Jonas gave her a look that screamed ‘duh’.
‘I know that. It’s in the first line. But even shepherds need to wash their socks, otherwise they’d get cheesy feet. Uncle Adam said a person’s feet are the most important part of their body. If you don’t look after them you’re in trouble.’
‘Sometimes your uncle makes things up for fun,’ she pointed out patiently. ‘You’re singing about shepherds. And they were watching their sheep as the angel of the Lord came down.’
He screwed his face up in confusion. ‘I don’t want to get it wrong. What if everybody laughs at me? I want to make Oma proud.’
‘You will.’ She pulled him to her, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. ‘Remember what Annie said? Your Oma used to love going to midnight mass, but this year she can’t make it to church. So we’ll bring the songs to her instead.’
‘Will you sing with me?’ Jonas gave her a beseeching smile.
Kitty made a wide-eyed face. ‘Oh no, not unless we want to burst her eardrums. I may have many qualities, but a good singing voice isn’t one of them. Honestly, she’s going to love it. So will everybody else. You have a beautiful voice.’
His singing was pure and true, enough to bring a tear to her eye. Kitty started the music again, mouthing the words as he came in at the right time, remembering to sing about flocks instead of socks.
It was typical that the one afternoon she was trying to do anything but think about his uncle, Jonas would bring him up in every other sentence. For the past hour the room had been full of ‘Adam said this’ and ‘Adam said that’ until Kitty’s mind was full of nothing but him.
Because he was all she wanted to talk about, too.
‘How was that?’ Jonas interrupted her thoughts. ‘Did I get the words right?’
‘You were perfect.’ She flashed him a smile. ‘Why don’t we take a break? We could reward your throat with some milk and cookies.’
‘The chocolate chip ones with the icing?’ His eyes were as round as saucers. ‘Oh boy, those are to die for.’
His words made her want to laugh. Kitty wondered if he’d heard his mother using the expression. It sounded so grown up for a seven-year-old boy. ‘Well let’s go and see if there’s any left. I’ll let you have two if you promise not to keel over afterwards.’
Jonas frowned. ‘Keel over?’
‘You said the cookies were to die for. I don’t want you going that far.’
He laughed. ‘OK, if I promise not to die for them, can I still eat ’em?’
‘Sure.’ Kitty hugged him, smiling.
Together they walked into the kitchen where Annie already had a pot of coffee brewing, and a saucepan of milk warming on the stove. If there was one thing Kitty was going to miss when she went back to LA it would be this kitchen. Stepping into it was like stepping onto the set of a TV programme, the visual equivalent of a warm, cosy hug.
Annie passed Jonas a mug of sweet chocolate and slid a plate with two cookies in front of him. Returning to the stove she poured out two mugs of coffee, turning to Kitty with a sheepish look on her face.
‘Could you take these through to the library? Mr Everett asked for them.’
Kitty shook her head. ‘No way, not after last time. He told me never to darken the library door again.’
Annie gave her a placatory smile. ‘But he asked for these ones. I’d go myself but my knees are playing up. It’s a long walk to the library.’
Kitty narrowed her eyes. Annie hadn’t shown any sign of pain when they’d walked into the kitchen. Plus the library wasn’t exactly miles away. If Kitty didn’t know any better, Annie was as scared of walking into Everett Klein’s operations hub as she was.
‘Maybe Jonas could…’ Kitty looked around to see Jonas sitting at the table, his legs swinging as he took a mouthful of hot chocolate. He shot her a grin, his lips framed by a brown moustache, and Kitty didn’t have the heart to send him into the fray.
‘OK,’ she said, sighing. ‘I’ll do it.’
‘God bless you. The black mug is for Everett; he likes his coffee dark and sweet. The white mug’s for Mr Montgomery.’
‘Got it.’ Kitty picked up the mugs and carried them the short distance out of the kitchen and into the hallway. As usual the library door was closed, and she had to bang on the dark mahogany wood with her elbow, both her hands occupied with the mugs. A moment later Drake pulled the door open, his face erupting into a smile when he saw her standing there. He ushered her in, and Kitty took her first step into the forbidden room.
‘I’ve got your coffee.’
‘Put it on the table in the corner, please.’ Everett was sat at his desk, staring intently at one of the three screens there. ‘Hey, Drake, take a look at this.’