The restaurant was crowded this morning. Sophie pulled out the padded chair and threw her coat over the back before she went to the buffet counter. So far, she had enjoyed the oatmeal with raspberries and apples, the chocolate chip-orange scones, the savory cheese omelet with onions and mushrooms. Today she decided on a waffle. With a scoop of butter. And strawberries. Topped with whip cream and chocolate syrup. Now that’s a breakfast that should keep her ramped up for the morning. She filled her coffee cup and walked back to her seat, taking in the dozens of white twinkle lights interwoven with fragrant greens and strung along the windowsill.
This place really knew how to make you feel cozy. She took a bite, savoring the chocolaty goodness.
“I see you haven’t changed.” Sam glanced at her plate.
“What?” Sophie covered her mouth with her hand.
“Waffles with all the good stuff!” He smiled. He remembered that? It had always been her go to at the cute little Coffee Corner for their Saturday morning dates.
“Daddy, I want one of those. Come on!” Darby tugged on his arm.
“Mind if we join you?” What could she say? No? That would seem rude.
Sophie nodded.
Sam and Darby returned with plates laden with a mini waffle for Darby with all the goodies— even sprinkles on her whip cream. Sam had a large, steaming omelet, everything bagel, six slices of bacon and large coffee.
“What r we doing tu-day, Ms Thophie?” Darby asked as she scooted up on her knees, her mouth full of waffle.
“Swallow first. She’ll understand you better.”
Sophie took a sip of her coffee. “Well, first we’ll make some paper angels to put on the tree and I have something special planned, and last we’ll practice the nativity play.”
“I already know all the words to Away in a Manger. And all the motions. It’s going to be my audition song when I try out for American Idol! Wanna hear me?” Sam grinned.
Darby started singing, holding her arms like she held baby Jesus, eyes scrunched up in focus, shook her head, folded her hands next to her cheek. Sophie couldn’t help the lump that rose in her throat. She looked at Sam and formed a heart with her fingers, motioning over her heart as if it were beating. This girl.
Darby took a big gulp of her orange juice. “That singing made my throat dry.” They laughed.
They finished breakfast and bussed their dishes.
Sophie looked at Sam. “Do you want me to take Darby?”
“Yeah, that would be great. I want to finish up the last details of the stable.”
Darby grabbed Sophie’s hand, and they headed to the activity room.
“Miss Sophie, do you have any kids?”
“Nope. Maybe someday.”
“You’re not as lucky as my daddy is. He has me, and I’m the BEST! I tell him so every day so he knows it’s true.” She shrugged. Absolutely true. She was going to miss Darby. Miss Sam. She may as well make the best of these last few days while they lasted.
* * *
The paper angels were cute. Only a few heads and wings accidentally lopped off in the process. And practice went well. She’d have to ask Megan to film it. Maybe she could use it on a resumé. If nothing else, it was sure to bring smiles and the kids would remember the story.
Sophie gathered the kids together. She whispered. “Okay, here’s a secret thing we’re going to do. You can’t tell anyone.” Their eyes grew wide. “We’re going to draw names for a Secret Santa. For the next three days, you’ll sneak a gift to your person and on Christmas Eve, you get to find out who your person is. Sound like fun?”
Sophie had names of each family on slips of paper. “Darby, do you want to pass the bowl around?”
Darby jumped up and down. She held the bowl, and each child took a name with a matching room number on it. Megan wrote each draw on a list.
“Miss Sophie, there’s one left. This is for you.” She handed her the folded paper.
She opened it slowly. Sam. And closed it quickly, pulling her lips between her teeth. How in the world did that happen?
* * *
“Do you want me to hand these boughs to you?” Justin looked up to Sam who was perched on top of the ladder.
“Would you? That’d be great.” They had nailed slats of wood for the stable roof and were covering them with Nordmann pine boughs.
“Thanks again for watching Darby last night while Sophie and I went snow shoeing.”
“Not a problem. She’s all Micah talks about. And Miss Sophie this and Miss Sophie that. That woman is something else.” Justin glanced at Sam.
“Yup. I have to admit she’s all I think about. Or want to talk about. Or talk to.” Or run my fingers through her red hair. Or set my lips to hers.
“You’re rambling, dude. You’ve got it bad!”
