A Christmas Arrangement (11 page)

The more I thought about it, the scarier the strange gift situation became.

“Okay.  I’m not saying we’re going to do anything,” K.C.’s ears perked up like a hound’s, “but if we
did
do anything—which I’m not saying we will—what did you have in mind, K.C.?”

“We’re just going to hide in the bushes and watch.  What time do you think they’re usually dropped off?”

I thought back to the times I’d visited the house during the day.  “Between three and five—I think?”

“Okay, we’ll just have to be at your house between two-thirty and six just to be safe.”

“When are we going to have time to do that?  We’re working late the next three days with the open house,” I said.

“Not tomorrow,” Daphne said.  “You’ve got the media thing at noon in Salt Lake tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah, but, we can’t leave you alone all afternoon.  It gets busier every day as we approach Christmas,” I replied.

“She won’t be alone,” Allie said. “I don’t leave until the day after tomorrow.  I’ll come in tomorrow morning.”

“No, Allie.  You’ve got to pack and get ready.”

Allie laughed.  “I’m the organized one, remember?  I’m all packed.  I would love to be here instead of home with Mom worrying over me all day.”  She looked at Daphne, “It’ll be fun.  Our last shift together until I come back.”

“It’s all settled, then,” K.C. said as she stood.  “After the media shindig tomorrow, we’ll meet at your place for a stakeout.  No.  Better yet, we’ll meet at my place and drive my car to your neighborhood.  That way no one will recognize the van.”

“Allie, Daphne, you’re sure?”

“Yep,” they said in unison, which they did all the time, which made them giggle, which they also did all the time.

“Okay, why not?” I said.

“Yippee!” K.C. shrieked out.  The woman was certifiable.

The more I thought about it on the drive home, the more I believed we might just find my boyfriend or someone he’d convinced to help him, putting a gift on my porch the next day.  We’d gotten carried away talking about stalkers.  All the notes that came with the gifts had been sweet and cute, not creepy or scary. 

I’d talked to Alex, subtly, of course, about not needing any Christmas gifts. 

He’d been worried he wouldn’t be around for any of the holiday season.  But his out of town assignment was postponed again and he’d been able to stay after all.  He was going to take the day off and help me at the shop for the open house.  Just having his company was the only gift I’d wanted for the holiday, and since I’d gotten that, I told him I didn’t want any other gifts.

But he, being Alex the Clever, had figured a way to give me presents by disguising them as something he wouldn’t usually give me. 
Well played sir
.  I was almost regretting the plan to catch him in the act the next day.  But it would be fun.  And it would be even more fun to show him my appreciation once his parents left town.

CHAPTER TEN

Thankfully Allie had brought the green elf suit with her to work.  Our mother had sewn faux fur around the cuffs, the hem and the collar, and down the front of the chest, where the two sides were fastened together with Velcro.  It was meant to be easy to put on and take off during the play.  Allie had also brought a headband with giant, pointy elf ears on each side.  I didn’t ask where she came up with those.

I was behind schedule due to a bride who came in that morning wanting to order her wedding flowers.  I was prepared to suggest she schedule an appointment for later until she told me her wedding was in a few days.  We planned a nice sized wedding in record time.  I had to order the flowers right away and cross my fingers that everything would be available.

The surprise wedding had set me back for time, but I was grateful for the unexpected business.  Since I was running late, I worried I wouldn’t be able to find a parking place at the news studio.  I decided to change into my costume there at the shop.  They would touch up my hair and makeup at the studio. 

I pulled on the green tights and the Jolly Green Giant’s “Ho-Ho-Ho’s” crossed my mind.  I slipped on the cuffs made especially to cover shoes and look like elf boots, complete with pointy curled toes.  The jacket fit perfectly, for once my slender teenage boy physique felt like a bonus. 

“You look so cute!” Daphne said as I left the bathroom. 

“Tell Mom thanks again, Allie.  She’s a pro at this kind of stuff.  I don’t remember Robin Hood having a scoop-neck collar though.”

“That was her alteration.  I was her dressing dummy last night.”

“I owe you both.”  I glanced at the clock on the wall.  “I’m so late, I’ve got to go.”  I grabbed my bag and the keys to Zombie Sue.

“Don’t forget the belt!”  Allie ran out to the back parking lot and met me with a black belt with a huge buckle.  “Have fun!”

