Page 60 of The Snuggle is Real
My heart twisted. Something Charlie said to me flooded back.
One time when Mama was between jobs, we had to move.After we moved, Santa didn’t come. Mama said he must not have had our new address.
Mason looked gutted. “I can see what we can figure out. Unfortunately, that program is maxed out.”
Maxed out on Charlie and me.
“We can take a look at our resources though,” Mason was saying. “I don’t want you to think there’s nothing we can offer.”
“Thank you for trying,” she said. “I’ll, uh, just fill this form out?”
He nodded. “Bring it to my office tomorrow. It’s right next door. We can have a nice sit-down and figure something out.”
“Okay. Come on, kids! Time to head home.”
“Aw, Mom, we didn’t even get anything,” the oldest said.
I darted forward, without thinking, and handed her a little sock monkey. “One of the vendors left it behind.”
“What do you say to the nice man?”
“Thanks,” the little girl said.
Charlie wouldn’t be getting a sock monkey, but I had a feeling this kiddo needed it even more. I’d just picked up some work. I’d save it for Christmas. It’d be fine. It had to be, somehow.
Because I already knew what I was going to do.
As the family went out the door, I turned to Mason.
“Give my spot to them.”
“What?”
“The Adopt-A-Family.”
He shook his head. “Ford, I promised to help you with Charlie. It’s hard to say no. I hate not being able to help everyone, but our resources are finite.”
“So give her our spot,” I said. “I got some work today. You’ve already given us so much. A tree and all these festival tickets.”
“I’ll find a way to help you both.”
I shook my head. “No.”
“Stop being so stubborn,” Mason said, exasperated. “I’m not bailing on you and Charlie, okay? I can’t just walk away. I can’t.”
“Why not?”
Mason stared at me, his eyes intense. “I-I…made a promise,” he repeated, his voice weak. “You need help with Charlie.”
“Not if I find more work. I just need a few more odd jobs.”
“It’s not that simple. There’s no guarantee you’ll get those.”
I couldn’t deny that, but everything in me insisted this was the right thing to do.
We stared at each other, at an impasse, until Mrs. Lil piped up.
“Mason, don’t you need help getting your house ready to host your family?”
