Page 18 of This Christmas

Chapter Five

Huge tears rolled down Charlotte’s cheeks. “I don’t want it to snow!” she whined.

“I know, baby, but we don’t get to choose the weather,” she said as Charlotte kicked in her arms. Ally realized that her daughter had skipped her morning nap, which could account for the theatrics now.

“But Joe was going to come…” The last was a wail as she buried her face in her chest.

“Honey, Joe said he had to work,” she reminded her gently. Why was her daughter so attached to the man already?

“I don’t want him to work,” she said through tears as she buried in her face deeper in her chest.

Had she ever been this dramatic as a child? How had her mother handled it?

“Charlotte Eva Wilson,” she warned in a soft voice. “What do you say we take our picnic up to the top of the lighthouse and watch the snow from up there?”

“I don’t wanna.” She kicked softly.

“I’ll let you make the sandwiches.”

Silence.

“All by myself?”

Ally winced, knowing the mess she’d have to clean up after. Chances were, however, that her daughter would go down for a very long afternoon nap after all those stairs. “Sure,” she agreed.

Just then the doorbell rang and her daughter actually pushed herself out of her arms and almost fell face-first onto the hardwood flooring.

“He’s here,” she said loudly over and over as she raced toward the door.

“Charlotte!” she said sternly as her daughter yanked opened the door without her permission.

Thankfully, it was Joe standing on the doorstep. He had a dusting of snow covering him like he’d been standing outside waiting for the right time to ring the bell.

“Hi.” She held up a finger to ask him to wait a moment. “Honey,” she said, kneeling to Charlotte’s level. “We’ve had this talk. You are not old enough to open the door.”

Charlotte wiped her red eyes from her earlier tears and nodded. “Sorry, Mama.” Then she smiled up at Joe. “You came.”

“I did.” He nodded. “I hope that’s okay?” he said, turning to her. Ally just shrugged. At least her daughter wasn’t crying any longer.

“We’ve been having a meltdown about the snow ruining our picnic plans.” She motioned for him to come inside out of the weather. “I bet this would be an interesting report,” she said before she could catch herself. She rolled her eyes when her daughter looked up at her funny. “We were going to make sandwiches and take them up to the lighthouse to watch the snow.”

“That’s a great idea, only, why just eat sandwiches?” He held up a bag and boxes from the Golden Oar restaurant. “I stopped off and got their last three burgers and the rest of their french fries.”

“Really?” Charlotte bounced a few times.

“Yes, and if you promise your mama never to open the door by yourself again, I might just give you the slice of chocolate cake that’s in there too.”

Charlotte quickly turned to her and tugged on her pants. “I promise, Mama.”

Ally smiled down at her daughter. “I guess it’s okay. Why don’t you go get your jacket and hat. I bet it’s cold up there.”

When Charlotte had rushed off, she turned to him. “You didn’t have to⁠—”

“I quit,” he blurted out, shocking her.

“You… quit?” She frowned.

He nodded quickly. “It’s a long story, longer than I think we have time to discuss now.” He glanced toward the stairs. “I was able to get my hands on some of the sealed court case files. I know the truth about what he did to you now. I have never and will never work for someone like your ex. After I resigned from the job, let’s just say I got a taste of the real man behind the DA’s office.”