They bundled up and headed into town where Clare showed them off at McHugh’s and the Book Nook. Diana and Bea were delighted to finally meet Clare’s daughters. The girls dragged Clare into all the stores in town, even a few she hadn’t been to yet. By the time they walked home, it had begun to snow lightly.

“Who is that?” Maggie pointed to the house.

Clare smiled at the sight of Aidan bent over the table saw on the front porch. She felt her face go hot when she remembered kissing him on Christmas Eve. “That is Aidan O’Malley. He’s doing the work on the house.”

Jill grinned. “Can’t wait to see if the front of him lives up to the back.”

“Oh, trust me,” Clare said with a smirk. “It does.”

Jill’s eyes widened. “Really, Mother. Do tell!”

Clare shrugged. “Nothing to tell. We’re friends. You guys will like him.” When they got to the house, Clare waited for him to shut off the saw. “Hey, you’re back.”

He looked up and smiled. “I wanted to beat the snow. Got some new friends, Clare?”

Maggie giggled. “We’re her daughters!”

“Daughters?” Aidan asked with mock horror. “You have daughters?”

“Very funny. Jill and Maggie, this is Aidan O’Malley. He’s a carpenter with a screw loose.”

“I’m offended,” Aidan said.

“You’ll get over it. Come on, girls. Let’s get dinner started. We’re having lasagna if you want to stay, O’Malley.”

“I’d love to.”

They left him working on the porch and went inside.

“What was that all about?” Jill asked.

“What?” Clare asked.

“You were flirting with him,” Maggie said as if she were an authority on the subject.

“I was not!”

“He’s dreamy,” Maggie said with a sigh.

Clare couldn’t deny it. “Isn’t he?”

Jill’s eyes went wide again. “Do you like him, Mom?”

“We’re friends. Don’t make a big deal out of it.”

“Hmm.” Jill took a bite of a carrot Clare got out for salad. She leaned against the bare wall in the kitchen and eyed her mother with interest.

“Hmm, nothing,” Clare said, but she was rattled that the girls had zeroed in on her growing friendship with Aidan so quickly.

By the time they’d had dinner and launched into a competitive game of Monopoly, the girls and Aidan were fast friends.

“That’ll be four hundred bucks,” Maggie told him when he landed on Boardwalk.

He groaned. “I’m busted. You girls have driven me straight into the poor house.”

“I can definitely relate,” Clare said dryly.

He got up to look out the window to check the snow. “I’d better go, but I’ll be over in the morning to dig you out.”

“We can do it,” Clare said.

“I don’t mind. The skiing will be great tomorrow.”