The Winter of Candy Canes (A Sweet Seasons Novel) Read online

  “I didn't get to tell Santa what I want,” the little girl sobbed.

  Candace reached behind her and picked up a brightly colored package. Gold for girl, she mentally recited.

  She bent down and handed the package to the little girl. “It's okay, honey, Santa knows what you want,” she said.

  “Thank you!” the girl said, clutching the present.

  “Merry Christmas,” Candace said, handing the mother a candy cane.

  “Merry Christmas to you too,” the mom said with an appreciative smile. “Come on, let's go.”

  The next hour flew by. When Chrissy relieved her, Candace was a little sad to leave her post. Candace left, though, and made a beeline for her mom's cart.

  “I got a glimpse of you at work, and you looked great,” her mom said.

  “Thanks. I saw you laughing earlier with Mr. Hanson.”

  “Yes. I told him I was Candace's mother. He said he knew exactly who I was talking about, and we had a laugh. He's a very nice man and had some good things to say about you.”

  “I'm glad,” Candace said. “Well, I gotta go make sure kids remember to come see Santa.”

  “Like they'd forget,” her mom teased.

  “Good luck with the selling,” Candace said before taking off.

  She spent the next hour walking around telling every kid she saw where to find Santa in the Holiday Zone. The best part was seeing the little crying girl again, this time clutching a doll.

  “Thank you, Elf Candy!” the little girl shouted, waving.

  Candace waved back.

  “More like Eye Candy,” Kurt joked.

  Candace jumped. She hadn't seen Kurt walk up beside her. For some reason his comment irritated her.

  “Hey,” she said.

  “Look, sorry I had to bail.”

  “No big. Is your roommate okay?”

  “Yeah. We got his car fixed.”

  “Cool. Well, I gotta get back,” Candace said.

  “See you later.”

  “Yeah.”

  Candace walked away. She hadn't realized until that minute that she was mad at Kurt. She wasn't angry that he'd gone to help a friend. She was angry that he hadn't come back later or at least called. He could have come to the movies with her and Josh. She sighed. Why did romance have to be so complicated?

  She made it back to her post only to find Lisa there looking miserable.

  “What's going on?” she asked her.

  “Laura quit.”

  “After an hour?” Candace asked incredulously.

  “No. After five minutes.”

  “What happened?”

  “You don't want to know. I wish I didn't know.”

  “Where's Chrissy?”

  “When Laura quit, they moved her to the other side and closed this exit until Martha found me.”

  “Well, I'm here now. You can go.”

  “No, I have to relieve Chrissy.”

  Lisa moved away, misery showing in every line of her body. Candace wondered what on earth could have happened that could have been that bad. Then the first kid came flying at her, screaming for his candy cane, and she had no more time to think.

  On the way home, Candace and her mom barely spoke. It was four thirty and they were both completely exhausted.

  “Sell much?” Candace finally asked when they turned onto their block.

  “Thousand dollars worth.”

  “Cool.”

  “Yeah. You know your summer job?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I don't know how you kept it up.”

  It was a compliment. “Thanks.”

  They walked into the house and collapsed on the living room couch. The Christmas tree stood in its usual corner, already strung with lights. Boxes of ornaments littered the living room furniture and floor.

  Her dad strode in, looking like the cat that swallowed the canary. “Well, the tree's ready for you,” he said. “Lights are up outside the house too.”

  Candace wanted nothing more than to sleep, but the lure of sparkling lights and the desire not to break tradition propelled her to her feet. She grabbed up the first box of ornaments she could lay her hands on and headed to the tree with single-minded purpose.

  “Of course, if you ladies would like some turkey sandwiches first, that could be arranged.”

  Candace immediately put the box down and headed for the kitchen.

  7

  After consuming leftovers, they all ended up back in the living room. Her dad turned on the stereo, and soon all the standard Christmas music was playing. Her mom started putting on the colored balls, while Candace went after the box of specialty ornaments. Her collection of stained-glass Rudolphs went up first, as she had to find a red bulb to put behind each of their noses. Next she hung the road runner ornament that was the very first ornament her parents had let her choose when she was a kid.

  While she and her mom decorated the tree, her dad continued to string lights inside around the mantel and the ceiling. Exhausted as they all were, they found more things to laugh about than usual.

  “Honey, did I tell you? The owner of The Zone has nice things to say about Candace,” her mom said.

  “Really? Well, you must be making quite an impression there to get his attention,” her dad said. “Good for you. I knew you'd shine at whatever you chose to do.”

  “Seriously?” she asked, more than a little surprised.

  “Of course. You're smart and talented. All you needed was a little challenge to bring out the best in you.”

  “Thanks.”

  “I like some of the friends you've made there too,” her mom said. “Josh and Sue are particularly nice.”

  “I haven't met Sue, but Josh is a fine young man,” her dad said.

  Candace noticed that neither of them mentioned Kurt. She thought about saying something, but she was still angry with him herself.

  “Sue's a year older than Candace, and she works in janitorial normally. She's very sweet and helpful. She seems sad, though.”

