Holiday Sparks

“So I get to tell you what to do?”

He laughed. “How did I know you’d be excited about that part?”

“I guess so.” She stood, a quick flash of pain in her eyes before they cleared.

He pulled her in for a quick hug. His heart melted a little when she looped her arm around his waist and pressed her cheek into his side. “Everything okay, squirt?”

She shrugged her good shoulder. “Yeah. Dad just forgot about the science fair at school today.”

Well, shit. Did he know about that? He’d hid himself at work for the last week. Cesar was going to take his half of the sign and run if he wasn’t careful. He brushed wispy tufts of hair that had fallen from her ponytail out of her eyes. “I’m sorry, baby. Did you win?”

A dimple winked as she grinned. “Third place! Want to see my ribbon?”

“Absolutely. Go grab it and get me a Diet Coke while you’re in there.”

“Okay!” She ran off with the sudden exuberance that only came out of an eight-year-old.

He unloaded his truck and hooked the ladder over his shoulder. By the time she came back he was unwinding a double set of the fat, traditional lights.

“See, Uncle Ben!” She skipped across the yard with a huge foam board under her arm. Awkwardly, she flipped open the tri-fold project. And indeed there was a large blue ribbon tacked to the top corner. “This is Saturn.”

He climbed back down the ladder and made the appropriate noises as she gave him an entire oral report about the planet from gasses to the rings. She’d drawn the planet, so this had to be something she’d worked on before the accident.

He took the board from her and oohed and ahhed about her ribbon until she was giggling. “Hey, why don’t you go set this up on the dining room table so it’s the first thing your dad sees when he gets home?”

“You think he’ll want to see it?”

He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. He hated the doubt that crept into her voice. “Off course he will. And I bet we’ll be able to convince him to order pizza tonight because he’ll feel so bad.”

“Pepperoni?”

“Is there any other kind?”

She raced back inside and Ben rubbed at the ache just above his eyes. He had to start paying attention to the people who were important in his life. Darcy didn’t want to have anything to do with him and he had to remember that. When Brit returned, he smiled down at her and tossed down a little baggie of clips.

“Think you can give me one of those when I ask for it? And make sure the lights stay untangled?”

“Piece of pie.”

He laughed. Neither one of them liked cake, so they renamed the saying. Kind of like Darcy did with her— Fucking hell. He turned to the roof edge and banished Darcy from his brain.

An hour later the sun was bleeding across the neighborhood full of ranch-style houses. He and Brit had the windows outlined in different colored strands and each square hedge decked out like ice cubes with rope lights.

The rumble of another truck dragged Ben’s attention away from his niece. His brother stepped out of the tow truck from the garage he worked at. John’s hangdog face had a few more lines under his eyes and he was sporting a calico beard. He shook his head. John never could grow a beard in one

color.

“Hey, man,” John said tiredly.

“Hi, Daddy.” Brit fussed with her zipper.

“What, I don’t get a hug hello, Britzilla?”

She forced a bright smile and hugged her father, pressing her cheek to John’s solid midsection. John brushed his hand over her messy cap of hair. His tired face couldn’t conceal the obvious love for his daughter.

“What have you guys been up to?”

She grinned up at him, both dimples denting her cheeks. “Uncle Ben-style Christmas of course!”