Family Matters (DiCarlo Brides book 4) (The DiCarlo Brides) by Heather Tullis Page A

farmers were tough.”
    “Yeah, we were tough in Southern California, where it never snowed.” Still, he was tempted to insert himself in their fun.
    Her gaze bored into him. “I’m not going to invite you for family gatherings with food—which is all of them—if you can’t ask her out by the end of the week. It’s not that hard, just ask her for dinner.”
    “You think she’d go with me?” He turned his gaze back to Rosemary. The blond hair that hung down nearly to her derriere stuck out of the knitted cap and kept getting in her face. He thought it was funny that she kept brushing it out of the way instead of doing a braid like she wore at work.
    “If you asked her right. She doesn’t scowl at you nearly as much as she used to.”
    He smiled. “That’s hardly comforting. But I’ll think about it.”
    “Good. Don’t think too long.” She went back inside.
    Harrison decided a little time in the snow wouldn’t hurt anything, so he waded out in the two-foot drifts, and sucked in a breath at the flash of cold snow against his leg. “Hey, could you use another hand? It looks like you’re making a monster snowman.”
    “Snow-woman,” Cleo clarified. “But you can help.”
    When Rosemary just looked at her daughter and got an adoring look on her face, he took that for a yes and started another snowball.
     The girls finished the body for the snow-woman while he rolled a big ball for the head.
    “Let me help you with that,” Rosemary said when he carried it over.
    “You think I can’t handle it on my own?” he asked.
    “Well, I don’t know how many snow-women you’ve made, living in So-Cal and all. I figured a little supervision might be in order.” The edges of her lips twisted with fun.
    He lifted the ball onto the body and she grabbed it from the other side, helping to slide it into place. His fingers—totally frozen through his thin gloves—brushed hers as she shifted it slightly and he looked up at her.
    She met his gaze and he felt a zing of electricity flash between them. The moment seemed to freeze and he brushed his fingertips across her knuckles. He thought she swallowed reflexively before she pulled her hand away, turning toward her daughter.
    His heart pounded and he sucked in a deep breath of cold mountain air.
    Maybe she wouldn’t shoot him down after all.
     

 
    “Good job on the homework,” Rosemary said as she put it back in Cleo’s folder. The girl had time to work on it in Rosemary’s office—again—but hadn’t seemed to be paying too much attention to it.
    “So I can go to Hannah’s tomorrow night for the sleepover?” Cleo asked, clasping her hands and putting a pleading expression on her face.
    Rosemary rolled her eyes, though she thought it was adorable. She looked at Harrison who had stopped in with ice cream at dinnertime and begged some food off them. He grinned.
    “Sure, you can go tomorrow night,” she said. “That was the deal.” She’d already had a long chat with Hannah’s mom about which adults would be there and the other girls who were invited.
    “All right!” Cleo jumped up and danced in a circle. “We’re going to stay up all night watching movies.”
    “Terrific. That will make Saturday so much fun ,” Rosemary said under her breath as she put away the pan from dinner. “It’s time for you to head to bed, bug. Come give me a kiss.” She poked out her cheek and pulled a face, making Cleo giggle. Still, her daughter gamely came over and kissed her cheek.
    “Good night, Rosemary. Good night, Harrison.”
    “Good night, bug. And don’t come down for a drink of water three times, okay?” Rosemary said.
    “Fine.” Cleo sighed heavily as if she were being asked to do a really difficult task, but she went upstairs to her room.
    Rosemary was exhausted. The day had been endless and she wanted nothing so much as to go to bed and sleep for ten hours, but she had paperwork to finish tonight and had to be up early tomorrow to check the food