he called out.
He heard her whiskey-rich voice laughing. “Da— er, darn right you don’t,” she answered.
Maddie must be in the kitchen with her, he thought when he heard Sue temper her typical salty language. He was smiling as he walked into the kitchen, until he found Eliza and Maddie at the table with bowls in front of them.
Maddie beamed at him. “Hi, Mr. Aidan.”
“Hey, kiddo,” he said with a smile.
Her mother’s smile lacked both warmth and sincerity. What would she use as an excuse to escape his presence this time?
“We’re almost finished,” she said with some predictability. “We’ll be out of your way in just a moment.”
At her stiff tone, he mentally uttered the curse word Sue had swallowed back, and a few juicier imprecations along with it. He didn’t like this stilted, cool Eliza. He wanted the one who freely offered advice, who was sweet and appealing, who kissed with her whole heart.
“Don’t hurry off,” he said. “I would enjoy the company.”
Her mouth tightened and he realized that as her employer, he had just basically ordered her to stay and entertain him. Here was a grand example of why becoming involved with people who worked for him was a lousy idea.
“We’re having beef and barley soup,” Maddie announced. “It’s very good, except I don’t like barley.”
Sue snickered, unoffended. “Next time I’ll keep it out for you, except it will be plain old beef soup, then.”
He went to the sink and washed his hands then pulled a bowl out and served himself from the big stockpot on the stove, then cut off a large slice of Sue’s fabulous honey wheat bread.
He deliberately took a seat next to Maddie and across from Eliza.
“What have you been up to today?” he asked the girl.
“Helping my mama,” she answered in a matter-of-fact tone. “We’re making this big house into a real home instead of a fancy shell.”
Now that sounded like she was parroting words she had heard from someone else. He glanced at Eliza and saw that delicate blush creeping over her cheekbones.
He managed to hide a smile at the last minute. He shouldn’t enjoy seeing her a little embarrassed at her daughter’s openness but after the way she had avoided him for nearly twenty-four hours, he would take amusement where he could find it.
“Do you know what? That’s exactly what this place needs. You’re both doing a fantastic job, too. I could tell the difference the moment I walked in yesterday. I especially love the pine boughs on all the fireplace mantels and the glittery pinecones in some of the rooms. Did you have anything to do with that?”
“Yes!” she exclaimed, looking delighted that he had noticed. “I helped spray paint them. It wasn’t hard at all, just a little messy.”
“You did an excellent job. I’m very impressed at your spray-painting skills.”
“Look. The paint is almost gone from my fingers where I pushed the spray thingy.”
She held up her pointer fingers and he did indeed see a little residue of metallic paint.
Sue chortled at that. “Hey, look at that. Guess you’re not the only one at Snow Angel Cove with the golden touch, boss.”
“Are you good at spray painting, too?” Maddie asked.
“Not as good as you,” he assured her. She beamed at him and he was happy to see her mother seemed to have relaxed a little during the conversation. She even unbent enough to smile a little.
“How are the new additions to the barn?” Sue asked.
“All settled in. You’ll have to go down and visit them. They are a couple of fine-looking gentlemen.”
Maddie giggled. “That’s silly. Gentlemen live in the house, not the barn!”
“These gentlemen are two new horses who are visiting for a few weeks. They’re going to help me with a surprise.”
“What surprise?” she asked.
“I can’t tell you yet. You’ll have to wait until later this week. But you can come down to the barn and meet them.”
“Now?” she asked eagerly. “Bob would like to meet them, too.”
“We have some things to do this afternoon, honey. Maybe later,” Eliza said.
“When Jim and I stopped for gas this morning, everybody was sure talking about the big boat parade tonight.”
“Boat parade?” Maddie frowned. “How do they do that?”
Eliza answered. “Everyone in town decorates their boats with Christmas lights and then they float from the marina in town around the edge of the lake to Shelter Springs and then back to Haven Point.”
“Christmas lights and boats? Oh, can we go see, Mama?” Maddie sounded breathless with excitement at the idea.
“It’s so cold out. Who wants to watch a parade in the wintertime?”
“I think it sounds wonderful. I think we should all go together.”
“That is an excellent idea, Sue,” Aidan said. “Now I’m sure I don’t pay you enough.”
“Can we, Mama?” Maddie pressed.
Eliza looked torn. She obviously didn’t want to spend more time with him but he guessed she also didn’t want to disappoint her daughter.
“Sure,” she finally said with a smile. “That sounds like fun.”
“According to the sign I saw in town,” he said, “the boats leave the marina just after sunset, at about six o’clock, which means they would probably hit the downtown area about ten or fifteen minutes later. Let’s leave at five-thirty, to be safe. That should give us time to park and find a good vantage point to watch the parade go past. We can all grab dinner in town somewhere and try to squeeze in a little shopping, too, if you want.”
“I love shopping,” Maddie informed him. “And I love parades, too. And boats, except I’ve never been on one.”
He was rapidly coming to adore this sweet little girl. She made him smile, which he was discovering he didn’t do nearly enough of. She made him want to do crazy things, like rent a boat, decorate it with Christmas lights and take her for a spin around the lake, just to make her happy.
Maybe next year.
Except she wouldn’t be here next Christmas and neither would her lovely mother. He swallowed the bite of bread he had just taken, wondering why it suddenly tasted like horse feed.
He forced a smile. “Well, I love to eat so it sounds like the Lights on the Lake parade is something we definitely can’t miss.
