"Speaking of which, thanks for decorating the new tree and putting the fake presents beneath it. You didn't have to do that on the evening of your day off," I told her. She'd wrapped the profusion of gifts in beautiful, shiny paper with big, glittery bows.
Glitter was turning out to be my word of the day, apparently.
I glanced at Eleanor when she said nothing, only to find her staring at me with her mouth open.
"What? What is it?" I whirled around, scanning the shop for danger. Nobody could blame me for being paranoid after the year we'd had. People reallyhadbeen out to get us.
"Tess. I didn't decorate the tree. And those gifts … I had nothing to do with them." She hesitated. "Ah … do you think this has something to do with the Fae? The last time Frazzle visited us in the shop, she mentioned gifts."
Frazzle—not her real name, of course, because True Names had power over the Fae—was a pixie I'd rescued from freezing in my front porch flowerpot after a wonky portal had tossed her into our world. She loved, in order of passion: my cat, honey, bread, and daffodil tea, and she liked to visit, but I hadn't seen her since before Thanksgiving.
"I think she meant we should givehergifts," I said grimly. "Also, the Fae are not huge fans of Christmas. No, this is something else."
I started toward the tree and then stopped, realization washing over me. "It must have been Jack! It's our first Christmas together, and our first big holiday together. I mean, if you don't count Thanksgiving—"
She groaned. I'd told her about the Thanksgiving disaster.
"And he likes to go above and beyond," she said, starting toward the tree. "I mean, he gave you a swimming pool for your birthday, for goodness'sake."
"Okay, it was Jack. Problem solved. And just in time because we have customers." I could see the shadows of people walking up to the door. When the young family came in, I was ready with a smile and absolutely no donut crumbs on my face.
"Welcome to Dead End Pawn! If you have questions, let me know."
They smiled and nodded, then browsed the aisles. Mom and Dad held their two little boys by the hand, I was happy to see. Unsupervised kids in the store had made me nervous ever since that time a little girl had climbed up on the shelf of magically taxidermied animals. She'd bitten the stuffed rabbit, which had been bad enough.
When the rabbit bit her back, things got dicey.
Eleanor, standing by the tree and holding a present, cleared her throat. "Tess?Ihave a question."
That sinking feeling began in my stomach. "What is it?"
"If Jack put these gifts here, why does this one say, 'to Jeri Lynn from Mommy and Robby Lee and Daddy and Bugle the Beagle'?"
Crap. Iknewthat family.
There was only one logical explanation.
My newenchantedChristmas tree was stealing presents.
2
Jack
A year ago, nobody in Dead End had really remembered who I was. Now, they were bombarding me with text messages about a fistfight between Santa Clauses at the bakery.
I ignored the texts and missed calls and tossed my phone over onto the passenger seat of my truck, because I had plans. Plans that didn't include trying to solve the mystery of the fighting Santas. I'd gotten myself into enough trouble the year before over a Santa.
Thatone somebody had shot.
A fistfight seemed mild in comparison.
Yeah. Back to my plans.
Importantplans.
I paused at the stop sign. Left would take me to Tess's Uncle Mike and Aunt Ruby's farm. Right would take me to town, and I could use the Santa situation to avoid talking to Mike.
Alone.