  “You know, I often think she looks a little sad, but I wasn't sure if that was my imagination,” Candace said.

  “I don't think so. She seems like she's suffered some kind of loss.”

  “I know she was planning on going away to college — Berkeley I think — but when I met her over the summer she said she was going to attend State because she needed to stay closer to home. Then a few weeks ago I saw her at the community college, and she told me she was there because it was cheaper than State.”

  “From U.C. Berkeley to community college? That is a change,” her dad commented.

  “So you really think there's something wrong?” Candace asked.

  “It certainly sounds like it,” her dad said. “People don't usually make those kinds of big changes without a reason.”

  “She has an air of tragedy about her,” her mom added. “Poor thing. It's like she's so eager to say hi to me.”

  Candace remembered that Sue had said something about it being nice to talk with a mother. A sick feeling came over her. Was it possible that she had missed her friend's pain? Standing under the Christmas tree, she vowed that she would figure out what was wrong and do what she could to help. Sue was a great person and she deserved to be happy — especially at Christmas.

  It was nearly midnight when they finished with the decorations. They turned off all the interior lights and enjoyed the Christmas lights for a few minutes before calling it a night.

  Upstairs in her room, Candace saw that she had a message from Kurt. “Hey, Candace, I just wanted to call and apologize again for yesterday. It took a long time to fix his car, and I was in a bad mood afterward. I should have called but I didn't, and I'm sorry about that. Call me back and let me know everything's okay.”

  She called him back and he answered, sounding like she had awakened him.

  “Are we cool?” he asked.

  “We're cool,” she said.

  They said good night, and she got ready for bed. At le
ast when Kurt upset her, he seemed to take responsibility for it. She would rather he had called her the night before, but at least he had called now. She climbed into bed and crushed Mr. Huggles, her stuffed bear, to her chest as she prayed.

  Saturday morning when her alarm went off, Candace briefly considered tossing it across the room. She was at least somewhat gratified when she encountered her mom in the kitchen a few minutes later looking bleary-eyed herself.

  “Morning,” Candace said.

  Her mom grunted as she sipped her coffee. A few minutes later when they headed out to the car she finally spoke. “I'm really glad I'm not working tomorrow.”

  Candace smiled grimly. “Lucky you.”

  They arrived at the park, and her mom made a beeline for her booth. Candace took her time and admired all the Christmas decorations as she walked. Not only was the Holiday Zone decorated, but several of the rides had special seasonal overlays. The ride where players controlled the spin of their vehicle on a large disc-shaped surface had been completely transformed so it looked like they were riding in giant round Christmas ornaments. The tall slide had been themed to look like a giant toboggan ride. Even the theater where Freddie McFly and the Swamp Swingers and Mr. Nine Lives, the Daredevil Cat, entertained daily had a holiday-themed show, which included Mr. Nine Lives on ice skates. It was exciting to be a part of it all, and she had a sneaking suspicion that Christmas would be her favorite time of year to work at The Zone.

  Finally, she walked over and took her place with the candy canes and presents. She waved to Chrissy, who was already on her side of the exhibit with her basket of candy canes in hand. A minute later Christmas music started playing throughout the area. Candace didn't remember hearing it the day before. She wasn't sure if the noise from the kids blocked it out or if someone had forgotten to turn it on.

  As if the music was his cue, Santa walked onto the stage and took his seat. The first kids hit the area, screaming as they came. Candace smiled. So far this was the best job she'd had at the park, and she couldn't figure out why on earth they were giving her hazard pay for it.

  It only took a couple of minutes to realize that it was going to be a lot busier day than the one before. By the time the park had been open for an hour, the line to see Santa was a two-hour wait. After another hour it was even longer. An elf named Ann came to give her a morning break, and Candace hurried off field.

  Ten minutes later she was back on field, heading back to the Holiday Zone. At the railroad tracks, she slowed by habit and turned to see where the train was.

  It was quite a way down the track, but still she hesitated. Pete, also known as Crazy Train Guy, had a habit of trying to run over referees. Although they had kind of become friends, she couldn't trust that to save her.

  “It's safe to cross.”

  Candace looked and saw Josh standing on the other side of the tracks. “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah. He almost never tries to kill anyone during Christmas.”

  Candace stepped forward, and, sure enough, the train didn't accelerate in her direction. She crossed to the other side.

  “Good to know,” she said.

  A few seconds later the train passed by. It, too, got a complete Christmas overlay and became the Train to Santa's Workshop. Pete sat inside the engine, a Santa hat cocked to one side of his head in a crazy fashion that for some reason made Candace think of a devil with only one horn. He smiled and waved at her, and, surprised, she waved back.

  “See? He loves Christmas. At Christmas everyone loves trains.”

  “Oh, so that's the secret. Cool.” She turned and got a really good look at Josh. At first glance, he looked like an elf dressed all in red and green. However, none of the elves wore lederhosen.

  “So, what exactly is your job?” Candace asked, looking over Josh's outfit.

  “I'm a cheermeister.”

  He fell into step with her as she walked back to her position.

  “Okay. That's a new one. What's a cheermeister? I hope it's not like a cheerleader, because I'm not sure you'd look good in the skirt.”

