Alan went upstairs and Maddy turned off the lights and adjusted the blinds so she could peek out onto the street. Then she settled down with her e-reader. By eleven on a weekday, almost all of Icicle Falls was asleep; certainly all the visitors to Candy Cane Lane were long gone. The neighborhood light show was over and quiet reigned. She’d hear if any cars came cruising down the street, if any foot crunched on leftover snow. So far not a creature was stirring, not even a juvenile delinquent.
Maybe Alan was right. Whatever kids had vandalized their candy canes had moved on. But Santa help them if they returned because Maddy Donaldson was on the lookout, ever vigilant, her cell phone on the coffee table. No one would get by her. She was...
She was tired. It had been a long day. She peered out between the slats in the blinds. All was calm, all was dark. Yawn.
No, no. It was too early to go to sleep. She had to stay awake. Had to keep watch. Had to...
“Maddy.”
“Wha?” Maddy opened her eyes to see a figure bending over her in the dark and let out a shriek.
“Babe, it’s just me.”
“Oh. Alan. I must have fallen asleep.”
“Come on. Come to bed. I don’t think you’re going to catch any vandals at two in the morning.”
By now it was freezing out. If their local criminals wanted to kick over candy canes, good luck to them. They’d be rewarded with frostbite. She took one last look outside. Still all quiet on the candy-cane front. Okay, she could leave her post on the sofa with a clear conscience. She followed her husband upstairs to bed. The mischief was a one-time thing, and there was no sense in losing beauty sleep over a one-time thing.
As she snuggled under the blankets, she wondered if she’d just experienced some Christmas version of Murphy’s Law. Stay up waiting for vandals to show up and, of course, they won’t. Or perhaps the vandals somehow knew that people would be watching for them from now on and decided not to risk another raid on the candy canes. In any case, it looked like the problem was past and Candy Cane Lane was safe.
With a smile on her lips, she shut her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
She dreamed that her mother-in-law had arrived early for the holidays. This was her reward for trying to watch over the neighborhood? Sheesh. Thanks a lot, Santa.
Chapter Eight
Time spent baking cookies together is always time well spent.
—Muriel Sterling, Making the Holidays Bright: How to Have a Perfect Christmas
Tuesday was Ivy’s day off and it had started well enough. She made pancakes shaped like Christmas trees and they were a big hit with her daughter. Robbie didn’t care what shape his pancakes came in. He simply liked them, and enjoyed making a mess eating them.
Once he was scrubbed down, his sister kept him entertained with his favorite toys while Ivy loaded the breakfast dishes in the dishwasher and washed the skillet. Then she bundled up the kids and took them outside so they could enjoy the newest couple of inches of snow that had fallen during the night. She took pictures of the snowman they made to post on Facebook later. Ah, yes, creating happy family memories, just like Muriel Sterling had said to do. When the season was over, they’d have a million of them to replace last year’s memories of Mommy yelling at Daddy. Muriel Sterling herself couldn’t design a more idyllic December day.
Once back inside the house Ivy discovered that the washing machine was stuck between its rinse and spin cycles. Well, there was a fun little day-off adventure. She called Arvid’s Appliances and got Arvid himself.
“You’re in luck,” he told Ivy.
“Oh, good,” she breathed.
“We can get someone out there first thing tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow? But my clothes are sitting in the washer today. What am I supposed to do?”
“Well, here’s what you do. Get a big plastic tub and put all the wet clothes in it. Then take ’em to the kitchen and wring ’em all out over the kitchen sink. Then put ’em in the dryer.”
“Thanks. That was really helpful.” Just what she wanted to do with two kids underfoot.
“And don’t you worry. We’ll get it fixed for you.”
“Tomorrow.”
“Yep.”
“Arvid. You’re a pal,” Ivy said, and hung up. She’d planned to flop on the couch while the kids took their afternoon naps and watch a couple of episodes of House Hunters International she’d recorded earlier. Now she’d be dealing with a tub of wet laundry instead.
Rob could probably fix it, whispered a little voice at the back of her mind.
