Somehow, I had to talk to her about not telling her dad what I had said about Patch. I didn’t know if I had actually given Patch away or not, but Frankie knew too much, either way, especially if she knew about the family in the woods. “Hold this while I climb up?” She handed me the shoebox of carefully wrapped ornaments. I took the box, climbed a few rungs up after her, and passed it off when she reached back down. Ruth and I joined her on the deck and introduced Frankie to Penny. “Welcome,” Penny said. “Gingerbread cookies and all the fixings tonight. You get to decorate the cookies yourselves.” “Not what I’d expect from church,” Frankie said. We went inside. Gingerbread cookies of every shape and character were set out on trays. I chose a reindeer. Ruth chose a star, and Frankie chose a tree. We swirled frosting onto our cookies and added red hots and silver sprinkles in patterns. I used mini black M&M’s for my reindeer’s eyes, and Frankie painted a star with yellow frosting at the top of her tree.