Fun was not the word I would have used.

I started Zombie Sue and drove to Salt Lake.  About ten minutes into the trip I realized I’d left my clothes on the bathroom floor at the shop.  I would have to pick them up on the way to K.C.’s house.

The people at the news studio were very nice and exuded energy.  They rushed me into makeup and hair.  The woman with the powder puff tsked when I sat and told me it would take a lot more than powder.  So I didn’t wear heavy TV makeup every day.  Was that a crime?

The young, probably just out of college, producer skittered up to me.  “Santa’s coming too, right?” she said, her words shooting out like rapid fire.

“He should be here any minute,” I said.

A peal of sleigh bells rang from behind the saloon style doors leading to the makeup room.  Just as in an old western movie, a set of legs appeared beneath the swinging doors.  They were covered in red pants and ended with big black boots.  Above the swinging doors was a red Santa hat, complete with white fur, sitting atop an abundance of perfect silvery-white curls.

“Ho, ho, ho!” sounded through the slats of the door and I couldn’t contain my bewilderment as I recognized the voice.  It wasn’t Fred’s.  The doors swung open and Santa stepped into the room.  Santa, who wore his...hot pink…cat-eye framed…reading glasses on a chain around “his” neck.

“K.C.” I muttered in a murderous whisper.  She came toward me, shaking her sleigh bells.  I discreetly pointed to my chest then hers.  “Oh,” registered on her face and she took her glasses off and handed them to me.

“Oh good, Santa’s here,” the producer said.  “He doesn’t need much touch up, does he Gayle?” She asked the woman who’d wielded her painful colored pencil along the rims of my eyes. 

Gayle told Santa to close his eyes.  She puffed K.C. in the face once or twice with powder and said, “He’s good to go.”

Santa winked at me just before being led to the studio. 

“Here, Sweetie,” Gayle said as she shoved a box of tissues at my chest, “you’re gonna have to help me, we’re out of time.”

“Help you with what?” I asked.

She sighed in exasperation at the stupid elf before her, tugged my shirt front down and commanded, “Start stuffing.”

There were a couple of reasons the interview actually turned out okay.  First, K.C. had a very deep alto voice, and quite amazingly she could probably sing tenor for the MoTabs with no problem if she wanted to.  She didn’t do a whole lot of the talking either.  Lots of “ho-ho-hos” and sleigh bell ringing. 

Part two of what kept me from flinging myself off the causeway into the Great Salt Lake, was that I’d been rendered unrecognizable with the two extra pounds of makeup on my face and the contents of two boxes of tissues riding in my bra.  I managed to answer questions and pretend to have witty banter with the sickly sweet and zippy co-hosts of the show.  They seemed to feel as if everything was a success.  I just hoped my fellow committee members felt the same way when it aired the next day.

I didn’t bother asking K.C. why she’d shown up and not Fred.  I was pretty sure she’d never asked him.  And just as well, we had an entertaining Santa who knew all the details of the town event because she worked at my shop. 

We stood in the parking lot next to my van.  K.C. clapped her hands together.  She looked down at her hands strangely after the expected sound didn’t come out of her clap.  She’d forgotten she was wearing white gloves.  And good thing she’d worn those gloves.  She’d had her nails painted in red glitter with white snowflake appliqués.  A little out there for most traditional Santas.  “Are you ready?” she said.

“For what?”

“Our stakeout!  Don’t tell me you forgot!”

“I guess I did.  That interview was all I could think about today.”

“Well it’s time!  We’re going to be late as it is.  Drive over to my place and we’ll leave the van there.  You’ll hop into this car and we’ll head on over to your place.”   She’d driven Fred's car, an unassuming, practical, four-door car, which was the polar opposite of K.C.'s electric blue thunder convertible.

“I’ve got to stop at the shop first.  I forgot all my clothes.”

“There’s no time!  Besides, it’s like we’re in disguise.  Your Secret Santa won’t know it’s us.  We’re incognito.”

I blinked at her in disbelief.  “Right.  Because Santa and his whore-elf can be found walking around my neighborhood every day.”

“Oh…shush!  We’ve got to go.  Git!”  She waved me toward Zombie Sue then got in Fred’s car and we left.

K.C. still wore her Santa beard and hair as she us drove to my house.  She remained in character as she spoke to me too. 

