Forever This Time (9 page)

*   *   *

“Whatcha doing, munchkin?”

Avery looked up, long brown ponytail looped through the back of her Red Sox hat. “Making wishes.” She closed her eyes and flicked a penny into the water, her concentration making her look somehow older than her nine years.

“What are you wishing for?”

“Can't tell or it won't come true.” Plonk.

“Even me?”

“Even you, Ethan. You're special, but not
that
special.”

He put his fist to his chest. “I'm hurt.”

Avery giggled. “No you're not.” She scrunched her eyes and tossed another penny in.

“That looked like an important wish.”

“Yup.”

“Sure you don't want to tell me any?”

“Nope. You'll just tell Josie.”

“Will not.”

“Will, too. You're in l-o-v-e love.” She sang the last word, then ducked as he pretended to swat her. Avery looked pensive, then plonked another penny into the well. “It's a wish for Josie.”

“Are you … wishing for a car for her so she can drive us to the ocean?”

Avery smiled. “No. That'd be a waste of a wish.”

“A trip to Hawaii?”

“Nope.”

“A pet giraffe?”

“Ethan.”

“What? She loves giraffes!”

“Have you ever smelled a giraffe? They're stinky! And where would she keep it?”

“Good point. So what are you wishing for?”

Avery was quiet for a moment, her eyes years wiser than they should have been at her age. She plonked in another penny. “Can't tell you. You're not supposed to know.”

*   *   *

Late Tuesday morning, Josie found an unoccupied bench outside the Slurpy Seal and sat down gratefully. When she'd arrived at the office at eight o'clock this morning, she'd scooped the Santa suit off the closet door while Ethan was elsewhere. It was day five back in Echo Lake, and she didn't need more than a passing glance at the employee schedule to know he'd put her on costume duty again.

Fine. She wasn't ready to deal with
him,
either.

Some counselor she was. She spent her days helping people learn how to better communicate—with their spouses, with their children … with themselves—but when it came to her
own
situation, she had no idea what to say to this man she'd once planned to marry.

There was definitely a missing chapter in her textbooks.

After she'd come home from the hospital last night, she'd tried to come up with some openers, but they all fell flat. She'd thought it would be easier to practice in the mirror, where she couldn't be distracted by those eyes, or the dark hair that sprinkled his forearms, or the lips that had—oh God.

See? It wasn't working.

She pulled at the Santa suit to try to peel it away from her skin. Today she'd stripped down to her underclothing before donning the suit, thinking it would keep her cooler.

Wrong.

The combination of hazy humidity, bright red polyester, and itchy fake cotton was sending her internal thermometer soaring. Of course, saying
Have a happy ho-ho day
eight hundred flipping times wasn't helping with that. Ethan had to be sitting up in that nice, cool office feeling pretty proud of himself right now.

Leave me at the altar? Ten points for you. Poach you in a Santa suit? One point for me. And counting.

Thank God she'd at least found Dad's nonstick version of Santa's beard.

She sipped on her fourth cup of ice water, grateful that she was sweating the water right out so she wouldn't have to do the mens'-room-versus-ladies'-room dance later if the family bathroom was occupied. This was the first time she'd sat down all morning, but within a minute, as an elderly elf walked by, she heard the radio on his belt squawk
Code Stork! Repeat! Code Stork!

The elf straightened up and walked quickly, eyes scanning right to left, left to right. Oh lordy. “Code Stork” was the park's code for a lost child. Suddenly Josie saw employees pour out from all the buildings and rides. She remembered how it worked. Skeleton crews stayed put so the other guests wouldn't know there was a problem, but every other available breathing human had a grid assignment, and they fanned out across the park to search.

She jumped up and tossed her cup in the penguin garbage can next to her, but stopped short as she debated whether to head left or right. She was Santa. She didn't have a grid to search. She didn't even know who they were looking for.

A teenage girl from the snack shack strode out the side door and headed by Josie.

