The blond-haired girl smiled when answering, “Just getting ready for the big play.”

“That’s right.”

Yeah, the one we got an invite for and never responded to. Hope she doesn’t—

“I hope you guys can come and see it,” Kaylee said.

She was so excited to say this that it almost shamed him.

“Yeah, we’d like to. I really hope we can. Just depends on the babies, you know.”

How long are you going to use that excuse?

“Just think,” Kaylee told him in an animated way. “How many Christmas Carols are you going to see where Scrooge is actually a woman?”

Kevin laughed. “I get it now.”

The high school play was called A Christmas Carole. He’d been too busy, as usual, to notice that it was a modern take on the classic story.

So that’s why Jill was so excited that Kaylee got the lead role.

“So is ‘Carole’ an old lady?”

“Not as old as Scrooge. We’ve made it up-to-date. She’s still old, kinda like you.”

“Ouch,” Kevin said. “Yeah, that’s ancient.”

“There’s going to be three shows you can come to.”

Come on, Kev, step up to the plate.

“We’ll be there. I’ll let your mom know which time.”

“Oh, that’s awesome.” The nephews on Jenny’s side of the family were much more subdued and laid-back. “I know you’re going to like it. It’s really funny. Kinda like some of those videos you guys have made.”

“You’ve seen them?”

“Yeah, sure. Mom’s shown them to me.”

That was a surprise. But so was this chance encounter with his niece he hadn’t seen in almost a year.

“Tell your mom hi and that I’ll call, okay?”

“Can’t wait to see the twins!”

“Yeah, me, too, except I hope it’ll be sometime in the new year before they arrive,” Kevin said as he told her good-bye.

So much to do and so little time remaining to do it.

Story of my life.

A New Song

She was a beautiful love song but one he would never be able to sing. He was simply a silly campfire song sung by a bunch of punch-drunk boys who could never remember the lyrics. The two didn’t belong together. Not in any way.

Yet still, in some strange way, it really seemed as if Cass liked him. And his surprising newfound friend and occasional mechanic, Carlos, was trying to prove this point over lunch break.

A lunch break where Thomas was sitting with Carlos and his friends. His football friends. For the second day in a row.

It had started the day after the Maxima incident. Thomas was trying to find a shell to crawl into like a turtle when he saw the big guy laughing with some of his other big friends. When it seemed like Carlos recognized him, Thomas wanted to start walking the other way.

“Hey—you—whatever your name—come ’ere.”

When Thomas got to the table, he was glad to see that someone else recognized him. It was a senior named Juan he remembered playing basketball with.