Chapter 6
CHAPTER 6
N atalie stood from her chair abruptly, shoving her laptop in her bag and her arms in her coat sleeves as fast as she could, doing her best not to make eye contact with the woman now striding toward her with a purpose. She glanced around for a back exit, a hole in the wall, a crack in the floor she could disappear through… anything to avoid whatever idea Faith Holiday seemed to have gotten in her head.
Could she accidentally-on-purpose knock her plate to the floor and cause a scene? Could she faint? Could she find a way to knock herself unconscious—so sorry, Faith!—so she had to be sent to the hospital?
Time was running out, and Faith was still making a beeline for Natalie, and before she could decide what to do, she felt a firm but polite finger tapping her on the shoulder. Natalie squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, praying she had misheard Faith’s original words. Maybe she didn’t need an elf at all. Maybe she needed an… elk? Was that any better?
“Natalie, dear.” By now, Natalie had no option but to acknowledge Faith’s presence, which she did with a smile. A very pained smile. Faith was standing beside her in a Christmas tree sweater, colorful puff balls glued to the fabric to represent ornaments, white fluff on the bottom for the snow. Her eyes were bright, and her smile was a bit mischievous.
Natalie’s own smile stretched wide. Now was the time to pretend to faint. And if she actually knocked herself unconscious on the way down? Well… that wouldn’t be all bad, would it?
But politeness, hard-drilled into her by her parents, and then her grandmother, won over. So it was with an internal sigh that she said, “Hi, Faith. How’s your day?”
“Well, to tell you the truth, it hasn’t been so good.” Faith’s hands were clasped in front of her, and her expression was earnest and filled with hope. Natalie nearly had to look away—it was like staring into the sun .
“Oh?” Natalie managed, hoping to sound both encouraging and yet faintly uninterested. She offered no other words.
Faith, however, was undeterred. “Yes, you see, every year, Chestnut Cove transforms the town hall into Santa’s Wonderland—it’s our biggest event of the season, and responsible for a huge boost in tourism, which, as you know, helps our economy, which in turn helps small business owners like Holly here.”
Holly gave them a merry wave from behind the counter.
“Needless to say, we go all out, but our biggest attraction is our Santa Claus, of course. Walter has been playing the part for thirty-some years now—in fact, he’s been our town Santa for so long that he’s starting to look the part all year round.” She grinned, then her expression immediately turned sober again. “And no Santa Claus is complete without his helper, don’t you think?”
Faith gave Natalie an expectant look, clearly awaiting a response. Natalie nodded weakly, one eye still on the exit, which Holly was now blocking as she hung tinsel around the door frame. Was that on purpose? No , Natalie decided. Now she was just being paranoid .
Satisfied with Natalie’s non-response, Faith continued, “And Jeannie, our elf, has just come down with the flu. I’ve looked far and wide, and I can’t find any one to replace her on such short notice.” She paused again, and then her voice turned tragic. “And the children, Natalie, they’ll be so disappointed.” She shook her head. “Think of the children.”
Natalie swallowed hard. “Um, yes. The children.”
Faith clapped her hands once, her eyes lighting up with unmistakable delight. “So you’ll do it?”
“Sorry?” Natalie began inching toward the door, then glanced down at her wrist. “Oh, my, look at the time! I actually have an, uh, interview? Yes, an interview for a new job. It’s a video call, you see, so I’ll just head back to The Mistletoe House and…”
But she trailed off as she saw Faith’s gaze following her wrist as she gestured wildly—her bare wrist, because Natalie wasn’t actually wearing a watch. Or even owned one, if she wanted to get technical about it. Her face burned as the lie caught up with her, but Faith only smiled sweetly.
“You run along to your interview, dear. Of course, it’s perfectly natural that you wouldn’t want to be our elf. I’m putting you on the spot. It’s just that I’ve asked everyone I know, and no one can do it.” She shook her head forlornly. “The children will understand, of course they will. We’ll find someone else to take their picture with Santa, and hand out the treat bags.”
She gave Natalie a hopeless look. “That’s the part they love the best, you know—the treat bags. Handed to them by one of Santa’s real elves! You should see the looks on their faces… and Walter, of course, he and his wife have gone to such trouble making them this year. They always do a wonderful job. Such good people.” Then she sighed heavily. “I’m sure I can find someone else on short notice, someone who doesn’t have much to do for the next few days…”
By now, Natalie was only steps from the café’s door, with Faith inching along beside her, looking for all the world like someone’s adorable grandmother. “I do have to go now,” she said, tapping her laptop firmly, “but I’ll see you back at the inn later, Faith, okay? And good luck with the, uh, elf search.”
Her hand landed on the doorknob, and she was seconds away from freedom when Faith grabbed her arm. “I’ll give you a free room at the inn for the rest of your stay if you’ll do it.”
At this, Natalie paused. A free room? For at least a few days, potentially more than two weeks. Her thoughts roamed to her bank account, which wasn’t exactly flush with cash. She had a little put away, sure, but her job at the ice cream shop didn’t come with phenomenal pay; she stayed because she loved it, and Devin. And while she still had one last paycheck on the way, she had no idea how long it would take to find another job, not to mention a new place to live. Rent wasn’t exactly cheap these days…
“And free breakfast for a week!” Holly chimed in, grinning at Faith. Then she turned to Natalie. “You’d be doing the whole town a favor, and I promise you’ll have the time of your life. Besides, you’ll have a really good story to tell for years to come.”
