“Sweet,” Kristen repeated. “Spoken by someone who doesn’t have young ones yet. They are on extra good behavior tonight because of S-A-N-T-A.” She lowered her voice and whispered, “I have a few small presents in my room that I’m gonna bring out when they’re in bed. A couple of Barbie dolls and some puzzles. The church we go to had an adopt-a-family program this year. The girls wrote down what they wanted for Christmas on a paper tree.”
Amanda pressed a lid down on the butter container and opened the refrigerator. “It’s been a tough year, huh?” The sparse shelves gave her the answer.
“Yeah, their dad skipped out before Christmas last year. No good bum. I didn’t have any money to buy the girls gifts and was too embarrassed to ask for help.” She shook her. “Not this year. I saw your dad’s advertisement in the Pennysaver, and knew I was gonna get me and the girls at least a tree this year.”
“Well, it’s gorgeous. My dad saves the best trees for this day.” Her eyes rested on Tate’s white snowflake still hanging from its branch on the very bottom. “I’m just sorry that Tate couldn’t be here. He had an accident earlier.”
“Accident? Oh, no. Is he okay?”
“Oh, he’ll be fine. It’s just a bad ankle sprain. He’s at my parents’ house resting it. The doctor gave him some pretty powerful painkillers that knocked him out.” She reached over and picked up a dish towel. “Here, let me help you dry those. Four hands are always quicker than two.”
In no time, all the dishes were clean and put away. Kristen moved to the living room, picking up around Chloe and Danielle who were still planted on the floor watching TV.
Amanda wrung out the sponge she’d used to wipe the counter and washed her hands. It was really nice to spend time with Kristen and the girls. She’d forgotten just how special the residents in this town were. Checking her watch, she saw that it was almost seven thirty. A wave of guilt ran through her. She wished she hadn’t deliberately told Brenda to not wake Tate up until seven. She hoped he wouldn’t be too mad at her.
Bright headlights flashed through the kitchen window, ricocheting off her sweater. “Hey, Kristen,” she called out. “Looks like you may have some more company.”
“Good heavens, we’re quite popular today. I wonder who it is.” Kristen walked to the door and she stepped onto the porch. “Watch your step, you two. I’ve got furniture pieces strewn everywhere. My New Year’s resolution is to get rid of everything out there.”
Amanda heard a familiar male voice exchanging Christmas greetings.
“Brad, Melanie.” Amanda came up behind Kristen. “What are you two doing here?”
Melanie waddled in behind him. “We’re sorry we’re late. Where’s Tate?”
“He’s home.” Amanda was thoroughly confused. “Wait, you knew he was planning on having dinner here?” Of course she did. Apparently being Tate Ryan’s first kiss gave you all kinds of special privileged information.
Kristen shut the door and put her hands on her hips. “Okay, can someone tell me what’s going on?”
Melanie lowered her voice. “Your girls have a very special surprise coming. We thought he’d be here by now. We ran into some traffic in the center of town.”
“What are you up to?” Kristen grabbed a cigarette from the counter. She reached for her lighter but then appeared to change her mind. She studied Brad. “Well, at least if the town cop is involved, I know it’s nothing illegal.” She cocked an eyebrow. “It’s nothing illegal, is it?”
“No. It’s not.” Brad chuckled.
“Then what is it?” Kristen asked.
“You don’t know?” Melanie looked at Kristen and then Amanda. “Either of you?”
“No—why don’t you tell us?” Amanda scoffed. Why had Tate confided in Melanie and not her?
Melanie continued to speak in a low voice so Chloe and Danielle couldn’t hear her. “A mysterious Santa gave me some money earlier today and specific instructions to purchase toys for the girls. Brad’s squad car is filled with games, stuffed animals, and books. Santa asked us to meet him at seven, but he just texted me that he was running late.” She unzipped her jacket and laughed. “Sleigh problems.”
Amanda’s heart melted as she realized what Melanie was really telling them. This was exactly where Tate planned to be tonight. He was going to have dinner with the girls and then surprise them with new toys. “This Santa wouldn’t happen to be six feet tall with dark brown hair and blue eyes, would he?”
“Maybe,” Melanie said coyly.
“Who is it?” Kristen asked.
Amanda glanced over at the girls. It was all starting to make sense. “It’s Tate.”
“Really? He bought gifts for my girls? Well, why on earth would he do that? He just met us this morning.”
Amanda couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Tate mentioned that he had to be somewhere at six. I didn’t know he was talking about Kristen’s.” She looked away, completely embarrassed. Here she had spent the last twenty-four hours licking her old wounds and being irrationally jealous of a stupid teenage kiss, when Brad and Melanie were working with Tate to bring some Christmas magic to a family that really deserved it. She felt like a heel.
“Kristen, can you distract your girls for a couple of minutes while I help Brad bring in the toys?” Amanda asked. “We’ll leave them on the porch until Tate gets here.”
“You bet! I can’t believe this. What a sweet, sweet boyfriend you have there, Amanda. Where did you find a man like Tate?” Kristen walked into the living room and spun around. “And does he have a twin?”
Clapping her hands together twice, Kristen motioned for the girls to follow her. “Okay, you two, let’s go get into your pajamas and then you can pick out one bedtime story to read. Maybe Miss Melanie can help us select a book.”
Amanda grabbed her jacket and followed Brad out to his squad car. Sure enough, it was filled to the brim with holiday shopping bags. She could hardly see the back seat. “Wow. This is amazing. You and Melanie bought all these toys?”
Brad opened the trunk. “Along with these.” It was also filled with toys. “Tate paid for most of this. We chipped in what we could.”
Amanda peered in. The shopping bags were overflowing with beautifully wrapped presents and stuffed animals decorated in red bows. “You did all this shopping this afternoon?”
“Yep. Tate had the hospital call the toy store and asked them to put certain toys aside for when Mel and I got there to save us some time.”
Amanda could see a fluffy white beard and a red hat sticking out of one of the bags. “Oh, God. I’m so stupid. That’s why he was thanking Nurse Erin this afternoon.” It was all making sense.
“Yeah, Erin even let us borrow a Santa suit they use at the hospital for Tate to wear tonight.” He pointed to a shopping bag inside the back seat. “Mel and I picked it up on our way here. That’s why we were running late.”
“Wow, you’ve all been busy.” She kicked the snow around with her boot. “I wish I could have helped.”
Brad shut the trunk. “Mandy, can we talk for a minute?”
She jammed her hands in her jacket pockets. “Sure.”
“I’m really sorry. I was such a jerk to you two years ago. You didn’t deserve what I did to you. You and your family have shown me nothing but kindness.”
Amanda could tell his words were as uncomfortable for him to say as they were for her to hear. “It was a long time ago.” She reached for his hand. “You’re family now.”
“I don’t blame you if you hate me.”
She took a deep breath. The cold air filled her lungs. “I don’t hate you. Yeah, you broke my heart, but I could never hate you.” She reached for his hand. “You were my first real relationship.”