Page 6 of Mistlefoes

Annoying yeti!

Did he really just admit that?

I forced a smile. “Well, I guess we’ll see, then, won’t we? Good luck with that.”

With a dismissive wave over my shoulder, I headed back into the house. Pulling out my cellphone, I dialed Ewan Parker, one of the teenagers down the street, who mowed my lawn in the summer and worked for a landscaper year-round.

“Hey, Ms. Burke,” he answered. “You need your driveway shoveled?”

“No, but I do have something for you to do. There’s a hundred bucks in it for you.”

Yeah, I shouldn’t spend the money on this, especially since money was the center of all my worries, but this would be worth it. A merry Christmas present to me.

Jack wouldn’t know what hit him.

Three

Jack Ziglar

Snow-Where to Go

My plan wasn’t working.

For a year, I’d been working to get Jill pissed enough at me to have a conversation. Even if it was a yell-fest. God knew, I couldn’t get her to have a real conversation with me. The second I tried, she shut me down, which was pretty awful since I fucking loved the annoying, beautiful woman.

Call me dense, but I was beginning to believe she hated me and I’d never get her back in my life and in my bed. Not optimal considering I’d planned to propose to her last year and be married to her by now.

The look on her face last night…

She’d smiled, but I could have frozen solid from the cold in her eyes. Maybe, today, I’d make some progress. Maybe, I could convince her to have dinner with me. To fucking talk to me.

“Are you even listening to me?” Aimee demanded from the other end of our call.

“What?”

“Jack! You are the worst brother!” she exclaimed.

“Well, maybe, you should have called Dirk or John since you think I’m the worst of your siblings,” I suggested.

She sighed heavily. “You know I can’t. John is flying a plane somewhere over the Atlantic, and Dirk will tell me to get Mom a gym membership for Christmas. Ever since he became a personal trainer, he thinks we all should have one. Even me.Me!Like I don’t spend half of my life at the gym already?”

“How is New York, by the way?” I asked, sidetracking her. She lived in eastern Michigan like the rest of my family, but this week, she and her ice-dancing partner, Anatoly, were skating in some Christmas show in the Big Apple.

“Fine. Boring. Toll doesn’t want me to explore the city. The way he acts, you’d think he was my boyfriend and not my skating partner. I don’t want to talk about that. I don’t want to talk abouthimat all. What should I get Mom? I can go shopping while I’m here.”

“I don’t know.” Slipping on my coat, I sighed. I loved my little sister, but I was going to be late for opening the bookstore.

“Well, what did you get her? I’m sure you got her gift and even had it wrapped a month ago. You’re so freaking efficient.”

“I—” I stepped out my front door to walk to work and froze. “Aimee, I need to go. I have a situation. I’ll call you later.”

I hung up without waiting for her protest then shoved the cellphone into my pocket.

What the actual hell was this? Along the curb in front of my house were two giant mountains of snow, one to either side of my driveway, taller than anything I’d ever seen outside a store parking lot. A shocked laugh gasped from me. Seriously, it had to be every bit of snow from the whole neighborhood very neatly hiding my house—and especially, my yard—from view.

I should be pissed, annoyed and demanding to know who did this, but all I could do was chuckle and shake my head. I knewexactlywho had done this, and it meant I’d finally gotten under her skin.Finally.

Through the narrow opening left for my car, I saw Jill leaving her house to head to her own shop. After locking her door, she turned then stood for a moment to stare at the ice walls edging my yard. Even from across the street, I detected the glee in her eyes and saw her lips roll together while she obviously held back a laugh.

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