Natalie hesitated, glancing from one earnest face to the other. The people of Chestnut Cove had been so kind to her, so welcoming, and she definitely owed them several favors… but this? This was a nightmare wrapped in a hefty dose of humiliation, and why was she nodding along? Why was she so polite?
“Okay,” she heard herself saying. “Sure, I’ll do it.”
“Oh, thank you!” Faith wrapped her in a suffocating embrace. “Thank you, Natalie, thank you! You won’t regret it.” Then she pulled back from her with a grin. “Now come with me. We have to make sure the ears are the right fit.”
The ears were most definitely not the right fit, though Faith didn’t seem to agree.
“Oh, Natalie, you look wonderful !” she cried, steering Natalie to the mirror in her room at the inn. “Absolutely wonderful! You were born to be Peppermint!”
“Peppermint?” Natalie asked in a weak voice, gently touching the pointy elf ears that Faith had spent the past few minutes showing her how to slip on. They had arrived back at The Mistletoe House and gone directly to Natalie’s room, where the elf costume was already waiting on her bed. “I had a hunch,” Faith had said with a wink when Natalie pointed this out.
In addition to the prosthetic ears, Peppermint the elf—Natalie’s entire body shuddered violently at the name—would be wearing a garish red and green striped dress, glittery tights, a pointed hat with a pom-pom on top, and elf shoes that jingled every time she took a step. She looked ridiculous, positively ridiculous , and if anyone actually saw her in this costume, she would die right on the spot.
“Tomorrow is opening day, and we’re expecting about a thousand people,” Faith said, squinting as she studied Natalie’s costume for a moment before shaking her head and heading into the inn’s hallway. Natalie heard a closet door opening, then the sound of Faith rummaging around in bags before she reappeared with a sewing kit and several red and green puff balls. Holding the sewing needle between her teeth, she began unwinding thread with expert fingers, then assessed Natalie again before removing the needle and deftly sewing the balls to the hem of the elf dress.
“Did you say a thousand ?” Natalie asked, torn between horror and wonder. “Can this town even hold that many people?” Everything she’d seen so far had been the epitome of quaint; as far as she could tell, Chestnut Cove didn’t have even a single traffic light.
“Oh, you’d be surprised,” Faith said, stepping back to examine her work. “There now.” She nodded, then gave Natalie a thumbs-up. “I think we’re in business.”
Which brought up an excellent question, Natalie decided.
“What exactly will I be doing as, er, Peppermint?” she asked, trying not to cringe on that last word and failing at it spectacularly. “What are the job duties of an elf? ”
“Oh, the usual things,” Faith responded, as if this were a perfectly rational question. “Keeping the line running smoothly, taking photos of the children with Santa, handing out the treat bags.” She was ticking off items on her fingers as she spoke. “Answering questions about the town, although I suppose I’ll need another volunteer to help with that, since you’ve only been here a single day. Leading the Santa Claus song, helping?—”
“I’m sorry, what was that last one again?” Natalie asked, ice trickling down her veins.
Faith stopped ticking off items with a frown. “Handing out the treat bags?”
“No, after that.”
“Answering questions about the town?”
Natalie was beginning to sweat. “No, the part about the song?”
“Oh, that,” Faith said merrily. “Well, at the start and end of every session, Peppermint the elf leads the crowd of children and their parents in a fabulous rendition of ‘Here Comes Santa Claus.’ The singing is sometimes so loud we can hear it on the street.” She sighed happily. “It really helps to get everyone in the Christmas spirit. One of the highlights of the day. ”
Natalie tried to swallow, but her throat felt like sandpaper. “I, um. Can’t exactly sing?”
Nails on a chalkboard was too generous for the otherworldly sounds that escaped her anytime she tried to sing. Devin once lovingly described it as a “coyote stuck in a trash compactor.”
Natalie was definitely sweating now, which was unbecoming for an elf. “I can’t sing,” she said, this time more desperately. “Like, at all.”
“Oh, that won’t be a problem.” Faith’s voice was relentlessly cheerful, and Natalie had the urge to start tearing puff balls from her costume and throwing them at her. “You just have to sing the first few lines into the microphone, and then the crowd will join in. Believe me, the children will be so excited about seeing the man in red that they won’t even notice if you sound like Mariah Carey.”
Faith grinned at her, but Natalie was already shaking her head. “No,” she said, kicking off one elf shoe, then the other. “No, no no no , no no. I’m sorry, Faith, but I’m not cut out for the job.” The pointy hat came next, with Natalie tossing it onto the bed in a sad heap. “Not only am I not very good with kids,” she said, groping around her back for the zipper to the elf costume, “but I hate Christmas. I actually hate it.” She stopped what she was doing and met Faith’s eyes in the mirror. “I’m sorry, Faith,” she repeated, this time in a near-whisper, “but I’m just not the person you think I am.”
To her credit, the older woman didn’t even blink. Instead, she stepped forward and rested a gentle hand on Natalie’s shoulder. “On the contrary, my dear,” she murmured with a wink, “I think you’re exactly the person I think you are.”