Page 3

“Whoa!” he said with a surfer-boy inflection. His gaze instantly found the wailing Harrison and his clearly upset mother on the other side of the chapel. “You socked him? Did he deserve it?”

She nodded emphatically.

“Well, then.” He bent down and high-fived her again. Then to Cami, he said, “Yeah. The Force is strong in this one.”

Cami cleared her throat. “Actually, no, it’s… it’s not okay to hit our… um… classmates. We need to use our words, right, Eloise?”

Luke straightened, sobering. “Oh. Right. Using words is good. Unless he was being—”

“Hewas,” Eloise said. “And anyway, I didn’t exactly punch him. I kind of hit him with my elbow. On accident.”

At which point, Harrison’s mother, Claire Deitmore, stormed over with her son, clutching a bloody tissue against his nose. Cami knew her from the local PTA. She was one of those moms who wore the trendiest clothes, drove the coolest car, and always managed to snag the only private parental parking spot at school through the annual silent auction. And she was fiercely protective of her son.

“Excuse me, is this your child?” Claire asked Luke. “Did you see what she did to my son? She gave him a bloody nose!”

“Mrs. Deitmore. Harrison.” Cami stepped between them. “I’m so sorry that happened. I’m sure it must have been an accident and he’ll be fine. Trina just went to get some ice for you.”

“Anaccident? He said she punched him.”

“Elbowed,” Luke said, with his arm around his niece. “Accidentally.”

“And what are you going to do about it?” Mrs. Deitmore asked Luke. “A child like that is a danger to…”

Luke’s sky-blue eyes narrowed. “Just hold on there—”

“Eloise is certainly not a danger,” Cami said. “I’m sure this whole thing is a misunderstanding and she’ll apologize.”

“No, I won’t,” Eloise said unequivocally. “I’m not the only one he’s mean to either. It’s the principle of the thing.”

Cami blinked at her, wondering how Eloise Claymore had managed to fly under her radar this long.The principle of the thing?How old was she again?

“You see there? She won’t apologize,” Claire Deitmore said. “What kind of a parent are you that you allow your child to—”

“Sorry I’m late,” came another breathless voice from behind them.

Cami turned to find a man who closely resembled Eloise’s uncle, but with darker hair and a cold-whipped handsome face. “I wasn’t sure if you were going to make it in time, Luke.”

“Daddy!” Eloise launched herself at her father and buried her face against his chest.

Oh, this was seriously spinning out of her control. Cami tried to remember why she had agreed to direct this Christmas pageant in the first place.Oh, right.Sayingnowas not part of her vocabulary.

Eloise’s father frowned at Luke, looking for an explanation. Luke scratched his chin and turned to Cami.

“So,” Harrison’s mother said. “You’rethis little terror’s father.”

“Excuseme?”

She dangled the bloody tissue at him. “She did this to my son. And I believe he’s owed an apology and, I think, she deserves some disciplinary action.”

“Uh, to be fair,” Luke said, “according to Ella, he pushed her first.”

Mrs. Deitmore gaped at him. “He most certainly did not. My little Harrison is an angel. He would never—”

“It’s… actually not the first time, Mrs. Deitmore,” Cami said.

“Wh-what are you saying? That he’s—that my son is abully?”

“Maybe,” Eloise’s father said. “Yeah.”