Chapter 16

16

Quinn’s Fine Finds was the definition of a flea market. The sweet shop was piled from floor to ceiling with antiques, kitschy curios, knick knacks of all kinds, and obscure pop culture items from every decade. As Tahlia took everything in she was transported back to her foster care days. She’d spend hours rummaging through bins and racks at the local Goodwill, scavenging for the best things she could.

Sometimes she’d find something really nice and was able to sell it for a good bit of cash. Cash she would have to hide or risk it being used for something other than food.

She was glad those days were over.

“Why are we here, Tahlia?” Maddy asked, picking up a plastic cup printed with a cartoon bird flapping its wings erratically at a cartoon cat. “It’s smelly.”

“We’re shopping for your dad, remember? For Christmas?” Tahlia led the kids through the stacks of shelves toward where she thought the register was, clutching the cuckoo clock in her arms like a precious heirloom.

“But me and Maddy already have gifts for him,” Kaiden said. “Why’d you tell Daddy we didn’t?”

“Okay, I fibbed a little,” Tahlia admitted, stopping in the middle of the aisle to face her young wards. They peered at her with the same curious gaze. “I needed an excuse to come back here.”

“Why?”

“Well, your daddy saw this cuckoo clock in the window and…I think he’d like to have it.” Exactly what other emotions were pushing her to buy the fifty-dollar clock they didn’t need to know.

“Really?” They said the word as one and wrinkled their noses in identical expressions. Tahlia giggled at the stereotypical twins display.

“Yes, really.”

“Can I help you, dear?”

Tahlia and the twins jumped, and she twisted to face the boisterous voice but her eyes didn’t immediately meet the owner. Not until one of the twins tugged on her sleeve and her gaze drifted down. Then she saw the tiny, wrinkled old woman who was somehow shorter than the kids. Above a warm and friendly smile were bright eyes amplified by giant glasses.

“Um, hello. I’m interested in this clock.” Tahlia presented the cuckoo clock to the woman. “To buy it,” she clarified, as if her intention wasn’t clear already.

A twinkle came into the old lady’s dark eyes. “Ah yes, I thought you might come back for it.” Before Tahlia could ask her what she meant, the tiny woman twisted around and beckoned for Tahlia to follow. “Alright, dear, follow me!”

Tahlia exchanged perplexed looks with the twins.

What a strange little shop this was.

After purchasing the cuckoo clock and hiding it in the car, Tahlia and the twins rejoined the rest of the family in the center of town. There, along with a few restaurants, was an ice skating rink to which the kids immediately dragged everyone. Tahlia was excited to hop onto the ice and do something she’d only done a handful of times. Jed and Ophelia were also eager to join their grandchildren, enthusiastically bustling off to rent skates.

Matt, however, was less interested.

“I’ll watch.”

“Come on, daddy! It’s fun!” Maddy insisted.

“Yeah, it’s fun!” her brother chimed in. Tahlia was helping him retie the laces of his skates, one of which the little boy had managed to leave too loose and in a tangle of knots at the same time.

“I’m not good on ice, kids.”

Maddy grabbed hold of his right hand and looked up at him with the widest, most puppy-dog eyes Tahlia had ever seen.

“Please, daddy?” she implored. Tahlia had never seen a man melt into a puddle before but that’s exactly what Matt Nelson did.

“Alright,” he sighed.

“Yay!” The twins cried together.