“Yeah, I’m good. I just wanted to, um, do something with Grandpa today.”
“Do what?” she asked.
“You know, our secret Christmas present.” He grinned. “You’re not the only one who has surprises planned this month.”
With that, he scurried toward the back, but only made it two steps before he stopped, turned, grabbed a cookie, and rushed off.
Gracie watched him, then closed her eyes. “That boy.”
“Not a boy.” Nicole took the stool he vacated. “He’s a tech mogul. I was just informed.”
Gracie smiled, but kept her attention on the icing, quiet as she turned an intricate leaf.
“Gah, you make that look easy,” Nicole said.
“It’s not easy,” Gracie said without looking up. “It’s just that after a thousand or so cakes, you stop worrying about ruining them.”
“I ruin cookies just by burning the bottoms.” Nicole pushed off to get a cup of tea. “So you’re still a wizard in my book.”
They were quiet while she went through the motions of brewing the tea, the only sound the hum of the kitchen dishwasher and the occasional ding from the office computer where Benny had started playing a game.
When Nicole came back, Gracie’s expression had shifted. She was still piping roses, but her eyes were softer and more thoughtful. Every few seconds, she glanced toward the back where Benny had disappeared.
“Everything okay?” Nicole asked.
“I guess,” she said on a sigh.
“Benny?”
She nodded. “He’s been kind of distant with me. Have you noticed?”
“Well, it’s Christmastime and he’s a kid,” Nicole said. “And I’ve noticed that he’s never far from Red, but that’s always been the case.”
“Right? Do you think that’s healthy?”
“Yes! Red’s his great-grandfather and Benny’s always been an old soul. Doesn’t shock me that he wants to hang aroundwith an eighty-two-year-old who is the closest thing to a real live Santa who ever lived.”
“But he just…” She exhaled like whatever she was about to say pained her. “He really doesn’t have any friends, Nic. Did you see him talking to the other kids at school when you picked him up after chorus?”
Nicole thought about the groups of nine- and ten-year-olds waiting for their rides and, she was right—Benny had been separate from all of them.
“I don’t think he loves chorus,” she said, trying to be vague instead of selling out her beloved little Benny. “Maybe those aren’t his people. I mean, there wasn’t a tech mogul in the bunch.”
Gracie smiled at that. “I forced him to be in chorus so he’d make friends, but it didn’t work.”
“He’ll be fine,” Nicole assured her. “He’ll make more friends when he gets older. And in the meantime, he has us and Red.”
Gracie fussed with a rose petal, smoothing the icing with a tiny tool. “It’s why I have been holding off on the dog.”
“I thought you were worried about the commitment and caretaking.”
“That’s just what I say,” she admitted, speaking softly enough that Benny, a notorious eavesdropper, couldn’t hear. “I’m afraid if he has a dog, he won’t make any effort to have friends. It’ll just be Benny and his dog, and that would be enough for him. He has no siblings, no friends, no cousin like you and I had. And Red is getting older and…” She couldn’t even finish the sentence.
“Don’t worry about things that haven’t happened yet, Gracie.” But she knew that was wasted advice on Gracie, who didn’t have her mother’s blind optimism. Aunt MJ saw the glass as half full—Gracie was pretty sure someone was going to knock it over and get cut by a shard.
“I know what it’s like to be a shy kid,” she said. “It makes life harder.”
“Benny’s not shy,” Nicole said. “He’s just twenty steps ahead of the average ten-year-old and doesn’t have the patience to wait for their brains to catch up.”
