Chapter 2In the end, we decide I should use the mask anyway since the kids are used to it and Kristian says a mask-less Santa would face endless questions.
I stare at myself in the bathroom mirror; I look ridiculous and horrifying at once. The suit is too big even for my muscular body, hanging off my frame, but when I suggested stuffing a pillow down the pants to fill it out, Kristian refused with a lingering gaze on my toned belly. My full beard pokes through the fake white strands, and the holes for my eyes are weirdly spaced and make me look like something out of a horror movie.
“Are you sure I won’t scare the kids?” I grimace—not that I can see it because it’s hidden by the stupid mask—and suppress a shiver. “I look like Michael Myers with a beard. I scare myself.”
“You’re right. Th
