LITMIR.BIZ

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at least, was something he could make a decision about. “Let’s eat first and then we can spend a little time shopping, if you want.”

      “Sounds good.”

      He settled her and Maddie near one of the propane heaters then headed over to grab some food for them. He stood in line for only a few moments before he reached the counter, just as Barbara arrived to help take orders.

      “Well? What did you think of our little celebration?” she asked.

      “Very festive. Maddie and Eliza had a great time.”

      “She’s a cute one, that girl.”

      “She is.” With more courage than most adults, he thought.

      “Too bad the two of them can’t stick around town a little longer. Eliza seems like a woman who could use a friend or two.”

      Whenever he thought about Eliza and Maddie moving on and out of his life, he felt a weird little tug in his chest.

      Before he could answer, he was jostled from behind. He turned around to find one of the men who had given him a less-than-welcoming look earlier.

      “Sorry,” the man said, with no trace of apology in his eyes. A strong whiff of alcohol wafted from him. “Didn’t notice you there.”

      Tension rippled through Aidan. Thanks to his brothers, he had plenty of experience with barroom brawlers. Though they weren’t anywhere close to a barroom, he sensed the man was half drunk and just stupid enough to think he could piss Aidan off enough to take a swing at him.

      “No worries,” he answered. He could certainly take care of himself—again, thanks to his brothers—but he didn’t want to cause trouble with Eliza and Maddie a few yards away.

      “What do you want, Jimmy?” Barbara asked, with enough wary impatience in her voice to make Aidan quite sure this was the town rabble-rouser

      “What the hell you think I want? Chili! I want chili and some of that fry bread. Otherwise I’d a gone to another booth, right? Put some hustle in it, would you? I’m starving and I’ve got to get back to work.”

      “You’ll have to wait your turn. It will be a few minutes before we have a new batch of fry bread.”

      “What about that one?” He pointed to the fluffy pieces of golden bread draining on a rack.

      “Those are for Mr. Caine and his party.”

      “The rich bastard can wait. Some of us who actually have to work for a living ought to have first dibs.”

      Barbara glared at him. “Two more minutes. That’s all, then the new batch will be done.”

      “I don’t want to wait. I want one of them that are already finished. Let him wait.”

      “He was here first. Don’t be a jerk, Jimmy. You want me to tell your ma you were harassing Mr. Caine here?”

      “Go ahead. She won’t care. She hates his guts, too, thinking he owns the whole town just because he has a fancy house and a big old airplane.”

      Aidan managed to rein in his temper. “Don’t forget the ninja security force that follows me around specifically to deal with assholes.”

      The guy looked around as if he didn’t know whether to believe him or not. “I’m just kidding.” Aidan forced a smile. He had figured out early in the game that confusing and disarming opponents was a far more effective strategy than outright warfare. “Here. Your lunch is on me. Barbara, give the working man here one of those pieces of fry bread over there. We only need two.”

      Jimmy looked like he didn’t know how to respond as Barbara quickly complied and served up a bowl for him and then three more for Aidan, obviously anxious to defuse the tension.

      “What was that about?” Eliza asked when he carried over their tray.

      “Just meeting a few of the locals,” he answered.

      “It’s a nice town, don’t you think? Everybody is so friendly.”

      Not quite everybody. “Yes. And the food looks good, too.”

      They finished eating and then walked through the booths for a little while. He bought several things he didn’t need or want, especially from booths whose proprietors were friendly to Eliza or Maddie.

      A short distance from the gift show, the town council had set up a little Christmas village filled with animatronic elf figures hammering, sawing or nailing Christmas toys.

      Aidan paid the dollar admission for each of them and then they wandered through. It was worth the dollar and more, the way Maddie’s eyes lit up with excitement at each new animatronic figure. They spent a good twenty minutes inside the little village but as they passed the last elf, he saw Maddie yawn for the second time in as many minutes.

      “It’s getting late. We should probably head back to Snow Angel Cove.”

      “No! We haven’t seen the petting zoo yet.”

      “We might have to catch that another night, honey,” Eliza said gently.

      Her patience and love for her daughter warmed him. He was coming to admire so many things about Ms. Eliza Hayward. Her resilience in the face of adversity, the wry sense of humor she tried to hide, but especially the loving care she took of her child.

      “I don’t want to go back.” Maddie’s lower lip trembled enough to turn even the hardest heart into dough.

      “I know.” Eliza smiled sympathetically. “That must be so disappointing for you.”

      She was a genius of a mother, with a real knack for showing compassion for her daughter’s perspective without giving an inch.

      “It is!” Maddie declared.

      “It’s been a big day and I’m pretty tired. I’m a little cold, too. Some hot cocoa by the fire and the Christmas tree back at Snow Angel Cove sure sounds nice,” Aidan said. The second part, at least, was the truth.

      “I am a little cold, too, I guess.” She yawned again, a huge, wide, ear-popping stretch of her mouth, and he had to smile. At this rate, she wasn’t going to make it home, forget about hot cocoa.

      “Let’s go find our warm car.”

      As he expected, Maddie fell asleep in her booster seat before they even hit the outskirts of Haven Point. One minute, she was chattering away about the parade and about seeing Santa Claus and the cute doll with the curly hair like hers she had seen at one of the booths—which he had sneaked back and purchased, though neither she nor her mother knew. In the middle of a sentence once again extolling her favorite boat in the parade, her eyelids drooped and her words trailed off.

      He glanced in the rearview mirror at the sudden silence. Her head lolled to the side and her mouth was slightly open. She was completely adorable and he would have to possess a heart of tungsten carbide not to be crazy about her.

      “Looks like she’s out,” he murmured.

      Eliza shifted around to look behind the seat. He loved the way her eyes turned soft at the sight of her child.

      “She runs hard all day, then usually collapses. She’s always been that way.”

      “Her medical condition doesn’t seem to get in the way of her energy level.”

      “She’s usually pretty good at pacing herself. I think it must be some natural-born instinct. She knows when something is too much for her to handle—a talent I sometimes wish I shared.”

      She added the last slightly cryptic comment in a bit of an undertone and he had to wonder what she meant.

      “I wonder where Sue and Jim ended up,” she said after a moment. “We never did run into them.”

      “There was quite a crowd tonight. I guess

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