  “I have great legs, thank you very much.”

  She rolled her eyes at him. “Seriously, cheermeister?”

  “It's the best job in the park. I get to make sure everyone's having a good time.”

  “And just how do you do that?”

  “I look for problems, and I fix them. Kid drops an ice-cream cone on the ground, and I get him a new one. If players lose something in the park, I help them find or replace it. Occasionally, I get to give out cool gifts too, like complimentary dinners and free merchandise.”

  “So, like me with the candy canes and presents, but on a park-wide scale?” Candace asked as they arrived back at her station and Ann surrendered the candy cane basket.

  “Exactly. We work to bring cheer.”

  “So how far ahead did you have to apply to be a cheermeister?”

  “March.”

  She threw a candy cane at his head. He caught it and grinned. “I'll put this to good use.”

  “Cheermeister!” a little boy shrieked, running forward and wrapping his arms around Josh's legs.

  “See? Everyone loves the cheermeister,” Josh said as he bent down and plucked a present from the stack behind Candace and handed it to the little boy.

  “Hey! Those are my presents,” Candace protested.

  Josh grinned. “Cheermeister. I trump. Well, I gotta go.”

  He waved to all the kids in line, and they waved back.

  Candace shook her head and turned to give the next child down the ramp a candy cane. The father, who looked tired, waved the candy cane away. Candace just kept smiling.

  She turned and saw the next child go flying in Chrissy's direction, while a boy who was probably about eight sat down on Santa's lap and grabbed him by the beard, jerking on it repeatedly while rattling off his list of demands.

  What a horrible child! Candace thought, glancing over at the father who seemed indifferent to his son's behavior. Next to him stood another boy who looked just as determined to tell Santa what he wanted.

  Santa did his best to extricate his beard, and the elves rushed to help him. That was when it happened. The second boy sprang forward, swerving away from Santa, and headed straight toward Candace. She stepped back so that he could get by her, but he turned and plowed into her, knocking her backward. Her hair wreath went flying. She tottered, trying to regain her balance, and he swooped down and grabbed two gold presents from her stack. She reached down to stop him, and that's when his brother hit her broadside.

  She landed on her arm and knee, and pain seared through her leg as she struggled to get up. She heard something tearing. The older brother had also gotten his hands on two gold presents by the time Candace was able to reach for the panic button. Before she could push it, she saw security guards rushing toward them. She could see children in line struggling against their parents, and three of them finally broke away and ran toward her.

  She craned her head around and saw that the elves had gotten Santa out of sight. As she looked back at the kids, she could hear Martha's warning about guarding the presents and smiling. She rolled over until the presents were wedged against her back. The hard edges dug into her. They'll have to come through me to get to them, she thought.

  The father of the two monster children had joined them in running away. The first security guard reached her at the same time the three kids did, and the guard swooped, tucking a child under each arm, and ran with them back toward the line. The third child fell upon Candace, beating her with tiny fists and screaming, “Present!” at the top of his lungs. He stepped on her fingers, and one fist caught her on the cheek. Pain seared through her.

  The second security guard grabbed him and headed over to assist his partner with crowd control. Candace pointed toward the fleeing father and children, and two more security guards took off after them.

  The fifth security guard knelt down beside her. “It's okay, Candace, you can stop smiling,�
�� he said.

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  “How bad are you hurt?” he asked.

  She shook her head. All she knew was that there was pain everywhere.

  “I need a stretcher for one of the candy cane elves,” he said, speaking into his radio.

  A garbled reply came back.

  “Yes, it's Candace,” he answered.

  Of course it's Candace, she thought as she laid her head down. Who else would it be? Not a season could go by that she didn't find herself in “the Hospital Zone.”

  8

  The stretcher arrived, complete with a paramedic, her mom, and Josh. “This is weird,” Candace said as she stared up at all of them.

  Pain was knifing through her left knee, growing increasingly worse by the minute. The guard said something about the shock wearing off. He also kept her from looking at her leg, which was starting to freak her out.

  “Oh my!” her mom burst out when she saw Candace.

  Josh went completely pale. “Hey,” he said, his voice shaking. “I heard someone over here needed a cheermeister.”

  Suddenly a wave of pain unlike anything she had ever experienced before washed over her, and all she could do was scream. It ended a few seconds later. “I'm sorry!” she gasped. “I couldn't help it.”

  Another wave of pain came and she screamed again. It felt like fire was pouring through her body. The wave stopped, and she felt herself slump.

  She saw Lisa appear behind the others. “Only Candy can scream that loud,” she was telling someone.

  “Your knee is dislocated,” the paramedic explained. “You're going to continue to have waves of pain like that until it's put back in. Normally, I'd wait until we had you in the nurse's station, but it's going to be a long, bumpy ride on this stretcher and —”

  Candace screamed again as another wave hit her, and she couldn't hear what he said next. “I'm sorry,” she gasped again when it was over. “Can you fix it?”

  “Yes. I've seen a couple of these before, but it's going to hurt.” He turned and addressed himself to the others, “You might want to look away.”