Club Endless Fantasy

“I’m guessing you didn’t just bring presents for him…” I looked towards the truck.

“No, once we decided to do it, we realized that there were a lot of people spending the holidays alone.” Ian reached into the backseat and grabbed the bag. “It just sort of escalated from there, and the next year, we wanted to do it again—even if there wasn’t anyone we knew in the hospital that holiday season.”

“Wow, that’s really generous.” I stared at the bag. “So, what kind of outfit are you going to wear?”

“Well…” Ian started unzipping the bag, and I saw a hint of red. “I’m Santa Claus.”

“Oh my god!” My eyes nearly bulged out of my head.

I felt like the Grinch because I could have sworn that my heart grew three sizes in an instant. It wasn’t filled with holiday cheer—it was filled with admiration for the amazing man that wanted my heart regardless of how big it was. Every single time I learned something new about Ian, it just made me like him more. I already knew that I had fallen for him—but I was falling a lot harder than I realized. His generosity was as incredible as his sense of humor. He was going to be the sexiest Santa Claus to ever put on a red suit, that was for sure. I wished I could see the world through his eyes and not let the things that impacted me in the past ruin my perception.

“You don’t have to go with us to hand out gifts if you don’t want.” Ian opened my door and extended his hand. “That’s totally up to you.”

“No.” I shook my head back and forth. “I want to help…”

If I would stand in the cold and ring a bell for him, I’m not going to sit in the lobby while he’s handing out gifts.

Ian introduced me to the people that worked for him, and then we all started unloading the gifts in the back of the truck. Once everything was in the lobby of the hospital, Ian and I walked into one of the side rooms so he could put on his Santa Claus costume. That took longer than it should have because a little privacy led to a lot of kissing. I didn’t even care that he put the outfit on over his regular clothes. I still got a chance to feel him up both in and out of the Santa costume before we joined the rest of the group.

“How does this work?” I looked at the array of gifts. “Do we just give them whatever we pull out of the sack?”

“No.” A woman that had been introduced as Ian’s secretary, Samantha, walked up to me. “The ones that have Santa wrapping paper are for the kids—red for the boys and green for the girls. The same colors apply for the adults, but we give them one of the gifts that are just wrapped in basic paper.”

“Easy enough.” I nodded and started loading gifts into one of the sacks.

We took the elevator to the first floor, met with the hospital administrator, and then we were on our way to hand out gifts. Ian made a spectacle of it, throwing out a lot of ho-ho-hos and Merry Christmases as we walked down the hallway. I couldn’t help but laugh. All of the people that worked for him seemed to be in a really good mood—they literally looked like children that were finding their own gifts under the tree rather than handing them out to strangers.

The patients at the hospital were delighted to see us. I had never seen so many smiles on faces that didn’t have a reason to wear one. It might have been a small gift—but it was the experience that made their faces light up with holiday cheer. We even gave gifts to all of the nurses, who were delighted that we were including them in the celebration.

“You must be pretty special to Mr. Alexander.” Samantha looked over at me as we walked to the elevators that would take us to the next floor. “He’s never brought a date to one of these things before—honestly, I didn’t even realize he dated.”

“It’s a pretty new relationship.” I looked down and smiled.

But I’m going to do everything I can to make sure it lasts.

The next floor was similar to the first. We handed out gifts, listened to a few stories, and then made our way to the next room. Ian didn’t seem to be running out of steam. He was still letting his ho-ho-hos rip every few steps we took. This continued until we didn’t have many gifts left, and it felt like we had covered all of the floors except for one that we skipped—I assumed that was because it didn’t have patients or something. I was rather exhausted, and my feet were definitely feeling it, even if Ian didn’t seem to be losing a step—I was pretty sure my voice would have been shot by the second floor if I tried to mimic what he was doing.

“Okay, everyone come over here, and let’s talk for a minute.” Ian motioned to the group.

“Is everything alright?” I glanced at Samantha.

“Yeah.” She grimaced. “This is just the point where some people don’t want to continue—and Ian understands if it’s too difficult.”

“Why?” My eyebrows shot up in concern.

“The last floor is…” She took a deep breath. “It’s the one for the kids that are really sick—the ones that may not be here next year.”

“Oh…” My heart sank into my stomach. “That’s terrible.”

“It is, and it can be kind of painful. A lot of them make a full recovery, but some don’t.” She sighed. “It’s hard for some people to put a smile on their face, and they don’t need to see people crying when they come into their rooms to hand out gifts.”

“Wow. Yeah.” I nodded in understanding.

Ian talked to the group and basically told them the same thing that Samantha told me. There were some that didn’t think that they could handle the final floor, so bags were consolidated and shifted to those that thought they would be able to put on a brave face. I honestly didn’t know how I would react. I was kind of scared to go with them. My heart might have been hardened to the holiday season, but sick kids were sure to make it melt. As soon as the group of people that didn’t think they could go walked to the elevator, Ian took my hand, and we walked around the corner, away from Samantha and the people that worked for him.

“You’ve done an amazing job. You don’t have to finish this. It’s really difficult for me, but I just try to remember that they don’t get to smile much—I figure I can hold it together long enough to see one on their face.” Ian squeezed my hand.

“Yeah, I don’t know.” I looked down at the floor and sucked some oxygen into my lungs. “This…”