Dear Santa(30)

“Do you think you could squeeze me in?”

Feeling as if she was getting in over her head, she should make an excuse and tell him her day was already full. She didn’t, though. So much for her resolve! Instead, she nodded, knowing she wouldn’t deny him and at the same time herself.

“Give me thirty minutes and I’ll be back.” He slid off the seat and kissed her forehead.

“Okay.”

He left, and within a couple minutes a server brought a glass of red wine to her table. While waiting, she watched the bar crowd and noticed a large party was calling for their tab. After they left, the bar area quieted down, and Lindy was able to hear the Christmas music for the first time.

    As soon as the door closed on the group, Billy joined her. He looked dead on his feet, with little wonder. He was at the restaurant long before it opened and then late into the night. Those kinds of hours would drain anyone’s energy. She wished there were something she could do to ease his work schedule.

“I wanted to tell you all the compliments I’ve gotten on the website,” he said, as he relaxed in the seat, sitting beside her.

“That’s great.”

“A couple friends asked me who designed it. I won’t pass along your name unless you want me to.”

She shook her head. “I won’t be in town long enough. Sorry.”

Billy took hold of her hand and gazed down at it, as if something were written there that he needed to decipher. “You’re returning to Seattle?” He made it into a question.

“Of course. It’s where I live and work.”

He nodded, as if needing the reminder.

Not wanting the conversation to wander down this road, she changed the subject. “What’s your Christmas going to be like?” she asked, brightly, perhaps a bit too cheerfully.

    Billy took the hint. “I’ll spend it with my sister and her family. Your mom gave me the time to stop by in my Santa costume for Peter and that’s about it.”

“What about your mother?”

His eyes grew sad. “She died three years ago.”

“Oh, Billy, I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

He accepted her condolence. “She never remarried, worked all her life, and just when she was to a point where she could enjoy a bit of leisure time, she came down with this virus that went into her lungs. It was quick. Before we had a chance to realize how serious it was, she was gone.”

“Have you had contact with your dad over the years?” It was a personal question and one he might not want to answer. “I shouldn’t have asked that.”

Billy squeezed her fingers; Lindy doubted he was aware he had. It appeared to be a jerk reaction to her mentioning his father. “Dad remarried after he left us that Christmas and started a new family. It was like he wanted to start over. Mom, Dede, and I were part of a past he wiped from his memory. It was as if we no longer existed. Dede reached out to him a couple times, and he made sure she knew it wasn’t appreciated.”

Hearing this made Lindy want to cry. “What a snake,” she said, angry on Billy’s behalf.

“He’s gone as well. He died in a boating accident on the Columbia River. Another boat slammed into his and his boat sank. His body was recovered several days later. Mom heard about it on the news and told Dede and me.”

    Lindy had little sympathy for the man who had wreaked havoc in young Billy’s life.

“The thing is,” Billy said, still looking down at her hand, which was swallowed up in his much larger one, “he did us a favor by leaving. It didn’t seem that way at the time. It felt as if our entire world imploded. We moved in with my grandparents for a while and then later into a tiny apartment while Mom worked two jobs. Both Dede and I had to grow up fast. We learned the value of hard work and a deep appreciation for what we had. We lived in terror of him and his dark moods when he was home. The truth is, we were better off without him.”

Lindy agreed and was forever grateful for the love and strong relationship her parents shared. This same tenderness and concern were what she hoped to find in her own life partner.

Lindy noticed that the bar was as busy as it had been earlier. Billy needed to get back to work.

“I’m headed home. What time should I stop by tomorrow?” she asked.

“Anytime. I’ll be around all day.”

“You aren’t closing for Christmas Eve?”

He shook his head. “We’re booked solid the entire day.”

    She sensed he would have liked to close early, not only for himself but for his staff. Turning away business would be difficult, especially when he was still getting his feet under him financially.

“I’ll walk you to your car.”

“Billy, it’s okay. You’re busy.”

“Not too busy to see you safely to your car,” he insisted.

When they started outside, Lindy noticed a light snowfall. “I do so love it when it snows this close to Christmas,” she said, looking up at the sky and the flakes slowly drifting down to cover the landscape.

Billy opened her car door for her, and after she was safely tucked inside, he leaned down and kissed her. “Sleep well.”

“You, too,” she whispered.

Billy stood in the parking lot, snow gently swirling around him as she eased onto the street to drive back to her parents’ house.