Page 38 of Sew Matcha in Love
“Or a snowman!” Isla suggested.
“He’s probably already got plans for those things. I’m thinking something along the lines of a surprise, like what he left for us today.”
The girls looked at each other, then at me. “We’ll get back to you.”
I laughed. I loved it when they spoke in unison.
After we all pitched in to clean up dinner, I suggested a movie night. Arwyn wanted to get back to her project, but she said we were fine watching on the bigger screen in the front room instead of upstairs.
“Zaki?” she asked, turning back to the kitchen as she approached her door. “You’re off tomorrow morning, right?”
“I am.”
“Is it all right with you if I went to church and then for a soda? I’ll be back around one thirty.”
I nodded. “Sure. Mind if we come with you? The girls haven’t been since Christmas.”
She hesitated, tucking an invisible strand of hair behind her ear. “Um, of course. We’ll need to leave by ten.”
“I’ll have the girls fed and dressed by nine fifty,” I promised.
“Great. Well, enjoy your movie.”
“How can I not? It’sFrozen 2. I know every word by heart. Let me know if I’m singing along too loudly and I’ll turn myself down,” I joked.
This time she smiled. “I will.”
I watched her go into her room and then joined the girls and the dogs on the sofa.
The next morning,I donned a dark gray suit, light blue button-down, and a tie with shades of blue and red that the girls had chosen for me to wear the night before. They’d decided to wear their Christmas dresses, which were light blue and red plaid, and wanted me to match. Once my tie was knotted to perfection, I went to their room to see if I could help them get ready. I smiled when I saw Arwyn in a long, charcoal skirt and pale blue tuxedo-style blouse, braiding Isla’s hair.
My girls had coordinated Arwyn to match us. A warm, fluttering sensation warmed my veins as I thought about how happy the girls must be here and with Arwyn.
Church at St. Mary’s was exactly what I expected. I hadn’t grown up Catholic, but I attended with Viki’s family when I moved to Canada and then joined before we got married. It was important to Viki that our children grow up in the church. The girls had been baptized as infants, and we went to Mass as often as we could when we lived in Denver.
Arwyn preferred to sit in the back so she could be the first to leave, and that was probably a good idea since I was stopped at least a dozen times walking in. Palmer City was a hockey town. I’d lived here for a year, playing for the Voltage before I got called up to a permanent spot with the Edge. All the charm of the town was just as I remembered, and everyone here either knew me or knew of me.
With the soda shop being next door to the church, we left the van and walked the short distance. Arwyn and Amelie walked just ahead of Isla and I, the girls holding our hands and chattering about the second reading from Nehemiah.
“He said eat the fat!” Isla shouted to her sister.
Amelie craned her head over her shoulder, “And drink the sweet wine! That’s soda, right, Daddy?”
“He could have meant soda,” I said, “if it had been invented back then.”
“He said you’ll find joy in it, Daddy,” Isla said. “I do!”
“Me too!” Amelie agreed.
It was always interesting to me what the girls took away from church and their school lessons. I’d have to look up that verse later and help them unpack the purpose of it.
We arrived at the soda shop, and I reached for the door handle. “Do you mind if I run into the Coffee Loft and get a Matcha Madness? I’ll bring it back here if you’ll save me a seat,” I offered as I opened the door.
“Of course, Daddy,” Amelie said.
Arwyn nodded, and I held the door as they entered. I watched them head straight for the stools at the counter. Arwyn set her Mary Poppins bag on the one farthest to the left by the old-fashioned register and helped the girls onto the stools to its right before settling on the one next to Amelie.
I hurried next door and entered the queue. It wasn’t busy, but I had a feeling the crowd would pick up as the church continued to empty. Surprisingly, I didn’t run into anyone I knew—or who recognized me—and I was able to get my drink and get back to the soda shop in under five minutes.
