One Snowy Night Before Christmas Read Online Free Page A

Last year, after they’d been
living together since February, she’d finally decided it couldn’t possibly be
the holiday feeding her bad luck and decided to prepare a nice Christmas dinner
for the two of them. Mike hadn’t shown up. At first she’d thought it might be
police duty keeping him away, then he’d come home the next day to explain he’d
had Christmas dinner with Elaine’s family, and he was going to be moving in
with her. He’d been dating them both at the same time.
    Long after the fact, she’d stopped feeling stupid for not
realizing it, and wondered if Elaine had known.
    “Congratulations.” She stood. “Are we done here?”
    “Jessie.” He stood and stepped close. “I was hoping you
would come.”
    “No you weren’t.” A flush of heat crawled over Jessie’s
face. She suddenly remembered the arrogant cop always did have a lot of nerve.
    An uncomfortable moment passed.  Mike made a production
out of slotting his pen into his clipboard’s hinge. “Well, it was good seeing
you. Sorry it had to be under these circumstances.”
    She stared at him.
    “You look good, Jessie. Real good.”
    “It’s the magic of the holiday,” she snapped.
    “I guess this hasn’t done anything to improve your outlook
of Christmas.” He finished his lame statement with a stiff chuckle.
    “It changed it all right,” she ground out, lost for
patience. What right did he have to sit there acting pitiful after what he’d
done to her last year? “From bad to worse. Last year was so-so, my fiancé
dumped me. This year, I flattened Santa Claus. Yep, I love the freakin’
holidays.”
    She turned and started away. The conversation had been
unpleasant at best. But instead of the familiar burning sensation in her gut
whenever she used to think about Mike, it was gone, replaced instead by the
heavy sourness of deep dread. She’d hit a man tonight. Suddenly all her other
problems seemed trite.
    “Jessie—”
    She whirled around. “What? What are you going to say? Merry Christmas?
Happy New Year? Stuff it, Mike.”
    Her voice must have carried. At the end of the hall, Tom
glanced up from the bank of phones in the reception area.
    “Everything all right?” he asked as she stormed over.
    “Fine,” she bit out. She glanced at Amy. The little girl lay
across three chairs, rolled up in her jacket. Jessie pulled the flap over to
cover an exposed foot.
    Mike’s rubber soled shoes squeaked as he followed her down
the hall. “Jessie…”
    There it was, that whiney tone she remembered all too well.
She closed her eyes for a moment before turning around. “Am I under arrest?”
    Mike glanced at his clipboard. “You’ll need to make an
appearance. That is, if the old man presses charges.”
    Tom hung up the phone. “I’m an attorney. I saw the whole
thing. Ms. Jeffries should not be held negligent for what happened tonight.”
    Normally she wouldn’t want any man rushing in to her rescue,
but she liked finally seeing someone throw superior bravado back in Mike’s
face.
    “And you are…?”
    “Tom Dunham.”
    “Mommy?” A tousle of blond hair spilled from the neck of
Jessie’s coat as the little girl peeked out. “I’m tired. I want to go to bed.”
    “I know, sweetie,” he said. The phone book slipped off the
shelf and swung below the phone. “I’m trying to get us a hotel room.”
    “Good luck.” The nurse at the registration desk stepped up
to the counter. A Christmas tree pin with tiny flashing lights glittered from
the lapel of her crisp uniform. She shook her head as she clucked to herself.
“There isn’t a spare room in town. A snow slide knocked in the back of the
Brambury and all the guests were moved to the last rooms in the other hotels.”
    “I’ve got one more hotel to try,” Tom said, hoisting the
phone book up onto the shelf again.
    Jessie thought this a good time to slip away. “If you don’t
mind, I’ll tow your car over to McPherson’s Garage in the morning. No sense
taking