“I just don’t want to ruin things like I did before. Every time I think I’m getting close, she pushes away.”
“You’ve got to gain her trust, bro. Do something you know she liked before. Something she wouldn’t expect but would warm her little heart.” He handed Sam another bough. “I’m no expert. Then again, Annie and I have been married almost ten years now.” Would Sam be the one to give advice ten years from now? He certainly hoped so.
* * *
“Darby, do you want to push the cart?” Sophie had borrowed one from the kitchen and stacked dozens of plates of decorated sugar cookies on it.
“I can do it. See how tall I’m getting? I can reach the handle just fine. I’m practically a grown-up. My daddy says I’ll be driving any day now.” Sophie let out a chuckle and walked beside her, opened the glass door leading outside and onto the sidewalk. Cabins were scattered over the property, and they were making surprise deliveries to each of them.
“Okay, Darby. Knock on the door.” Darby ran up to the door and rapped with her pink gloved knuckles.
“Well, hello! What do we have here?”
“We brought you cookies!” She handed a plate to the grey-haired woman. “Christmas cookies. We decorated them ourselves!”
Sophie squinched up her face. “In their activities class. Merry Christmas.”
“That is a treat. Marvin? We should have brought our grandkids like we had planned.” Sophie smiled. “Will you be here next year? I want my grandkids to join in this fun.” Would she? A year was a long time from now.
They waved goodbye and walked towards the next cabin, stopping to watch a squirrel scamper up a tree. A blue jay squawked at it. “Can we give them some cookies, too?”
“That would be nice to feed them, but I’m not sure all that sugar is good for them. We’ll make some pinecone bird feeders tomorrow.”
They continued door to door until they’d delivered all but one plate.
“Miss Sophie, can I give the last one to my dad?” Sophie checked the time. It was way past when Sam was to have picked her up. “Sure. Come on Darby, we’d better get back!”
* * *
Sam ambled his way to the activity room, carrying a gingerbread scone and a cup of peppermint mocha. Those were at least two things he knew she loved. The way to a woman’s heart… Wait. That was probably diamonds or something like that.
As he got closer, he didn’t hear the usual sound of kids’ chatter. Huh. He peeked into the room. Lights were off. No sign of anyone. No Megan either. He searched out the window. No sign of kids or Sophie. You’d think she would have left a note. Had he forgotten about an alternate activity afterwards? He checked his phone. No texts or reminders. He called Justin.
“Hey, did you already pick up Micah?”
“Yeah, a bit ago. Why?”
“No one is here. No sign of Darby.”
“Dunno, dude. I’ll let you know if I hear anything.”
Sam set the scone and coffee down and went to the lobby to check the activity schedule. Nothing out of the ordinary. He went to front desk.
“Any idea where Sophie and my little girl are?”
“Not in the activity room?”
“Nope.”
“Sorry, can’t help you.” Where the heck would they be? Sam headed to his room. Not there. He sent a text to Sophie. The exclamation point in the red circle—not delivered. Dang. Why wouldn’t she have told him if she was making other plans? The woman could be rude. This was his daughter he was talking about.
He checked the restaurant. Went to Sophie’s room. Finally headed outside. She wouldn’t have wandered off by herself, would she? He ran down through the trails, the loop around the cabins, and finally returned to the lodge. Where could they be? What if something had happened to her? Was she hurt? Wouldn’t Sophie have called? At least texted? He was beside himself. May as well wait in the lobby. They would have to pass through there to get to anywhere else.
“Daddy! I have cookies for you!” Darby barreled into him.
“Baby, where have you been? I’ve looked everywhere for you! I was so worried.” Sam bent to her level and threw his arms around her.
“I was with Miss Sophie, taking surprises to people. We brought them cookies and made them happy.”
“Sam. I am so sorry. I should have let you know. We got caught up delivering cookies—”
Sam interrupted. “And you’re all over my case because I didn’t show up for your play practice.” His look shot daggers. “This is my girl we’re talking about. Don’t ever do that again!”
“Sam!” Sophie stood there, stunned. How could he think she would ever put Darby in harm’s way? “You’re not the only one who cares about her. I would never let anything happen to her. Don’t you know that by now?”
“Obviously not.” Sam seethed. Thrusting Darby onto his back, he stomped off.