We’ve got two female leads signed up, and the cast calls for five. Who else is in?’ No-one said anything. ‘Paul, who have you asked?’ ‘Well,...hey, look, you said yourself that secrecy was really important, and you know how the girls gossip runs in the school. Anyway, I thought you said to Kyle that if he signed up Nancy you’d make sure it happened…’ Horrified, I looked at Nancy. She was looking at Paul. She was looking kind of amused, in a not very sympathetic kind of way. Kind of, like, she was. Now she was turning slightly pink, but played it off as being flushed from the wine. We moved to the living room and put on A Knight's Tale. We had all seen in a million times so it was an easy movie to just listen to in the background as we pecked away at different topics."So," said Brad, "you seem to have lightened up a bit, Missy."She flushed a bit more, "yeah, John's been helping me with that a bit. Trying to get me to just... relax a bit. I kind of like it so far." "I really enjoy it, but. Jim played the great lumberjacks and felled a fresh one in the woods. They returned with it back to the lodge and after much trimming, erected it in the den. The women were assigned the task of decorating it.When it came time to put the angel on the top, Tara handed it to Percy and said, "Dad, please put Mom on the top. That way she'll always be with us."It got quiet in the room.Percy put the decoration on the tree. When he finished, Angela reached over and took his hand. There were tears in. She made sure of that. Playing like young children, they made snow angels and a lopsided snowman. ‘Think we should get back inside? I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for some of those brownies,’ Steve said. ‘Yeah, I’m worn out. Must be cause I’m so old.’ Though she was teasing, Steve was indeed the younger of the two at forty-five. Maggie was fifty-three, but no one ever guessed that from her looks. ‘Lean on me, you old woman you.’ Steve held out his arm and grinned. ‘Old lady? Who you.