“No,” Cash said, looking stricken. “It wasn’t. It would have been better to be here on time. Being there is better than bringing stuff. I won’t let it happen again. I guess it just never occurred to me that you’d think I wouldn’t show up for him.”
She didn’t have time to say anything more, because the first of a horde of people who had been approaching slowly from all sides finally got up the nerve to come close enough to get Cash’s attention.
“Charles Cash Lawrence,” Edith Fournier chirped. The retired teacher wore a schoolgirl smile, in spite of her advanced age. “Is that really you?”
“Mrs. Fournier,” Cash said politely, turning to embrace her. “How’s Mr. Fournier?”
“Joe’s just fine,” Edith said with a big smile. “But you’refamousnow, Charles. We saw you on television.”
“Oh, that’s just work stuff,” Cash said, dismissively.
“You were in my first-grade class when you were just a little boy,” Mrs. Fournier said. “But I always knew you would get involved with music. That little foot of yours was always tapping.”
“Did you know I’m back home to see my own boy?” he asked her proudly.
“You have a little boy?” Edith asked.
“I have a teenager, and he’s going to be a musician too,” Cash said. “If he wants to be one.”
“Like father like son,” Edith said in a pleased way, nodding.
A bunch more people had approached now that it was clear Cash was open to saying hello.
“I came here to see him today,” he told her. “There he is.Get over here, Cody. Bring your friend.”
The small crowd parted, and Cody jogged up with Annika by his side.
Cody looked like he was trying his best not to beam at his dad. And Annika was smiling so hard that her blue eyes crinkled.
“Dad, this is Annika,” Cody said.
“Hey, Annika,” Cash said.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Law,” Annika said.
“You can call me Cash,” he told her. “You two want some doughnuts? I figure we’d better get our energy up before the big snowball fight. Did you guys already form an alliance?”
“You know about that?” Cody asked.
“Oh, he’s really got thecity boys blues,doesn’t he?” Cash said to Annika, with a smile so they would know he was only joking. “That’s okay, son. They didn’t have this big one back in my day, but I’ve seen my share. Alliances are what snowball fights are all about.”
“And water balloon fights,” Annika pointed out. “Do you want to join our alliance, Mr.—Cash?”
“You two probably already made your plans,” he said, carefully looking to Cody.
Bella’s breath caught in her throat. Cash was surprisingly good at this already. Waiting to see if Cody would rather just hang out with his friend and have Cash cheer him on from the sidelines was a great move.
“You definitely need to join,” Cody said, his face lighting up. “You’re the perfect decoy.”
“What?”Cash asked, pretending to be offended.
“Come on,” Annika told him. “We’ll explain.”
“Are you in on this too?” Cash asked Bella.
“Not a chance,” she told him, laughing. “I’m a snowball pacifist. Want me to hold those?”
He handed off the bag of warm doughnuts and she watched as the three of them disappeared behind the ice-skating rink to strategize.
