Page 19 of Peach Tree Family

"It's probably just a shopping list or something," Theo said, not wanting to get Ace's hopes up or his own, but he couldn't help being curious.

"I still want to be careful with it," Seth said. "I'm going to get under it and push up on the shelf. Theo, you get the paper out."

With his help, Theo got it out intact. As Ace looked up at him eagerly, he unfolded it. It was a piece of lined notepad paper, creased and covered with lines of poetry. He read the title, "Winter Poem" by Nikki Giovanni.

"Granddad read this to me once when I wanted snow for Christmas, but there wasn't any. I was moping and looking out the window. With a book in his hand, Granddad came over and told me, 'Listen to this.' Then he read me this poem."

"Wow," Seth said. "Ace did find a treasure."

"He did," Theo said and rubbed Ace's head. "I remember the poem made me smile."

Ace pointed at the back of the paper. "Your name is on there, Theo."

And it was. On the other side of the paper, he read, "For Theo when he's sad."

Now Theo got so choked up, he couldn't even speak. Tears came to his eyes and Ace hugged him. Seth had tears in his eyes too.

Theo remembered that he just lost his own grandfather. Reaching out for Seth, he squeezed his shoulder.

"Thank you for finding this, guys. It's really special."

Since he was still in the orientation phase with his job at the inn and he learned quickly, it was no problem getting to leave in time to pick up Ace from school. When he had to cover the front desk, it wouldn't be that easy. There had to be some after school activity he could sign him up for, but Theo didn't find anything when he looked online.

Since Ace had been so tragic about having to go to school, Theo expected him to run over now that school was over for the day. But as Theo waited, a bunch of kids dragged Ace over to a very attractive blond guy waiting next to a beige SUV.

"Look! A new kid," a little blond boy shouted at the man.

"His name is Ace," a little redheaded girl said. "Me and DJ already know him."

"Good job discovering a new kid," the blond man said. "Nice to meet you, Ace. I'm DJ and Ry's dad." DJ seemed to be the quiet boy who was maybe a year younger than Ace and was standing next to him like they might already be friendly.

The little blond boy must have been his younger brother, Ry, and he was back at it. "He used to be our uncle, but he's our dad now. We have two dads. Two! And we have two dogs. Two dogs! Two dads!"

"Settle down, Ry. Does Ace need a ride home?" the guy asked.

"I'm picking him up," Theo said going over. "I'm Ace's brother."

"Hello. Wyatt Hayes," the blond dad said offering his hand.

"Theo Atkins." As they shook hands, Theo decided to pick his brain. "Do you happen to know if there are any after school programs around here? I looked online but didn't find anything."

"The school is working on some activities, but that won't happen till next year. For these guys, I'm the after school program. I work from home, so I can pick them up," Wyatt said while the kids milled around.

"Rico is picking me up so we can deliver the old junk truck," a little blond girl volunteered.

"Rico from the café?" Theo asked.

"You know Rico?" she asked.

"Our friend, Seth, works at the café," Ace told her.

"This is Sammy McEvers," Wyatt said of the blond girl.

"Like the handyman who came to our house?" Ace said and she smiled and nodded.

"Everybody knows everybody around here," Wyatt said with a laugh.

"I'm Gloria," the little redheaded girl said to Theo. "I saw Ace first."

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