Free The Patricia Kiyono Christmas Collection by Patricia Kiyono

I
couldn’t—”
    “ We’re having leftovers,
but you’re welcome to share it with us. We’ve got plenty. Since I
showed up at church, the ladies from various committees and Bible
study groups have brought us a ton of food. I guess they wanted to
make sure Angie had enough to eat. Someone must have decided I
don’t feed her very well. Or maybe she told somebody what a lousy
cook I am.”
    Sophie was torn. “Well, if you’re sure—”
    “ We’re sure.” He led the
way to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator door, and Sophie’s
jaw dropped at the number of plastic containers jammed in. “We’ve
got leftover lasagna from Wednesday, leftover chicken from
Thursday, and leftover meatloaf from yesterday. What’s your
pleasure?”
    Sophie scrunched her face into a frown. “Is
the meatloaf from Esther Friedman?”
    Mitch nodded.
    “ Then I’ll have the
chicken.”
     
    ~~~~
     
    Mitch couldn’t
remember when he’d enjoyed a meal so much.
Angie seemed more animated, more… happy. He sat back, observing her
interact with Sophie. They kept a constant stream of what he
considered girl talk, so he let them chatter. Sarah, as far as he
knew, had never taken the time to just chat with their daughter.
Never gotten to know the lovely person she’d become.
    Lost in thought, he nearly missed Angie’s
question as they cleared away the dishes.
    “ Daddy, can I go to the
roller skating party next week?”
    “ Roller skating
party?”
    “ Yeah, it’s at the skating
place over in — in Holland. I got a note from school, but I forgot
to give it to you.” She excused herself and raced into her room for
her backpack and came back with a wrinkled paper. Mitch spread it
flat on the table and read. “It’s for the whole school, princess.
You’ve never gone skating before. Sounds scary.”
    “ Oh, she’ll be fine. There
will be lots of kids her age. And I’ll be there,” Sophie remarked
as she rinsed out a serving bowl.
    “ You? At an elementary
school skating party?”
    “ Yeah, I’ll be working. I
just started a new job there last week. I’ll be on the rink,
supervising or whatever. Parents are invited to skate too, but
since so many of them just leave their kids there, the rink has
employees to watch over them.”
    “ I don’t mind staying, but
I’m not a very good skater. At least I never was when I tried it
before.”
    “ She’ll have fun. You’ll
see.”
    “ Please, Daddy? I’ll stay
close to Miss Sophie.”
    There was no way he could argue with that.
If he could, he’d stay close to Miss Sophie, too.
     
    ~~~~
     
    The pictures were a little grainy due to being enlarged so much, but
there was no question about what was happening. The guy had a girl.
Looked like the same one he’d had coffee with in the grocery store.
She’d appeared out of the woods on skis. Smart, having her show up
on foot. That way there was no car parked in the driveway to show
people he had female company.
    Duncan patted his camera. Thank goodness for
this new high-powered zoom attachment. When the couple had walked
into the house together, he’d known it was time to start shooting
pictures. He’d gotten out of his car and snuck up to the house,
hoping they’d both be so occupied with each other they wouldn’t
notice him. And it had paid off. It hadn’t taken long for the two
of them to get mighty cozy. If his daughter hadn’t shown up, they
might have put on a real show. And his client would have had to
shell out the bucks for those pictures. But the little girl’s
appearance had kept their make-out session pretty tame.
    Now to send the pictures on. As soon as he
got the money, he’d be out of there and go back to civilization.
Chicago winters were cold, but sitting in a car for hours in the
city was nothing like sitting in a snow-covered field with the wind
blowing. It was time to go back to the hotel for a nice hot
shower.
     

Chapter Ten
    M itch laced up Angie’s boots and then
did his own. It had been years