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Back First Comes Love Save as PDF
Chapters (92)
  1. First
  2. Love Connection
  3. Zero
  4. One
  5. Two
  6. Three
  7. Four
  8. Five
  9. Six
  10. Seven
  11. Eight
  12. Nine
  13. Ten
  14. Eleven
  15. One Month Later
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Six Months Later
  21. Sixteen
  22. Seventeen
  23. Eighteen
  24. Nineteen
  25. Twenty
  26. Twenty-one
  27. Twenty-two
  28. Twenty-three
  29. Twenty-four
  30. Six Months Later
  31. Twenty-five
  32. Twenty-six
  33. Twenty-seven
  34. Twenty-eight
  35. Twenty-nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-one
  38. Thirty-two
  39. Thirty-three
  40. I Have Never
  41. One
  42. Two
  43. Three
  44. Four
  45. Five
  46. Six
  47. Seven
  48. Eight
  49. Nine
  50. Ten
  51. Eleven
  52. Twelve
  53. Thirteen
  54. Fourteen
  55. Fifteen
  56. Sixteen
  57. Seventeen
  58. Eighteen
  59. Nineteen
  60. Twenty
  61. Twenty-one
  62. Twenty-two
  63. A Christmas Date
  64. One
  65. Two
  66. Three
  67. Four
  68. Five
  69. Six
  70. Seven
  71. Eight
  72. Nine
  73. Ten
  74. Eleven
  75. Twelve
  76. Thirteen
  77. Fourteen
  78. Fifteen
  79. Sixteen
  80. Seventeen
  81. Eighteen
  82. Nineteen
  83. Twenty
  84. Twenty-one
  85. Twenty-two
  86. Note from the Author
  87. Sneak Peek – To the Stars and Back
  88. Two
  89. Three
  90. Four
  91. Also by Camilla Isley
  92. About the Author

Fueled up by adrenaline, I save his contact on my phone and press Call.

Four

Here Comes Santa Claus

Nothing.

The call goes to voicemail. I try a second time, with the same result, so I decide to try the other number listed on his profile. Maybe a landline?

“Hello?”

The voice is a letdown. Too creaky to match the man in the picture.

“Hello, Mr. O’Donnell?”

“Who?”

“Diego O’Donnell?”

“Oh, you mean Dunk. He’s not home.”

“You know when he’ll be back?”

“Why?” The dude sounds suspicious.

“I’m calling about a job opportunity, something rather urgent. No chance you’d know where I can find him?”

“He could still be downtown. Dunk had a Santa Claus gig tonight, but it should be over by now.”

Diego is in Manhattan! I can barely contain my excitement. “Do you remember where the gig was, by any chance?”

“No, sorry, some fancy mall downtown. You want to leave a message?”

“No need, thank you, I’ll call back.”

I hang up and nibble at one of my nails. Damn. Now that my folly has gained momentum, I can’t lose steam. If only that guy remembered the name of the mall…

Let’s see if Google can help. A quick “santa claus wednesday december 12 manhattan mall” search and… Bingo! There’s only one late-evening event today, and the address is not too far from my office. The program says the show ends at 9:30 p.m. If I hurry, I might get there just in time.

***

Fifteen minutes after the scheduled end of the event, I arrive at the mall worried sick I might’ve missed him. But, luckily, there’s still a Santa seated in the winter wonderland booth at the mall’s entrance. He’s ushering a kid away, who an elf assistant promptly replaces with the last toddler in line, depositing the newcomer on Santa’s knee.

As Diego listens to the little boy, I observe my mark to evaluate if he’s as good looking in person, or if he’s a cheat—aka a Photoshop-friendly model who doesn’t understand that going to a casting looking half as hot as his portfolio is a lose-lose approach. But between the fake beard and fake belly, it’s a hard one to call.

Once the kid has expressed all his Christmas wishes and taken the customary picture, my man stands up.

Mmm. Impressive. At least he didn’t lie about his height.

“I’m getting hella out of here,” his lady elf helper says. “You coming?”

“Nah, gotta get changed first. See ya soon, Jess.”

They bump fists and the girl walks away, still wearing her red, white, and green costume.

In the few seconds I get distracted by watching the elf leave, Diego has opened a hidden door and is already disappearing backstage. Whoops. “Excuse me—!” I call.