I’m not the only one new to this activity— Zoe is, too—so Evelyn explains the rules. We’ll pair up with each other to find a child to buy a gift for. We can’t communicate with the child or their family, so we have to see what draws their attention before buying their gift. Then we wrap it and deliver it to them in a way that makes them believe they got it from Santa .
“ Giving the gift can be as simple as leaving it in the child’s path with their name on it,” Evelyn says, “or it can be as elaborate as you like. As long as it happens within the borders of the park and you make it back here before time’s up.”
Miles sighs. “ I miss the good ole days when we could deliver it to the child’s home.”
“ I don’t miss my broken leg,” Emerson says.
“ You’ve got to admit, though,” Jace says, “that those ‘reindeer hoof’ prints we left in the snow on their roof were pretty awesome.”
Emerson nods. “ But the body print of me sliding off the roof and onto their inflatable Santa hat-wearing penguin wasn’t.”
“ Oh !” Ledger says. “ Remember that catapult we used once to send the gift right to the kid’s front door?”
Several of the Lancaster siblings look upward, wistfully.
Not Blake , though. He says, “ If only it hadn’t terrified the homeowners.”
Ledger shakes his head. “ Only for a second. Once they saw the gift, they knew they weren’t under attack.”
“ It took more than a second for the bomb squad to verify that the gift was not, in fact, an explosive.”
Hammy leans in close. “ We didn’t always have a time or location limit. Things got a little too…creative and had to be reined in a bit.”
I chuckle. “ I can see that.”
“ Oh ,” Emerson says, “but Abe — Hammy’s drone that you two altered to look like Santa’s sleigh—you’ve got to admit that was pretty great.”
Hammy grins at Charlie . “ If only the gift had fallen into the child’s waiting arms as we’d planned.”
“ Yeah ,” Charlie says, “we should’ve chosen a less-breakable gift.”
I’m not entirely sure what to think of all this, but I do love the excitement in the air. I lean into Hammy . “ Are things always this thrilling around you?”
“ Nah —sometimes I like staying home for cocoa cookie nights.”
Okay , that sounds pretty great, too.
“ Are we going to stand around all night, reminiscing,” Evelyn asks, “or are we going to go be Secret Santas ? We’ve got seventy-five minutes, starting… Now .”
Everyone looks at their watches simultaneously. Then , as we head away in pairs, Hammy calls back to the group, “ Good luck, have fun, don’t die!”
I grab his arm. “ Wait . Everyone doesn’t still get super crazy with it, do they?”
Hammy looks at me, confused. “ Oh , because of the ‘don’t die’? That’s just something I started saying as a kid whenever my dad left on some crazy adventure. It still reminds me of him every time I say it.”
I smile. Okay , that’s really sweet, actually. “ Should we go to Santa’s Workshop or village to find a child?”
Hammy shakes his head. “ That’s what Jace and I thought the first time we did this, back when he was little and we were paired up. We found lots of kids, sure, but where we really get clues about what they want is in the holiday market.”
We spot Ledger and Miles in the first aisle of vendors, so we go down another and pretend to look at treats, handmade crafts, and gifts while surreptitiously keeping an eye out for a child in need of a gift.
As we go from booth to booth, several people say “ Hi ” to Hammy and are happy to see him. It doesn’t surprise me—he’s a friendly guy. What’s still surprising me, though, is how the Lancasters reacted to seeing Hammy . They’re the people who know him best. And if I understand correctly, he works with most of them daily. Why did they act like they didn’t recognize him?
My skepticism aside, I love being here with Hammy . We look at Christmas items for sale, try on Santa hats, sample peppermint bark and spiced nuts, and debate which Christmas song is the best. After about ten minutes, I ask, “ Did you spot any kids we should choose?”
Hammy is looking at a snow globe with a small town scene. He nods toward a high-energy boy with tousled hair who’s about six and is currently turning the cranks on a mechanical Santa display, trying to understand how it works. “ The mini mechanic over there, or the budding artist across the aisle and two booths back. What about you?”
I turn to see the same little girl I’d noticed. She’s probably seven, is quiet and observant, drawn to anything creative, and gazes at art half mesmerized, half longing. “ I noticed the same two, actually.”
Hammy smiles. “ Who do you think we should pick?”
I look at both kids again while pretending to admire a carved wooden reindeer. “ The girl’s pants are too short, her shoes are worn, and her coat’s too big. I know what it’s like to have a budget that won’t stretch far enough for anything that isn’t an absolute necessity.”
