Chapter 5
Calvin’s Park Grill was one of the nicer restaurants in Pine Falls.
Tall taper candles in brass holders with a small red velvet ribbon sat on every table.
Green ribbons were tied around each napkin with a sprig of pine tucked in and there was a faint shimmer of gold sparkles in the table linens.
Nick appreciated the Christmas spirit that infused this place, from the magnolia-leaf garlands with white berry clusters to the massive tree decorated in ivory, and champagne ornaments on the stage behind the jazz trio.
There was a bar area full of groups talking and laughing, filling the space with the sounds of festive delight.
Martha had recommended the location for his first real date.
Hannah Waters. Turned out she was a toy vendor for the Winter Wonderland festival as well.
Martha had been consulted before he left and now he was wearing a smart suit tailored to fit his frame, like Jack.
He’d brushed his hair back and trimmed his beard and looked every inch the eligible CEO bachelor.
Nick glanced at his watch and saw that the level of Christmas magic was holding steady in the low twenties. As a percentage, that wasn’t great, but at least it was Gold Lumen and not Black Lumen holding it steady. He took small comfort in that.
He smiled at the hostess as he gave her his name. “Do you want to wait for your guest in the bar, or I can seat you now?”
“I’ll wait,” he said, heading to the bar. Mingling with mortals was always fun this time of year. He went to the bar and ordered a Ranch Water.
“I heard she’s barely holding on to the job,” a man at the table closest to Nick said. “Next Gen is embroiled in a huge scandal. She’s scrambling for a new toy.”
“Really? She must be pissed. She’s so into bossing everyone around at Winter Wonderland, she must be freaking out,” the woman with him added.
“It’s what she deserves. She has to have all the kudos. If she’d even once shared the burden—or the credit—then maybe I’d have a smidge of sympathy, but not the Queen of Christmas. She’s a heartless tyrant.”
Pete’s influence no doubt, Nick thought.
These people were enjoying seeing her get her comeuppance.
The spread of Black Lumen was already taking effect in workplaces around Pine Falls.
Nick understood where these two were coming from; these people might also have fallen victim to her ax the way he had, but he couldn’t forget the flash of vulnerability he’d seen on her face last night.
Or the sad truths she’d revealed, perhaps unintentionally, about her childhood.
If he had to guess, he’d say that Cora had been let down in the past. Usually when a person relied only on themselves—like Jack did—it spoke to a complicated relationship with their childhood and the people that were supposed to care for them.
The hostess came over with Hannah following her.
Hannah wore a cream sweater over a long black velvet skirt. Her makeup was light and natural, and her hair was twisted into a bun. She looked stylish and elegant but also comfortable in her own skin. This could be it. What if she was the one, right out of the gate?
That would make everything much easier. She could be Mrs. Claus by Christmas, Nick would keep his role as Santa, and humanity would be saved from drowning in fear and shame as a result of Pete’s punishing methods.
He was perhaps getting ahead of himself, though. He hadn’t yet spoken a word to this woman and he was already planning their future together.
“Sorry I’m a few minutes late. The kids sometimes get a little anxious when I try to go out,” she said. “But it’s good for them to see me leave—or at least that what’s my therapist said.”
“All good,” he said to Hannah as they followed the hostess to their table. “How many children do you have?”
“Two. Sophie who’s seven and Max who’s four,” she said. “You don’t have any, right?”
“Nope,” he said. He hadn’t really given kids much thought. The length of his lifespan meant he still had ages before he had to think about having them.
Hannah glanced down at her menu. She seemed suddenly nervous.
“I like kids,” he said to reassure her, but didn’t know what to say after that.
She took a sip of her water. Her tension made him want to do something to overcompensate but he found himself suddenly tongue-tied.
She had an aura of goodness about her, which he liked.
She smelled like vanilla and wore two bracelets that looked like they had been made from dried pasta spray-painted gold.
It made him smile. He just knew that Christmas for her would center on her kids—their joy, their comfort, their experiences.
So far so good. Martha would be pleased with how this was going, he thought.
As he watched her scan the menu, he sensed echoes of sadness and loneliness beneath her kind face. She seemed overwhelmed and he wondered if this was her first Christmas without her husband.
