Moonlight Over Manhattan(103)

Harriet managed a laugh but she had no idea how. Her whole body felt heavy. She was pretending she was coping well but the truth was she felt awful. Lethargic. Sad. And it hadn’t even been forty-eight hours yet. “Tell me about you. Have you been in much pain?”

“No.” The shadows under Susan’s eyes told a different story. “They think I should be back at work mid-January. I’m starting physical therapy next week.”

Glenys arrived with Harvey, having taken a cab the few blocks from her apartment. She and Susan immediately bonded and Harvey made himself at home in Harriet’s apartment.

They swapped gifts, and Harriet served lunch and tried not to think about Ethan and what he was doing. Glenys and Susan were good company and Harriet was relieved that they were there.

“One more game of Scrabble,” she announced, a few hours later. “Festive Scrabble this time. Only words relating to the holidays are allowed. And it’s only fair to warn you about my competitive streak and my killer instinct.”

“Killer instinct? You?” Glenys glanced at Susan, who shook her head quickly.

“You go, girl.”

They were almost at the end of the game when there was a knock on the door.

“ALCOHOL is not a Christmas word.” Glenys waggled her finger. “It doesn’t count.”

“Try working in the ER on Christmas Day. Alcohol is definitely a Christmas word. It’s your turn, Harriet,” Susan said. “I’ll get the door.” She walked to the door and pulled it open while Harriet made a word out of her own letters.

“FESTIVE.” She put the letters down carefully. “And on a triple word score. Take that! You’ll never catch me now. You might as well surrender.”

Realizing that Susan wasn’t responding in her usual way—in fact she wasn’t responding at all—Harriet glanced across to the door. “Who is it?”

“It’s Santa,” Susan said faintly.

“Very funny.”

“He has a gift for you.”

“If this is an elaborate trick to distract me so that you can switch my letters when I’m not looking, it’s too late. I’ve already won.” Harriet took a last look at the board before going to the door. “I assume it’s a charity thing—”

She stared at the tall, broad-shouldered Santa standing in her doorway. “Ethan? What are you—” She swallowed. “Why are you dressed as Santa?” And then she realized why, and what it meant, and her heart swelled in her chest. “You did it. You agreed to dress as Santa for the kids. Why? What changed your mind?”

“Someone once told me that they always do the one thing they don’t want to do. I thought it sounded like a good idea.”

“So this is Challenge Ethan?”

“Maybe. And I kept the costume on, because no one can turn away Santa, right?”

“Manipulative,” Susan muttered and Ethan reached into the sack he was carrying and handed her a gift.

“This seems to have your name on it.”

“Bribery is not going to work.” But Susan took the gift from his hands. “Or maybe it will. Possibly.”

Harriet was too busy thinking through the implications. He’d agreed to be Santa. Whatever part of him had thought he was too cynical to be Santa, he’d put it aside. Buried it. “Were they thrilled? Or were they too sick to be happy?” She hated thinking about the kids in hospital on Christmas Day. But at least they’d had a visit from Santa.

“They were all pretty happy to see me, you were right about that.”

“Do you want to come in?” Her mind was racing with a thousand questions. Why are you here? How have you been?

He stepped inside and peeled off his beard. “Ouch.”

Susan covered her eyes. “Carry on like this and you’ll have me thinking that Santa isn’t real.”

“He’s real, but right now he’s overheated.” He smiled at Glenys. “I’m interrupting your game. I apologize.”

Without the beard, Harriet was able to take a closer look at him and realized he looked exhausted. As if he hadn’t slept in days.

“Don’t apologize. Harriet just thrashed us both and Susan and I were about to leave, weren’t we, Susan?” Glenys was on her feet and whistling for Harvey.

“I was about to leave, but now I think it might be more entertaining to stay.” Susan sent Ethan a look. “You’d better be about to say something worth hearing.”

“I’m not going to be saying anything while you’re standing there.”

Susan grumbled and picked up her coat. “Make her cry and I’ll hunt you down and fillet you.”

“I’ve missed you at work. No one abuses me the way you do. Please come back soon.”

Susan hesitated and then stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. “I plan to.”

Glenys took Susan’s arm. “Share a cab, Doctor?”

“Sounds good to me.”

“Wait. You’re both leaving?” Harriet felt a lurch of anxiety. She had no idea why Ethan was here, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to be left alone.

“Thank you for a wonderful Christmas.” Susan hugged her and so did Glenys.

“Best Christmas ever, although I may never forgive you for getting FESTIVE on a triple word score.” They left, and suddenly she was alone with Ethan.