Page 21 of Just Home for the Holidays

“I don’t want anyone else to hear.”

“It’s like we have a secret meeting...”

“No, it’s not. It’s like you’re calling when you shouldn’t be.”

“Where are you?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Come on. Give me the visuals. Help me imagine. Tell me who’s listening in.”

“Nobody.” Chloe exhaled and it sounded like she growled a bit. “I’m in my bedroom at my mom’s apartment. I retreated here when the phone rang, abandoning a perfectly lovely evening in front of the fire with my family.”

“Has the interrogation started yet?”

“No.”

“So, I helped you miss it. Bonus.”

“Is there a specific reason why you called?”

“Other than to hear your voice again? Yes.”

She waited and he let the silence stretch long. “Well?” she invited finally.

“The thing is that I have some comments on the schedule.”

“It’s not your schedule...”

“No, but there are some issues that should be addressed.”

“Like what?” Her tone was glacial.

He tossed her an easy one, an early victory. “Well, Sunday afternoon you’re going skating at Rockefeller Plaza. I just wanted to verify with you that you’ve made your reservations...”

“Because the sessions are ninety minutes long and otherwise we’d end up standing in line for a long time. Done and done, Hunter. I did live here for twenty-seven years, you know.”

“So, you’re not interested in my input.”

“Rule number seven,” she said.

“Okay,” he agreed easily. “Although your nieces might be disappointed.” He heard the prick of her interest but carried on. “It’s too bad you’re going back Thursday. You’ll miss New Years’ Eve at F5F.”

“We celebrate it at F5F West, too, Hunter.”

“Got it. Goodnight, then.” He wondered how long she’d look at the phone. He wondered how much time she’d spend going over her schedule. He smiled at the prospect of making her sleepless and knew his campaign to keep himself in Chloe’s thoughts was proceeding well.

Time to clean up the kitchen and get some sleep.

Rudolph the grumpy reindeer had a very bad head cold...

* * *

What waswrong with her schedule?

What could she have overlooked? Chloe went over it again, verifying that she had tickets for each event, that she’d confirmed the hours for every store they planned to visit, and couldn’t see a single issue. She scrolled through it twice. She pulled up the master schedule on her laptop and studied it, mystified.

“Working so late?” Mandy asked, after a gentle tap on the door.

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