Christmas Catch: A Holiday Novella by The 12 NAs of Christmas, Chelsea M. Cameron Read Free Book Online Page B

is supposed to get bad, so she wants me home ASAP. My car may be fashionable and sexy, but it’s not too good in the snow and slush. I’m screwed if another deer comes at me, too. Flipping wildlife.
    “Oh, good, you’re back. I was getting worried.” Dad and Drew are tramping through the house, their arms full of wood for the woodstove. Our power goes out a lot in the winter. You put a lot of snow on tree limbs and those things are going to break and snag the lines and create all sorts of issues. We have a generator, but wood for the stove is cheaper, and heats the house better.
    “The kids are with Stacy getting supplies. I can’t believe I forgot to get potatoes. Fingers crossed she can find some.” Mom is frazzled, her hair escaping its braid and curling everywhere. She’d gone prematurely grey, but she was still a gorgeous woman. Not to be critical, but a lot of the women around here have . . . um . . . a kind of masculine look about them. I blame it on the hard living. Tends to harden people on the outside. But get to know them and most of them have good hearts underneath it all.
    “Oh, did you figure out what you were going to get Sawyer?”
    “I did,” I say with a triumphant smile.
    “Are you going to tell me?”
    “Nope.” She swats at my shoulder and I head to my room to find my thick slippers. The floors are cold right now, but they’ll be warm as soon as Dad gets the fire going. I help Mom get dinner going. This is the pre-Christmas Eve dinner and it’s also a tradition. We make sandwiches and chips and iced tea and have a floor picnic. I used to think everyone did this when I was little, and then I asked a few people about it, but they gave me faces like I was crazy.
    “Oh, I hope you don’t mind, but I invited Sawyer and Melanie over. They don’t have any family coming up this year, so I didn’t want them to be alone.” Usually, Sawyer and his parents had relatives that came up, but this just must be an off year or something. Hearing that makes my heart hurt for him. This is one time when I absolutely don’t mind her inviting him over for Christmas Eve-Eve dinner.
    As soon as she says it, there’s a knock at the door and then Sawyer walks in, carrying a few grocery bags, followed by his mother, Melanie, with a dish of something.
    “Melanie, it’s so good to see you,” Mom says, rushing over to take the dish and give her a huge hug. She is a shadow of the woman I used to know. For the wife of a man who owned a lobster pound, she was always dressed to the nines, whatever that means. She had her hair done and beautiful clothes and jewelry. She was the prettiest woman in Saltwater, and one of the smartest, having a master's degree in marketing. She ran the advertising and so forth for the business, and also did a lot of volunteer work that no one ever really knew about. One of those people who was always doing good for others, but who never wanted credit for it.
    Now she looks tired, and broken down. Her hair has roots and hangs limp on either side of her pale un-made up face. I’ve never seen her without makeup before. She’s still beautiful.
    Her eyes find me and she smiles.
    “It’s so good to see you, Ivy. It’s been a long time.” I give her a hug and I can’t speak for a moment because I know I’ll start to cry if I do.
    “I’m so sorry,” I choke out before I can get a grip. Sawyer’s fingers brush my back and I manage to keep it together.
    “Thank you so much, Ivy. Clint was very fond of you and he asked me if I knew what you were doing the day he passed.” It is now a monumental effort to not cry. I don’t think it’s ever been harder in my life to stop myself. She seems to sense that as she squeezes my shoulder, and then goes to help my mother get everything set up in the kitchen as the minions run and scream. They seem to have only one volume right now.
    “You okay?” Sawyer says in my ear. I shake my head and start walking to my room. I know I don’t have to