s...o...b..ll fight and ended up with them building the biggest
snowman Maggie had ever seen. They situated their master-
piece right before her front porch, and Spencer even had to
Ago fetch a six-foot stepladder so that he and his Uncle Barry
could place the head on the very top. Maggie donated her
old mittens and scarf, and they christened the snowman
George, proclaiming him their official holiday doorman.
Then they all trooped inside for cocoa and cookies.
"You guys are like a bunch of little kids," said Audrey
happily as she dropped mini marshmallows into their cocoa
cups and added candy canes as stirring sticks.
4,Barry gave his mother an affectionate squeeze. "Yeah,
and doesn"t that make you feel about twenty years younger
too?"
Looking for You All My Life289
She smiled at him. "As a matter of fact, it does."
They visited around the fire in the library until late. Then
Spencer broke up the party by announcing that everyone had
to go to bed in order to rise early the following morning
(Christmas Eve day) so that they could get to the slopes as
soon as the lifts opened.
"Jed said we might close shop early tomorrow and join
you guys," said Leah.
"I can"t wait to meet Jed," said Rebecca. "I"ve heard so
much about him." She winked at Maggie.
"So have I," said Barry.
"What do you mean?" asked Maggie. "I"ve never even
mentioned him to you."
Barry glanced over to Rebecca. "A certain little bird told
me."
Maggie nodded knowingly. "Can"t even trust my best
friend, can I?"
"What do you mean?" complained Barry. "Are you
trying to keep something from your little brother?"
Suddenly Maggie felt uncomfortable, hoping that Leah
wouldn"t be taking any of this the wrong way. "There"s really
nothing to keep from you, Barry," she said quickly.
"Rebecca and I email a lot, and sometimes I tend to go on
and on about silly things. You know how that goes."
He shook his head. "Unfortunately, I never seem to have
time for such pleasures. The only email I send and receive
pertains to business, and by the time I"m done with that I
don"t even want to correspond with anyone."
"You sound like a real grump," teased Rebecca, her blue
eyes sparkling in a way that caught Maggie"s attention.
Could it be there was something going on here that she
hadn"t noticed earlier?
"All right, you guys," warned Spencer, pointing to the
mantle clock which was now pushing close to midnight.
"Stay up all night if you want, but you sure better not com-