Chapter 16
SATURDAY MORNING, Forrest was worn out. A little light came in the windows, so he rolled over, figuring it was still early. He was wrong.
“Did you and Daddy have a sleepover?”
Forrest cracked his eyes open. Lizzie stood next to the bed in pink pajamas, holding a stuffed sheep under her arm. Forrest wanted to pull the covers over his head and try to disappear.
“Lizzie,” Conrad said. “Go on and brush your teeth.”
She skipped out of the room, and Forrest got out of bed and pulled on his clothes from last night. At least he was dressed and not naked under the covers for when Lizzie returned. “I should go on home before….”
“What?” Conrad shrugged. “The bigger a deal we make of this, the more she is going to question it. Just be normal and the same person you’ve always been.
So go on home, change, and come back for breakfast in about forty-five minutes.
I know it’s the Saturday before Christmas, but I need to get a few things, and Lizzie asked if she could visit Santa.
There’s one at the square, so we don’t have to brave the mall, and we can walk downtown for last-minute gifts. ”
“If you’re sure,” he said.
Conrad pulled on a robe and tied it around his waist. “The more normal things are, the less of a huge thing it’s going to be.”
“Okay.” Forrest left the room, put on his shoes, and grabbed his coat on the way out to head home, where he showered and changed clothes before packing a small bag and throwing it in the trunk as a precaution.
Once back at Conrad’s, he found Lizzie at the table munching on pancakes shaped like Santa hats. Clearly that was the theme of the day. Forrest sat down, and Conrad had pancakes all ready for him. “Are you ready to see Santa?”
“Yes. I have a whole list of things I want, and I didn’t tell anybody what they were.
I want to see if he’s the real Santa or a guy in a suit.
Last year I went to see Santa, and his beard was wonky.
So I knew he was fake.” She chewed on some more pancake, and Forrest bit the inside of his lip to keep from chuckling.
“Santa authenticity is really important around here,” Conrad said, rolling his eyes from behind Lizzie where she couldn’t see.
“And what do we do after Santa?”
Lizzie didn’t hesitate. “Christmas cartoons. I wanna see Rudolph and Frosty. Not The Polar Express. I don’t need to see that one.”
“Okay.” Conrad shrugged. “You can watch all the Christmas movies you want. I put all of them in your list, so all you have to do is choose what you want.” He tapped her plate.
“Right now you need to finish your breakfast so we can put Santa to the test.” He leaned toward Forrest, who smiled.
“That is one thing I need to figure out, because I am not going to get called out again for taking her to the fake Santa.”
CONRAD STOOD in line at the square, holding Lizzie’s hand as she looked around, vibrating with excitement. “Can I get my face pained?” Apparently they were having some sort of festival today, and the square had booths for face painting and crafts of various kinds.
“How about we see Santa, and then we can look around. Okay?” He met Forrest’s gaze, so glad he was there. Lizzie was wound as tight as a drum with excitement, and all he wanted was for her to see Santa so they could get away from this group of screaming kids that was giving him a bad headache.
They got closer to Santa, and Lizzie held his hand tighter, grinning. “What are you gonna ask Santa for?” he asked her.
“Santa test, remember?” she told him seriously.
Then it was her turn, and she walked up to him and stood next to his chair.
He did the “ho, ho, ho” and then asked her name and what she wanted for Christmas.
Conrad couldn’t hear what Lizzie said, but the Santa laughed and asked Lizzie where she was going to keep him and who would clean up after it.
That seemed to settle the pony question.
Then Lizzie said something else, and Santa hesitated before saying he would see what he could do.
Shit, he needed to know what it was she asked for.
Still, the elves gave her a candy cane and took a picture. Then she skipped back to him.
“Well?” Conrad said, taking her hand. “What did you think?”
Lizzie munched on her candy. “I thought his beard was good and it didn’t seem wonky.” She looked up at him. “We’ll see.”
There were times when Lizzie reminded him so such of Gwen. She had been a skeptic too… of just about everything. Still, Conrad got the picture of Lizzie with Santa, and then they headed away from the square, pleased that Lizzie had forgotten all about the face painting.
“Who do you have to buy for?” Forrest asked.
“I need to get a few things. I thought we’d head down Pomfret Street to check out the stores.” Lizzie dropped his hand and skipped ahead. “Don’t go too far,” he cautioned her.
“I heard what she asked for,” Forrest whispered. “She wants a puppy.”
