Page 11 of Candy Cane Dreams
"Six," Roland said.
Kate laughed.
"I'll try. Tell you what, I will not eat alone. I will come here, unless I have someone else to eat with. Does that sound okay?"
"Sure does. Let's go back in and talk to everyone for a bit while Roland puts the things in your car."
"Sounds good. If you don't mind helping me go over the kids' names again. That will be six children that I won't have to learn at school. That'll be my homework for the night."
They laughed as Nelly put her arm through Kate's, and they walked in the door.
Chapter Four
It turned out that Kate and Summer got into a huge discussion about counseling and therapy and the children that they could help, and it was midnight until Kate left the McBride's house, with Summer beside her, since she was dropping Summer off at home, because Gilbert had taken the children home hours ago to get them to bed at a decent time.
"Thanks so much for talking to me. It's so nice to find someone else who is as concerned about the children as I am, and not just concerned about making ourselves feel good by doing 'good deeds,'" she said, using her fingers to make air quotes.
"We just want to throw money at people, or things at them, when in reality, that just patches the problem. It's the old 'Give a man a fish or teach him to fish' adage, which has a lot of truth to it." Summer nodded her head as she spoke, and Kate had to agree. They'd spent the evening talking about how they could equip the children to deal with their issues, rather than just putting a band-aid on them, teaching them to walk throughthe issues, facing them, and not telling them that it wasn't fair or wasn't right.
Kate didn't think for one second that she had everything figured out, but she did know a lot of the things that were happening in the city schools weren't working. More money wasn't the answer. And more of the same wasn't the answer either, since things had gotten worse, not better.
Summer got out of the car at the farm, promising to stay in touch. Kate pulled out of the driveway feeling like she'd made a new friend.
As she carefully set the packages back down on the front seat and shut the door, Kate remembered that she had promised Nelly that she would drop those things off at the candy cane shop for... what did she call it? The secret saints?
Interesting, how in one evening she could go from wondering what her purpose was to feeling like maybe she'd found it with finding a kindred spirit in Summer, and the idea that she could help people who actually needed it anonymously, in the town where she was planted.
As she drove back through Mistletoe Meadows on her way to the hotel, she kept an eye out for for-rent signs, but the town was dark and quiet.
Except for the warm yellow light in the window of the candy cane shop.
To her surprise, the man, Jack, was still working at the counter. His shoulders moved along with his arms as Kate assumed he was rolling out candy canes.
They looked like big ones, with his huge movements, and Kate found herself not only wondering what the candy canes were for, but wondering about the man himself. What hard times had Nelly been talking about?
She'd only seen one girl, although she remembered Principal Stevens saying that the girl could use therapy. She was mute, butby choice, not by any kind of problem that medical professionals could figure out.
What would cause a child to voluntarily become mute?
Most little girls loved to chatter on. Actually, even boys that age loved to chatter and talk, at least for the purpose of getting what they wanted.
How did that affect the dynamic the little girl had with her father? Was there something medical professionals hadn't seen? Or was the child just so traumatized that she was unable to remember how to talk?
Kate made a mental note to herself to try to look things up and see if she could find anything out. This was her home now, and she wanted to do everything she could for the citizens here.
Since the light was on, she drove slowly down the street and parked at the church where she'd turned around before. Grabbing the bags from the front seat, she slipped quietly down the sidewalk, careful not to allow her feet to make any sound.
Feeling unaccountably nervous—after all, she wasn't doing anything wrong—she also contained the sliver of excitement that moved down her back as she slipped through the shadows, making sure she was doing everything she could to not be seen or heard. After all, she didn't want to blow her identity on her very first secret saint drop-off.
From what Roland and Nelly had said, there could be many more. And they had talked about how important it was to remain anonymous. She was all about that. And they were correct that her position as counselor was perfect for her to learn about people who could use help.
She made it to the front of the candy cane shop, unable to not look in the window and admire the intricate display of candy canes. Even more amazing was the fact that they were all handmade. Wow. It flabbergasted her. It also made her wonderhow someone could make a living selling handmade candy canes, especially in a town the size of Mistletoe Meadows.
Somehow she found herself drawn to Jack, wanting to know more about him, but she slipped the bags off of her arm and dropped them in front of the door, turning immediately and hurrying back up the sidewalk.
She didn't even glance in the window to see if Jack had heard anything unusual.
But she was smiling as she got in her car. Even if she didn't have a place to stay and didn't know exactly what the future held, she found herself feeling satisfied and content in ways she hadn't for a very long time.
