Dak reached over and put his hand on her arm, squeezing it slightly. She looked up at him, sinking into his chocolate brown eyes. He didn’t say anything, only held her glance for a second, and then let go, getting up to go start hooking the dogs to the snowman. He didn’t have to say anything, though. The brief contact, even through her coat, had been enough to let her know how he felt, and a rush of warmth rippled to her core, understanding and support renewing her strength in a way she hadn’t experienced since Grandma had left her.
Memory couldn’t dwell on it. She had to finish the snowman. Leaving the dogs to Dak, she cleared the bags and other items out of the way, taking all of the trash from the collars and leashes and as many empty bags as she could and shoving them inside of one another until she was left with one small brown paper bag with handles. She moved that aside and started working on the snow.
It was sparse. Blades of green grass were poking out in several places, and it didn’t look good, in her opinion. Memory did her best to smooth snow from other areas over the grass without thinning out any of the other spots. She didn’t have time to stare at it, so she just had to take a cursory glance and get all of the bigger patches of green, hoping the judges wouldn’t have time to do much more checking than she had.
“Memory?” The sound of Karen’s voice made her jump a little. She looked up to see Mrs. Charles standing over by the bag with a clipboard. “Do you have a minute?”
She didn’t think she did. Memory glanced at Dak and saw he was about done positioning the dogs, but she wanted to switch a couple of them. He was bending the snowman’s arm, trying to get the walker to hold the leashes, but the weight was making his arm droop. She was afraid it might come out of his body.
Still, she had to give Karen the information she needed. She hopped up and headed over. “Hi.”
“Hi, dear. Just some quick questions. Boy, there are a lot of entrants this year. I don’t know if I’ll get everyone written down before the contest ends.” She smiled through clenched teeth, and Memory bit back the thought that she had just wasted thirty seconds saying that. Lowering her voice, Karen asked, “What’s your partner’s name, dear?”
“Dak Brooks,” Memory replied, her voice just as soft as Karen’s so as not to embarrass her.
“He seems like a nice young man. I’ve seen him around town but didn’t know his name.”
All the comments floating in her mind refused to form a complete thought, so Memory only smiled.
“And... what is your team name?”
Her eyes bulged. They hadn’t discussed that. She turned and peered over her shoulder, seeing that Dak had just about worked out the situation with the arm, and it looked like it was going to hold. “Uh... Canine Crusaders.” She hoped that would work and that Dak wouldn’t mind. Or the cats on the logo....
“Perfect.” Karen wrote that down, her smile unclenching. “Cute concept. Good luck!” she patted Memory on the shoulder and hurried off to the pair behind the dog walker, her boots swooshing up snow drifts as she hurried off.
“Well?” Dak asked, letting go of the arm and sighing when it stayed put. The leashes were rubber banded around the snowman’s hand, a clever idea she hadn’t considered.
“It looks good! Do you mind if I switch the chihuahua and the lab? You can’t really see the little guy over the taller dog’s head from the front.”
He raised his hands and said, “Be my guest.”
Memory made the switch, moving both of those dogs into cuter poses and changing up a beagle slightly as well. She stood back. “What do you think?”
“I think it looks great. I haven’t had a chance to see what anyone else is doing, but I love it.”
“Me, too.” Memory folded her arms, taking it in with satisfaction. They’d done a good job, and with any luck, the humane society would benefit.
Dak came to stand next to her. “Nice job, partner.” He offered his hand, his head tipped to the side slightly as if he thought she might not take it.
“Thank you. Nice job.” She shook his hand, wishing neither of them were wearing gloves, and tried not to let the disappointment show when he let go.
“One minute!” Mayor Charles announced.
Memory’s eyes immediately went to the grass. Had they covered everything?
“It looks great, Mem. Stop worrying.”
“I don’t know....”
“Tell you what, if we win, you have to go caroling with me Thursday.”
She raised an eyebrow and met his gaze. “That seems like a punishment.”
His face fell. “Thanks.”
“No, I didn’t mean....” She found her hand on his shoulder and looked at it conspicuously before she decided the fact that he hadn’t retreated must mean he didn’t mind so much. “I meant for you. Me singing. Punishment.”
“Nope. Besides, you don’t have to sing. You can just stand there if you’d like, like you did last night.”
She’d had a great time with him at the lighting, even if she hadn’t wanted to go and had made that clear. “Fine. If we win, I’ll go with you. But if we lose....”
“If we lose... I’ll have to go with you.” He winked at her, and Memory burst out laughing, smacking him lightly on the shoulder with the back of her hand.
Before she could retort, Mayor Charles blew the annoying air horn again. “All right! Snow down!” he shouted through the megaphone. “All of the contestants must come over here now while the judges make their rounds. No coaxing or convincing allowed.”
Satisfied with her work, Memory picked up the bag of discarded items and turned to head to the center of the field. Dak walked alongside her, and they were both quiet as they checked out their competition. “Oh, wow. Is that the Statue of Liberty?” Memory asked, noticing a large snowperson over by where they’d been standing earlier.
“Yep. I believe that’s your sister’s.”
“You’re kidding.”
He wasn’t. “She told me earlier she wasn’t at liberty to discuss what she had planned, so....”
Memory cracked up at the awful pun. “That’s terrible.”
“Hey, she’s your sister.”
“That’s not my fault.”
Dak slowed slightly as they were approaching other contestants. “Do you guys argue all the time?”
Memory was taken aback by the question. “No, not all the time. I mean... I don’t think so. She just... she’s not even two years older than me, but she’s always thought she could tell me what to do, you know? It drives me a little crazy.”
“Do you think maybe it’s because she sort of felt like she needed to be your mom? Since you didn’t have one?”
“She didn’t have one either,” Memory replied.
“I know. But she might’ve felt obligated to try to step into that role for you, even though she wasn’t old enough or mature enough to do it, and you obviously had your grandma and your dad.”
Running her hands through the ends of her hair, Memory considered the possibility. “I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about it before. Maybe.”
“Just a thought.” He gave her an encouraging smile, and she tried not to dwell on the suggestion while she was with him because there’d be plenty of time to think about it later when she wasn’t standing next to a handsome man. The thought that she disagreed with his entire reason for being in Christmas Falls hadn’t even entered her mind since she’d gotten to the park—until that moment, the instant when she felt like maybe she should be enjoying herself more. Memory would have to think about why that was later as well. Was she not allowed to be happy now that Grandma was gone?