“Excuse me.” Josie put a hand out to stop her. “Who are we looking for?”

The girl gave her a surprised once-over, backing up a step. “Uh, four-year-old named Kelsey. Green shirt, jean shorts, pink hat. Black hair. White sandals. Last seen near the Dolphin Dance. Mom's name's Maria.”

“Where's the mom?”

“Down there.” She pointed down the pathway toward a frightened-looking young woman pacing beside the dolphin ride.

“Thanks. Go.” Josie took a moment to figure out where she should look. The train tunnel made a great hiding spot, but since they'd found so many kids there over the years, she knew someone had already checked it by now. Ditto the polar bear cave at the water park. And backstage at the outdoor theater.

She looked back at Maria. Two employees stayed with her, keeping her planted to her spot, as was search protocol. She headed toward her and put out her hand. “Hi there, Maria. I'm Josie. I'm sure these guys have told you all the things we're doing to locate Kelsey.”

“She was right here! Right here! I swear I was just talking to my friend for a minute!”

“We know, we know.” Josie put her hand on the mother's arm, trying to reassure her. “All the spots where she could get hurt have already been checked, right?” She raised her eyebrows to the elves, who nodded, radios to their ears. She heard Ethan's voice say
Grid 13—clear!
She pictured him in the office, pacing while he manned the radio and the whiteboard where the grids were recorded.

She pointed to the stroller. “Did she take anything with her that you know of?”

Maria shuffled a light blanket and sippy cup, then peered under the stroller before tossing the blanket around again. “Her duck. She took her stuffed duck.”

Josie's internal alarm pinged loudly. “She likes ducks?”

“Loves ducks. Why?” Maria's hand went to her mouth. “Oh God. You don't think she went to the ducks?”

“It's one of the first places we check. Don't worry. I'm going to go help look for her, but you stay right here with these gentlemen and we'll have Kelsey back to you in no time.”

As Josie headed toward the pond, she heard another employee's radio squawk
Grid 2, 4, 5 clear.
Phew. The little girl wasn't in any of the three train tunnels, but Josie fought a sick feeling in her stomach as she realized the duck pond grid had yet to be cleared. Why not? That one was the highest priority in the whole park. It should have been cleared within the first minute of the alarm.

Protocol.

She hiked up the huge Santa pants and picked up her pace, walking as quickly as she could without alarming anyone. As she crested the rise that headed down to the stone bridge over the pond, she was struck by how little stroller traffic there was. Like, none. The noon sun had apparently driven everyone to shadier areas.

What struck her next was the lack of any red polo shirts in the area. Who was checking the pond?

Josie double-timed it to the arched bridge, which was about forty feet across and made of round river stones. Split-rail fencing surrounded the pond itself, with colorful beds of summer flowers running amok along the fence line. From the top of the bridge, she leaned out as far as she could on both sides, but saw nothing. She ran to the other side and peered over the fence, but didn't see any sign of the little girl. Phew.

She bent over to duck through the fence, but stopped with an
Oof
as her Santa belly got wedged between the rails. She yanked and swore, and thankfully no one was watching as she finally heaved the fake stomach through the gap. The hill descended fairly steeply to the pond, which sat only about twenty feet below the pathways. Putting her left hand on the stone archway, she leaned to peer under the bridge to see if Kelsey might be under there, but once her eyes adjusted to the dimmer lighting, all she could see was rocks and ferns.

Then a movement on the other side of the pond caught her eye, and she squinted to see. “Santa!” a small voice gasped.

 

Chapter 10

“Kelsey? Is that you?” Josie stepped down to the water's edge, squatting down to try to see better. In the dimness under the far side of the bridge, she made out a green shirt, jean shorts, and black hair. She automatically reached for a radio on her belt, even though she hadn't worn one for ten years, but her hand came up empty.

“Santa?” The little girl stumbled a couple of steps toward the water. Oh no.

“Stay right there, sweetheart. I'm going to come get you, okay? Don't come any closer to the water.”

