I'm Your Santa by Castell Dianne

Author:Castell, Dianne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp.
Published: 2007-09-07T04:00:00+00:00

Six

Accuracy? Trey glanced down at the worn Bible he’d picked up in a thrift store. The Bible was only a prop. Ah, man, he was screwed. He thought back to the times he’d gone to church, which were sporadic at best. His father didn’t believe in much—including God. No, he was in trouble if they asked anything specific.

His past was coming back to haunt him.

“Sure,” he told Bailey. “I’d love to be a part of making your play a success.” He wondered if they strung people up in Two Creeks.

“Good,” she said with excitement, then chewed on her bottom lip. “Uh, Fallon seems a little hard at first but…”

“Her bite is worse than her bark?” he finished.

“Yeah. She had a hard life growing up.” She glanced across the seat of the car. “Much like you.”

“And she runs this theater.”

She nodded. “Yeah, well she used to be an undercover CIA agent.”

Her brother was the sheriff, her sister-in-law ex-CIA. Man, if they found out he wasn’t a preacher he’d be dead meat.

But they wouldn’t. He drew in a deep breath, telling himself he’d be getting his Oscar by the time they figured out his real identity. If he could fool them, he could fool an audience.

She parked the car in front of a red brick building and they got out. A sign proclaimed it as Ye Olde Theater.

“Merry Christmas,” Santa said in a gruff voice as he sat in the over-sized white chair.

Santa looked an awful lot like the doctor.

“Here,” he thrust a candy cane toward them. “I don’t know why I have to sit out here freezing my butt off just to make the dentist some money.”

Santa sounded an awful lot like the doctor, too.

“You do it because you love it and you know it,” Bailey said with laughter in her voice.

“’Cause no one else will do it,” he grumbled, but there was a twinkle in his eyes.

He hobbled inside, Bailey opening the doors. He bet that most kids were afraid to be bad.

“This used to be the old movie house,” Bailey said as they walked across frayed red carpet. “Flubber was the last movie shown here. The town is so small that the theater was losing money and had to shut down. Fallon bought the building, and once every couple of months we have a play.”

“And the actors?”

“High school students, housewives, some of the older people from the nursing home even join in. We sort of take turns playing the lead. This month is mine.”

Great, he’d landed in Mayberry.

They went through double doors, and down to the stage. The seats were in place but the screen was gone. Floor to ceiling deep-red drapes opened to reveal a scarred wooden stage floor. The heavy scent of cedar came from a decorated Christmas tree in the corner.

His father had never put up a tree. They were a waste of time, he’d said. So were presents.

Even now, Trey managed to be out of town during Christmas. Usually, he’d be at his hunting lodge—alone. He liked it better that way.

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