Good With Children. Margot Early

try to avoid it. And we’re extremely good at first aid. But we practice and practice and practice, repeatedly, without fire, before we ever light up.”

      Seamus tried to shift his attention away from Rory’s heart-shaped face, which struck him as elfin and mysterious. She plays with fire….

      Too much like Janine.

      But completely unlike his wife, too.

      Because he could tell that Rory wasn’t a boaster. She was clearly…just Rory. Already, he felt completely at ease in her presence.

      Beau had opened Seuss’s crate, and the puppy rushed out, wiggling all over. He jumped on Beau and the boy petted him enthusiastically.

      “Don’t do that,” Rory said before she could stop herself. Engage brain, then mouth, she reminded herself too late.

      “Why not?” Seamus asked.

      “Because soon that dog’s going to be eighty pounds or more, and you don’t want anything that size jumping on people. So don’t reward him with attention for it now.”

      Beau looked up at her, with his father’s eyes. He stopped petting the puppy and tried to hold him by his collar.

      The puppy’s lead lay on top of the crate, and Beau fastened it to his collar. They headed out the front door.

      Seamus gazed at the questionnaire. What are you hoping to get from your experience at the Sultan Mountain School?

      He bent over the coffee table and wrote, I’m doing this for my kids. I want to get them away from Telluride, from the atmosphere of entitlement there. I want them to live someplace where things are a bit different and to understand that they’re not better than other people, just luckier than most of them. Maybe I should’ve taken them to Rio de Janeiro instead, to the favelas. But I thought a town here that hasn’t yet been spoiled by money might be the answer. For myself, I’d like to feel more competent in the outdoors and more aware of my environment. Some avalanche knowledge would also be a good thing.

      The next question: Anything special you’d like to do during your time at the Sultan Mountain School?

      He reminded himself that Kurt might read his answer. See Rory Gorenzi fire dance, wouldn’t be the most tactful response. He wrote, Surprise me, and then put down his pen.

      Lauren finished filling out her questionnaire, brought it to Rory and sat down on a stiff velvet couch.

      “Well, he’ll be good protection,” Seamus finally said, thinking about the dog.

      Rory reminded herself that saying too much tended to get her in trouble. But she had to say this. “Actually, that’s one of the biggest misunderstandings people have about dogs. In truth, we protect them. We’re their only protectors. Yes, a trained protection dog can bite and hold on to an assailant. And, yes, some people will think twice about messing with you, if you’re accompanied by a big, powerful dog. But our role with all pets is that of their protector. The best way to protect dogs is by obedience training them.” As she spoke, Rory thought of Lola. Yes, in taking Lola into her home and her life, Desert had agreed to be the snake’s protector. It didn’t matter that Lola was a reptile and would never have a special attachment to Desert, and that the python might kill any of them randomly, for reasons unknown to them.

      Rory turned her attention to Lauren Lee. The girl was tall, coltish and blond. She carried herself in a way that suggested she was used to being admired, used to popularity.

      Rory picked up her questionnaire, skimming the answers.

      Since I’m here, I’d like to improve my snowboarding, progress into backcountry snowboarding, become more self-sufficient.

      Since I’m here?

      Lauren, perhaps, would have preferred to remain in Telluride.

      “Tomorrow,” Rory said, “avalanche conditions willing, you and I can go up to Colorado Bowl and snowboard.”

      “You snowboard?” Lauren asked, possibly the longest sentence she’d yet uttered to Rory.

      “I do. We’ll snowshoe up, packing our boards. Why don’t you have your stuff together at eight? We’ll check our packs to make sure we have everything.”

      THAT EVENING, while Beau stayed with Caleb and Belle, Seamus and Lauren walked the puppy around the block and returned through the alley between their house and what turned out to be Rory Gorenzi’s home. Seamus knew where they were when he and Lauren saw swirling fire inside the pink house’s chain-link fence. The fire seemed to streak through the air as two women made tethered fireballs swing and arc around each other. The young man Seamus had seen that morning at the Sultan Mountain School sat drumming. He was dressed for frigid weather, but his hands were covered only with thin fingerless gloves. The women wore winter athletic tights and jackets, and their heads were covered with hats.

      Their walk had been quiet, with observations related to air temperature (frigid), the amount of ice on the streets (lots), and Seuss’s strength (considerable). A conversation for strangers. Seamus knew his daughter—and yet he didn’t. They lived in the same house, and yet their paths almost never crossed.

      Elizabeth’s right, he thought. I don’t know them.

      It had always seemed right for his children to have full schedules. Lauren spent many weekends and summers away at camps—soccer camp, dance camp, cheerleading camp. So did the others, all but Belle, and Belle had a nanny. They all, of course, had Fiona, too, that remarkable woman who had entered their lives like Mary Poppins the year before Janine’s death. The children all had Fiona, always.

      Except at the moment.

      His name’s Mouse, Belle had told Rory. He’s a stuffy.

      Stuffy. How long since he’d heard that word? Belle must have learned it from Lauren. The kids were much closer to each other than they were to him. Protective of each other, as well.

      Lauren gazed at the three fire-spinners. “I’d like to do that.”

      Seamus thought it looked dangerous and remembered what Rory had said about getting burned. But he didn’t discourage his daughter. Hadn’t he brought the children to Sultan to embrace a different lifestyle? Though, of course, there must be a fire dancer or two in Telluride. Certainly, such troupes had performed there.

      Janine would have wanted to try spinning poi, just to prove she could and that she wasn’t afraid. Everything she did was intended to illustrate her strength, her independence.

      Including the damned gun.

      Seamus and Lauren lingered at the fence, watching. Seamus’s mind shifted to Ki-Rin, to the character he had created—the character who was his livelihood. He could easily develop an anime character like Rory to fit into the world of Ki-Rin. Perhaps a fire goddess of some kind…Fifteen minutes later, the women finished dancing and extinguished their poi.

      Rory glanced up and saw them. She walked over to the fence.

      Seamus said, “Very impressive.”

      “It was a good practice. Everything went right.”

      “Can we hope for a glimpse of the snake?” he asked.

      “Beau would be disappointed,” Rory told him, “if you got to see Lola and he didn’t.”

      Of course, she was right. Understanding his kids better than he did.

      She told Lauren, “I better get to bed, so I’m ready for snowboarding tomorrow.” And to Seamus, she said, “You’ll be starting avalanche school. It will be a four-day session, with classroom activities in the morning and field practice in the afternoon.”

      “The kids should have it, too,” he remarked. “At least, Lauren and Beau.”

      “They will. Just not on the same schedule as you.”

      Watching her smile, Seamus wondered if she had some surprise up her sleeve. “I thought you