Josie straightened up and glanced left and right. The pond was deep, cut by a mountain stream that cascaded through the park all summer long and met the river downstream. It was thirty or so feet across, easily swimmable, but Josie had a Santa suit on that weighed twenty-plus pounds. And nothing underneath besides her favorite Victoria's Secret set.

Did she have time to run up the hill and come to Kelsey on the other side? She stepped out from under the bridge, praying another human had come along, but the pathways were still deserted around the pond.

She looked back at Kelsey. “Stay put, honey. I'm going to walk up to the bridge and come see you, okay?” She turned quickly to head up the hill, then heard the unmistakable
wack-wack-wack
of the resident mallards moving toward the little girl.

Oh no! She looked back and saw Kelsey take another step toward the water, then another, delighted that the ducks were coming her way. One more and she'd be in the pond.

Josie leaned down to pry off her heavy boots in case she had to dive in after Kelsey, but just as she did, she heard a splash. Oh God. Kelsey was already up to her knees, wading toward the ducks.

Before she could properly register the fact that the damn Santa suit was likely to drown her, Josie dove sideways into the water and swam toward the little girl. It felt like it took an eternity to get across the pond in the heavy costume, watching Kelsey wade closer and closer to the ducks.

“Stop right there, sweetie. The water's very deep.” She huffed out instructions as she pulled herself across the water. Damn Santa stuffing. She tried to pry it out as she swam, but it was stuck fast.

“No more steps, okay? Freeze those feet!” She tried to make her voice sound playful and calm, but her stomach was anything but.

Finally she was close enough to touch the little girl, but fought the urge to scoop her up and give her Santa nightmares. Kelsey didn't know she was only two feet from where the pond floor dropped out, for God's sake. Josie pulled herself onto the shallow sandy ledge, perching on her knees in the water next to Kelsey. Her breaths came short and ragged, but she wasn't sure how much of that was due to fear, and how much was due to forgetting to renew her gym membership. Again.

She pointed toward the shoreline ten feet away. “Hey! I have an idea! How about we race to the rocks! Ready?”

Kelsey grinned, but as she turned around to match Josie's pose, her feet slipped out from under her and she squawked as she lost her balance.
Great idea, Einstein,
Josie berated herself as she lunged to catch her.

“Oh my God!” Just then a woman's voice squawked from the bridge. Finally, another human. It was about flipping time. “Help! Somebody help!”

The woman pointed down toward Josie and Kelsey, and within seconds, Josie saw a couple of teens in red polos blast out the doors of the photo studio next to the pond. The girl immediately put her radio to her mouth while the guy scrambled through the fence and down toward the pond.

He put out his hands to help haul Kelsey out of the water, and as the little girl struggled to get her balance on the pebbles, she started crying. His eyes flew from Kelsey to Josie. “What
happened?
Are you okay?”

“This is the little girl we're looking for.” Josie huffed out the words. “She was visiting the ducks.”

“Wha—”

Josie drilled him with a look. “Code Stork? Did you miss the alarm?”

“Uh—” Spots of color rose in his cheeks as he glanced up the hill toward the girl he'd probably been making out with in the photo booth. “We thought it was just a drill.”

“Are you kidding me?” Josie hissed, turning away from Kelsey so she couldn't hear. “You were blowing off a drill? That turned out to be real? She could have
drowned
!”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Berating him wasn't going to help anything right now. They needed to worry about Kelsey. She put her hands on Kelsey's face, smoothing her hair back. “Hey, cutie. You're okay. Everything's all right. Want to go find your mommy?” Kelsey nodded eagerly through her tears.

Josie turned back to the guy. “I am in a soaking wet Santa costume. If I come any farther out from under the bridge, kids are going to think someone tried to drown Santa … or that Santa runs around dunking kids. You need to bring Kelsey to the Dolphin Dance. First, radio Ethan. Immediately. What is your name?”