“Cash and Ash,” Cash laughed. “Great brother-in-law names—I should write a song about us throwing a bash.”
“Maybeafterthe wedding,” Allie said firmly.
Ash couldn’t helplaughing at that.
“And who is this beautiful young lady?” Cash asked, turning to Maya and bending a little.
“I’m Maya,” she said. “Your pants have holes.”
Ash tried not to laugh. She wasn’t wrong. Cash’s signature torn jeans looked super cool, but leave it to Maya to look at things sensibly.
“They sure do,” Cash said with a big smile. “That way my legs won’t get too hot while I’m running around making snowballs for my son to throw.”
Maya laughed at that idea.
“Bella and Cody are meeting up over at the ice cream shop with Cody’s friend Annika when we’re done with the snowball fight,” Cash said, turning back to Ash and Allie. “If you guys want to join us.”
“You’re really playing?” Ash couldn’t help asking.
“Oh, definitely,” Cash said. “Cody and Annika too. And Bella’s hanging out at the shop if you’d rather join her.”
“It looks crowded over there,” Ash said.
“We’re family, so there’s a table reserved for us,” Allie said. “What do you think?”
“Well, Maya wants to play, so I’ll stick around to keep an eye on her,” Ash said. “But we’ll definitely meet up afterward.”
“It’ll be a while,” Cash said, winking. “Cody really wants to win this year, and I think he’s got a real shot.”
“May the best man win,” Allie said with a smile.
“Do we really get ice cream?” Maya asked suddenly.
“It’s a Sugarville Grove tradition,” Allie told her. “We always get ice cream after the snowball fight.”
Maya turned to Ash, and he got a little pang. He didtry to feed her healthy foods most of the time, but hopefully that didn’t mean she thought he’d never give her a treat.
“We wouldn’t want to miss out on any traditions,” he told her. “So of course we’ll have ice cream.”
“Yay,” Maya yelled, dancing in place.
One or two people looked over, but they were smiling indulgently at her happy energy, not judging.
Ash felt his shoulders go down in relief, amazed that he was at his most relaxed in forever while standing with a rockstar in the middle of a town he had just moved to this month.
“Maya, Maya,” two little voices called out.
Ash looked up to see Eloise running across the park with a little boy who wore thick glasses.
“Timmy,” Maya called out, skipping in place. “Eloise, you’re here.”
Ash felt his heart melting at this hard evidence that Maya had actually made a friend group out of the child she had shoved and the one she had protected.
He glanced at Allie, but she was gazing at Maya with such pride and warmth it almost hurt to see it.
“Hi, kids,” she said.
“Hi, Miss Lawrence,” the two replied, stopping in their tracks to politely greet the teacher.
