"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.
"I'm calling the police."
Startled out of her thoughts, Jill glanced around wildly and realized that Nick had drawn her to the store's back room and released her to move around the desk and pick up his phone. Lunging forward, she pressed down on the phone receiver, hanging up on him even as he started to punch in the number.
"What are you doing?" he asked with surprise.
"No police," she said, her voice panicky.
"Don't be ridiculous, Jill." He pushed her hand out of the way. "This guy is obviously bothering you or something. The police—" His words died and he lifted a disbelieving expression to her as she suddenly ripped the cord out of the phone.
"I'm sorry," she said at once. "But I can't let you call the police. I can't explain, but this doesn't affect just me, but my family." She glanced down at the cord still in her hand and dropped it with a sigh. "I'll replace that, I promise."
"Where are you going?" Nick hurried around the desk after her when she opened the door between the back room and the shop.
"I'm going to wait until he's looking in the front door and then slip out the back door. He'll leave you alone then and come after me. You'll be safe."
"Are you crazy?" Nick pulled her away from the door and into the middle of the back room, real anger on his face now. "You must be if you think I'm going to let you draw him off so I'm safe while you try to handle this on your own."
"He doesn't want you," Jill pointed out on a sigh. "This is—"
They both fell silent and turned to glance to the front of the store as they heard someone try the door. As they watched, John released the knob and used his hands to frame his face against the window, trying to see inside.
"He can't see us," Nick murmured. "It's dark back here."
Jill bit her lip, watching John with the same fascination she'd watched a snake about to strike. She then became aware that Nick had moved away from her.
"What are you doing?" she asked in a whisper as he moved back to the door between the front and back of the shop, then her attention shifted back to the front door as John began to tug at it again as if he could force it open by sheer will. Nick paused too, she noted, but her attention was on watching John try to open the door, then the scientist suddenly stopped and moved away on the sidewalk, trying to look nonchalant. They understood why when a police officer appeared in front of the store and approached him.