Forever This Time (10 page)

“Nick.”

“I'll be sure to discuss this with Ethan,
Nick
.” Josie turned back toward Kelsey. “Okay, sweetie. Nick's going to bring you back to Mommy, okay? He's not going to stop along the way, he's not going to talk to his
friend,
and he's going to report immediately to Elf Central once he's done so. Does he understand?” Nick nodded, color rising in his cheeks once again. Josie handed Kelsey's wet little hand to him. “You got her?”

He took Kelsey's hand firmly in his. “Got her.”

“I'll wait here under the bridge. When you get her settled, please send your friend back here with some dry clothes. Just have her grab something from the costume room for now, and then she can join you in Ethan's office.” Josie grimaced as she backed under the bridge, pointing at the sopping wet Santa suit. “If she could hurry, that'd be great.”

“Got it.” Nick scrambled up the hill with Kelsey in tow while Josie did her best to melt into the underside of the bridge until clothing arrived. As she sat down, her body started shaking, the adrenaline coursing through her veins. She tried not to think about what could have happened, but couldn't help picturing the whole situation ending a much different way.

She'd bet money that Nick and his friend were getting busy in the photo booth instead of searching their grid like they were supposed to. If it were up to her, they'd be getting busy finding new jobs later this afternoon.

Five minutes later, just as she started to think they'd forgotten her, she heard footsteps on the gravel at the edge of the bridge, so she stood up, forgetting how close she was to the metal bracing over her head. She bonked her head on the bracing, then squeaked in pain as her back met something sharp. She tried to turn around to see what had poked her, but couldn't budge. What in the
world
? She twisted the other way, but still couldn't break free. The metal had somehow snagged the costume, and it wasn't letting go.

She pulled harder, but the motion seemed to only get her further impaled.
Great
. Just what she needed was for Nick's little girlfriend to find her under here, completely stuck. Josie could already picture the speed at which
this
story would travel the park.

At least Ethan was still in the office, not roaming around.

“Josie?”

Or not.

Ethan ducked under the edge of the bridge and paused, probably letting his eyes adjust. Of all the people in this park, he
would
be the one to find her like this. She tried to straighten up enough to pretend she wasn't stuck, but there wasn't a whole lot of space to work with.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yup. Good. Fine.” She tried not to move and risk being further impaled. “Kelsey all right now?”

“She's back with her mom.”

“Did Nick tell you what happened?”

“Not yet. I'll get to him. Just wanted to be sure you were okay first.”

A warm feeling tried to break through the chills enveloping her body. He had just inherited a million tasks related to this incident, but the first thing he'd done was hoof it to the pond to make sure she was all right.

“Thank you,” she murmured. “I'll be fine.”

Ethan looked toward the hill where Nick and Kelsey had gone. “Thank you for finding her.”

“You're welcome.”

“How did you know to look here?”

“I didn't, really. Her mom said she'd taken her stuffed duck, so I panicked and thought maybe she'd found the real ones. Then I didn't see anyone else when I got here, and I hadn't heard you clear the grid yet.”

“Where the hell were Nick and Peyton? They've got this grid today.”

Josie raised her eyebrows. “They thought it was a drill. They were in the photo studio until someone finally saw us and yelled for help.”

“Maybe they were searching the studio?”

“He still had her lip gloss on his neck. Just saying.”

He scrubbed his right hand through his hair. “I'll have their frigging heads.”

“Maybe you should have their
frigging
shirts. And their badges.”

Ethan leveled her with a look. “I'll decide what happens to them, thank you.”

Josie started to retort, but realized it wouldn't do any good. She'd overstepped her bounds. It wasn't her call to make. “Fine. You're the boss. But I'd bet you money they were taking hot pics in the instant booth.”

“Really. And what would make you leap to that conclusion?” He raised his eyebrows as Josie felt heat rise to her cheeks. But no. No way was she heading down memory lane and thinking of the pictures she and Ethan had taken in that very studio.

