Once Upon a Christmas. Pamela Tracy

the back of the fellowship hall there was a coloring table, a face-painting table manned by Beth, and a fishing game. Cassidy looked, paused, and passed by saying, “Maybe I’ll get my face painted, later.”

      Outside, the cold slapped at Maggie’s face. Cassidy zoomed to the maze and latched on to the McCreedy boys, to both Ryan and Caleb’s joy and Matt’s consternation. After one turn making their way through the labyrinth, Maggie knew why. Ryan was overjoyed because he surrendered Matt and Caleb into Maggie’s supervision. He disappeared with his friends toward an impromptu football game played with bigger boys and a few fathers.

      Caleb was overjoyed because he just plain liked girls, Cassidy especially.

      “Nothing makes Matt happy,” Cassidy confided after their third time going through the maze.

      “I want to go help Beth,” Matt said.

      Maggie looked in through one of the windows. Beth had a line ten kids deep. “Beth’s busy at the face-painting booth,” Maggie said. “We’ll see if the line dies down soon, and then you can go help her.”

      An hour later, Cassidy and the boys were out of tickets and Maggie was guiding them back to the fellowship hall and the food line. Matt and Caleb ran ahead, Cassidy on their heels. Maggie wasn’t quite as fast. But, the closer she got, the slower her feet became.

      Once again, Jared had a towel in his hand and was cleaning up a mess. Only this time it wasn’t pancake batter. It was ketchup.

      She didn’t have time to look away before he glanced up and caught her staring.

      She could only hope he realized that she was fixated on the ketchup spill and not him.

      * * *

      Too bad hot dogs were a staple at Solitaire Farm because after tonight, Jared wasn’t sure he could stomach the smell ever again. This wasn’t his first time helping with the church’s Christmas party, but it was his first time without Mandy. The last few Christmases had been hard.

      Jared’s helpers were ambitious and laughed a lot, but they really weren’t much help. They got sidetracked on conversations, mostly football scores or whose house had been broken into recently—seemed there’d been quite a few thefts. They took too long taking orders, because every customer was a friend. They forgot where stuff was stored, even though most had attended the Main Street Church for decades and this wasn’t their first time in the kitchen. And, most of all, they were clumsy.

      Even worse, when they spilled things, they were more likely than not to leave the spill where it was than to clean it up.

      Jared had just sent home Sophia Totwell. She had claimed a hurt ankle; he figured she was as tired of the hot dog smell as he was. Plus, she’d seen her husband and two kids wandering around, looking lost.

      “I wish you’d talk to him,” Sophie said to Jared as she untied her apron. “You’ve been farming a long time. Give him some advice on how to make money as well as spend it.”

      Kyle Totwell didn’t want to hear what Jared had to say. He’d moved onto a broken-down farm, purchased way too many cows for his ability and finances, and was now suffering.

      “Dad, can I have a hot dog?” Caleb skidded under the table, managing to rearrange the tablecloth and knock a handful of napkins to the ground. Matt picked them up and stayed on the correct side of the food counter.

      “One hot dog, no bun, coming up,” Jared said. He nudged Caleb around the table to stand next to Matt. He just knew his voice dripped with patience. Surely Maggie would notice how in control he was. “You want one, too?” he asked Matt.

      “Yes.”

      “And you?” he asked Cassidy.

      “I don’t like buns, either.”

      Maggie came to the edge of the table, guiding Cassidy away from the tablecloth and smiling at Jared as if this morning hadn’t happened.

      “Thanks for what you did earlier, and thanks for taking my boys around,” he said.

      “They were no problem. We had fun.”

      He’d noticed. Maybe that’s why he’d been so attuned to the ambitious, laughing lot in his food court. He’d been wishing he was with Maggie and the kids.

      “I’m sorry I left the coffee shop so abruptly this morn—” he started.

      “Nothing to apologize for,” she finished. “Some topics are harder than others.”

      “What are you guys talking about?” Matt wanted to know.

      “Grown-up talk.” Jared quickly made four plates, two with just hot dogs and two with buns, potato chips and a homemade chocolate chip cookie.

      “I want a choc—” Cassidy and Caleb chimed in unison.

      “Only after you eat the hot dog,” Maggie said. “And then only half.”

      “Dad, you always give me a chocolate chip cookie,” Caleb complained.

      “Now might be a good time to change.”

      Little adult that he was, Matt had already made his way to a table and was eating his hot dog, sans ketchup—before touching anything on his plate. He did not look overjoyed when Cassidy and Caleb joined him. He did, however, astutely move his plate so his cookie was out of his little brother’s reach.

      “How many times did they go through the maze?” Jared asked.

      “I stopped counting at seven.”

      Jared’s next words came out before he had time to think. “You have more patience than I do.” Immediately, he wanted them back. Her smile slipped a little, just enough so he knew she was thinking about this morning.

      She, indeed, did have patience because instead of pointing out the obvious, she simply said, “I’d better go see what the kids are doing and make sure they eat.”

      He watched her walk away, her hips sashaying in such a way that Jared wondered how such an old-fashioned red dress could look so appealing.

      Maybe because it wasn’t the dress.