Page 52 of Wait a HO HO HO Second!

A knock came at the door. “When you’re done hyping yourself up, the food is here,” Kian called.

Dropping her chin to her chest, she groaned. He couldn't have heard her, right? She was whispering! Grabbing her crutches, she plastered on her fake customer-service smile and threw the door open.

“I’m starving. Let’s eat!”

“Have a nice shower?” Kian asked, holding out a chair beside the small table. Joy couldn’t help but notice that he’d dimmed the lights, leaving just one on near the bed. The television showed a flickering fireplace, with Christmas carols playing softly.

“Yes, it was nice to get warm. This is lovely, thank you,” she said, motioning toward the table. “It’s nice to finally relax.”

Kian sat across from her and lifted the cover off her plate. “I couldn’t agree more. What’s for dinner?”

“The kitchen was out of a lot of things, so I had to take what I could get.”

“Hey,” Kian whispered, taking her hand for a moment and rubbing his thumb over her knuckles. “I’m all about breakfast for supper.” He dropped her hand, winked at her, and grabbed his fork.

“Pancakes, eggs, and bacon will fill us up,” Joy agreed. “The brandy old-fashioned will warm us up.”

Lifting their glasses, they clinked them, then took a drink, both moaning slightly as they set the glasses down. “There’s nothing like an old-fashioned done right. You can’t get a decent one in Minnesota. They don’t use sweet vermouth, which is just wrong. This one is perfection.”

“Agreed,” Joy said, pouring syrup over her pancakes and digging in. “I talked to Marci while you were in the shower. This storm is serious, so Snowcap Ridge is implementing emergency snow routes and issuing alerts. School is already canceled for tomorrow.”

“How does that affect the mall?” Kian asked, snapping into a piece of bacon.

“We open two hours later than usual, and the movie theater opens at eleven instead of one. They play kids' movies all afternoon for kids and teens who need a place to go during the day.”

“Really?” he asked, stabbing a bite of egg. “I didn’t know that. It’s a great idea, though. Do they charge for the movies?”

“Not for the movies, just for concessions. They want all the kids to have a safe place to be, so everyone is welcome. Since they wouldn’t be open anyway, they aren’t out anything except wages, and the candy and popcorn the kids buy always more than cover them. It was an experiment we tried about four years ago, and it was so successful that now there are kids waiting at the door on snow days.”

“I love how innovative you are at the mall. That’s what the other GMs should emulate,” Kian said.

Joy smiled shyly, then shook her head. “Can we not talk business for the rest of the night? It always makes me feel like I’m in a job interview.”

“With me?” he asked, his brows lifting in surprise.

She nodded, then gave a slight twist of her lips. “A little bit. Like you’re picking my brain.”

“Because I am, but not in a job-interview kind of way,” Kian said, laughing as he finished his eggs. “More like a ‘teach me your secrets’ kind of way.”

“There’s no way to turn a GM who is less than interested in putting in the time and energy to improve something into someone like me. You know that, right?”

“Oh, Joy. There is no one like you, so yes, I know that isn’t possible. My hope was to give them some ideas that might inspire them to do more. If not, well, there are always people looking to fill those roles who will.”

“Honestly, that was my first thought. It’s important to give people a chance, but if they aren’t meeting the bare minimum expected of them, you gotta cut ties,” Joy pointed out.

“Here we are talking business again,” Kian whispered, winking as he covered his now-empty plate and drained his drink.

Holding her hands up, she grabbed her glass to finish her drink. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Everything feels effortless when we talk, even about business. Sometimes I get carried away with my ideas. Tell me about yourself. What do you like to do in your spare time? Do you still play basketball?”

“I do,” he said, nodding. “Well, more like I coach it, which gets me out on the floor from time to time.”

“Coach? Really?”

“Yep, for the Boys and Girls Club in Larson’s Crossing. August got me involved. He was a Boys and Girls Club kid, and he swears it saved his life. The Boys and Girls Club kept him off the streets in high school and gave him the confidence to enroll in college. He likes to give back, so after much cajoling, I went with him to a practice and was hooked. The kids are fantastic, and the time commitment is low, so August or I are always able to attend practices or games.”

“I love it. It’s nice that you can be a strong male role model for those boys.”

“Something I never had. Actually, I found my dad about ten years ago,” Kian said, as if that statement wasn’t meant to shock the hell out of her.