Yeah, well, Rob doesn’t live here anymore, she told it. She’d rather sprain her fingers wringing out clothes and pay one of Arvid’s appliance elves a king’s ransom than call her ex. Unless it had to do with the kids, she didn’t need him, didn’t want to need him ever again. For anything.
She fed the kids lunch and then put them down for their naps. She’d barely shut the door on Robbie before she heard the thump that signaled he was out of his crib, his newest escape accomplishment. Well, let him goof around in there. There was nothing that could hurt him. Falling asleep on the floor might convince him to think twice before he tried another great escape.
After struggling with their waterlogged clothes, she was ready to fall asleep on the floor herself. Instead, she fell asleep on the couch, halfway through looking at houses in Nuremberg. Just before she drifted off she’d seen shots of the town’s Christmas market, one of the oldest in Germany. Christmas Haus imported a lot of ornaments from Germany. What fun it would be to go over there and check out all the beautiful ornaments firsthand, maybe take one of those river cruises and visit the markets in Rothenburg and Bamberg and Cologne, as well. How nice it would be to have a life.
You have a life, she told herself. And it was a darned good one, even without Rob.
She woke up two hours later to see that the light was fading outside her living room window. Her daughter was calling, “Mommy, can we get up now?” and her son was not happy with his escape-proof doorknob cover and was shrieking at the top of his lungs. So much for dreams of Christmas markets. Back to the real world.
She turned Hannah loose, then rescued Robbie from his prison and changed his diaper. “Now,” she said, “guess what we’re going to do.”
“Eat marshmallows!” Hannah cried, jumping up and down.
“Lows!” Robbie mimicked, also jumping.
“No, but we are going to do something fun. We’re going to make Christmas cookies.”
“Cookies! Cookies!” Hannah chanted.
“Ookies!” Robbie joined in.
“Let’s fix you two a snack, then Mommy will get everything ready for baking. Okay?” She should’ve done that before she sat down. Oh, well. Being organized was overrated.
She went to the cupboard and the cupboard was bare, at least of one of the key cookie ingredients. Where the heck was the sugar? She could’ve sworn she had sugar. She’d made sure to get the rose water for the frosting, but without sugar there’d be no cookies to frost. Darn it all. This meant a trip to the store. Unless she could borrow a cup from a neighbor.
Hmm. Maddy would still be at work. Mrs. Walters was off visiting her sister. There was no sign of her new neighbor. Even if there was, Ivy would rather have her acrylic nails pulled off than go sugar begging at Tilda’s place. Oh, just suck it up and go to the store.
“Okay, guys, let’s get our coats on. We’re going to the store to get what we need for making cookies.” Or maybe they’d just buy the darned things.
No, no, no. That was no way to make happy family memories.
So, once more, she bundled up the kids and out they went to the grocery store. Safeway was ready for the holidays, with cute plates and mugs for sale, Christmas cards, wreaths and an entire aisle dedicated to Christmas candy. All the checkers wore Santa ha
ts and Christmas music was playing over the speakers.
“Can we get a candy cane?” Hannah asked.
“We’re going to have Christmas cookies in a little bit. Remember?”
“I want a candy cane,” Hannah whined.
“If I get you a candy cane, we can’t make cookies,” Ivy said, and that was the end of the candy cane requests.
They were almost at the baking aisle when she saw him, just off work and heading their way with a shopping basket. Why was Rob off work already? And why did he have to be here?
Hannah had spotted him, too, and took off at a run, crying, “Daddy!”
Not wanting to be left behind, Robbie was now trying to climb out of his seat in the shopping cart and follow suit. “Dada!”
“Oh, no, you don’t,” Ivy told him, putting his leg back where it belonged. This, of course, produced a howl that had everyone in the store staring. “We’re going to go see Daddy right now,” she said to her frustrated son. And won’t that be fun?
Hannah ran to her father, arms outstretched. He scooped her up and she hugged his neck. “Daddy!”
Boy, Ivy never got that kind of reception when she picked up the kids at her parents’ house. Was it just her or was it sick and wrong that the defector got such love and adoration?
