Page 39 of Wait a HO HO HO Second!

“Thanks.” Joy smiled and lifted it to her lips. “Mmm, best coffee ever.”

“Freya knows how to make a good pot of joe,” he agreed, sitting beside her rather than behind his mom’s desk. They were partners, and he wanted to show her, not just tell her. “So I did a thing.” He grabbed his phone as she groaned softly.

“What kind of a thing?”

Kian turned his phone and showed Joy a GoFundMe campaign. “It had been open for months, so I completed it with a donation today.”

“Okay,” she said, clearly confused. “Did you want me to clap?”

Kian chuckled as he set the phone down. “No, I’m trying to talk business, but your lips have me flustered.” Deep breath, Kian. Stop acting like a lovesick fool. “Kyra came to see Santa on Saturday. Her only wish was that I talk to a boy in her class who was being mean.”

“What did you tell her?” Joy asked, and the look in her eyes suggested she was trying to figure out where he was headed with all of this.

“I told her I’d send him a letter.”

Joy groaned again. “We told you not to make promises like that.”

“What was I supposed to say? I had to stay in character!” he exclaimed, running his hands through his hair. “I even tried to redirect by telling her she could still ask for something I could leave under the tree.”

“What did she say?” Joy asked. He could tell she was trying to make sense of what he'd flubbed.

“She said she’d been good during her mom’s two surgeries this year, so the only thing she wants for Christmas is a bed,” Kian explained.

“A bed?”

“Yeah, apparently they moved to a smaller apartment, and now she sleeps on an air mattress in the living room. Once I found the GoFundMe, it made sense. Her mom had an accident. She’ll be fine, but they didn’t have much health insurance.”

“Hence the GoFundMe,” Joy said, the light coming on in her eyes.

“Right,” he said, rubbing his hands together. “It took a bit, but I found the family on Facebook and then on GoFundMe. Anyway, I got them a bigger apartment where Kyra will have a room. I paid the deposit and a year’s rent, and I finished off the GoFundMe, so they should be able to recover over the year and pay the rent by the time it comes due again. I was hoping you’d come with me when I go talk to them.”

All Joy did was blink repeatedly, as though she didn’t understand what he’d just said. He gave her time, hoping she’d see his reasoning. If someone asked, he would probably say it was the right thing to do, but truthfully, keeping a family together, a family like the one he never had, was the reason he did it.

“Putting aside all the assumptions you made about this family by doing what you did, you can’t just do things like that, Kian!”

“Oh, really! Kind of judgmental, coming from Little Miss The Outlet Mall is Covering All the Christmas Dinners!”

Inhaling through her nose, Joy pursed her lips for a moment before speaking. “Fine, I should have told you that. We give the food shelf money because for every dollar we give them, they can purchase three dollars’ worth of food. The turkeys and hams are always donated as well, so we mostly cover the fixings.”

Holding up his hands, he took a deep breath. “I’m not mad about it, Joy. I guess we just do things differently. Does that mean they’re wrong?”

“What you did was incredibly sweet, Kian, but there are many people in need in this town. That’s my point. Once they find out that Kian Van Adler paid for this family’s GoFundMe and secured a new apartment for them, we’re going to be swarmed with requests for help.”

“The donation was made anonymously.” Kian showed her the phone again so she could see. “I thought of that, too.” Hopefully, his smile and wink told her he was thinking with his head, not just his heart.

“Thank God,” she said, her chin dropping to her chest. “Wait. What good is that if you’re going to tell them about the apartment?”

“Well, I was going to dress as Santa to do it, but you’re right that we need to keep it anonymous. How about a letter from Santa to Kyra saying her request was granted a bit early? I can include the lease and the information that it’s paid through next year, and let them decide what to do with it?”

Joy nodded immediately. “That’s a much better plan. As someone who once had to depend on charity to survive, I also think it offers them dignity by letting them read and absorb the situation without feeling like they have to ‘perform’ for the two people standing at their door.”

“Sorted. I can have it done by the end of the day.”

“Crisis averted,” she muttered, clearing her throat. “Is that all for business?”

“Oh no, beautiful. I’m just getting started.”

When Kian winked, she moaned, but something told him it had nothing to do with listening to more ideas and everything to do with the way her gaze was laser-focused on his lips.