Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Crystal
I’d handed Yule his breakfast and accepted his goodbye kiss while trying not to scoff at his declaration that he would try to be home on time.
I really did understand deep down that my feelings were one hundred percent selfish, but my head and my heart were apparently not on speaking terms because the half-cocked plan I’d come up with as I made breakfast this morning was starting to look better and better.
Nine times out of ten when he came home super late it was that gosh-dang-merry-fruitcaking naughty list that was causing the problems. And any time he seemed stressed, again, it was that list. If only I could figure out a way to make it not so finicky, maybe he wouldn’t have to spend so much time with it and he could spend more time at home… with me.
“Selfish,” I muttered again underneath my breath.
But maybe it wasn’t. Santa was just as upset about the late nights and interruptions as I was, I could see it on his face and in his tired eyes.
He needed a break from it for his mental health, just as much as I did.
That was probably why it was a North Pole tradition that everyone took the entire month of January off.
That was a nice promise, but I honestly wasn’t sure he was going to make it that long.
I knew I wasn’t. Not if something didn’t change and pronto.
“Good morning Mrs. Claus!” My young bright eyed helper elf, Trixie, came in the door. “What’s on our agenda for today?”
Eyeing the breakfast mess I’d made, and the abandoned pancakes, I nibbled the side of my lip. It was still uncomfortable having her clean up after us, but in that moment, I didn’t care.
An idea had taken root in my brain, and try as I might, I couldn’t get rid of it.
“Good morning. Trixie. I actually have to run an errand that Santa specifically asked me to take care of on my own,” I lied.
“So, if you wouldn’t mind taking care of the breakfast cleanup and would you please put a pot roast on to cook for dinner, as well.
Make sure there are a lot of potatoes, they’re—”
“Santa’s favorite, yep, I know.” She finished my sentence cheerfully, basically bouncing with excitement that I had given her something to do without her having to pull it out of me.
“The red potatoes especially. All of the Claus men are partial to the color red,” she unnecessarily reminded me as she jumped straight into cleaning up the kitchen.
I knew she didn’t mean it but her words paired with my plan made me clench my bottom.
I had a feeling no matter what I did regarding the list, my ass was indeed going to be turned red for it.
It should have made me rethink things, but like I’d said before, my head and my heart were not on speaking terms at that moment.
“Yeah, they do. Uh, could you maybe whip us up some gingerbread cookies?” I cringed at my own wording but luckily her back was to me.
Maybe some of my Daddy’s favorite foods would soften the blow. It wasn’t likely, but I was going to hold on to hope anyway.
“Can do. Don’t you worry. I’ll take care of everything. You do what you need to do. Santa needs you”
Her cheerful words of encouragement cemented my naughty plans. Santa did need me. He just didn’t know it yet.
“Thanks. I appreciate it.” I hurried out of the kitchen to get ready to go out.
I needed to leave the house before I talked myself out of whatever it was I was going to do.
Hopefully Santa was tied up at the workshops for a while.
Even though I could use my magic to disguise myself, it would make it easier to get in and out of headquarters if he wasn’t there.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want me around.
He’d brought me up there multiple times, but this was different.
I wasn’t just visiting him. I was… meddling.
I knew my plan was going to go over about as well as a snowball in the desert.
After a quick goodbye to Trixie and assurances that I was indeed dressed warm enough, I headed out to the barn.
Lumi, my white reindeer, greeted me with an excited grunt and scuffed her paws in the snow, ready to run.
She loved when I hooked her up to the sleigh and we went on adventures together.
No matter how far we ventured, she always knew the way home so I never had to worry.
I felt guilty for not taking her out as much lately.
I’d been too busy focused on self-pity to worry about anything else.
“Sorry girl, I have to take one of the snowmobiles this time. Tomorrow you and me can go on a nice long ride.” If I can find a soft enough cushion to make the ride more comfortable, I thought to myself.
I knew from experience that bouncing around on the hard seat of a sleigh after a spanking was less than pleasant, but I needed to give my girl some attention. It wasn’t fair to her.
After loving on her for a minute, I focused with all my might on conjuring a mental image of Trixie.
I needed to appear to be her in order for this to work.
My magic was not strong and it took a lot of focus and energy to take on the appearance of someone else.
The transformation was weak and I would have to avoid any mirrors or reflective surfaces or my cover would be blown.
I also wasn’t sure how much energy this all was going to take or how long I could hold onto the ruse. I needed to hurry.
Jumping onto the snowmobile, I sped off toward the main offices of the North Pole.
Thankfully they weren’t far from our house, because regardless of how much I’d assured Trixie I was dressed warm enough for the late December chill, I was not.
Snow splashed up and hit my half-exposed neck like little ice needles.
It hurt and I could feel my scarf edges getting wet. The ride home was going to be brutal.
The pain and cold made it hard to focus on keeping my disguise in place, but thankfully just as I felt it about to slip, I pulled into the parking area of the office and hurried inside.