“ And did you see the way she carefully touched the display of markers in that art supply booth?” Hammy shakes his head. “ I couldn’t hear as she told her mom about them, but I saw the mom’s lips. She said they were too expensive, but she can tell Santa about them before they leave.”
“ We have to get them for her,” I say.
Hammy gives me the sweetest look. Like he adores me. I don’t remember the last time a man looked at me in adoration. “ Let’s do it.”
We hurry to the art supply booth and buy the markers, a sketch pad with big sheets of paper, sketching pencils and erasers, some colored pencils, a set of watercolor paints and paint brushes, some glitter gel pens, and an art supply case.
Then we take it to a gift wrapping station and choose some Christmas paper with paint splatters. As the woman in the booth wraps the present, we spot the girl standing by her mom, watching a man carve a five-foot-tall chunk of ice with a chainsaw, turning it into a nutcracker soldier.
I look at Hammy . “ What if we do a scavenger hunt as a way to give the girl her gift? Since she’s going to see Santa at the end, we can have him tell her that he’s got a present for her and give her the first clue.”
“ That’s perfect!”
We are grinning at each other like we’re a couple of kids. We buy four cards from the present wrapping station that have the same splattered paint theme, and then we work on a plan.
Working with Hammy is a pretty amazing thing. We worked together when putting up the lights, tubing down the hill, and tonight, being Secret Santas . I remember this feeling— I felt it with Bryce when we first got married, then never again. I’d forgotten how incredible it is to work toward the same goals with someone. I could easily become addicted to the feeling. And addicted to spending time with Hammy . And feeling things I haven’t felt in a gazillion years.
We spot the girl in Santa’s Workshop creating a snowflake by gluing wooden craft sticks together. Most of the kids finish making one within a few minutes. This girl, though, keeps making hers more and more elaborate.
As she works, we sit at a table at the end of the shop and write clues on the cards. We decide to have the one Santa is going to hand her lead her to the elf working right here in the workshop. The one the elf hands her will take her to the stage, where the high school jazz band is playing, and right up to the saxophone player near the edge. He’ll give her a card that leads her to the final place—the station where the city is handing out hot cocoa.
“ Ava ,” the girl’s mom says, “if you want to see Santa , you need to finish up within one minute.”
“ Ava !” Hammy whispers. I write her name on the cards and on the present. We hand one to the elf and then hurry over to Santa . As soon as the kid on his lap hops down, we slip in, hand him the card, point out the girl who is just coming out of the workshop, and ask if he’ll give her the card before she leaves.
Then we get a good distance away to watch. The little girl, Ava , sits on Santa’s lap, shows him the snowflake she made, and then talks animatedly. She’s been rather reserved up to this point, and I love the excitement on her face as she tells him about the markers.
The band is nearing the end of Deck the Halls , so the second we see Santa hand the girl the card, we run to the stage. We ask the saxophone player to give the card to a little girl named Ava who comes up to him. Then we head to the hot cocoa station and hand them the gift with instructions to tell the girl it’s from Santa .
We get hot cocoa ourselves and stand under a tree with the perfect view and wait, sipping our cocoa. For the first time, I notice that the night has gotten cold enough that we can see our breath. But there’s a thrill running through me, so I don’t care about the temperature.
Plus , Hammy is next to me, seeming every bit as elated as I am. Before long, we spot Ava , holding her snowflake in one hand and our cards in the other, her mom at her side. She walks up to the booth and says, “ Hi , I’m Ava . This card told me to come here. Do you have something for me?”
They hand her the present and tell her it’s from Santa . The little girl hugs it to her chest. Hammy slides his hand into mine, and we watch the girl’s face fill with wonder.
“ Are you going to open it?” her mom asks.
Ava shakes her head. “ It’s from Santa . It needs to go under the tree for Christmas morning.”
Ava’s mom looks around like she’s trying to find who to thank. She has tears in her eyes. As a mom, I know the feeling of overwhelming gratitude that overcomes you when someone does something for your child that you couldn’t do for them yourself. It makes me tear up a little, too.
I glance at Hammy . He’s just as affected by the scene as I am. I definitely have some nagging worries about Hammy . But I’ve also got a great deal of respect for a man who’ll get this choked up at a chance to provide Christmas for a little girl.
I lean my head against Hammy , and he lets go of my hand so he can put his arm around my shoulders while we spend the last few minutes before we meet up with the others to just take in the magic.