The Patricia Kiyono Christmas Collection (4 page)

“
You usually run at
night?”

“
Well, no.”

“
Glad to hear it.”
Nice going
, he told
himself. Even he could tell he was coming off like a dad. Time to
switch subjects. “Uh, so how did rehearsal go?”

“
Not too bad.”

There’s a non-answer, if I
ever heard one.
“Could be better,
huh?”

“
Oh, there are always
challenges when you start a new project.”

“
Daddy, there were a couple
of really naughty boys,” Angie piped up from the back seat. “They
were knocking over chairs and they climbed up on the minister’s
wood thing, and one boy even climbed up the curtains and tore one
down.”

“
They tore down the
curtains?”

“
Yes, Doc VanEss checked
them out for concussions because they ran headfirst into each
other, and when he sent them back to the choir room, they ran
through the sanctuary and started to tear it apart.”

“
Really? Where were their
parents?”

“
Their mom was probably at
home, resting. Their dad has visitation rights, but he often
doesn’t show up. Grandfather was there, and I’m sure he had words
with them. But those boys are out of control. I’m going to have to
talk to my sister about this. I can’t run the rehearsals alone, not
with thirty kids. And those two boys have enough energy for ten of
the others.”

“
That sounds like a tall
order. Makes you wonder how teachers do it every day.”

Sophie sat up in her seat and squealed.
“That’s it!”

The brakes screeched as Mitch slammed his
foot down. “That was it? I passed your house?”

She laughed. “No, it’s another block and a
half down on the right. I meant you just gave me an idea how I can
get this to work. I need to talk to the meanest, strictest teacher
I ever had. Maybe she can help me whip this group into shape.”

“
Is she really mean?”
Angie’s timid voice came from the back seat.

Mitch looked up in the rear view mirror and
tried to connect with his daughter to reassure her, but Sophie beat
him to it.

“
She’s only mean to naughty
kids, Angie. To kids who behaved themselves, she was a really nice
lady. I’m sorry I scared you.”

Angie nodded and settled back in her
seat.

For a youngster, she
really knows how to handle kids,
he
thought.

