Wish Upon a Christmas Star Read Free Page A

a long time to get over Maria DiMarco, but get over
her he had. “I’m not going to see her.”
    “Not even though it’s almost Christmas?” his mother asked in a
small voice.
    He knew without saying that she considered it a magical season
when anything could happen. No doubt because she was always watching those sappy
holiday movies on the Lifetime channel. Real life didn’t work that way.
    “Not even at Christmas,” he said.
    * * *
    T HE POUNDING ON THE locked door of her office sounded heavy enough
to break the thick, tempered glass. Maria’s head jerked up from her computer
screen to make sure the closed sign was still in place. Beyond it, her older
sister peered in at her.
    Maria sucked in a breath through her teeth, not ready to deal
with anyone in her family and itching to get back to her work. She’d just run
her brother’s social security number. Even though she hadn’t been able to find
any activity on it since 2001, there was more she could do. Using Google to
search for his name and variations of his name, for starters. Followed by a
thorough social networking investigation. If Maria pretended not to notice her,
maybe Annalise would go away.
    The pounding got louder.
    “Okay, okay, I’m coming.” She got up from her chair and crossed
the office, deciding not to say anything to Annalise about Mike. Not until she
had hard evidence that he was alive. She composed her features and unlocked the
door.
    Her sister pushed it open, barely giving Maria enough time to
back away. A blast of chilled air followed Annalise inside, and she rubbed her
bare hands together. She was dressed more for fashion than function, in the
black leather jacket she’d gotten from her husband for her birthday a few weeks
before.
    “I was freezing to death out there.” Her teeth were chattering.
“For a minute I thought you weren’t going to let me in.”
    “I was caught up in something, is all.” Maria maneuvered past
her and relocked the door.
    “You’re ready to go, though, right?” she asked. “I thought we
could hit the electronics store before we go to the mall. That way, you can get
your presents for Alex and Billy out of the way.”
    How could Maria have forgotten? Annalise had offered to help
her pick out Christmas gifts for her teenage nephews. They’d also planned to
search for presents for their parents, their brother Jack and his girlfriend,
Tara, before ending the evening at Annalise’s favorite restaurant.
    Maria glanced back at the computer. Caroline Webb had left only
forty-five minutes ago, not nearly enough time to make headway on finding out
whether Mike could be alive. “I’m sorry, Annalise. I can’t go, after all.”
    “Oh, no, you don’t.” She waved her index finger. “You don’t get
to back out after I went to the trouble of getting a babysitter and dressing up.
I even put on makeup!”
    Maria’s naturally pretty sister always looked nice. She’d gone
the extra mile tonight, letting her brown hair down from its usual ponytail and
pairing her leather jacket with black dress slacks and heels instead of jeans
and sneakers.
    “I’m sorry,” Maria said. “Something’s come up and I need to
work.”
    “This close to Christmas? You said you were taking some time
off, like you always do over the holidays.”
    Maria glanced at the computer again. It seemed to be beckoning
to her. Once she finished her searches, regardless of what she found, she
intended to make an airline reservation to Florida.
    “Things have changed,” she said. “I have to go out of town for
a few days.”
    “What? We have tickets tomorrow night to The Nutcracker, ” Annalise protested. “And you said you’d help me out
the rest of the week at the Christmas tree sale.”
    The yearly sale benefited her youngest son’s baseball league.
Annalise was one of the organizers.
    “You’ll have to find someone else to take my place,” Maria told
her. “This is important.”
    “Where are you going?” Annalise