She slapped a cafeteria tray to his chest. “Let’s go, Mr. Manager.” She handed another one to Sara.

Sara frowned at it. “Are we eating at a cafeteria?”

“Oh, ye of little imagination,” Cat teased. She led the way off the porch and down the sidewalk. “Follow me, my little snow bunnies.”

--------

The hill in front of the old high school was carved with tracks. There were two dozen kids in snow gear zooming down the fresh white carpet of snow and trudging back up to do it again. Another group, with a mix of parents, was building what looked like a snow fort or igloo. Still others were working on a Calvin and Hobbes-worthy snowman army.

“Voila,” Cat announced, sweeping her arms out to encompass the chaos.

“What is this?” Noah asked in wonder.

“This is how you do a snow day,” Cat insisted. “We’re going tray sledding, and then I assume we’re going to kick the as—uh butts of everyone else on the hill in an epic snowball fight of doom.

“Race you to the top,” Sara squealed and started sprinting for the hill.

Cat laughed. “Come on, Noah. You can’t let her beat you. It’ll give her unrealistic expectations of her own greatness.”

It took him a full second to move his feet. A full second of doubt and delight and everything in between. But the shove he gave Cat that had her falling on her ass in the snow gave him the momentum to follow his daughter’s footprints up the hill.

She almost beat him. But he’d gotten a good grip on her hood and yanked her backwards into the snow.

“In your face,” he called over his shoulder as he ran the last ten feet to the top.

“Dad!” Sara yelped. But it wasn’t anger or adolescent annoyance in her tone. It was sheer delight.

Noah jogged back down and hauled her out of the snow and, still laughing, climbed back to the top. Cat, brushing snow out of her hair, joined them. “Nice move, Yates,” she grinned. “You’re more competitive than I gave you credit for.”

“So, we’re sledding on food trays?” Sara demanded.

“Yep,” Cat said, dropping hers on the sparkling white at her feet. “I found a whole stash of these in the old kitchen,” she told Noah.

Noah planted his in the snow next to hers. “I’m going to sink like a rock,” he predicted.

“Then I guess we’ll beat you to the bottom,” Cat shot back with a wink.

“Yeah! We’re going to annihilate you!” Sara chirped.

Noah rolled his eyes. “You’ve been hanging around April too much, Lady Vocabulary.”

“Psht! Is that the best trash talk you’ve got?” Sara demanded.