#BookLife3 - How Mrs Claus got on the naughty list (fiction)

Chapter 1

Hi I'm Clara Claus. Who am I? The long suffering wife of the "beloved" Santa.

Hmpfff if people knew him like I did, they wouldn't be impressed at all.  

Jolly? Hah! Give me a break. Barking orders to me and the rest of the staff.

If it wasn't for me, the elves and reindeer would have left eons ago. 

I keep this grotto running smoothly. I maintain the good working relationships so nobody is taken for granted and what does Mr Red Suit do?

Delegate, delegate and shirk his responsibilities onto me. I do the naughty list, I open the letters. I do it all.

All jolly pants does is do the deliveries. Well I am fed up of it. I want recognition too.

He has lost his magic. I think he wants to retire but at the same time, can't live outside the spotlight.

Just between you and me, my eyes have been wandering. I mean hey..

I put up with a lot, spending the holidays alone is no picnic. He's not as affectionate as he used to be.

His eyes would sparkle with energy and mischief, now they are just cold and lifeless.

Well I am still young at heart and I want romance and adventure.

Chapter 2

The Grinch and Scrooge have been secretly wining and dining me and I am loving it.

Casey is oblivious. He is hardly here to be honest. The elves have noticed me humming around the workshop.

They assume me and Casey have patched things up. I am definitely not correcting them.

It's only the 9th December but I have already decided before the year is out I will leave him.

I just haven't decided who to pick yet. I mean me and Casey met straight out of Holiday College and he was my first and only boyfriend.

I was so young back then. Well he may have given up on life but not me.

Gerardo Grinch and Stefano Scrooge I met at our annual Christmas party.

As usual Casey was boasting about breaking records, shaving time off his annual sky trip and scoffing chocolate yule logs.

What a bore. He didn't even comment on my new red sparkly dress or my short chic wavy hairdo.

But they did.......

I met Gerardo first. He hates parties but our eyes locked, he kissed my hand.

Nobody has done that for years and we danced and talked, he asked about me, not Santa.

Nobody ever does that anymore. It was perfect. I had butterflies.

He left and then Stefano approached me and said he couldn't keep away any longer.

I giggled. I mean, when was the last time I did that? Huh? He was charming.

Casey hadn't noticed a thing, he was surrounded laughing away, keeping up appearances or maybe he enjoyed this tediousness.

Who knows? Who cares? Not I anymore. I was going to run away from it all.

Chapter 3

Me and Stefano snuck away and just carried on talking. The way he looked at me brought me back to life.

I felt young again and as he kissed my hand and looked at me with genuine affection, I found myself nodding that I would see him again.

I felt horribly guilty, at first. I had always been faithful and never once tempted to stray.

I don't know when I fell out of love with Casey but our marriage was dead.

I just didn't know who to choose. Nothing scandalous occurred. I am still a respectable married woman.

But there were kisses on the cheek, hugs and hand holding. An emotional set of affairs I guess?

Gerardo Grinch was generous but hated socialising. He preferred to stay indoors and just stay low key and for a while it was fine but I wanted more.

Whereas Stefano Scrooge was penny pinching but he loved to wile away the hours dancing, bowling or even ice skating.

(As long as he had a voucher or there was a prominent discount available). 

What am I going to do? Who do I pick? If Casey was the man I married, I would happily stay forever but sadly the man I once knew is gone.

Chapter 4

I walked outside, the snow was falling and it was picturesque. I would miss it when I skipped off to Hawaii.

I just wanted a change. I breathed in the cold biting air. I didn't know how I was going to say goodbye.

I carved out a snowman and then smashed it to pieces because it reminded me too much of Casey.

Ugh my phone was beeping away with calls and messages. Casey wanted me to do the schmoozing thing with him.

Hah, as if we had a perfect marriage. Why was keeping up appearances so important?

Maybe if he worked on this partnership, we would be really happy, instead of faking it.

Now that I had made the difficult decision to leave him, I felt as phony as he was.

What was I sticking around for? To help out the staff? To assist him, one last time?

I sighed with restlessness and reluctantly went inside. I stood at the doorway and peeked around.

Everybody was still in good spirits and then Casey marched up to me and put my red glimmering shawl around my shoulders.

"Where have you been? I was worried about you?" I rolled my eyes at the insensitive question.

"Yea right. You seemed real concerned as you were yacking it up and being the perfect host."

"Let's not do this here, we have guests and I have a frantic night ahead of me."

"It's allllll about you, isn't it Casey? Well I have reached my limit and when you return tonight I won't be here."

"I'm leaving you tonight." Casey swiftly took my elbow and frogmarched me out to the corridor to talk discreetly.

Chapter 5

"What are you talking about Clara? I know I have been neglecting you all night but I was just doing my hostly duties."

"I think you are being overly sensitive. I prom-" I wrenched my elbow out of Casey's strong grip.

"Don't you dare put this on me. I have been patient and caring and waited for you to see how much I do for you."

"Do you ever stop and say thanks or have a kind word? No! You just expect it to be done, so you can hang out with your reindeer and elf friends."

"Well I am sick of spending the holidays alone and I am leaving you for either Scroogey or Grinchy."

"I haven't decided!"

"Are you out of your mind woman?? I hire those clowns to spend time with you to find out what you wanted for Christmas."

"I will kill them both!!"

I slumped against the wall as my eyes began to water. "I feel so humiliated."

Casey tried to pull me into a tight embrace but I pushed him away.

He outmaneuvered me and held me tightly as I sobbed on his chest.

You would think it would be his thick beard but just between you and me, Casey preferred to be clean shaven and wore a fake beard.

Chapter 6

We stood silently for a bit until someone coughed. Sheepishly standing there looking guilty was Stefano and Gerardo.

I narrowed my eyes angrily and slapped them both wordlessly. Casey clenched his fist but I grabbed his hand to stop him.

"If I ever see either of you near me or my wifey again. I'll tear your eyes out and then I'll make you really sorry."

Gerardo and Stefano gulped, nodded and scurried off gasping and mumbling it was the other's fault.

Casey kissed me softly on the lips as I looked up at him confused. My eyes were red from crying and my makeup had run.

"You are still the most beautiful woman I have ever known. I still remember our first meeting."

"You were hurrying somewhere and dropped a book. I picked it up and would only return it to you, if you agreed to a date with me."

"I would have done or said anything to keep you talking, even if it was just for a few seconds longer."

"As soon as I saw those soft chestnut eyes, I was a goner." Casey's declaration had my eyes swimming with fresh tears.

"I know I've been a bad hubby but that is because of the surprise."

"I've fully trained my replacement Nick, what a weird name but he is ready to take over and I am prepared to woo and win over the love of my life again, if she will have me?"

"Aren't you mad at me for the emotional affair? Nothing happened. There were hugs, pecks on my cheek but I never initiated anything but still...."

"I guess I was just tired of being alone in this marriage and I wanted someone to notice me and care what I wanted or needed."

Casey nodded sadly. "I was livid and jealous but I realised you are right. I took you for granted and just stopped seeing you as my best friend."

"I was going to wait until Christmas Eve but I have booked us tickets to Hawaii and although I would have liked to have flown reindeer style, one last time.."

"We can go by plane." I held onto Casey tightly. He was finally back, the man I remembered so long ago.

"My first and last love. Merry Christmas Casey." Casey smiled and said "Merry Christmas wifey."

Casey waved his magic finger and with that, my name was off the naughty list and back on the nice list, where it belonged.

As we were standing under the mistletoe we kissed passionately, held hands and walked off into a new festive adventure.

The End.