Long time ago. Long, long time ago.

“Hey! Someone under here order some clothes?” Peyton's voice startled both of them as a poofy white princess dress appeared at the edge of the bridge's underside. The dress was so huge Josie couldn't even see Peyton behind it. “It's all I could grab. Sorry. Everything else is either on the actors or at the cleaners right now.”

Ethan stepped toward her and grabbed the costume. Josie could see him trying to stifle a laugh as he held the dress by the shoulders and shook it out. “Oh, I think this is just perfect. Thank you. Just perfect.”

After Peyton headed back up the hill, Ethan stepped toward Josie and handed her the dress. “Couldn't have ordered a better one myself.”

“Very funny,” Josie muttered. Last time she'd worn this particular dress, she'd fallen off the park stage and ended up looking like a princess cupcake in a giant drum. She shook her head as she viewed the layers of tulle, still astounded by how much noise the timpani had made when she fell into it. “How is it possible you still have this ridiculous dress?”

“No idea. I'm not in charge of costumes.” He stepped away like he didn't want to get any closer to her than necessary. “All right. I'm going to head back to the office. Apparently someone sent Nick there to await his doom.”

“That would be me. And I'm happy to be his doom if you don't want to be.”

“I'm completely capable of handling it, Josie.”

She paused. “I know. Sorry.”

Ethan stared at her for a moment too long. “Y'know, I'd hope that even after ten years, you know me well enough to know I'd never take a situation like this lightly. This was bad, and believe me, Nick will definitely feel the pain of it.”

“But you're not going to fire him?” Josie tried to keep the incredulity out of her voice.

“He made a mistake, Jos. It's going to take him a long time and a lot of trash-hauling shifts to get back in my good graces, but no. I'm not going to fire him. He needs this job—his family needs him to
have
this job—and there is
no
way he'll ever do something stupid like this again. I guarantee it. He's a good kid, Josie.”

Josie thought of Dad for a moment, wondering what he'd do in this same situation. Would he read Nick the riot act, then demand his Ho-Ho shirt and badge? Or would he, too, try to see the big picture—the long view, as he called it?

She sighed. Ethan was right. It was a mistake. A bad one, for sure. But still a mistake.

She nodded slowly, conceding. “It's your call.”

His eyebrows shot upward. “Really?”

“Ethan, I'm wet, I'm freezing, and right now I have to choose between a Santa suit that's gone to wet glue, or this ridiculous excuse for a dress.” She pointed to the acres of white poof. “I'm hardly in a debating mood.”

“All right.” He turned. “I'll be back in the office. Come file a report when you're dressed. I need to call the insurance company just in case anything more comes of this. Just leave the Santa suit here till after hours. I don't want to have you carry it across the park and have the kids think you offed Santa.”

Once he'd headed back out of sight, Josie twisted, trying to figure out how to get free of whatever had snagged the Santa suit. To her chagrin, she squeaked again as something poked her from behind. Crap. She was really stuck.

Ethan's head popped back into view from the edge of the bridge archway. Yikes. He was still here. “You sure you're okay?”

“Yup. Good. I'll be right up.” Josie put on her brightest fake smile, but Ethan didn't move.

“Y'know, it occurs to me that you haven't actually
moved
the entire time we've been talking.”

Josie shrugged. “Wet costume.”

The rest of his body appeared at the bridge opening again. “Are you … stuck?” He stepped closer, slowly, like she might bite if he moved too quickly. He was bent a little at the waist, since his six-foot-two frame was at least half a foot too tall for the stonework.

She closed her eyes and nodded miserably. There was no sense denying it at this point, unless she wanted to sleep under the damn bridge tonight. This costume was not breaking free without some outside help.

He took one step closer, trying to peer around her body without getting too close. He took the princess dress from her and set it on the rocks. “How in the world did you do this?”

She pointed at her back and rolled her eyes. “I'm caught on something, and this stupid costume only opens in the back.”

“Can you twist it at all?”

