Lola belonged to Holly.
He’d worked up a sweat, and it was time for a cold one.
He swept his gaze down the arcade. “Any chance of a beer?”
“Root beer.” Her reply was a downer.
They walked to Frosty’s. “Hank Conrad, the moose from the mall, owns the beverage stand. I’ll buy,” Holly told him. She left him holding Lola, Teddy, Mickey, and the rubber ducky. “You’d make a great poster boy for Animal Planet,” she threw over her shoulder.
Alex shifted, waiting impatiently for his soda.
“You won Lola!”
Alex watched as a mother and her three daughters approached. The little girls were bouncing excitedly, their eyes on his prizes.
The kids were stair steps, Alex noticed as they raced toward him. He figured them at four, five, and six. The mother could barely keep up.
“Girls’ night out,” the woman said as they stopped in front of him.
“Daddy’s taking a college class so he can get a better job,” the oldest of the girls blurted out. “He was studying, and since we couldn’t keep quiet, Mom brought us to the arcade.”
“We’re burning off energy,” the mother said.
Mom looked burned out herself.
Alex stood stiffly as the girls patted Lola, Teddy, Mickey, and eyeballed the rubber duck. Their clothes were clean, although slightly faded. All three needed a new pair of tennis shoes. The youn gest had knotted laces.
Where the hell was Holly? Alex looked toward Frosty’s, where he caught her chatting up Hank. The man threw back his head and laughed heartily over something she said. Holly didn’t strike Alex as being funny, so the moose had to be flirting with her.
“Do you have daughters?” the middle girl asked as she stared wide eyed at the stuffed animals.
“No wife, no kids,” Alex was quick to say.
“All those animals are for you?” the littlest asked.
He suddenly realized how silly he must look, standing on the boardwalk, clutching four prizes, believing himself a hero for winning Lola for Holly.
Alex hunkered down and looked the smallest in the eye. She was as exhausted as she was restless. It wouldn’t take long for her to fall asleep. A part of him wanted her to have sweet dreams.
“Which one do you like the best?” He gestured toward his winnings.
“Duck.” She chose, then clutched it so tightly it quacked. She giggled.
“Jenny loves bubble baths,” her mother explained. “She’d sit in the tub all day if I’d let her.”
“How about you?” he asked the middle girl.
The second in line looked at her older sister before making her decision. “Mickey for me, Lola for Sis.”
The eldest was so excited, she hugged herself, spun in a circle, then did a happy dance.
The mother’s smile came slowly, sincerely, and on a sigh. “I don’t know what to say,” she managed.
Alex looked at the girls. “I want you to go to your bedrooms when you get home and play with your prizes. Give your dad some space.”
They all promised to be good.
“Thank you, Mister…” The mother hesitated, not knowing his name.
“Alex Boxer.” He handed Mom the teddy bear.
Her eyes narrowed as she recognized his name. “I’m glad you were caught speeding.” Her words were honest. “My girls won’t forget your kindness. May Santa be as good to you as you were to them. Merry Christmas.”
“Back at you.” Alex refused to go too deep into the holiday spirit.
The girls each gave him a hug, then, clutching their prizes close, walked with their mother toward the arcade exit. The sound of the quacking duck echoed from the parking lot.
Alex turned and nearly bumped into Holly. Her expression was soft, disbelieving, as she passed him a root beer. “I left you with four animals and return to only you.”
“I’m the best of them all.”
“I imagine you could be cuddly.”
“Try me.”
“Drink your soda.”
They stood amid the blinking lights and arcade noises, sipping root beer and watching people pass by. The crowd had thinned, and there were no riders on the carousel when Holly produced their tickets.
Alex looked at the ride curiously. He’d never ridden a merry-go-round. His parents had always been too busy to take him to a fair or carnival. His old man banked big money in real estate, and his mother involved herself in every charity imaginable. Alex grew up with nannies, butlers, and little parental supervision.
He now took in the carousel’s pressed metal ceiling strung with blinking Christmas lights, the mirrored middle cylinder, the multicolored horses with their jeweled bridles and shiny black saddles. Sets of leather-bound booths were dispersed throughout for those who preferred to sit instead of ride.
“This horse looks fast,” Alex said as he swung atop a black steed with a purple jeweled bridle.
“Mine’s quicker out the gate,” Holly challenged, now astride a tan horse with a ruby-encrusted harness.
“Jingle Bell Rock” set the merry-go-round in motion. The horses rose up and down, and Holly’s mount always seemed a nose ahead of Alex’s.
“Having fun?” she asked.
He nodded, surprised at how much he was enjoying the simple circular motion of the carousel. It was soothing. The Christmas lights winked at him. He noticed the brass ring on the second go round.
“If I catch it?” he asked Holly.
“You make a wish.”
Alex stretched, snagged the ring with his next pass. He suddenly felt lucky.
The carousel slowed, and they both dismounted.
Alex caught Holly between the horses. He touched the ring to her cheek, then suggestively brushed his thumb over her mouth.
“My wish is to kiss you,” he said.
“Wish for something that could come true.”
He wanted her and claimed his kiss.
She went wide eyed and pucker faced.
He did everything in his power to loosen her up. He nipped at her mouth, coaxed with his tongue, took his sweet time with her. The kiss went nowhere.
She had the passion of a metal pole.
Awkwardness set him back.
He felt like an absolute idiot.
Holly McIntyre just wasn’t into him.
Chapter Three
Same Santa, different day.
A request from the mall manager to keep business booming drew an additional morning shift for Old Saint Nick. Alex had protested he’d wanted to sleep, and it had taken Holly’s promise of coffee and a box of chocolate-covered doughnuts to rally him.