A Picture-Purrfect Christmas (A Klepto Cat Mystery Book 13) Read Free Page B

shot of him. I took it when he was about eight months old. Yeah, Rags, you were a handsome young devil. Trying to recover your youth? Is that it, old boy?”
    “You’d better put these up where he can’t get them or he’ll wreck all your pictures,”
    Michael suggested. “Why do you have them out, anyway?”
    “Oh, I was just working on my self-esteem,” she admitted.
    “What?”
    “I don’t have any training,” she explained. “I just shoot by the seat of my pants. I don’t know if I’m good enough to help with the class or to enter the contest. So I dug out some of my old photos to…sort of build my confidence.”
    He pinched her playfully around her ribs. “So, did it work?”
    “I guess so. Kinda,” she said, squirming under his touch.
    “Good,” he said, yawning. Then, burying his face in her neck, he whispered, “Let’s go to bed, shall we? Six o’clock in the morning comes early.”
    “Why are you getting up so early on your day off?”
    “Uh…wife of mine, where have you been these last twelve months? Our daughter does not sleep in. And Rags doesn’t allow Adam to sleep in, either. I predict this whole household will be wide awake by…say…six thirty.”
    ****
    The next morning, Michael sat at the kitchen table with his two children watching his wife prepare for her ride. “All set for your outing? Got your horse fed and your camera batteries charged up?”
    Savannah nodded. “Yep, Peaches and I are ready. It’s blustery out there. Guess I’d better wear my gloves and beanie.”
    “Do you have any of those fingerless gloves so you can work your camera while keeping your hands warm?” he asked.
    When she shook her head, Adam suggested, “You could make some—just cut the fingers off.” He jumped up from his place at the table. “I’ll do it for you. Where are the scissors?”
    “No thanks, kiddo,” Savannah said, smiling. “I think I’ll just wear the gloves the way they are and take them off for shooting.”
    “Shooting?” he repeated, wide-eyed. “It sounds like you’re going hunting.”
    “I am…hunting for wildlife…to photograph,” she said, tousling his hair.
    “Are you riding from here?” Michael asked.
    “No. Shelly’s picking me and Peaches up. We’ll leave the trailer at the trailhead.” She faced him. “I’m sure glad we set up that round corral where Peaches can stretch her legs every day. I lunged her yesterday, so she should be in shape for the ride.”
    “Yeah, I imagine she behaves better when she works out before you take her somewhere.”
    “Well, she’s such a willing mare, but yes, it seems to take the edge off if I exercise her before a ride.” Savannah glanced out the window. “Here she is.” She opened the kitchen door and called out, “Hi Shelly. Come in and meet my family.”
    When Shelly stepped into the kitchen, she glanced around the room. “Nice house.” She smiled at Lily, who sat in her high chair eating bits of fruit and cereal puffs with her fingers. “Hi, little one. Nice to see you again…awake, this time.”
    Lily laid her head on the tray and smiled up at Shelly.
    “Perfect,” Michael said with a sigh, “rub your hair in your food.” He laughed as he tweaked one of the baby’s feet. “We aren’t going to get away with just a sponge bath today, are we?” he said, standing to greet their guest.
    “You thought you’d get off easy, huh?” Savannah teased. “Oh no, she loves her baths—water bath, food bath, it doesn’t matter.” She then said, “Shelly, I think you met my husband at the clinic.”
    Shelly removed a glove. “Yes, small world, isn’t it?”
    Just then, Adam shouted, “No Rags, you can’t have that! Give it back,” he demanded as he raced after the cat, who had run out of the room and headed lickety-split toward the staircase.
    Michael laughed and apologized to Shelly. “Sorry about that. The boy and the cat are either in cahoots or having a dispute about something. It looks like