She held up a finger as her phone buzzed in her pocket. She removed it and read the text from Janie. She cast a thoughtful look at him and wondered if it would be too much to ask. Although, he had offered.
“Yes, actually there is.”
TATE DIDN’T HAVE much experience with kids, but how difficult could a sledding party with a group of four-and five-year-olds be? He’d been spending nearly every minute of the past few weeks with Lucas and aside from the near-constant worrying, he felt as though he was doing okay.
Roughly a half hour later he held a firm belief that the preschool teacher Elaine deserved a raise—a huge raise, and probably a very long all-expenses-paid vacation. A little boy named Bryce kept licking his inner tube, another boy refused to get on the magic carpet facing forward, and a blonde pixie of a girl had removed her coat and refused to put it back on. Tate was afraid she was going to end up with hypothermia.
“Would you please put your coat on, Bea?” At least he’d learned her name.
She gave her head a hard shake, blond locks peeking out from beneath a bright pink fleece hat.
He tried being firm. “Bea, put your coat on. It’s too cold to go without a coat.”
More head shaking.
“It’s dangerous,” he tried, which didn’t seem to faze her in the least.
He attempted a gentle threat, “Do you want me to get your teacher? She might make you go to the lodge.” Although he had no idea how to summon the teacher at this point, or even if she would do that. Elaine was currently on top of the hill with the rest of the tiny phenomenally energetic sledders.
She gave him another careless shrug.
He resorted to negotiation. “I’ll give you twenty dollars if you put your jacket back on?”
She smiled, lolling her head back and forth in a figure-eight pattern while he held the jacket aloft like some kind of frantic matador.
“Fifty dollars?” Was bribery the same as negotiation?
He was ready to double the amount when he sensed a presence behind him—or maybe he heard the snickering. He turned to find Hannah watching him, humor dancing in her eyes.
“Thank goodness, you’re here. She won’t wear her jacket. I’m not sure what to do. The teacher is up there And she’s...” Tate heard the desperation in his tone as he pointed at the top of the slope. “It’s like ten degrees out here.”
She took the jacket from him. “Bea, why aren’t you wearing your jacket, girlfriend?”
“Because Shane said it’s the same color as slime.”
“Slime?”
The little girl nodded her head.
“Ah, I see. But he means that in a good way. Shane loves slime. I think the danger here is that Shane might love you, too.”
Bea let out a gasp, her arms shooting out straight at her sides, allowing Hannah to slip the jacket on. Hannah zipped it up, tucked her scarf around her neck and made sure her hat was secure.
“Thanks, Hannah. How do my curls look?”
“Perfect—just like you, little one.” Hannah flipped her head toward the magic carpet. “Now go get ’em.”
Bea trotted off to join the others.
“Ask Shane if he likes slime,” she called after Bea, who kept going as she gave her an over-the-shoulder thumbs-up.
“How did you do that?”
“Well, I have some inside knowledge.”
Tate gave her a look that said he knew it was more than that.
“I will give you a tip, though, so you don’t go broke. Five bucks, fifty bucks—kids this age don’t really get the concept of the amount. In fact, hold out a handful of change in one hand and a couple bills—any denomination—in the other and see what they go for. To them, more is more—literally. Except when it comes to candy. You’d be amazed at what they’ll do for one single piece of candy.”
“I was desperate. I would have paid a lot more. I thought she was going to freeze to death.”
Hannah laughed. “Not gonna happen—they’ll seek shelter before they dip to the freezing level.”
She pointed at her pink snow pants, her mouth forming a playful grin. “Thank you for holding down the fort for me so I could get these.”
He felt his pulse jump at the thought of recent circumstances. “You’re welcome. No problem. That was fast. You must live pretty close to here?”
“I do, you know that log cabin just up the road from the Faraway Inn? It belongs to my sister Shay. She owns the inn, and I rent the house from her. Have you taken a turn on a tube yet?”
“Um, no. Elaine suggested that I help the kids get back to the magic carpet after they arrive here at the bottom. It seems like a simple job, right? But they are a slippery bunch, not at all like my...”
He was going to mention Lucas when a pair of young boys with reddish-brown hair peeking from beneath their hats ran toward Hannah and enveloped her in a huge hug.
“Hannah!” They shouted in unison.
“Hey, my favorite twins! Wow, Finn I saw how fast you were on that last run. I’m thinking competitive luge is in your future, buddy. Gabe, guess what we’re having in the lodge after sledding?”
“Don’t tease me, Hannah-Banana, you better be talking hot chocolate.”
She laid a hand on his stocking-capped head. “You know I wouldn’t tease about hot chocolate. Hey, guys, this is Tate. He’s a friend of mine. These little cuties are my cousin Janie’s twins. As are the two teenage helpers there, Gareth and Reagan.”
A tandem greeting followed, then one of them commented, “Except Gareth and Reagan aren’t twins like us.”
“This is true. Thank you for clarifying that for Tate, Twin-Finn.”
The little boys nodded happily and galloped off...
“Later, twin-gators,” Hannah called after them.
“After a while, Banana-crocodile,” one of them shouted back.
Tate studied her. She seemed relaxed, amused and thrilled to be here. How did she do that?
“You’re so good with them. Do you have kids?”
“Nope. Big family. Lots of experience. Plus, I know these kids. I volunteer at the preschool one morning a week. And do some fun things with them—like this.” She gestured at the hill.
Hannah clearly had a gift—that kid-thing that some people were just born with, which served to remind him of how little of it he had himself.
* * *
“THAT WAS REALLY nice of the fairy to let you help her feed the goldfish. Next time be sure to come and get me when she’s here.” Tate smiled at Lucas who’d just finished relaying the details of his latest encounter with the fairy in the fish room.
“She hurt her hand so she needed my help. She thanked me and she told me the names of some of the kois. That’s what they’re called, not goldfish, Uncle Tate.” He heard the pride in Lucas’s voice and felt grateful to this lady for taking the time to make Lucas feel special.
He thought about Hannah and how natural her interaction had been with the kids on the sledding hill. He’d been reading books on childcare and child psychology, but he wondered if there was some kind of class he could take. Would