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as she handed Gracie a second decoration. She glanced at a man in a red Santa sweater. “I’m going to get Bob to decorate one of these before he empties the punch bowl.” Aunt Dorothy zig-zagged between some of Trent’s cousins and disappeared.
    Gracie headed toward the garage, almost bumping into Jeff Lafferty on the way through the door.
    “Merry Christmas, Gracie. Are you here to rescue your brother-in-law?”
    “Hi, Jeff. Does he need rescuing?”
    Jeff laughed and nodded toward a table sitting in the middle of the garage. “You tell me?”
    Jordan sat on a low chair, teaching about eight kids how to string popcorn together. With the amount of popcorn going into their mouths, Gracie doubted the strings would get more than a couple of feet long.
    Jordan looked up at her and smiled. “You want to come and join us? We’ve got plenty of room. Jeff’s already chickened out.”
    “A planned retreat,” Jeff added. “Karen asked me to bring more chairs into the living room.”
    Jordan shook his head and tutted. “You’re turning into a hen-pecked boyfriend.”
    “Just the way I like it.” Jeff picked up two folding chairs and headed out of the garage.
    Gracie watched Jordan. He was staring down the hall, lost in thought. “He’s a good man.”
    Jordan blinked, then smiled. “He is. Mom’s happy.”
    Gracie walked across to the table and sat on one of the seats. “I want to talk to you.”
    “Sounds serious.” Jordan pushed a bowl of popcorn closer to a little girl with blonde pigtails. “This is Anastasia. She’s seven-years-old and lives in Great Falls.”
    “We’re Cousins,” Anastasia said proudly. Her wide gap-toothed smile made Gracie smile back. “Are you my cousin too?”
    Jordan tweaked one of Anastasia’s pigtails. “Gracie married Trent, so she’s definitely your cousin.”
    “Wow. I like your red hair. You can have my popcorn string if you like? I’m going to find mom.”
    Gracie picked up the needle and started threading popcorn onto Anastasia’s string. “Is everything all right, Jordan?” For a moment his happy-go-lucky mask slipped. He looked tired and sad. And then he smiled, shutting Gracie out of what was really going on in his head.
    “We’re having a great time, aren’t we kids?” A chorus of voices yelled a big, resounding, yes.
    “It’s okay to be you.”
    “Not today it’s not,” he muttered. “Have you seen who mom invited?”
    “Most of the single women I know?”
    Jordan groaned. “If you figured it out, then what does everyone else think?”
    “That your heart has bounced back faster than Santa can shimmy down a chimney.”
    “I don’t think he shimmies. It’s more like a magic poof. One minute he’s there and the next he’s not.”
    A little boy beside Jordan raised his head. A lock of jet-black hair fell over his eyes. “You forgot the reindeer. He needs Rudolph to go between houses.”
    An older boy snorted.
    “Jackson,” Jordan said quietly, looking at the older version of the little boy. “Do you need more popcorn?”
    Jackson sighed and shook his head. “Nope.” He looked across the table. “I’m going to look for reindeer poop in the snow.”
    The little boy dropped his popcorn string. “Me, too.”
    “It’s only for big kids. I’m big.” Jackson grinned.
    “I’m big,” the little guy said.
    “No you’re not. You’re six.” Jackson ran toward the door leading into the house.
    Within seconds most of the kids at the table had dropped their popcorn and were running after him.
    Jordan shook his head. “We’ve got a stampede of kids looking for reindeer poop. Their parents are going to kill me.”
    “Only if they make it outside.” Gracie could already hear groans of disappointment coming down the hallway.
    “I should go back to the adults. I won’t get myself into as much trouble.”
    “I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Gracie muttered. She squared her shoulders and looked Jordan in the eye. “Why are you