Bring Me Home for Christmas Read Free Page A

stepped back. “Come outside with me. It’ll just take a second.”
    He turned and she followed. It wasn’t even five-thirty, yet it was almost completely dark outside. Though she could see there were space heaters on the porch, they weren’t lit. She faced him, waited, shivering in the cold.
    “I apologize,” he said. “If I’d known you were coming, if I’d had time to get used to the idea, I would’ve been a lot more…”
    “Civil?” she added for him, lifting both tawny eyebrows.
    “Becca, this is a hunting trip!”
    “I know that, Denny. Rich hasn’t stopped talking about it for weeks.”
    “What are you doing here?”
    She took a breath. “It was very last minute. I packed last night. When I showed up at his condo at three this morning to go with, Rich pitched a fit. I told him I needed a change, a break. He said it was a bad idea, because it was all guys, and I said I’d skip the getting drunk and smoking cigars part, that I’d get my own place to stay and, you know… I just wanted to get out of town. Too early to ski, too cold to surf without a wet suit.”
    “What about work?”
    “Well…I got laid off. The private school where I’ve been teaching shut down. We’d seen it coming but it was still a shock. I’m going to substitute until I can land something permanent. But for right now, it’s a holiday week, my parents are going out of town and I wanted something fun to do, to kind of offset being so bummed about losing my job.”
    He looked into her eyes for a long moment, then slowly reached for her left hand, pulling it out of her jacket pocket. “I don’t see a ring,” he said. “What about the boyfriend? He can’t like the idea of you going on a guys’ hunting trip?”
    “He’s tied up with finals and stuff,” she said. “And he’s going home to Cape Cod for Thanksgiving with his family.”
    “Finals?” Denny asked. “You’re marrying a college kid?”
    “Law student,” she said. “And we’re not engaged. Yet.”
    “But you’re going to be engaged?”
    “Probably. We’ve talked about it. We looked at rings. And stuff.”
    “Right,” Denny said. “And he’s okay with you going on a hunting trip with a bunch of guys, including your ex?”
    “He trusts me,” she said. And there was the little fact that she hadn’t told him all the details. It wasn’t that she couldn’t, but she might’ve overestimated his casualness about this event. She’d probably keep the fact that her ex was also present to herself. After all, that was the whole point of the trip. She had to figure this thing out before Christmas.
    She told Doug she was with her brother. Doug liked her brother.
    “Okay, okay,” Denny said, rubbing his hand along the back of his neck. “All right, listen. If you insist you’re going to do this stupid thing—”
    “Careful,” she warned, crossing her arms over her chest.
    “Are you here to hunt, really?”
    She narrowed her eyes. “Why else would I be here?”
    “Do you even have a gun with you?”
    She leaned toward him. “Yes,” she hissed.
    “Stick close to me. Or maybe Rich. We’ll make sure you’re safe and know what to do. With the gun, that is.”
    “I know what to do with the gun,” she said indignantly. “I’ve never killed anything but skeet, but I know what to do. I’m in danger of getting hooked in the ear trying to fly-fish, but I’m a good shot.”
    “You’ve been shooting skeet?” he asked. Denny was a Marine marksman. He had a sniper ribbon. “Since when?”
    Her dad had taught her, but she said, “The boyfriend.” She wasn’t really sure why she’d lied. So he wouldn’t think she was just a loser who still wasn’t over him? She’d have to think about that.
    “Great. But there’s a lot more to know than that. You staying with Rich? Out at Jack’s?”
    “No,” she said, shaking her head. “Mr. Riordan has another cabin. I’ll go out there. I don’t share space with Rich—he’s a slob.”
    “No,”