Second Chance Christmas (The Colorado Cades) by Tanya Michaels Page B

asked, clearly aghast that he couldn’t figure out how to buy more.
    “Yes, but I thought we could make some ornaments. Like out of popcorn and stuff.”
    “I like popcorn.”
    “Then we’re in business.” Just as soon as he located the needle and thread he was about 80 percent sure he owned. He had a dim recollection of buying a kit to replace a button before he’d decided he didn’t like that particular shirt enough to bother.
    The baby stayed asleep while he microwaved two bags of popcorn, burning one of them slightly. He got the popcorn started so that Kaylee didn’t accidentally stab herself with the business end of the needle, then let her slide the pieces down the string. She also ate some of the would-be decorations, but he told himself that at least popcorn had no sugar. As they worked, he remembered Arden once making a chain of paper loops. Since he didn’t have any construction paper, he brought Kaylee a stack of his Sports Illustrated magazines. He showed her how to look for colorful pictures and tear the page into strips.
    Soon after that, Hope woke, loudly demanding a bottle. Justin settled into a chair with her and watched as Kaylee glued strips of varying width into lopsided circles. Truth be told, he thought more of the glue was getting on her than on the chain, but at least she was enjoying herself.
    As soon as they hung the makeshift decorations, however, Kaylee frowned at him. “You don’t have any lights. Christmas trees need lights. It’s a rule.”
    “A rule, huh?” Did he own lights? He couldn’t recall the last time he’d done any holiday decorating beyond a novelty wreath on his front door, but surely somewhere... He had a sudden brainstorm. Back in October, his sister’s best friend had drafted him to help with the high school’s haunted house fund-raiser. He still had a few strings of lights in a miscellaneous box in the garage.
    Situating Hope in the supportive baby sling he’d found in her bag, he headed into the garage. He returned with one string of purple bats and another of orange pumpkins. “These are the best I could do,” he told Kaylee. “A little unorthodox, but they do light up when you plug them in.”
    Now his crooked tree, which was previously decked in three mismatched ornaments, also bore a popcorn garland, a paper chain soggy with glue and orange-and-purple Halloween lights. Yeah, that’s progress .
    “Guess it doesn’t look much like the one you have at home, does it, kiddo?”
    “Nuh-uh.” She stared up at him, brown eyes full of something perilously close to hero worship. “Yours is way better.”
    * * *
    E LISABETH SHOULD BE filled with satisfaction. In a short period of time, she and Steven had accomplished a lot, crossing a number of items off their to-do list. But she couldn’t shake her nagging sense of unease. It grew worse the closer they got to Justin’s house.
    Even the clicking of her blinker as she waited to turn left set her nerves on edge. “Steven, can I tell you something?”
    He glanced up immediately from whatever he’d been reading on his cell phone. “Of course. You know I’m always here to listen.”
    That was true. She’d desperately needed someone to talk to after Michelle died, and Steven had been amazing. He’d been going through a difficult time at work and had questioned whether to push through it in hopes of something bigger at the company or take his chances elsewhere. They’d made each other laugh at the ends of stressful days and given each other plenty of advice.
    “We’ve been bumping into Justin a lot, and I’m feeling guilty because there’s something I haven’t mentioned.”
    He waited, not impatient or suspicious, but encouraging.
    “The day you got here, I met Justin for lunch to ask about his sister taking our pictures, and afterward—” She broke off, the admission seeming silly now that she put it into words. “He almost kissed me.”
    “Almost? But didn’t? I suppose that’s