Grief was the one emotion he never allowed himself to dwell on. When Ana died, he’d focused on work to help get him through. If he kept busy, he wouldn’t be able to think about the dark hole of loss and sorrow beckoning him into its depths—
Wow, it’s been a while since anyone spoke, he suddenly realized. Maybe I should say something?
“So … do you follow hockey?” he asked.
She looked up, startled but also a little relieved. “I don’t. Honestly? I haven’t been to a game since I was in high school.”
“Why high school?”
“We had a team and the guy I dated was on it.”
“You’re sort of hockey adjacent,” he offered.
She laughed—that was a good sign, wasn’t it? “Yeah. Maybe when Max is older he’ll play but for now I don’t have time.”
“What do you like to do with your time?” he asked her, feeling more and more confident. This was going well.
Hannah talked enthusiastically about her business and her streaming channel, and the activities she did with her children.
It was clear her kids and her business took up pretty much all her time, but it sounded like they were broadly a happy little family.
They ordered their meal and carried on chatting.
But then suddenly, when their starters were being delivered, Nick felt a chill shiver down his spine, as though Jack had sent an arctic blast toward him.
He turned abruptly to discover the source of the frosty nip and spotted Cora striding toward the bar wearing a very short gold sparkly skirt with her glorious legs on full display.
Her hair was up, leaving the long expanse of her neck visible and he couldn’t tear his gaze away from her.
A spark that had nothing to do with Christmas spirit ignited deep in his gut, making his cock jump and his blood feel hot and heavy as it thundered through his veins.
This was not supposed to be happening, not when he was on a date with a lovely woman who so far seemed like a very suitable candidate for becoming Mrs. Claus.
Cora was all about celebrating wins and she’d had a big one today.
The board had been blown away by Nick’s WonderHaus.
Of course they were enamored with her food and drink offerings as well, but she’d had a handle on that for the last few years.
She’d hoped her partnership with Next Gen Toys would net the same result but to be honest they’d come up lacking last year.
Even without the scandal, Cora had been on the lookout for a replacement.
She one hundred percent hadn’t expected it to be Mr. Cozy Flannel Toymaker but oh, well.
“It’s packed tonight,” Fliss said, coming up behind her.
Her assistant was a few years younger than Cora’s thirty-two.
She had white-blonde hair that she habitually wore in a single braid down her back.
Her ears were covered in silver earrings and cuffs, the largest one a pair of snowflakes that dangled from her lobes.
She had an easy smile, funky taste in clothes, and a can-do attitude that had made her essential to Cora’s success.
She also believed firmly in consequences—an outlook Cora found refreshingly practical during the chaos of December.
“Because they have the best cocktails in town,” she said, deciding to have a pomegranate martini. She scanned the bar for an empty table but could only find a tall table close to the bar that was still occupied but the drinks looked empty. “Maybe they’re leaving.”
Cora picked up her glass and headed toward the table before stopping dead and turning back to Fliss.
“What is it?” asked Fliss.
“Alta and Marsh.”
“Where?”
“At the table.” Alta and Marsh were vendors she’d had to fire at the end of the last season.
“They’ve spotted you. Do you want to leave?” Fliss asked.
Cora wouldn’t give them the satisfaction. They’d tried to sue Winter Wonderland for unlawful termination of employment but because Cora had gone through HR with each of their infractions, they’d had no legal leg to stand on. She fixed her biggest smile on her face and walked over to them.
“Hey, guys! Happy holidays. I thought you’d be heading to Florida for Thanksgiving, Alta,” Cora said brightly.
“I fly out in the morning. It’s cheaper to fly on the actual holiday,” Alta snapped. “Heard there was a bit of a scandal with Next Gen,” she added with undisguised glee.
“Yikes, yeah, nightmare for them. Luckily for us, we’d already decided to go with a different vendor this year,” Cora fibbed. One white lie wasn’t going to hurt anyone, and she was definitely going to stick with that version. “Mind if we join? It’s so busy in here.”
“We were just leaving,” Marsh said. “You can have our table.”
“Thanks so much. Great seeing you both,” Cora said.
Fliss waited until Alta and Marsh had grabbed their coats and left the table before taking one of the seats. “That went way better than I anticipated.”
“I think they both know I didn’t single them out in any way. Their performance was the issue,” Cora said. “It was a fair decision.”