"Oh, I'm sure she'd be interested," Jill assured him with a grin. She felt like her heart was bursting. He liked her! And he thought she was funny, smart, and sexy.
"I guess we'll see when I ask her out."
"When will that be?" Jill asked with excitement. "I mean when is the year up?"
"Both the year and the divorce were final yesterday. I signed the final decree last night." Nick admitted and then gave a dry laugh. "And actually, I had it all planned to ask her out today."
Jill had to grab onto Santa's chair to keep from jumping up and down with glee and squealing.
Nick continued. "I was going to invite her to my sister's Christmas party after the parade. That way there'd be no nervous, first-date jitters, just a relaxed invitation to join me at my sister's. I even invited the others in the parade along too so she wouldn't feel pressured."
"Oh," Jill breathed, thinking he was the most thoughtful man in the world. If he'd asked her out on an actual date the first time, she would have been over the moon, until the first-date jitters set in. Then she would have spent whatever time there was between his asking and the actual date fretting over what to wear, what to say, desperate to have everything perfect.
God, what a clever man he was. His way was so much more relaxed. If he invited her with a bunch of people, she would have been relaxed thinking it was just a group thing and—
Damn! Jill's happiness turned to dismay as she realized that John and his craziness had completely screwed up everything. There wouldn't be any relaxed first date because she wasn't here. Her first date, probably, finally their first kiss too. Jill had been fantasizing about that first kiss for so long, she doubted the real thing could live up to it. She would have liked to find out though. Dammit! Why had John chosen today of all days to act like a crazy prick and zap her? If not for him she'd be herself up here and she so wanted to be herself right then.
"Say, why is that guy coming out of Jill's store?"
Jill let go of her thoughts and glanced around with confusion. Nick was peering to the left of the float and she followed his gaze, noting that they'd reached their street of stores. The parade was almost over. At the end of this road, they would pull into the parking lot and disband. Her gaze slid along the storefronts until she found her own and she stiffened as she spotted the man now turning away from the door of her store. John Heathcliffe. His gaze slid over the people on the street and then across the floats passing by until it landed on her where it froze, eyes widening with incredulous recognition.
No, he couldn't recognize her, Jill thought with dismay. She didn't look anything like herself.
"He seems to know you. Who—" Nick's words died as he turned curiously toward her and suddenly froze. "Jesus," he breathed, his wide eyes eating her alive. "Jill? Where did you come from?"
"What?" She peered at him with confusion and then realized he'd called her Jill. Glancing down, she jerked the cape closed with a squeak of alarm as she saw that she'd changed back to herself and now stood on the float with nothing but the cape covering her. She was herself and naked. How? She wondered frantically and then realized that she'd been standing there wishing she was herself. Her body had obviously listened.
And, of course, John had recognized her. That thought forced any concern for her nudity from her mind and she jerked her eyes back to the bane of her existence. Jill wasn't at all surprised to see that John Heathcliffe was now pushing his way through the crowds, fighting to get to the float.
"Jill? What's going on? Where did Noelle go?" Nick was obviously struggling with confusion, but she didn't have the time to explain.
"I have to go," she muttered, and tried to turn away, but he caught her arm.
"Wait a minute," he said. "How—?"
"I can't explain right now, Nick. Please let me go, he's coming. He'll get me," she cried, panic choking her throat as she saw John break out of the crowd and stumble onto the street next to the float behind their own. As slow as the parade was moving, it wouldn't take him long to reach their float and be on her.
"But the parade," Nick said.
"It's done, we're nearing the end of the street now," she pointed out, tugging at her arm. "Please."
Nick glanced around and saw that they were indeed nearing the parking lot where they would disband. They had two more stores to pass. Frowning, he glanced back to her frantic face, then toward John who was now running behind the float, reaching for the edge to boost himself up.
Mouth tightening, Nick began to urge her toward the front of the float. "Okay, let's go."
"What?" Jill glanced at him with surprise as he hurried her to the opposite end of the float from where John was trying to board. "You're coming with me?"
"Like you said, the parade is over," he pointed out with a shrug. "And I don't know what's going on… but I want to."
"Oh," Jill breathed unhappily, not at all sure she could explain everything to the man. She'd have to explain about her brother and his wife, and the molecular destabilizer and that wasn't her secret to share. Besides, she wasn't sure she wanted to. He said he liked her because she was normal and sane, and she had been until that morning. Now she was anything but normal. Once he found that out, would Nick lose interest in her?
"Hey! What do you think you're doing, buddy?!"
Jill glanced back over her shoulder at that shout from Jay to see him and the other two adult elves converging on the spot where John now hung off the float. His upper body was on it and he was struggling to pull his legs onboard, a struggle made more difficult as the three little men began kicking and hitting him while the children playing elves pelted him with candy canes from a safe distance.
"Jump."
Jill jerked her gaze back around just as Nick leapt from the float, pulling her with him. Biting back the scream that leapt up her throat, Jill concentrated on trying to land on her feet, but she was off balance and landed wrong. Her ankle twisted out from under her and she fell.
"Are you all right?" Nick asked with concern, kneeling at her side.
Jill nodded, then glanced down and blushed self-consciously as Nick suddenly tugged her cape down to cover her upper thighs.
"You really have to explain this to me," he muttered, lifting her to her feet.
Jill didn't comment, concentrating on holding the edges of the cape together as he set her upright.
"Come on." Nick tugged her quickly through the crowd. It took her a minute to realize he was leading her back to his store, then they were there and he was retrieving keys from his pocket and unlocking the door.
Jill shifted from foot to foot and glanced anxiously back toward the float, cursing when she saw that John was now standing on it surrounded by angry elves. He was ignoring them, however, his attention fixed on her.
"Inside." Nick caught her arm and tugged her inside the dark shop.
"He saw us," Jill said anxiously, moving to peer out the window toward the float as Nick locked the door again.
"I know. He's probably headed here then," Nick said grimly and caught her arm to urge her away from the window. "We won't have much time."
"Time for what?" Jill asked with despair. It seemed to her they didn't have any time at all. She should be headed out the back door that very minute and without Nick. He wasn't the one John wanted and should be safe so long as she wasn't with him.