Hot Winter Nights (Heartbreaker Bay #6)(31)

“I thought older people got tired early,” Molly said to Shirley at one point.

Shirley laughed. “Not when bingo’s on the table.”

By the end of the night, Molly still hadn’t seen Santa or his damn brother, and her feet were killing her.

Shirley sent her a sympathetic glance as the crowd finally began to thin out. “The trick is orthopedic shoes.” She lifted a foot to show off her black thick-soled shoe, which was possibly the ugliest footwear Molly had ever seen. It actually hurt her to look at it.

“Wear these babies,” she said, “and you’ll have no problems.”

Molly nodded. She didn’t have many vices, but shoes were one of them. It was a well-known fact that she spent way too much of her paycheck buying shoes that wouldn’t hurt her back, leg or feet and still looked amazing, and she wasn’t about to stop doing that. Not even for her case.

Lorraine came close, eating a big cookie, and Molly’s mouth watered.

“Thought you were on a diet,” Shirley said to Lorraine.

The elf shoved in the last of her cookie. “If you eat fast enough, your Fitbit thinks you’re running.”

Shirley rolled her eyes, but Molly thought Lorraine might be onto something.

“We were so busy tonight we didn’t even get to chat. New Girl,” Lorraine said to Molly, “you did good. When that old geezer asked if you give out happy endings and patted your ass, I started over there to hit him over the head with my tray for you, but you handled yourself like a pro.”

Molly smiled. She’d leaned into the guy and asked him if he liked his hand. He’d said he liked it very much. And then she’d suggested in that same polite, conversational tone that if he wanted to keep his hand, he might want to remove it from her hind-end or the six foot plus guy heading toward them with narrowed eyes was going to remove it for him—if she didn’t remove it first.

“Oh jeez.” The old man had gulped hard, apologized, and tipped her twenty bucks. “Tell your man that I’m farsighted and was trying to grab a drink and not your posterior,” he whispered frantically. “Yeah?”

“If you promise not to touch another elf without permission. Or anyone, for that matter, anyone.”

He nodded like a bobblehead and she’d moved on, giving Lucas a long, I’ve-got-this look. He’d vanished after that, but she’d bet that he’d remained close by, watching her back.

A man dressed in Santa gear minus the hat, wig, and beard strode up the center of the room. He was fiftyish and wearing a grim expression as he grabbed the very large lockbox of cash and tipped it over, dumping it straight into a duffle bag. “How did it go?” he asked Shirley.

“Fantastic. The new girl raked it in for us.”

Santa’s eyes swept over Molly and narrowed. “Who are you?”

“The new girl,” Molly said. “Santa, I presume?”

“Did Louise vet you?”

“Yep,” she said with a smile.

It wasn’t returned. Without a “nice to meet you” or so much as a “thank you,” he hoisted the duffle bag over one shoulder and strode back out of the room without talking to anyone else.

“That is one seriously unmerry Santa,” Molly said.

Janet shrugged. “He has his moments.”

“And he’s the big boss?” Molly asked, fishing.

“Him and his brother,” Shirley said. “Though luckily we don’t see much of that one. He comes by to pick up Santa late at night after most of us are gone—which is just as well since he’s a mean son of a bitch.”

“And Santa’s not?”

Janet shrugged again. “Not as bad as his brother. His brother makes the Grinch look like a sweetheart.”

“To be fair,” Shirley said, “the Grinch never really hated Christmas. He hated people, which is fair.”

“That was a lot of cash,” Molly said. “That huge cash box was jam-packed.”

Shirley shoved open a window and stuck her head out to light a cigarette. She inhaled deeply with a look of pure pleasure on her face. When she exhaled, she pulled her head back in and nodded at Molly. “Mostly. We were busy tonight because the seniors all got their social security checks yesterday. They cash ’em out and we’re their first stop.”

The elves dispersed after that and Molly stepped outside into the dark night to find Lucas leaning against the building, waiting for her.

His gaze slid over her body and went a long way toward warming her up, but what went even further was when he pulled off his windbreaker and wrapped her up in it.

“Thanks,” she said, hugging it to herself, soaking in the body heat he’d left for her. Lucas pulled her around the back of the bingo hall and there in the shadows, as everyone else filtered out of the village for the night, she told him everything she’d learned from the ladies.

Lucas nodded. “It’s true that Santa’s brother comes by at the end of the evening to pick up the dough. I want to stick around and try to get eyes on him. How are you doing, you okay? You’ve been on your feet—”

“I’m good. How did you find out he’d be here tonight?”

He gave a small smile. “The elf who hired you. Louise. Brought her a laced hot chocolate and she got very talkative.”