“Is that what she asked Santa for?” Conrad asked, and Forrest nodded. “Of course she did. Well, I’ll have to give that some thought.” He took Lizzie’s hand when she returned, and they crossed the street together before heading down to browse through the stores.
There was nothing he really needed, but it was sunny, if chilly, and it was good to be out of the house for a few hours. Lizzie wanted to go into the art store, so they got out of the cold for a few minutes and looked around.
“Can we get my face painted?” Lizzie asked.
He glanced at Forrest, who smiled. “Sure. We can go back if you want.” They left the art store and walked back to the square.
There was a line for the face painting, and they headed over just as Lizzie screamed.
Another girl did the same, and the two kids hugged and jumped up and down before standing together, holding hands.
“Hi, Bethany,” Forrest said and got a shy wave in return. The two girls talked nonstop as they stood in line, and then Lizzie sat as still as Conrad had ever seen his active daughter while an artist painted a snowman on her cheek.
“Where is Bethany’s mother?” Forrest asked just as a woman hurried up to join them. She saw Bethany at the table and sighed as she stood with Forrest.
“She got away from me and….” She breathed deeply. “Mr. Scoville, it’s good to see you.”
“You too. This is Conrad Langdon. Conrad, this is Linda Grant.”
“Lizzie’s dad.” She held out her hand. “It’s good to meet you.” He shook it carefully. “You used to work with my ex-husband.”
“Unfortunately,” he said.
“You won’t have any argument from me. Bethany wanted to come here and see Santa. I wanted to stay at home with the curtains drawn and the police on speed dial in case Lester showed up again. But I can’t let him take Bethany’s Christmas away from her. That wouldn’t be fair.”
“Have they found Lester yet?” Conrad asked, and she shook her head.
“I understand he threatened you as well. I’m sorry about that.
Lester has a substance abuse issue. That and the gambling were the reasons I left him.
But he kept coming back, and I had to get him away from Bethany.
” She watched her daughter like a hawk, and as soon as Bethany was done, she held out her hand and Bethany took it.
Lizzie raced over a few minutes later, pleased with her snowman.
“We’re getting hot dogs,” Bethany said with a grin.
“Do you want to join us?” Linda asked. “The Hamilton is a block up.”
Conrad glanced at Forrest, who nodded. “That would be nice. It will give the girls a chance to visit longer.” He took Lizzie’s hand, and they all walked the block to the restaurant. It was busy, but they managed to get a table.
The girls sat beside each other, talking a mile a minute. “These past few weeks have been really hard. Lester has shown up at school, my work, at the house. I call the police, but he takes off before they get there.”
“He was at my house making threats. So hopefully they’ll find him soon.” Conrad was curious what she thought Lester really wanted.
“He keeps saying he wants to see Bethany,” Forrest supplied, “but I think there’s more to it than that.”
“He wants to take her so he can punish me. He tried to take the inheritance from my parents, though thankfully I was able to stop him. I didn’t know it at the time, but he was using back then, and he owed people money.
So he put the inheritance money into a joint account and tried to take some of it.
But I got wind of it and transferred the money into an account in only my name, got a good divorce lawyer, and moved in with my sister along with Bethany.
Lester tried to put up a fight, but the judge didn’t believe a word he said. That’s when it got really bad.”
“Was he stable, mentally?” Forrest asked.
“I’m not sure. He was greedy. I know that.
” She picked up a menu and then set it down again.
“I think he left town or found something else… maybe someone else, because he left us alone for almost a year, and then showed back up again.” She sipped her water.
“I’m sorry. You don’t want to hear all this. ”
“It’s all right. I worked with him. He was a real piece of work.”
Linda rolled her eyes. “That was a big part of the problem—he didn’t work. Lester was basically lazy. He believed that work he could get others to do was his own. So he’d talk a good game, but that was it.”
“Yeah. That’s for sure.” He reached for Forrest’s hand and held it under the table. They ordered drinks when the server came over, Linda getting something for Bethany, and Conrad ordering for Lizzie.
“I have to ask. Are you together?” Linda asked. Conrad hesitated, but Forrest nodded.
“We are. We met earlier this year and have been seeing each other for a little while.” He squeezed Conrad’s hand. “Lizzie is moving to the other class after the break so there isn’t any sort of conflict.”
Linda shrugged. “I don’t think it matters, but Bethany is going to be sad about it.”