Cadence of Cranberries - Valerie Comer Page 0,10

little dance as she pressed the doorbell. A chime sounded within, and footsteps approached the door.

It swung open, and she stood framed in the opening.

Charlie caught his breath as Winnie — yes, his Winnie — reached to give Katri a hug. That gave him a few seconds to take in the sight of her in a pretty cranberry-colored dress.

Then she looked past Katri. “And you must be Katri’s dad. Welcome...” Her voice trailed off as her eyes met his and widened in recognition.

Katri couldn’t stand still. She grabbed Charlie’s hand again, tugging him closer. “This is my dad, Charlie. Dad, meet Dominic’s mom, Winnie.”

He stretched out his hand and enveloped hers for a brief second. “We meet again.”

“You already know each other?” Katri gave him a playful slap on the arm. “Way to hold out on me, Dad.”

But Charlie was held in Winnie’s gaze. Her brown eyes were every bit as captivating as they’d been with the food truck counter between them. “A time or two,” he acknowledged. “But we didn’t know we had you kids in common.”

Winnie pulled her hand away, but her cheeks seemed a little more flushed than a minute ago. “It’s nice to meet you, ah... officially. Please, come in. The kids are in the kitchen with the last-minute prep.” She led the way inside. “Feel free to have a seat in the living room, and I’ll let Dominic know you’re here.”

Just like the outside, the interior was warm, tidy, and inviting. He took a step toward the deep leather seating nearby just as Katri was swept into an exuberant hug by her boyfriend.

“Come, meet my sisters.” Dominic pulled Katri toward the back of the house.

Yeah, Charlie wasn’t going to sit in the living room by himself. He followed the young couple, half-wishing he could find something to dislike about young Santoro to keep him away from Charlie’s baby girl. But the kid seemed all right — a far better catch than Charlie had been at his age.

The kitchen hummed with activity. Dominic and Katri stood with two young ladies, obviously sisters with their long dark hair. All four were talking at the same time. Kids.

A teen boy scooped mashed potatoes from a pot to a pottery bowl — bright turquoise, just like the front door. Another boy lifted a platter of carved turkey from the island and carried it through the archway through which Charlie could see a table set with china on a russet tablecloth. Not as fancy as anything Julia would like, but that just made it more real.

His gaze found Winnie across the space. Her daughters turned back to help her, and in no time, it seemed the last of the delectable-smelling dishes had been transported to the dining table. No fuss, no drama, just a family who knew how to pull together to get things done.

Something he and Julia had never managed. Never tried hard enough, either.

Mr. Winnie must have been an amazing man, because all this teamwork was unlikely to have materialized in the last two years.

Charlie was not an amazing man. He’d failed Julia a dozen ways daily. Twelve years ago, he’d accepted his failure. The only thing he knew how to do was work long hours for the company, so he’d doubled up to meet the alimony and child support payments. He’d taken a female coworker to the occasional gala, but he’d guarded his heart from even looking for love again.

Something about moving to Spokane and running the coffee truck had jogged something loose in him. His vague and whimsical dreams had been teased along by the woman who came for her weekly salted caramel latte.

Winnie Santoro. His daughter’s boyfriend’s widowed mother. Who knew?

She met his gaze across the suddenly empty kitchen and smiled. “Come on into the dining room. I’m sorry to have abandoned you so long.”

Her words echoed around in his head. He knew she hadn’t meant what he’d heard. He grinned at her. “It’s fine. A pleasure, even, to see a busy family working together.”

Winnie’s smile softened. “My kids are the greatest. Really. And Katri seems to be, as well. It’s sweet to see them so in love.”

Charlie remembered young love... or, in the case of him and Julia, young lust. No one would ever have called them sweet, but he could see it in Katri and Dominic. A pure, tender love full of promise, reminding him there was hope for the future of the planet.

Winnie beckoned him to the dining room.

Hope for the future?