A Midnight Clear by Libby Howard

Author:Libby Howard [Howard, Libby]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-09-26T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

“How about this?” Madison made an Instagram-ready pouty face as she held up the bright pink North Face jacket.

I laughed. “Cute. Are you shopping for yourself again?”

“No, I’m shopping for Dad.”

Right. “Have you ever seen your father wear a pink puffy jacket?”

She smirked. “Well, maybe he should.”

That’s how our shopping trip had been so far, and I wasn’t exactly sad about it. Madison was charming, funny, and clever, and I was really enjoying her company. But in spite of that, we weren’t getting much done in the way of our holiday shopping.”

“Seriously, Madison? If you’re going to spend two hundred dollars on something at least make it something your Dad is going to actually wear.”

She fake-pouted once more. “Are you saying he wouldn’t wear it?”

This girl had her father tightly wrapped around her pinky, and she knew it. “You know darned well that your dad would wear that thing just because you bought it for him, but why torture him so?”

She slid the jacket back onto the rack with a grin. “Okay, okay. This sort of thing worked when I was five. I don’t think it would work now. He’d know it was a prank. And you’re right—a pink puffy coat is probably pushing things a bit too far.”

Madison liked to save all her gift-buying for the week before Christmas, so she had quite a list of gifts to buy between her family and her friends. I’d knitted most of my gifts, but I still needed to find something for Judge Beck.

It seemed half the county had the same idea because the mall was jam-packed with frazzled shoppers, blindly throwing random items in carts in an effort to just get it all over with and get back to the eggnog.

At least that’s what I was thinking.

“How about we head over to the sporting goods store?” I suggested. “We can get your dad a new golf club or something.”

“Nope.” Madison waved her hand as if she were Oprah announcing a giveaway. “Everyone gets clothes. I’m upping the fashion-game for the men in my family, starting with Dad.”

“Well then let’s move away from the pink puffy coats.” I wove around a family with a double stroller into a section with dressier coats. “How about this one?”

It was a three-quarter length black merino wool and cashmere coat. Masculine, elegant, soft. I could absolutely see Judge Beck wearing this sort of coat every day.

Madison scrunched up her face. “He has one exactly like that.”

Which was probably why I could imagine Judge Beck wearing this sort of coat every day.

“He looks like a judge all the time,” Madison complained. “Even when he’s off work, he looks like a judge.”

I felt slightly offended on her father’s behalf. “He wore shorts and a polo shirt at the barbeque. And he wears khakis with a polo shirt when he plays golf.”

The teen rolled her eyes. “That’s judge-not-working clothes. He doesn’t own anything hip.”

“He wears cartoon-print pajamas and an old brewery t-shirt,” I shot back. The judge alternated

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