Page 21 of All I Want for Christmas

At 8:55, I locked up the office and headed across the square. I’d considered bringing Carter a coffee from the shop a few doors down to butter him up, but he took his coffee black, likely to match his soul. I wasn’t gonna spend three dollars on a cup of coffee that wasn’t loaded with sugar and milk.

A small Christmas tree was in front of the office window when I walked up. It took me by surprise because I’d never seen Carter decorate his office for the holidays before. I figured it had been done by his receptionist of the week.

Sure enough, I didn’t recognize the woman sitting at the desk in the waiting room, and I wondered how she’d found the resources to decorate. I couldn’t imagine Carter springing for them. The young girl looked up at me with a stern look that might have been more believable if she wasn’t wearing her hair in low pigtails, making her look like she belonged inmiddle school, not behind the public-facing desk in Carter Hale, Attorney at Law’s reception area.

“Do you have an appointment?” she asked, her mouth pursing.

I gave her a pointed look. “Does Carter haveanyappointments today?”

She glanced down at a planner on the desk and scanned it for several seconds before she lifted her gaze. “He has court in an hour, but other than that, no.Nevertheless, he’s a very, very busy man. You’ll need to make an appointment.”

Carter was either paying her to say that or she was as clueless as she looked. “I’m sure Carter’s busy all right,” I said mockingly even as I realized he must have made our appointment at nine because of his court schedule. “Is he in his office?”

“Mr. Hale says I’m not supposed to let clients see him unless they have an appointment,” she insisted.

“Then don’t you worry your pretty little head,” I said with a sarcastic smile. “I have an appointment with Carter at nine, so he’ll be more than happy to see me.”

“But it’s not on the book,” she said, tapping a long, blue-painted fingernail on the planner. “See?”

“Does he take the planner home with him on the weekends?”

She gave me a snide smile. “No, but he tells meeverything, and he didn’t tell me about this.” I was pretty sure the innuendo in that sentence was purposeful. Did she think I was after Carter Hale? I nearly laughed, but then I sobered. Did that mean he was sleeping with her? He had to be nearly twice her age. Gross.

I propped a hand on my hip, quickly losing patience. “So are you going to check with him to see I have an appointment or not?”

Her lips pursed. “Not.”

This was ridiculous and I wasn’t in the mood to deal with her bullshit when my husband’s freedom was on the line.

I walked around her desk and started down the hall toward Carter’s office.

She jumped up from her desk and tried to run after me, shouting, “Mr. Hale is a very busy man! He can’t see you without an appointment!”

I’d already told her I had one, so I didn’t see the point of arguing with her.

Carter’s door was shut, so I threw it open without even bothering to knock. “Is this the way you treat all your clients or is this just special for me?”

I felt a little bad when I saw that Carter was on the phone. He was sitting behind his massive wooden desk, leaning back in his leather office chair. He looked up with an exasperated expression, then said into the phone, “I’m gonna need to call you back.” He hung up without waiting for a response.

The receptionist ran in behind me. “Mr. Hale! I amsosorry! I tried to stop her!”

He gave her a wry grin. “Don’t worry, Samantha. When Miss Colson is determined to do something, there’s no stopping her.”

“That’sMrs.Carlisle.” I shot him a glare. He knew I was married. Hell, he’d stalked me to the farm store to talk to me about my husband. Why couldn’t he use my married name?

“Oh, yes, how could I forget?” he said wryly. “Mrs. Carlisle.”

Samantha shot me a glance then turned back to Carter. “She said she had an appointment, but I said you would have told me if she had.”

He nodded toward her. “Don’t worry, Samantha. I’ve got it covered from here. Ms.Carlislehas a mind of her own.” He turned his attention to me and waved to the two chairs in front of his desk. “Neely Kate, please come in. Samantha, shut the door behind you.”

Samantha gave me another long look before she walked out, closing the door just as her boss had asked.

“Why didn’t you just tell her I had an appointment?” I asked, my temper rising. “You let her think I just barged on in.”

He steepled his fingers on his desk. “How many times have you barged in?”

“I didn’t this time!”

---