Christmas with the Calvins

Chapter Seventeen

The next morning, Jess was working at a painting station in the doll center. She decided the amount of attention painting doll faces required should be enough to keep her mind from thinking of Bernard. Charlie sat on a stool next to her. He was testing a new handheld video game for Quintin and his team. Bernard himself was also doing his best not to think about Jessie. It was difficult to do when every division of the workshop, from Cecilia in woods to Nigel in instruments, wanted to know when it was their turn to work with Jessica Calvin; the best painter at the North Pole. After circling the doll center for a third time that morning, the head elf decided he'd be more use somewhere else. His resolve was to check on the reindeer in the stable, but before ducking out of the workshop, he slipped a note under Jessie's elbow. She probably wouldn't have noticed the note if Charlie hadn't pointed it out a few minutes later.

"Hey what's that?" Her brother pointed to a yellowish piece of folded paper. Jess looked down to where he'd indicated and saw her name written in a familiar, swirly print.

"It's a note from Bernard." Jess answered before slipping it in her pocket.

"Well what's it say?" Charlie asked.

"None of your business." Jess replied, sticking her tongue out at him.

"You're weird." Charlie giggled at her. "Is it a love note?" He said it so seriously, without an hint of teasing.

"What? Where would you get an idea like that?" Jess demanded.

"Something I heard Quintin and Judy whispering about. They said Bernard loves you." Jess rolled her eyes at Charlie.

"You shouldn't listen to other people's conversations." She told him. "And you definitely shouldn't repeat rumors you hear either."

"Whatever." Charlie shrugged. "I've got to bring this back to Quintin, it still has a few bugs..." He leapt off his stool and walked away. With Charlie out of sight, Jess took out her note an read it over.

Jessie, I'd like to talk to you. Meet me in my office. Same time as yesterday. -B

Folding the note up again, she looked to the large clock that hung in the workshop. It was only eleven. Fourteen hours before two AM. It was going to be the longest fourteen hours of her young life.

"Hey Princess!" Santa greeted his daughter. Jess looked over her shoulder to see Scott walking towards the doll center. "Wow that looks great!" He appraised, lifting a finished doll from her workstation. "Everyone keeps telling me what a great job you do, I guess they're right. You know you're suppose to on vacation."

"Yeah, I know." Jess agreed. "I actually have a lot of fun painting the toys. Plus it helps you and Bernard out, so I'm happy to do it. We have a rotating system where I work through every department's painting team." Scott set the doll back down where he'd found it.

"I don't suppose you could take time out of your rotating system to hang out with your old man." He looked down at her.

"I always have time for you, Dad." Jess promised. "What'd you have in mind?"

"Well I was thinking maybe we'd collect Charlie and the three of us could go see a movie?" Santa suggested.

"You guys have a movie theater up here?" This was the first Jess had heard of this.

"Are you kidding me? You've been here a month, Bernard and Curtis never mentioned the movie theater in the center of town? They know how much you love movies..."

"Well let's go!" Jessie insisted. A movie would be the perfect distraction for at least an hour or so.

After spending the rest of the afternoon with Charlie and her Dad, Jess was finally able to get her run in with Bernard the night before out of her mind. The head elf in question had avoided her for most of the day, and she was starting to wonder if the whole event had just been a dream. Jessie may have even believed it to be a dream, had she not found a note in her pocket before turning in for the night. It fell out of her jeans as she changed into pajamas. Two AM was still five hours away, but the workshop had been cleared of workers already so Jess didn't see any reason why she couldn't sneak up to Bernard's office.

Bernard wasn't shocked or stunned when he heard a knock on his office door. Sure it was quarter past nine and most elves had concluded work for the day, but Curtis, Judy or someone else often came to invite him to their social gatherings. He typically refused of course, especially after June first. There was simply too much work to be done. But perhaps this time he'd say yes, if only to clear his mind before meeting with Jessie.

"Come in!" he invited the knocker. He was surprised to watch Jessie slip into the office and close the door silently behind herself. Maybe that was the reason he was so draw to her. From the first day they'd met, she had this uncanny ability to catch him off guard. She'd wanted to work in the workshop rather than tour it. She felt comfortable talking to him rather than her mother. Then there was her recent arrival that had sent the pair of them tumbling in to snow.

Jessie was still standing by the door, unsure if she'd done the right thing by coming to his office early. Bernard didn't look mad though. If anything, he was pensive about something. She'd seen his features form that thoughtful face before. Whenever another elf approached him with a problem, he'd stop and think for a long while before making the right decision. Maybe that's what had drawn her to him in the first place. He was calm, controlled and calculating. It was a nice contrast to her very uncertain childhood.

"I'm sorry, should I leave?" She asked.

"No, let's talk." Bernard said seriously. Rather than move to a chair as he'd expected, Jessie crossed the room and sat on his plushly decorated cot. When in Rome, he grumbled to himself before sitting a cubic present's length away from her. "Jessie, I enjoy spending time with you." He managed to get out.

"And I enjoy spending time with you." She assured him.

"Listen about last night..."

"So last night..."They both began to say at the same time. They each laughed at their own awkwardness.

"Do you realize I'm two thousand four hundred and eighty-two years older than you?" Bernard sighed.

"Well I knew it was at least a few hundred years but, now that you mention it, a couple thousand is far too much of an age gap." Jessie was teasing him, but the frown on Bernard's face suggested he couldn't tell.

"I should have known." He nodded. "A millennium is considered a sizable gap even among Elves."

"Bernard!" She shoved his shoulder playfully, but her expression was serious. "I was only joking. I don't care how old you are! I love be around you and I...I couldn't stop think about you this morning."

"Really? Because I couldn't stop thinking about you. I tried everything! I even ate lunch with Curtis." If socializing with other elves was Bernard's least favorite activity, eating lunch with Curtis was like walking into the lion's den.

"Well I'm sorry you had to endure that." She joked. "He's really not so bad is he?"

"No, he's just so...enthusiast. Let's not talked about Curtis anymore..."

"I have a better idea, let's not talk at all." Jessie leaned forward and kissed Bernard. She expected him to pull away, but he didn't. Instead he used his hand to cup her chin. Their second kiss was a vast improvement over the first.