“Remind me why I agreed to do this again?” I said.

“Were solving a crime,” Santa said.

“What crime?  There’s been no crime.”

“Ho, ho, ho, well it is a mystery.  Santa thinks somebody peed in a certain elf’s eggnog.”

“Somebody thinks Santa needs to return to the North Pole.”

“Sorry,” K.C. said, her Santa balloon deflated.

I sighed, disgusted with myself.  The pressure from the open house, the shop, and the worry over Alex’s parents, was getting to me.  I’d been feeling extra grouchy lately and taking it out on the people closest to me.  “No, K.C.  I should be the one to apologize.  I haven’t been very cheerful lately.  I guess it’s the stress.”

“Oh, kiddo.  You’ve got a lot of irons in the fire right now.  I understand.  What you need is a good old fashioned stake-out.  And you’re in luck, because here we are.”

She’d parked several houses down from mine.  “This place is perfect,” she said.  “We’ll leave the car here and then we can step into that group of pine trees across the street and peek through the bushes.”

I sighed internally.  This was such a bad idea.  “Why don’t we just go inside and wait?”

“We won’t be able to see them in action without them knowing we’re watching out the window.  And what if they come from the west side?  We wouldn’t be able to see them from your window then.”  She was right about that. 

“We could just stay here in the car,” I said.

“We’re completely exposed out here on the side of the street.  Besides, where’s your sense of adventure?  C’mon!”  She was out of the car and halfway to the neighbors pine grove before I could speak another logical word.  And who was I to try and insert logic or reason into the plan at this point?  I followed as she tiptoed over to the trees, as if there were any way to be stealthy in a bright red Santa suit with clompy boots.

“I bet your Secret Santa is that neighbor boy you’ve told me about,” she said.

“Who?”

“The one that came to dinner with your family.”

“You mean
Ned
?”  My flesh crawled and it wasn’t just due to the cold air making it through the fabric of my elf costume.  “Better not tell Elma if it is him.  They’re an item now.”

“Well good for them.  I still won’t put it past him until we prove that it’s not him.”

The sound of car wheels crunching against the asphalt came up behind us then passed.

“Maybe that’s him,” I said.  The car slowed at the stop sign on the corner, but turned left instead of right.  “Never mind.”  We stooped in silence for a few moments.  “K.C., I was thinking last night as I was driving home, and I’ve changed my mind.  I’m pretty sure it’s Alex leaving those gifts for me.”

“Poppycock.”

Poppycock
?  I mouthed to myself.

I explained to her how I thought Alex had ingeniously tricked me into receiving extra Christmas gifts.  Another car sounded in the distance.  I shivered, wishing I’d had time to grab my clothes or a coat.  “It’s freezing out here.  I might as well not be wearing anything as much warmth as this costume provides.”

“Shhh, someone’s coming,” K.C. said. 

“Where?  I can’t see.”

“Not sure.  I heard a car though.”

“Ladies,” said a male voice behind us.  We both shrieked and spun around.

“Why, Officer Fullerton,” K.C. said through her Santa beard, “what are you doing here?”

“I was about to ask you the same thing.”  He looked at K.C., not registering any kind of recognition.  Then he looked at me with a puzzled expression.  “Quincy?”

“Hey, Chad, what’s going on?” I felt the blush rising from my sternum all the way to my scalp.  It contrasted sharply with the goosebumps on my skin.  Chad Fullerton, the former high school football captain and crush of every female student in the county, now one of Hillside’s finest, had pulled K.C. over a few months back.  She and I had been driving away from what we thought might be someone shooting at us and we might not have been wearing anything but our underwear at the time.  And not my good underwear, I might add.

Still wearing the strange expression, he looked over at Santa.  “Are you…”

“Yep, it’s me.”  K.C. pulled down the beard and grinned at Chad.  “Still wearing red, but a little less revealing than the last time, eh?”  She laughed at her own joke, Chad turned a shade to match K.C.’s outfit.

“What are you two doing out here?”  He looked in my direction, but never met my gaze.

A car pulled up behind Chad’s police cruiser.  It was the Cooper’s rental car.

“What’s going on Chad?” I asked.

He looked pointedly at K.C. “We got a call that a suspicious Santa was creeping around with an elf.  There’s been some vandalism around here by a guy in a Santa suit, and a watchful citizen called us.”