Ash looked over to see Allie’s mom heading over with a couple with a baby.
“Hey, Mom,” Allie said. “Becky, Ted, and Rosie of course. This is Ash Tailor, and his daughter Maya, and Tim and Maya’s friend, Eloise. Becky and Ted Lanford are Timmy’s parents and Rosie is his little sister.”
“Great to meet you,” Ash said.
“We were hoping to take the kids over to the ice cream shop for you,” Allie’s mom said. “In case you two had any last-minute shopping to do.”
“That would be amazing,” Ash said. “If that’s okay with you, Maya?”
Maya nodded, looking very pleased.
“Excellent,” Ash said, turning back to Mrs. Lawrence and the Lanfords. “Thank you for that.”
As Allie’s mom led the kids away, the Lanfords held back a little.
“We just wanted to let you know how much this friendship means to Timmy,” Becky said to Ash.
“It means a lot to Maya too,” Ash told them. “We’re new in town, and it’s good to see her spending time with a great kid like Timmy.”
“Thank you,” Ted Lanford said, holding out his hand.
When Ash took it, Ted shook hard and Ash could see the sincerity in the other man’s eyes. He watched after the couple as they followed Mrs. Lawrence and the kids to the ice cream shop.
“That was really nice,” Allie said. “How do you feel?”
“Lucky,” Ash admitted. “She’s a good kid and she found the right friends.”
“It’s not luck,” Allie said, shaking her head. “She made all that happen. She’s really special, Ash.”
He nodded, accepting the praise for his daughter was easy. He was biased, of course, but he knew Maya was an open-hearted little girl.
“Thank you for believing in her,” he told Allie. “She’s been so much more self-confident these last few weeks. And I know it’s because you’ve been helping her and giving her the benefit of the doubt.”
“That’s the least she deserves,” Allie said dismissively. “Speaking of which, if you still need to do some Christmas shopping, the toy store is right across the street, and they’ve got wonderful things there.”
“Lead the way,” Ash said.
He had picked up most of Maya’s presents online before they moved out here, but now that he was walking around the little town he felt terrible about it. He definitely wanted to support the local businesses, so maybe today he could setthat right.
The restof the morning passed quickly. Ash and Allie picked out some great toys for Maya from the toy shop, and Ash added lots more to donate at the Giving Tree event.
From there, they headed to the bookstore for more shopping. Ash paid special attention to the paperbacks whose spines Allie caressed on the way past the romance and mystery sections to get to the children’s books. He was happy to have an extra person to spoil this year.
By the time they loaded up their purchases in his truck and made their way back to the park, the kids were already standing by the pop-up skating rink with Mrs. Lawrence, the Lanfords, and Eloise’s parents.
“Oh, perfect timing,” Mrs. Lawrence said. “Timmy and Eloise are just about to head home.”
“We’ve got family coming from out of town,” Ted explained apologetically.
“And we have some baking to do,” Eloise’s mom added. “It was great to get the kids together though.”
“I’m going to make cookies now,” Eloise said happily.
They all said their goodbyes, and then Mrs. Lawrence headed off to do some shopping of her own.
“I like the ice cream shop,” Maya said.
“It was a fun place to spend time growing up,” Allie said, nodding.