A wall of warmth hit me as soon as the door opened to grant me access.
It was glorious and I was able to put my focus back where it needed to be.
I’d been in the offices more than once and I knew the grounds pretty well so I put my head down and headed toward the list room. It was down a hall, away from most of the hustle and bustle, which made what I needed to do a little easier.
Clearing my throat, I knocked on the door and did something I’d never done before. I pretended to be my husband.
“Dash, I need to see you, but I’m on my way out. Meet me in the lobby, as soon as you can, please.”
I was a little taken aback by how much I sounded like him. I almost looked around to find him myself. I backed away from the door so as not to appear too obvious. Dash came out the door and looked around, confused.
“Was Santa out here?” he asked, his thick brows furrowing.
“Yeah, I passed him on his way and he, uh, asked me to look after the list while you met up with him,” I lied. I was doing that a lot this morning.
“He asked his house elf to look after the list?” Dash cocked his head to the side.
I held my breath under his scrutiny. The magic had to hold. It had to. I had no plan for being able to explain why I was pretending to be Trixie and sneaking around the offices.
Shrugging like it was no big deal, I answered and hoped he bought it. “I don’t know but he seemed to be in a hurry.”
I needed Dash to go so I could be alone. I needed to figure out how to make the list stop taking up so much of my Daddy’s time. There had to be a way.
Dash swung his head back and forth from the list to me multiple times before sighing deeply and throwing his hands in the air.
He grumbled under his breath. His words weren’t exactly clear, but I swore I heard something about “green Santas” and “elf training.” It didn’t really matter. I had a job to do.
Closing the door behind me, I locked it before I let my appearance slip back to normal to give all of my focus to the mission.
The list was on a bunch of computer-like screens on the wall.
Names upon names scrolled on each screen.
An endless stream of people. It was hard to imagine all of those different lives and how moments of those lives could land them on one list or the other. It felt almost wrong.
However, I knew from firsthand experience that it wasn’t just a moment that could land someone on the naughty list and that reminder helped settle the indignation that had begun to brew.
Plus, if it weren’t for the list I wouldn’t even be Mrs. Claus so I couldn’t hate it that much.
Reminding myself I had a mission and needed to complete it fast, I went to Dash’s desk, which served as a control center of sorts, and sat in his chair.
Carefully, I clicked around trying to figure out how it all worked and how I could make it work better.
I mean, people were constantly moving from one list to the other so the big question was, why did it need to be monitored so closely?
Why couldn’t it be seen to like once a month, maybe once a week when it was closer to the big day?
Minute by minute seemed way too excessive.
I heard the doorknob jiggle and instantly closed my eyes to focus on Trixie again. The last thing I needed was for my cover to be blown.
Dash knocked, and called, “Trixie, it’s Dash. I didn’t bring a key.”
“I’ll be right there!”
No, no no. I need to do something, anything, to get my husband’s attention.
I clicked a few more things on the computer but could not figure out what to do. I heard voices outside and panicked.
Daddy and I met because I was on the naughty list. Maybe…..
Before I knew what was happening I was using my magic to put myself on the naughty list once again.
It wasn’t what I’d planned, hadn’t even crossed my mind until that moment, but what else could I do?
I jumped out of Dash’s seat and went into the small connected bathroom just as the door opened and Dash and one of the security elves came inside.
“What? Where is she?”
“I’m here! Sorry! Nature called so I locked the door before I used your bathroom,” I called out as I strolled out of the bathroom, trying my best to keep my cover while seeming like I’d just relieved myself.
Dash eyed me skeptically. He was one of the oldest elves on staff and it felt like I was about to be found out. I needed to get out of there.
“Well, I should get back to the house,” I hummed. “Mrs. Claus will wonder what is taking me so long. Lots of messes to clean up and cookies to bake and presents to wrap.”
I squeezed past the two elves and hurried down the hall.
I was almost home free when I heard Santa’s voice coming in my direction.
Double freaking fudgesticks. There was nowhere to go except back from the direction I came and that was the opposite way I needed to go.
My disguise was good enough to trick Dash, but would it be good enough to get past my own Santa Daddy?
Keeping my head down, I continued on my escape route.
My heart pounded in my chest as I made it past Yule who was thankfully too busy talking to Bernadette to notice my presence.
Where as the warmth had welcomed me into the building, the cold air as I exited was like a slap to the face, but I’d already been there way too long and I really had no idea what was going to happen with the list or how long it would take it to happen.
Maybe the list would self-correct and all of my hard work would be for naught.
That may not be the worst thing, a little voice in the back of my head told me. And yeah, maybe it wouldn’t be. Getting off the naughty list the first time was… uncomfortable. What would it be like the second time around?
I wasn’t going to go back inside and fix it so there was nothing I could do but wait.
My solution was bound to fix one of my problems and get me the attention I so desperately craved, but it wouldn’t get my Santa Daddy any long-term solution or break.
Oh well. I sighed. I’d done my best.