“Don’t do it, Daddy,” Emily warned from the back seat. “Me’nember what happened last time?”

Alas, he me’nembered. He me’nembered all too well. It had taken two hours and a promise to attend her annual Christmas block party to get rid of Helen. Unfortunately, one of them had to be the adult in this car.

That adult was him. It was always him.

“Don’t be rude, Emily,” he said with a severity he was far from feeling. Complying with Helen’s request to open the window, he turned and put on his blandest smile. “Hello, Helen. You’re looking positively radiant today. Or maybe that’s just the frostbite settling onto your cheeks.”

She blinked her hazel eyes, which were, in fact, looking quite nice. Snowflakes had caught in the lashes and were sparkling in the midday sun. When matched with the rosy glow of her ice-kissed cheekbones and the knit cap pulled down around her ears, she was an unquestionably attractive woman.

She was also an unquestionably nosy one.

“Oh, you,” she said with a titter and a flash of teeth that Ford had to admit were a little too white for his tastes. Maybe Lila was onto something with that whole gleaming-enamel thing. There was something unsettling about it. “Always such a jokester. I haven’t been out here long. I saw you pull up the street and dashed right out. Is Emily with you?”

Without waiting for an answer, she leaned forward and popped her head in the window. “Oh, there you are, love,” she said, raising her voice to a near-shout and painfully enunciating each syllable. “And how are you today?”

“Daddy,” Emily said by way of answer. “Jeeves has to pee.”

“Good afternoon, Em-ee-lee,” Helen repeated, louder this time.

“He’s gonna pee on my new tights.”

Helen pulled her head back out again, her hair tickling against his cheek as she went. “Poor little thing,” she murmured. “Rough day?”

Ford bit back a sigh and turned to his daughter, making a quick hand sign for her to be polite and say hello. Emily complied, but sullenly, not the least bit pleased at finding herself in the wrong. Technically, she wasn’t—the last time he’d lectured her on her behavior toward their neighbor, he’d stressed the importance of saying something nice or not saying anything at all—but he hadn’t expected her to take him quite so literally.

Not that he could blame her for it. No matter how much time Helen spent with them or how many times he tried to explain it, she always seemed to think a loud voice and slow speech were all that were necessary to overcome Emily’s challenges.

“Did you have a doctor’s appointment this morning?” Helen persisted as she stepped back to allow him out of the car. “We missed you at drop-off.”