#mall security

Jack tried to nod as he sniffled and ran both of his hands over his hair. He grabbed his best friend’s wrist and tugged him away to start looking. He needed to find Tyler. He needed to find his baby. He could be out in that mess of people somewhere with no clue what was going on. “Tyler!” he called. “Racer!” He could’ve sobbed when he didn’t get any kind of immediate response.

It was December twelfth. Jack had just taken Race to the mall to meet Santa and do some Christmas shopping and now he was discovering that he was the worst father on earth. He’d taken his eyes off of his son for one second and now no one could find him.

Someone had rammed into his shoulder. Jack had let go of Race’s hand to get the man away from them. Some choice words had been exchanged and when Jack had looked back down, the boy was gone. Terror rushed through his brain as he thought about someone like Snyder just taking his son and running off with him. Dread filled his stomach. “Tyler!”

The mall was huge. The boy could be anywhere by then. Jack was terrified. He could lose the one person in his life he absolutely could not live without and it would be his fault.

There was some Christmas song playing over them and Jack could hardly hear it. Over the past five years, Racer had turned Christmas into his favorite time of year. The little boy would just light up at the sight of everything and Jack could watch the child’s wonder forever. The trees, the cookies, the snow and the presents never ceased to amaze the boy. The kid loved it all so much that he’d even dragged his Uncle Davey into their new family traditions. David Jacobs was born and raised in a Jewish household. He had never celebrated Christmas a day in his life before Tyler James was born and now, suddenly, he was coming over every December twenty fourth and fifth to try and catch Santa Claus in the act.

Jack needed to find his baby.

He was walking so fast, he had no idea if Davey was even still behind him. There were so many people walking around him, not even noticing the tears that Jack could now feel on his cheeks. “Tyler, please…” he begged.

“Excuse me, good sir, were you looking for someone?”

Jack hadn’t known what he’d been expecting when he turned around to that jolly sounding voice but it didn’t matter when he saw his little boy looking up at him. “Oh my God, Tyler!” he cried, reaching down for the boy and immediately scooping him up in his arms. “Don’t you dare ever scare me like that again!” He pressed kiss after kiss to Tyler’s head as the confused and stunned child hugged him around the neck.

“I’m okay, daddy… Santa found me!” And sure enough, who was standing there with a fake beard and a bright red suit but the man himself.

“Ho, ho, ho!” Santa smiled right as Jack’s teary eyes looked up at him. “That’s right! Little Tyler found me walking to my chair and said he got lost.”

Jack took in quick breaths as he held onto his son for dear life. “I’m so sorry, thank you so much, I…” he trailed off with a small shrug as he turned his face into his baby’s hair. “Jesus, Tyler, don’t run off like that…”

“Well, I must say that Tyler’s been a very good boy this year,” Santa said. “He says all he wants for Christmas this year is to be with his dad.”

Tyler nodded into Jack’s neck and Jack all but melted, giving a kiss to his son’s head. “I love you, baby… so much…” he breathed before opening his eyes again to look at Santa Claus. “Thank you so much…”

Santa only nodded before he gave Tyler a small wink. “Have a Merry Christmas, Tyler James… and the same to you, James.” And with that, he walked off. Jack didn’t have time to think about how that man had known his full name.

That’s about when David rushed up to them. “Oh, Racer…” he sighed, kissing the boy’s head when he got close enough. “Are you alright?”

“I met Santa, Uncle Davey! He’s real nice! He found daddy for me!” Race tried to cheer them both up but Jack couldn’t stop shaking.

He just held on tightly to his boy as he led them back outside and found a quiet bench to sit on while he cradled his son to his chest. “I love you so much, Tyler…”

“I love you too, daddy…”

Jack held his baby so tightly while he composed himself. “Okay… it’s okay, we’re okay…” he tried to convince himself. “I got you…”

“And I got you…” Tyler replied, melting into his father.

And Jack nodded.