Page 9 of A Very Naughty Christmas

“I’m glad that you’re all right, and I’m glad that nothing worse happened.”

Okay, maybe she’d misjudged him. Maybe he was much more understanding than her father had been. Shehadjust sobbed all over him, so he already knew that she was sorry. Maybe she wasn’t going to get a ticket after all. “Me too,” she hurried to add. “And I’ll be super,supercareful from now on, I swear. It will never,everhappen again.”

“Huh.” Alex smiled slightly. “I seem to recall you saying something similar to that just a couple days ago, am I right?”

Sara could feel her cheeks warm with shame. “Well, yes,” she admitted, squirming once more. “But I really mean it this time.”

“That’s funny, I thought you meant it last time.”

“I did. I mean, I do. But… but this time, now that I know how badly things could have gone…” She gave a little shudder and shook her head to dispel the image that had come to mind. “I promise.”

“The thing is, Sara, I don’t think I can really trust your promises.”

Uh-oh. What was going on here? He still sounded friendly, but that stern look had come back into his eyes again. Was he mad, or wasn’t he? She just didn’t know what to think.

“So, what do you think I should do about this?”

“Excuse me?” she asked, caught off guard by the question.

“You came to tell me what had happened, so I assume that means that you want me to do something about it. What do you think I should do?”

“Um… well, I didn’t… I mean, it’s not that I thought… I guess I thought you might be mad,” she admitted.

“I’m not mad. I’m very, very disappointed.”

Yikes, how was it that he could make that sound worse? Alex Maxwell could have taught her dad a thing or two about giving a scolding!

“I’m disappointed that I cut you a break and you chose to continue to disregard your safety. Yoursandothers,” he added pointedly.

“I didn’t mean to,” she mumbled, back to looking at her shoes once more. She knew how ineffectual the words sounded before she said them, but she couldn’t just sit there and saynothing.

“I’m disappointed that I let you slide once, thinking I was being nice, considering what you’re going through, and you chose to take advantage. But most of all, as a grown woman who lost her parents in acar accident, I am shocked that you’d be so careless.”

Her eyes widened and flew to his face in shock. Her mouth dropped open, but she couldn’t seem to find words to defend herself, so she just stared at him, agape.

“I am sure that they’d both be just as upset with you as I am right now.”

Ouch. That one stung.

“So, I’ll ask you again, what do you think I should do about this?”

“A-are you going to give me a t-ticket?” she asked miserably.

“I don’t know. Do you think a ticket will really help you learn your lesson?” He tilted his head, looking at her curiously as though he really wanted to know her answer.

“I… I don’t know what you want me to say,” she mumbled, casting her gaze on his worn linoleum floor.

“I expect you to look at me, first of all,” he ordered, his voice sharper.

She obeyed at once, sitting up a little straighter almost without realizing it.

“When I am talking to you, Sara, you will look me in the eye. Is that understood?”

“Um… yes. Yes, I understand.”

“That’s ‘yes, Sir,’” he corrected, his voice growing sterner still.

Wow, when he got going, hereallygot going. Yikes! “Yes, Sir,” she parroted dutifully.

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