Youngster. Yeah, right.

~~~~

Mitch tucked his
daughter into bed and kissed her goodnight. He
checked the nightlight before turning out the light in her room,
leaving the door open a crack. Most nights Angie slept well, but
once in awhile, she needed her daddy.
And
he had no intention of getting lost in the dark trying to reach his
daughter.

He had no regrets about leaving the
fast-paced life he’d led in Chicago and trading it for the peace
and quiet of Zutphen. But in Chicago he’d had help. There had been
people hired for anything his family needed — cooking, cleaning,
advice about raising a child. Here, he was on his own. He’d made a
few acquaintances, but no good friends. Sometimes he felt a
longing, a need for adult companionship. Someone to help him get
though some of the drudgery of daily life. Another person to help
him make decisions about caring for Angie. He needed… a
connection.

He turned on his fancy one-cup coffee maker
and prepared a cup of coffee. Other than his camera equipment, it
was one of the few conveniences he’d kept from his former life.
Thanks to today’s appointments, he had work to do, and he’d learned
that working at night meant he didn’t have to stop working to pick
Angie up from school or tend to her other needs. Knowing it would
take a few minutes for the water to heat enough to start brewing,
he went down to his studio and surveyed the chaos left after his
last session. The camera was still on the tripod, and the screen
was still in one piece. He checked the rest of his equipment,
sighing with relief each time he found things as they should be.
Soon he had the pictures transferred to his computer and began the
task of choosing and editing photos to show to the families. If the
customers liked his work, hopefully he’d get some referrals to get
his new business going.

But as he scrolled through the pictures, the
faces blurred. Instead of a family of five, he saw a cute young
blonde with expressive green eyes. And he remembered the excitement
he’d felt sitting next to her in the car, and the sense of loss
when she’d gotten out. Good grief, he sounded like a teenager.

Coffee, that’s what he needed. His cup
should be done brewing by now. He got up and went back to get it.
The spacious country kitchen seemed cavernous compared to the tiny
but functional area in his Chicago condo. Of course, he hadn’t
needed much room. The cook had prepared meals for the three of them
and had pretty much banished him from using most of the appliances.
There, he’d been allowed to use the coffee maker and microwave, but
not much else.

Here, the coffeepot looked lonely on the
six-foot counter. In fact, the entire space looked lonely. He
pulled his mug from the tray. After taking a sip, he cast an eye
around his home. Though he and Angie had moved in two months ago,
the place still looked empty. Not at all like a home where people
lived.

He’d photographed plenty of country kitchens
and tried to think what was missing. His mother said the rooms
needed color. Maybe he’d invite her to come for a few days and help
him decorate. She’d like that. She’d fill the place with
knick-knacks and curtains and… stuff. Stuff to make people feel
comfortable. To make this place feel like a home.

More than anything, he wanted to make the
house a home for Angie. He remembered visiting his uncle and aunt
during the holidays when he and his siblings were young. And he
remembered the laughter, the happiness, the sense of belonging. A
lifetime ago, he’d hoped to create some of that feeling with Sarah.
But her idea of family had been so different from his own. Meeting
her parents should have given him a clue. An only child of wealthy
elitists, she’d been raised with strict rules and expectations.
Happiness wasn’t one of them.

He couldn’t let his mother-in-law succeed in
taking Angie away. He didn’t want his beautiful daughter to be
molded into a clone of Melinda Billingsworth. He’d do anything to
prevent that.

But he couldn’t keep his daughter if he
couldn’t support her. Time to get to work. He took another sip of
his coffee and carried it back to his office.

S
ophie blinked as
she focused on
making her to-do list for the day. She’d tossed and turned all
night. At the end of the screenplay she’d been writing, the main
character parachuted out of a plane, landed on a rooftop, and
captured the villain. But each time the scene played in her dream,
the hero would instead follow that up by looking directly into the
camera with those gorgeous blue eyes and murmur, “This is for you,
Sophie.” And then the movie would end. Why? And why was the dream
so unsettling?

Probably because the hero looked exactly
like Mitch Carson. And she didn’t want to think about the handsome
photographer. Even if he was interested in her, she didn’t dare
pursue any kind of relationship. She couldn’t let anything distract
her from her goal. And in order to accomplish her goal she needed
to focus on her portfolio so that she’d have spec scripts and
resumes ready to send out.

Concentrate
, she told herself. What
did she need to do today? She checked the list she’d begun the
night before.

1. Revise script for
Christmas pageant
.

2
.
Send screenplay to three more
agents
.

3
.
Formulate a plan for dealing with
the Longton boys
.

Number three was going to take the most
work. She’d told Mitch and Angie her idea to find the meanest
teacher she’d ever had, but she really had no idea how to contact
her, or whether or not the woman was still alive. Joanie would
know. Her sister knew every detail about every resident of Zutphen,
past and present.

Sighing, she pulled her robe out from under
the covers and slipped her arms in the sleeves. Michigan winters
were even colder in attic rooms, and she’d learned to keep her
bathrobe tucked between the sheets and blanket to keep it warm. Her
slippers, when she wasn’t wearing them, were kept over the heating
duct on the floor.

Still yawning, she padded down the stairs.
Joanie sat at the kitchen table, frowning into her coffee cup.

“
Something wrong with your
coffee?”

Joanie turned bleary eyes toward her. “No
caffeine. I miss my regular coffee. This decaffeinated stuff just
doesn’t taste right, and I forgot to ask Dave to pick up some
flavored creamer.”

“
I can pick some up. I have
a few errands to run today.”

Joanie’s worn features broke into a smile.
“Bless you, little sister. Say, you got home late last night. I
wondered what happened when the Meindertsmas brought Joey home
without you. Did your rehearsal run long?”

“
You and I have to talk
about that. But no, it didn’t run too long. One of the dads was
late picking his daughter up, and I stayed with her until he got
there.”

“
That’s not good. Who is
he?”

“
Mister Carson. He’s the
new photographer who opened up a studio in the old Hager house in
town.”

“
Oh, him. He’s got
kids?”

“
Yes, a little girl,
Angie.”

“
Is he single?”

“
I don’t know — but Joanie,
I need to—”

“
You should find out. I can
ask Rachel. She knows the scoop on everybody.”

“
Joanie, listen to me!” She
put her hand on her sister’s. “We need to talk about this play.
It’s not going to work with just me doing it. No wonder the last
few programs were so boring with kids just standing there. Those
wild kids run around like crazy. Those Longton twins knocked over
chairs, climbed up on the pulpit, and tore down the curtains behind
the pulpit.”

“
What?” Joanie pulled her
hand back and shook her head. “Peggy Longton has got to get better
control of those boys. They’re going to tear the town apart if she
doesn’t. The twins have been nothing but trouble since their father
left.”

“
Well, I think Sam is going
to have a word with her. The twins were having a field day in the
choir room and ran headfirst into each other. Doc VanEss came and
looked them over and then sent them back to the choir room. Of
course they decided to return to the choir room by streaking
through the sanctuary. Apparently Sam managed to pull one off the
pulpit before it fell over, but the other one had climbed almost
all the way up the drapes covering the wall behind the pulpit, and
the entire curtain rod came crashing down.”

“
Oh, good
heavens.”

“
I want to kick them both
out of the pageant. Can I do that?”

“
I’m not sure. I’ll have to
check with the Sunday School Superintendent. Oh wait, that’s their
aunt. She might not back you up.”

“
Wonderful. All right then,
if they’re going to act like animals, maybe they can
be
animals in the
pageant. I just won’t tell them ahead of time. But it’s not going
to be any animal that flies, swims, climbs, or runs.”

“
What does that
leave?”

“
An amoeba, maybe. But
listen, that’s not the only problem we had last night.”

“
What else?”

“
The songs we chose were
too difficult. I had the words on a slide show presentation, but
many of the kids can’t read that well yet. There were a lot of
words they didn’t know or couldn’t pronounce. I’m going to have to
simplify it.”

“
Okay. Do you have any
ideas?”

“
Not really. I think I need
easier songs that give the same message.”

“
Good idea. How about if I
call Marylou Grant? She’s the music teacher at school and I heard
she directs the kids’ choir at her church. Plus, I think sometimes
she writes songs for kids.”

“
That would be a good
start. Do you know how to contact her?”

“
I’ll leave a message for
her at the school and ask her to call me back when she has a break,
or at the end of the day.”

“
That works. And do you
have any idea how to reach Old Mrs. VanMeter?”

“
Agnes VanMeter? Why would
you want to talk to her?”

“
I need to get some ideas
on how to handle those twins during rehearsals. I’m pretty sure
they wouldn’t dare act that way if she were the one directing the
program. So I need to talk to her.”

“
Great idea. If anyone
could get them in line it would be her. Let me think, she was
friends with Great Aunt Susan. I’ll call her and see if she knows
where Mrs. VanMeter is.”

“
Wonderful. You get on
that. I’ll scramble some eggs and fix whatever else I can find in
your fridge. If you find Mrs. VanMeter, I’ll run over to Zylstra’s
after breakfast and get you some flavored creamer.”