Be a grown-up, she lectured herself. Still, it was hard putting a polite smile on her face. Rob had walked away and was living free as a wild turkey, whooping it up with other women, while she was stuck with the daily grind of the kids and the house and work and...making Christmas perfect. Just as well they were nowhere near the produce section. She might’ve been tempted to hurl another grapefruit at him. Maybe she could accidentally ram him in the shins with her cart. That pleasant thought put a real smile on her face as she wheeled up to him.
He sidestepped the cart, put Hannah down and picked Robbie up all in one smooth move. “Hey, there,” he said to Ivy.
“Hi,” she said stiffly.
“We’re gonna make cookies,” Hannah told him.
“That sounds like fun,” he said, smiling at her. Then he looked at Ivy with a disgustingly wistful expression. “I always loved your sugar cookies.”
Not her, her sugar cookies. “Okay, guys, we need to get our sugar. Tell Daddy goodbye.”
“Can Daddy make cookies, too?” Hannah asked.
Yeah, at the North Pole. In nothing but his tighty-whities. “Daddy has things to do.”
“Actually, I don’t,” said Rob.
Ivy gave him a look that threatened castration. “Yeah, you do.”
He looked right back, half smiling. “No, I don’t.”
“I want Daddy to come home with us,” Hannah insisted, wrapping her arms around her father’s legs.
“Honey, Daddy lives somewhere else. Remember?” Daddy has a new life and a new girlfriend.
Hannah burst into tears. “I want Daddy.”
Robbie, too, decided to cry.
Ivy felt like joining them. Yep, they were sure making holiday memories. “Honey, you just saw Daddy last weekend,” she reminded her daughter.
“I want my daddy,” Hannah wailed.
Half of Icicle Falls was in the store, and it felt as if everyone was watching this charming family vignette. “Explain to her,” Ivy said to Rob the Rotten through gritted teeth.
He ruffled Hannah’s hair. “Mommy said no.”
“Oh, thanks. That helped,” Ivy said as the crying got louder. Now she was Mean Mommy while Rob was...the biggest rat on the planet.
“Come on, Ivy, let me come over. What will it hurt?”
Her heart, that was what. But her children were both carrying on as if she’d just caused the end of the world, and she was trying to be a grown-up. She could handle this. “Fine.” Not fine, really.
“Okay, kids,” he said, lifting Robbie back into the shopping cart. “We’ll go get what Mommy needs, then we’ll pick up a frozen pizza.”
“Pizza!” Hannah crowed.
Yeah, let’s bribe the kids, Ivy thought bitterly. “I hope you’re happy,” she said to Rob as he accompanied them down the baking aisle.
“I am,” he said. “This’ll be fun.”
“For you. You won’t be the one stuck with the fallout when you leave.”
“Then I’ll stay.”
The words made her heart twist painfully.
“I’ll help you put them to bed and everyone will be happy.”
“Until they wake up and find you gone. This is so typical of you, Rob. You never think about the fallout.”
He bit his lip. “Sorry. You’re right. I don’t have to come over.”
“Oh, that’ll make the kids happy. You’re committed now. You’d better see it through.” Just like he should’ve seen their marriage through. He hadn’t been able to handle that, but when it came to fun and games he was all over it.
To be fair, he’d always taken the kids when he was supposed to, and he would’ve taken them more often if she hadn’t fought him on it. He was prompt with his child support, too. She supposed she should be thankful that he was no deadbeat dad.
Only a deadbeat husband.
They picked up the needed sugar and the pizza. Chicken Alfredo, Ivy insisted. The pepperoni and sausage kind would make Robbie sick. At the checkout Hannah hit Rob up for a candy cane.
“Sure,” he said, plucking one from the display even as Ivy said, “Mommy told you no.”
Rob hesitated, candy cane in hand. “Did you already ask Mommy?”
Hannah studied her pink snow boots. “I want a candy cane.”
“We’re going to have cookies. That’ll be enough sugar. Unless you want to stick around and deal with these two on a sugar high,” she said to Rob.
