Santa School
A Special Series in Heartwarming Christmas Town
Welcome back to Christmas Town!
Can this Scrooge learn to put on a good Christmas?
Dominick Decker’s wife's last wish was that he and their daughter Jessie move to her hometown - Christmas Town, Maine. As a second generation repairman he doesn't understand why Christmas is so important to everyone in Christmas Town. You put up a tree, buy some gift cards and order a pre-made turkey dinner from the grocery store, which leaves plenty of time for service calls in between. What more does he need to do?
A lot if he's to give his daughter the Christmas she deserves. Enter Ruby Caldwell, owner of Santa School and trainer of "professional" Santas. Now that she's been laid off from her day job, she needs to take Santa School from a part-time seasonal hobby to a full-time year-round operation. That requires a positive mindset, along with a healthy dose of creativity.
Step one: Santa School for Busy Elves to train single dads like Dominick to put on a great Christmas by themselves. All she needs are a few willing dads and a don't-quit smile. With a challenge like Dominick, let's hope Ruby's smile holds out this holiday season.
Excerpt:
Ruby swung by the Holiday Cheer office on Joyful Street to pick up more flyers for Elf School.
She opened the door and was a good six feet inside before she realized there was a man about six feet tall in the room. He was standing in front of the dais that held Santa’s throne and was wearing a red coat, but he wasn’t Santa.
Ruby screamed, grabbed the metal stapler from the front desk and took aim, heart pounding in her chest.
The intruder straightened and let his yellow metal tape measure slide back into its box. He grimaced. “Wow, you’re loud.”
Not exactly the reaction she’d expected from a man who was breaking and entering.
Ruby stopped screaming and danced on the balls of her feet like a wrestler preparing to engage, cocking her throwing arm. “What are you doing here? How did you get in? If you took anything, I – ”
“You’ve got the wrong idea.” The trespasser held his hands up next to his very handsome face in a gesture of surrender.
Truly, burglars shouldn’t have refined features like his. Or good hair. His was a crisply cut brown that was a shade lighter than his eyes. He had on scuffed, brown work boots, the kind that looked slightly over-sized because they had reinforced steel toes, and dark blue work pants with a light blue work shirt.
“You’re trespassing, bub. And my idea is to call the cops.” With her free hand, Ruby dug into her jacket pocket for her cell phone, never taking her eyes off him.
Like that was a hardship.
The man was knock-me-out-handsome with his five-o’clock-shadow and the kind of face you just knew could toss a sexy smile at a woman before his first cup of coffee.
“Your landlord gave me the key.” The attractive burglar reached into his pants pocket for a small key ring. “I didn’t break in. I’m here to service your heater.”
Ruby’s heart stopped feeling as if it was chipping its way out of her chest. It had been nippy in her offices last week as she’d helped her team of Santas with their last minute preparations for Thanksgiving weekend.
Ruby lowered the stapler and then a thought better of it, raising it again. “Why were you measuring?”
His gaze slid over his shoulder toward the raised stage and Santa’s throne.
“Tell me the truth. I’ll know if you’re lying.” Ruby scowled. She sounded like she had magical powers of perception. She didn’t.
The intruder sighed and confessed. “The Tarlingtons offered me a lease on this space for the new year.”
“But…” The stapler slipped through Ruby’s fingers and clattered to the worn green linoleum. “This is my space.” My livelihood. My life.
“Your rented space,” he said not unkindly. “And your lease is running out at the end of the year.”
It was. It’d been on Ruby’s to-do list to request a new lease from her landlords, but she’d put it off, fearing an increase was in her future.
“You’re not a burglar,” Ruby said dejectedly, because what he was…was so much worse.
The man shook his head, approaching her cautiously. “I’m Dom Decker.”
Ruby recognized the name. He’d moved to Christmas Town last summer with his daughter and had purchased Jack Frost Heating & Air. He was the son-in-law of her landlords. Or he had been when their daughter Mia was alive. In fact, they’d met before. Ruby had given the man her condolences at Mia’s funeral while he’d held the hand of a little girl with Mia’s sunny blond hair.
“Jack Frost Heating & Air is over on Garland Lane,” Ruby said. By North Pole Lumber. “Why do you need an office here?” On the opposite end of town.
Dom’s expression grew wary. “I have another business.”
And from his tone, she gathered it was none of her business what his business was.
For the second time that day, Ruby felt small and insignificant.
“It’s a legitimate business.” Dom nodded toward Santa’s throne, a judgmental smile on his perfectly formed lips. “I hear you train Santas here.”
Anger surged. “Don’t tell me you’re one of those. You shouldn’t have moved here if you don’t wholeheartedly believe in – and love – Christmas.”
He smirked. “Christmas is commercialized. It’s just another day of work for me.”
Let it go, Ruby dear. Be like the pine and bend to the storm.
Her grandmother’s words might have worked yesterday. But today… Today, Ruby’s world was falling apart. She was inches short of being the pine tree the storm blew over last week in Reindeer Meadow. She had to dig in and hang on.
Ruby picked up the stapler and slammed it on the desk top. “Tell me, bub, what special holiday traditions are you passing on to your daughter?”
His gaze hardened, brown eyes darkening to the shade of cool, polished walnut.
“Let me translate your silence.” She waved her hand in the air between them as if she was painting a big squiggle down his chest. “You have no traditions to pass on and no way to make the holiday special since you’ll be working that day, charging extra to unlucky families without heat and laughing all the way to the bank.”
Dom crossed his arms over his chest and lowered his chin, not backing off. “And how would training to be a department store Santa solve my holiday problems?”
“It wouldn’t.” This man shouldn’t be living in Christmas Town, much less donning a red suit. “But attending my Elf School – ” For the holiday challenged. “ – will.”
“Elf School.” He smirked again.
“I tell you what.” Ruby snatched a flyer from her desk. “If you attend Elf School over the next few weeks and you don’t learn to love the holiday, I’ll vacate the premises without a fight.” She shoved the paper into his chest, tamping down the panicked voice in her head that was advising against this course of action. “But if you do get bit by the holiday spirit, this space is mine.”
If she could only do one thing this holiday season, let it be to force-feed this man some holiday cheer.
He took the sheet of bright green paper and scanned it. “Elf School? What man in his right mind would come to something called Elf School?”
The Story Behind the Story
Since we usually write full-length romances, we wanted a chance to do so within Christmas Town. For my book, I wanted to explore the fun of guys learning how to put together a good Christmas. I had a lot of fun creating lessons. I wish I could send Mr. Curtis to Santa School. LOL!
Amazon (now in Kindle Unlimited)
Barnes & Noble (print only)
Learn about the Christmas Town series HERE.