“Tried that.”

“Duck out of it maybe? If you crouch down?”

“It's too wet.”

“Wow.”

“If I say go ahead and laugh, would you just do so, and then get to the part about maybe helping me?”

He laughed quietly, stepping close enough for her to touch him. He reached one arm behind her, and she shivered as she caught a strong whiff of his after-shave. Then he moved closer, and she could feel the warmth of his chest as he used both of his hands to try to untangle her.

“Wow. This is … wow.” She felt a yank and heard a ripping sound. “You are seriously hung up here.” His body pressed gingerly against hers as he tried to pull the fabric free, and it was all she could do to keep her hands clenched at her sides instead of reaching out to touch him.

He pulled back and fished in his pocket for something, coming up with the Swiss Army knife he'd probably been carrying since he was twelve. “I'm going to have to cut you out of it, I think.”

“What? No! No knives!”

“You afraid I'll take out ten years of frustration on you?” His eyebrows lifted in challenge.

“Maybe? Seriously, no knives. Dad'll kill us if we ruin his Santa suit.” She winced at how that sounded, given that Dad was currently in a hospital bed and could hardly care less about something as stupid as a Santa costume.

He pressed against her again to look behind. “Jos, there is no way we're getting you out of this thing without ripping it. You're snagged by a mess of nails back there, going every which way.” He pressed on her back lightly. “I can't believe you're not bleeding. Shit. You probably are. Have you had your tetanus shot? These things are rusty.”

“Ethan! I don't care about tetanus! I need to get out of this soaking wet costume. Can't we slither it over my head or something?”

“You'll be impaled if you try.”

Josie sighed. “Could you maybe just hold it out in back and I'll try to slide out?”

He grimaced, obviously unconvinced it would work. He stepped directly in front of her, still crouched because he was too tall. “Okay, let's try it. Arms first.” He held the end of the right sleeve tight as she pulled her arm toward her body. “My God, this stuff shrinks when it's wet.”

After a few desperate pulls on each side, Josie's clammy arms were trapped inside the costume against her body, and Ethan stepped closer again, almost sending her to her knees with his heat. He braced himself directly in front of her and put his arms over her shoulders, trying to lift the wet fabric from her skin. “All right. Slither.”

She closed her eyes and bent her knees, trying to slide out of the costume without ripping her back to shreds on the nails. After a few tugs and snags, she was finally free to stand almost upright, and it was all she could do not to hug him in thanks.

Then she caught sight of his face.

Ethan's mouth opened in an
O
as his eyes traveled down her top half, and too late, she remembered what she had on.

Which was not much.

 

Chapter 11

Josie flopped her arms across her chest, trying in vain to hide her hot-pink Victoria's Secrets from Ethan.

His mouth stayed open. “You're—what did you—you have no—huh.”

Josie arched an eyebrow.

“Why—uh—why are you—” He pointed vaguely at her body.

“Naked, practically?”

He nodded, and was it her imagination, or was he having trouble keeping his eyes on hers?

“Well, here's the thing. Someone—whoever it is that does the scheduling these days—keeps putting me on the costume list. So for three—wait, is it four?—days now I've been roasted alive by noon. Today I thought I'd be smart and try fewer layers so that no one would find Santa splatted in front of Rudolph's Ridic—”

“Razzamatazz.”

“Whatever.” She waved a hand. “Santa. Heat stroke.” She pointed her chin downward. “I obviously forgot to figure in the risk of pond-diving—or getting stuck underneath the bridge afterward. Silly me.”

“Not—” He swallowed visibly, his eyes traveling over her. “Not good planning.”

“Ethan, you can close your mouth. You've seen it before.” Josie's cheeks felt like they were being licked by flames.

He shook his head. “I haven't seen it like
this
before.”

“Princess dress. Now. Please.” She held out one hand, leaving only one to guard her privacy.

His eyes darkened as they traveled her body again, this time more slowly, making her shiver in all the right places.