Mistletoe and Holly Read Free Page A

was upset when I told him I wasn’t coming.” There was no humor in her laugh. “He was convinced I was going to Mother’s for the holidays. She drove into New York from Baltimore just to take me home with her. Then she got angry because she thought I was going to Hawaii.”
    “Why didn’t you tell them you were coming here?” A dark gray eyebrow was lifted in puzzled amusement.
    “I did, but they didn’t believe me.” Leslie shrugged. “They thought I was just saying that to avoid hurting their feelings.”
    “Your mother and father are too much alike. Both of them are too intense, too quick to anger, and too possessive,” she pronounced with a degree of sadness. “A marriage of opposites is better than that. One has a stabilizing influence on the other.”
    “Do you really think so?” Leslie was skeptical.
    “You need to have the basis of love and common interests, but with two different personalities involved,” her aunt elaborated on her initial statement.
    “I suppose that makes sense, as long as one didn’t try to change the other,” she conceded. “Either way, I’m glad I’m here. And I’m really grateful that you’re letting me stay with you.”
    “It’s a big, old house. There is always plenty of room for you to come anytime you want,” her aunt insisted. “Besides, I had no plans for the Christmas holidays, except to spend it quietly here. I suppose we could get a tree if you want.”
    “No. I don’t believe in that nonsense,” Leslie stated firmly. “I’ve been called a female Scrooge, but I think Christmas has lost its meaning. It’s alldecorations and gifts and parties. It’s an excuse to celebrate rather than a reason.”
    “That’s a cynical attitude.” The remark was almost an admonition.
    “It’s true,” she insisted. “It used to be Christmas merchandise was never displayed in stores until after Thanksgiving. Now it’s on the shelves before Halloween. Personally, I think they should ban Christmas.”
    “Unfortunately the economy would suffer if that was attempted,” Patsy Evans murmured dryly and changed the subject. “How’s your job? It was certainly understanding of your employer to grant you a leave of absence until after New Year’s.”
    “Mr. Chambers had planned to be gone most of the month attending a sales conference anyway, and he always takes off a few days before Christmas, so there wouldn’t have been much for me to do at the office except handle the mail and answer the phone. The receptionist can do that.” She knew her boss too well to believe he had been motivated solely by compassion. He had given her a leave of absence because it was both practical and economical.
    “Then both of you are benefiting from it since you don’t have to worry about going back and forth to work in bad weather. You’ll have a chance to rest while your leg heals,” her aunt reasoned.
    “Yes.” It just seemed bad luck that she had broken her leg at this time of year, presuming there was a good time for an accident like that. She had an aversion to the holiday season, a holdover from her childhood probably. Usually she could escape it with work or physical activity. Both those were taken from her.
    She sipped at her tea and tried not to think about it.

CHAPTER
2

    C HRISTMAS SEEMED INESCAPABLE . Nearly every other song the disc jockey played on the radio was oriented toward the season. After trying for almost an hour to tune in other stations, Leslie gave up and switched the radio off. She had already read two books since she had arrived at her aunt’s. She liked reading, but not all the time.
    In desperation, she picked up a deck of cards and propped her leg on a kitchen chair to begin playing solitaire to pass the time until her aunt returned from her shopping trip. Leslie wished now she hadn’t decided to stay at the house.
    The knock at the side door startled her. No car had driven in; there hadn’t been the sound of footstepsclimbing the back steps to