a momentary consideration.
His sister giggled at a private joke.
“Been to see Santa yet?”
Kelsey nodded avidly. “Twice. I forgot to tell him something the first time, so I went back. He remembered me. He said he would—”
“Kelsey!” Pip said patiently. “It was a yes-or-no question.”
“Oh. Then, yes. We seen him.”
“Saw him,” Pip murmured.
Kelsey gave a deep sigh. “Saw him,” she repeated.
“Didn’t I see you in my shop yesterday?” Ryan asked, forgetting her own mental warnings about talking to the kids.
“The doll shop,” Kelsey said, nodding again. “I like your store very much.”
“It’s a cool shop,” her brother agreed politely. “If you like dolls, I guess,” he couldn’t resist adding.
Ryan laughed. “I happen to like dolls.”
“Me, too,” Kelsey seconded fervently.
“Feel free to come back in and look around whenever you like,” Ryan said, touched by the child’s obvious delight in the shop. She had never gotten over her own childhood fascination with dolls of any shape and size, so she could easily identify with her.
Kelsey looked pleased by the invitation. “Thank you. Maybe Pip will let me come look again after lunch.”
The boy nodded, still concentrating on his hamburger.
“I remember you,” Max said suddenly, looking at the girl. “You helped me pick out a doll for my niece yesterday.”
The child smiled shyly. “My name’s Kelsey,” she volunteered. “That’s my brother. His name is Peter, but I call him Pip, ‘cause I like Pip better.”
“Hello, Kelsey. Hi, Pip. I’m Max.”
The children acknowledged his greeting, then turned expectantly to Ryan.
“I’m Ryan,” she said obligingly.
“I’m six years old.” Kelsey made the announcement with pride. “Pip’s nine.”
“I’m thirty-four,” Max said gravely. “How old are you, Ryan?”
She gave him a pointed look. “I’m twenty-eight.”
“Are you married, Ryan?” Kelsey asked innocently.
“No,” she said, forcing a smile. “I’m not married.”
“Are you married, Max?” Pip asked casually.
“No,” Max answered, still looking amused. “How about you, Pip? Tied the knot yet?”
Kelsey dissolved into giggles. “He’s not married, silly,” she said reprovingly. “He’s only a kid—even if he is a lot older than me.”
“Oh, that’s right. I guess I forgot for a minute,” Max said, winking at Ryan.
She reached desperately for her iced tea, wondering in exasperation how a crooked grin and a quick wink could raise her body temperature by about fifty degrees.
“We saw you in the sporting-goods store, too,” Pip told Max. “You bought a football. Have you played with it yet?”
Max chuckled. “Not yet. I’ll probably try it out on Sunday. Some of my friends and I get together on Sunday afternoons to play touch football in City Park.”
“City Park’s not far from where we live,” Kelsey commented. “Me and Pip go there sometimes and play on the swings. I like to swing.”
A mall employee in a bright red-and-green uniform approached the table with a colorful bouquet of helium-filled balloons bobbing behind her.
“Hi,” she said, her ponytail bouncing perkily. She looked at Ryan. “Would your kids like a balloon? They’re free.”
“Oh, uh…” Flustered, Ryan looked at the children.
“I’d like one, thank you,” Kelsey said, pointing to a red balloon. “May I have that one?”
“Sure.” The young woman plucked the red balloon from the batch and pressed the string into Kelsey’s hand. “Don’t let go now or it’ll fly away. Maybe your dad’ll tie it to your wrist.”
Before anyone could answer, she turned to Pip. “How about you? Want a balloon?”
Pip shook his head. “No, thank you.”
“Okay. See ya, then. Have a nice day.”
The young woman had already spotted another family group. As she moved toward them, she looked over her shoulder at Ryan. “Nice kids,” she said.
Fortunately, Ryan was spared having to answer.
Kelsey was grinning at Max. “She thought you were my daddy.”
“Yeah. I guess she did.” Max looked almost as disconcerted as Ryan had felt when the woman had mistaken her for the children’s mother.
“You don’t have any children, do you, Max?”
“No, Kelsey. I don’t have any children.”
The child gave him a melting smile. “Would you like some?”
She jerked suddenly, as though she’d been kicked beneath the table. “Ouch, Pip! That—”
“Finish your french fries,” her brother said quickly. “You don’t want them to get cold.”
Kelsey sighed and turned back to her meal. “How can I eat and hold my balloon at the same time?”
“Here,” Max said. “I’ll tie it to your wrist for you.”
Kelsey obligingly held out her hand. “Thank you, Max,” she said with a coquettish bat of her eyes.
To Ryan’s amusement, Max’s cheeks darkened. “Yeah. Sure,” he said, hastily tying the string into a loose slipknot.
Ryan gathered her empty plastic salad bowl and other trash, then pushed her chair away from the table. “I have to get back to work. It’s been nice chatting with you, Kelsey and Pip.”
“And Max,” Kelsey reminded her.
“Yes, of course. And Max, too.”
Max looked as though he wanted to say something else. Ryan hurried away before he had the chance.
Though she couldn’t have explained her overreaction, she was still a bit shaken at being taken for a family with Max and the children. The experience had left an oddly hollow feeling deep inside her.
Must have been the salad, she decided. One could never trust fast-food places to have really fresh vegetables.
3
THE ESCALATORS WERE mobbed, and the glass elevators in the center of the mall were packed like sardine cans, with more shoppers waiting to get on. Ryan ducked into one of the discreetly located service elevators tucked into an out-of-the-way nook. She noticed as the doors closed silently behind her that she wasn’t the only occupant.
Santa Claus was also on board.
“Taking a break?” she asked, pushing the button for the third floor.
“A brief one,” Santa replied, his voice deep and pleasant, just the way Ryan thought it should be. “Did you have a nice lunch?”
Ryan wondered if he’d noticed her downstairs or was simply making a guess. “Yes, thank you. It’s crazy this week, isn’t it? I’ve noticed you’ve had some incredibly long lines of children waiting to see you.”
“I