Page 38 of Sweet Home

Elizabeth won’t have those struggles,she told herself comfortingly.Her dad will make sure she has clean clothes and hot meals and gets a good night’s sleep.

Across the table, West glanced over atElizabeth, his eyes on her careful hand as she colored the red swirls of the peppermints on the gingerbread house.

There was something so comforting about seeing a dad care for a child the way West cared for Elizabeth. He never seemed to get angry or even impatient with her. He looked over at her all the time like this—like he was wondering if he needed to help her in some way. Dulcie could feel it healing parts of her heart she hadn’t known were broken.

There must have been a time when I loved my dad, a time when he showed me his true colors and it surprised me in a good way, instead of just hurting.

“Penny for your thoughts,” Tripp said suddenly.

“Just trying to imagine what the snowball fight will be like,” she said.

“It will be mayhem,” Tripp said happily. “Adults participate, and teens too. And year before last, Tag’s little boy, Chance, won the whole thing. Though he had a lot of help from his big sister.”

“Wow,” Dulcie said. “So, all those people out there are actually participating?”

They looked out the window to where the park was teeming with people, all laughing and looking very excited. Some of them already had caches of snowballs at the ready.

“Oh yes,” Tripp said. “They’ll form allegiances too. It’s a big prize this year. It’s always the spotlighted gift in the toy store window. That’s why the toy store sponsors it.”

“Not my castle,” Elizabeth said worriedly, looking up from her work.

“No, no,” West told her. “It’s the big stuffed animal treehouse. Your castle is safe.”

Elizabeth nodded, looking relieved, and Dulcie couldn’t help smiling at her and secretly hoping that West was buying her that castle. Though she was pretty sure it was awfully expensive.

“They’re getting started,” Tripp crowed, his eyes on the window.

Dulcie looked over just in time to see a grown man leaping over a park bench to fling a snowball at a group of startled teenagers.

“Amazing,” Tripp laughed. “Get ‘em, Stravinsky.”

“Who’s that?” Dulcie asked.

“Dale Stravinsky, the high school softball coach,” West said with a smile. “He always comes close, but he never wins.”

“We think he lets the kids have it in the end,” Tripp said approvingly, his eyes still on the window. “Though he’ll never admit it. Nice guy.”

“Really?” West asked.

“Oh yeah,” Tripp said. “His dream is that one of his softball girls will win it one year. That’s why he’s so into it. Having one of them win in front of all those little kids might mean more girls want to try out for the team when they get to high school.”

“Wow,” Dulcie said.

“Tripp coaches hockey over at the school,” West said. “So he knows all the other coaches.”

They watched as a couple of kids snuck up behind Stravinsky, and Dulcie was pretty sure he wasgoing to get pelted. But he managed to duck under the first snowball and dodge behind a tree before the others could land.

Tripp laughed, and some of the others who were warming up in the café cheered a little.

Dulcie looked around for a moment, and decided that she couldn’t imagine a cozier way to spend a winter Saturday.

13

DULCIE

Dulcie had a wonderful day in town. After the café, they wandered around a bit, watching the snowball fight from the fringes and then stopping by the ice cream shop.

When West reminded Elizabeth that they had to go home for a nap and then come back later for the tree lighting, Elizabeth was instantly in tears. Charlotte’s mother insisted that Elizabeth come upstairs to her apartment over the shop to take her nap.

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