Page 3 of Secret Santas and Holiday Dances

“Darn right, you can’t.”

Ryan was four years older than Liam but acted more like he was ten years older. Ryan had six kids with Liam’s sister, Helena, and constantly complained about how kids aged you. All three of Liam’s sisters had made it their mission to talk about Philly as though it were the armpit of the nation whenever they could, and extolling the virtues of Harvest Ranch. Ryan had joined in a year ago when Liam had moved back. Liam was pretty sure it was their way of sweetening the pot. Making sure Liam knew he’d made the right choice moving home.

“Well, just think of it,” Ryan said. “We’re kind of like Secret Santas ourselves, only without the secret part. Here at a client’s house to look at their roof this morning and fix a leak.”

Liam lifted his fist in solidarity at the same time the door swung open.

“Good morning!” Georgia Howard held a baby on her hip and had the biggest smile on her face.

The Howards were past clients. They were renting their house from and seventy-something-year-old man, and he had broken a hip yesterday, trying to fix the roof on his own, bless him. The man didn’t have the money to hire someone to do the work for him, so the Howards called them. Attorneys at law, big ol’ softies, Jack of all trades, last-minute roofers. That was Collins and Brown. Maybe one day they’d call it Brown and Nichols since Collins had retired years ago.

“Morning, Georgia,” Ryan said, tilting the rim of his cowboy hat. “We hear you have a leaky roof?”

Georgia let them in. “Yes, I’ll show you.” She bounced her baby. “But first, you’ll never guess. The Secret Santa left us a big ol’ ham last night.”

Santa had struck again, had he?

Ryan gave him a pointed look. “Did he, now? That’s amazing!”

“How he could’ve known we couldn’t afford one this year, I’ll never know,” she said, leading them to the kitchen. She opened her fridge, where things had been shoved aside and stacked haphazardly to make room for what had to be at least a twenty-pound ham. “It’s a miracle.”

Liam had known they were barely getting by, Jacob Howard had mentioned it in passing at church, and Liam’s dad had brought it up at family dinner the same night. His family had planned to buy dinners for a few of the poorer families in the congregation. Looked like Santa had beaten them to the punch.

“So,” Ryan said. “How about that leak?”

* * *

By the time Liam and Ryan got to the roof a half-hour later, the sun had melted most of the snow. That made things a lot easier. They had a crack in the asphalt tiling, but thankfully no leaks into the house. Liam got the patch cloth ready as Ryan applied the wet cement to the crack.

“You coming to the Christmas Barn Dance this Friday?” Ryan asked.

Liam nodded. It was the first of three big dances that were happening this month that his family expected him to take part in. He checked each dance off in his mind. One, the Barn dance, two Emma Lee Bradford’s Christmas bash, and three, the Nichols’ Family Christmas Party. “Yep.”

He couldn’t risk the wrath of his sisters if he didn’t. He was still in the making-up-the-years-of-absence phase—had been since he’d come home a little of a year ago.

“This is Penny’s first year at the barn dance,” Ryan said. “She told me you promised to dance with her, so you better be there and on time.”

“Yes, sir,” Liam saluted his brother-in-law. Penny was his oldest niece. She’d just turned thirteen, and they had a family tradition that you could only go to the dances when you became a teenager—a rite of passage in the Nichols family. “I can’t believe Penny is thirteen already. Seems like she was born yesterday.”

Penny had been one when he’d gone to law school, and he’d only been home a year between graduating and getting that job in Philly. He’d been home a couple of years now, but he’d missed so much of her growing-up years and those of his other nine nieces and nephews. He didn’t regret the choices he’d made in his life, but he was sad that he’d missed so much of those kids. Coming home had been the right choice.

Ryan cleared his throat, then cleared it again, then coughed, and cleared it one more time. Liam chuckled. Ryan only ever did that when he was working up to asking Liam a question that he either didn’t want to ask or felt like was none of his business. A pretty clear indicator the question was coming from his sister. “So,” another throat clear, “you bringing anyone with you to the barn dance?”

Liam chuckled. “Do you have no guile?”

“Not when dessert is at stake,” he said straight out. “So, are you? Helena said I can’t have her homemade cherry pie tonight unless I asked you.”

Cherry pie? Liam shook his head. “Helena is a cruel, cruel woman.”

“Don’t I know it.” Ryan grabbed the cement again.

“I’m not,” Liam said.

Ryan nodded. “She said if you said that to ask you why you aren’t bringing Grace.”

Grace.

Liam’s heart thudded one time loudly against his chest. “Grace and I aren’t a couple.”

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