He put the candy cane back and Hannah pouted all the way to the car.
“No pouting, now. You’re getting to bake cookies with Daddy,” Ivy said to her, and that made Ivy want to pout, too. Here she’d planned this time with the kids, an opportunity to make a nice Christmas memory and now Rob had invaded her memory-making moment and was ruining it. Back at the house he put the pizza in the oven and entertained the kids while she prepared the cookie dough. It was almost like a normal family Christmas.
Except for her, the new normal was going to involve no kids on Christmas Day. She’d have them on Christmas Eve for the big family dinner at her parents’ house and the Christmas Eve service and then, come Christmas Day, Rob would take them off and keep them clear through New Year’s.
What was he going to do with them when he worked? she’d objected back when they were hammering things out with the lawyers. “That’s what vacation time is for, Ive,” he’d responded. Yes, it would be vacation time with Daddy. What was Ivy going to do?
“Don’t worry,” Deirdre had said to her. “I’ll keep you company Christmas Day. God knows I don’t have anybody to spend the day with.” Realizing how that sounded, she’d said, “We can watch Christmas movies and you can teach me to knit. Or we can go over and bug Mom and Dad.”
Two losers, spending the day together. It was a poor substitute for being with her children. And that was another thing that wasn’t fair. Rob was the one who’d indulged in a premature midlife crisis and left. Why did he get the kids on Christmas Day? Ivy watched him giving them piggyback rides around the living room and frowned. Jingle Bells, that sure smells. Tie Rob to a sleigh. Drag him through the tree farm. Ha! Jingle all the way.
Of course, there’d been a time when she’d loved watching him play with the kids. A time when she’d loved him, period. Now she loved to hate him.
Sometimes she loved to hate herself, too. Like Santa, she made a list of her wifely shortcomings, checking it twice. Gained an extra fifteen pounds after Robbie was born and only took off four. Asked Rob to do too much around the house (totally bogu
s, considering how much she did and how hard she worked, but irrational guilt kept that one on the list). Was cranky when she was tired. Wasn’t always interested in sex because she was tired. Was tired too often.
Darn it all, she was done checking that list. She had done nothing—nothing!—that deserved having him walk out. He’d messed up their lives and now here he was, messing up her happy-memory making. Well, she wasn’t going to let him.
She got out the cookie dough and the rolling pin and cookie cutters. “Okay, we’re ready,” she called.
That brought Hannah running to the kitchen, with Robbie in hot pursuit and Rob following at a more leisurely pace.
“I’m gonna make trees and stars. What are you gonna make, Daddy?” Hannah asked as Ivy put the child-size apron on her that she’d made earlier in the year. It was pink and decorated with teacups and teapots. Hannah loved wearing it when she was playing house or helping Ivy in the kitchen.
“I’m going to make Santas,” Rob said.
“I like Santa,” Hannah informed him.
“I know you do.”
“Where’s your apron, Daddy?” she asked.
“Daddy doesn’t need one,” Ivy answered for him. “Daddy never goes in the kitchen.”
“He does now. I make a mean lasagna.”
“Why is it mean?” Hannah asked, and he chuckled.
This would be so heartwarming if they were still together. Ivy would be recording it all on her phone.
But she could get a picture of Hannah in her apron. She picked up her phone. “Hey, sweetie. Let’s get a picture of you all ready to make cookies.”
“Come on, Daddy,” Hannah said, reaching over and grabbing Rob by the sleeve.
Photo bombed by her ex, just what she’d wanted.
“Will you send that to me?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said reluctantly. Then to Hannah, “Now, let’s get one of you all by yourself like a big girl.” Hannah beamed and Ivy snapped the pic. Yes, now there was a happy Christmas moment.
They set to work, rolling out dough and cutting out cookies, Robbie corralled in his high chair with toys, and laughing when Rob dotted his nose with flour. Rob kept Hannah amused with silly suggestions for what Santa might bring her. “Green eggs and ham? No? How about some chicken bunions? No? Hey, maybe Santa will bring you some elf earrings.”
Christmas on Candy Cane Lane Page 12