Page 79 of Mia Amata

In the morning, feeling a little stiff and sore from all the digging and construction he did the day prior, he made his way to his blind to see what the bitch was doing. She and her lover boy apparently slept in, he sat there for quite a while waiting for signs of life. Eventually, Allen could see them moving around. Megan went into the kitchen, appearing to make coffee while Jacob let the dog out.

The dog ran around a little bit then took up its spot on the snow-covered beach, staring across the lake. If Allen didn’t know better, he would swear it seemed like the dog was looking right at him, but that was impossible. He didn’t know much about dogs and had always hated the things himself, but he doubted a dog could see that far.

He raised the glasses to look in the house and saw the man staring right at him too. Probably just trying to see what the dog was staring at so intently. Allen moved a little bit, adjusting his position in the blind while he watched. It was at that point he saw Jacob raise his hand, shading his eyes, seeming to stare more intently in Allen’s direction. Allen froze.

Megan joined him at the door, shading her eyes as well. They had to be looking at a deer or something. He was pretty sure he was well-hidden. He looked back down at the dog to see it turning to run back up to the house. They let it back in, Megan heading back to the kitchen, but her husband continued to stare in Allen’s direction with the dog sitting by his side doing the same.

Allen almost wanted to get out of the blind to see if he could figure out what they were looking at, but he knew better. Even though he doubted they could see him if he was standing there, they might catch the motion. The last thing he wanted was to have them looking back in his direction with binoculars of their own.

Allen watched them throughout the day. They left for a couple hours, coming back with a Christmas tree. He could see them putting the tree up, decorating it together, laughing, and having a grand time. He sat out in the blind, barely keeping warm, while the bitch stayed nice and toasty next to a roaring fire drinking cocoa. He had all he could take for the day, so he went back to the cabin.

Digging to the bottom of his supplies, he found the bottle of whiskey he brought with him. Since he had all of his plans finalized, he could relax a little bit. It was too early to start a fire, his smoke would probably still be visible, so he poured a cup of whiskey, reviewing his plans. His plan would work. He had enough information gathered in his weeks of studying Megan and her habits he didn’t see what could go wrong with his plan. He sat back, feeling smug, very confident, and proceeded to get drunk on the whiskey.

Chapter 28

Jacob and I decided to host Christmas for his family at our house. The next couple of weeks leading up to Christmas were spent decorating and shopping for gifts. I planned the menu for our Christmas dinner, making a huge trip to the store to buy groceries. We both had the week of Christmas and New Year’s off, and then Jacob would have to leave for a conference. He would be flying to Wisconsin for two weeks.

We wanted to spend as much time together as we could before he left, so we took the days off that weren’t part of our holiday time. The weekend before Christmas, I spent baking and getting as much prep work done for Christmas dinner as I could. Jacob tried to help, wanting to take some of the workload off of me, but I soon shooed him out of the kitchen and out of my way.

He laughed, “OK! I get it. I’m going to run over to Josh’s house. He asked for some help with something.” He gave me a kiss as he put his coat on and left. I finally finished all the baking and got everything cleaned up before Jacob was back. When he came in, I was resting on the couch. He was carrying a huge Christmas gift in his arms, setting it on the floor next to the tree. It was so big it wouldn’t fit under the tree at all.

“Wow!” I said looking at it. “Someone has been good this year!” He put his coat and boots away and came back to sit by me.

“Smells really great in here,” he said.

Motioning to the coffee table in front of us, “I figured you wouldn’t be able to wait, so I made some extra for you.”

“Mm mm, I love you,” he said, through a mouthful of cookies.

I laughed, “So are you going to tell me?”

“Tell you what?” trying to appear innocent, reaching for another cookie.

“Who is the large gift for? Is it for your mom and dad?” I already had a gift under the tree from Jacob, so I really didn’t think it would be for me.

“Possibly,” he replied. “I’m not going to tell. It will be a surprise, you will have to wait for Christmas to get here, just like everyone else. And don’t bother looking for a name tag on it, there isn’t one. I’m pretty sure I will remember whose gift it is.”

“I would certainly hope so,” I said laughing, slapping his hand as he reached for a third cookie. “You are going to ruin your supper!” I exclaimed.

“Maybe, but it will be worth it,” he stated as he reached again, leaning past me, managing to grab another one.

“No fair!” I cried. “You’re taking advantage of the pregnant lady’s inability to move very quickly or reach past her huge belly!”

Jacob laughed and looked at me with a mischievous glint in his eyes, “I’ll take advantage of the pregnant lady after she feeds me. I’m starved.”

I laughed. We went to the table to eat the soup and fresh bread I made for supper.

“That was fantastic. You could open your own restaurant, you know? You are a fantastic cook!” He leaned back in the chair, patting his stomach.

“You keep eating like you are your belly will be bigger than mine!” I laughed. I started to stand up to clean up after supper.

“Nope, not tonight. Tonight, you go relax on the couch; I will clean up. You look exhausted. I hope you didn’t overdo it today.” He looked at me with concern.

“Thanks, Hon,” I replied. “I am a bit tired. Back is hurting a little bit today.” I went over to the couch, lying down, pulling the blanket over me. Before I knew it, I was sound asleep. I woke up about an hour later, stretching. Jacob was sitting on the couch opposite me reading.

“Hey, sleepy,” he said, smiling.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize how tired I was.” I yawned.

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