I met Nicole with a smile. She met me with a slap to the face. My cheeks once again matched.
“That’s for putting my family in danger!”
Then she hugged me—I’d almost forgotten what it was like to be utterly confused by a woman. In other words, being in love.
“Thank you for what you did. We very much appreciate it,” she said.
“I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about,” I played dumb. It worked about as well as it did on Libby.
“Zee told me everything on the way home, including why you did it. Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”
“That Zee—can’t shut him up,” I replied with a smile.
“He asked me to tell you that he had business to take care of in Boston, and he’ll stop by tomorrow when he gets back.”
It was the same business he had every year on Christmas, so it was understood. “I’m just glad that you and the children made it home safely.”
“We made it home just in time to see that Santa had come.”
“Was he good to you this year?”
“Too good … I don’t think we can accept it.”
“Sounds like he just returned what was stolen from you. With a little extra bonus courtesy of Stone Scroggie. But he won’t be needing it where he’s going.”
“I guess I wouldn’t know where to return it, anyway—the North Pole? And it would crush the kids. They got everything they asked Santa for, and then some. Although, Santa sure made my mother and me look bad with our measly gifts.”
“Don’t feel bad—look what I have to compete with,” I said, pointing toward the backyard.
“Is that an actual castle?”
“They tell me it’s just a playhouse.”
“Wow—I think it’s bigger than my first apartment.”
We stood in awkward silence for a few minutes before she spoke again, “I said some terrible things to you. My mother taught me to never assume, and I guess she was right. So I apologize.” She looked at her watch. “I have to get back to Peter and Janie. I just needed to stop by and tell you that.”
Since we were on the subject of apologies. “I’m sorry I dragged you into this. It wasn’t my intention. And that your kids missed meeting Santa this year.”
“I’m not sure that they did,” she said and began to walk away.
She stopped and turned hesitantly, as if she might regret what she was about to say next. “If you’re not busy, I’d like to have you over for New Year’s Eve, to cook you dinner as a thank you for what you did. It would make me feel better about accepting it.”
“Like a date?”
Her face horrified. “So not like a date. My mother and kids will be there, and I was going to suggest you bring the twins. I think they’d get along good with Janie.”
The old ‘safety in numbers’ trick. “The twins will be watching the New Year’s festivities from a hotel room above Times Square. And I don’t know if I feel safe in your home with this Santa Burglar on the loose. What do you say we go out to dinner, no parents or kids?”
“Now that sounds like a date.”
“So not a date. And besides, the FBI is always following me, which means there’s zero chance we will ever be alone.”
“Will blindfolds be involved?”
“I thought you said it wasn’t a date?”
She smiled. “Only on the condition that I get to pay.”
“I hear that you came into some money recently, and I’m just a struggling paralegal, so I think it would only be fair.”
“And that you have me home before midnight. The kids and I have a tradition of watching the ball drop together.”
I glanced at my family and realized that getting them back was the best gift I could ever receive, not the other way around. “I would never think of standing in the way of a family tradition.”
She nodded. “Then it’s a non-date.”
“A non-date it is,” I said as I watched her walk off.
She came to a sudden stop and turned back to me. “I’m not sure this is a good idea. I’ve changed my mind. Sorry.”
I stood confused, as usual, and watched her leave.