Page 106 of The Twelve Months of Christmas
He wasn’t much taller than Wyatt but his muscles were sure bigger. Plus, there was something about his stance that said, “Don’t mess with me.”
Wyatt pulled back his head and frowned at Arianna. “Who the hell is this guy?”
“I’m Alden, a new friend of Arianna and Sophie’s.” Alden held out a hand toward Wyatt, clearly taking him off guard.I come in peace...so far.
Instead of shaking hands, Wyatt took a step back and glared at Arianna. “You didn’t tell me you were seeing someone.”
“You’ve never told me when you were seeing someone, either. Which would have been really helpful when we were married.” Oh, that was a good one. Seeing the red flood his cheeks felt so rewarding, and she was delighted to find that having Alden for backup kept her from losing her own temper.
“Fine. There’s no need to make a big deal out of it,” Wyatt said, backing down. “I’ll go get her.”
“I’ll go with you,” Alden said easily, and swept out a hand, inviting Wyatt to lead the way.
Wyatt clenched his jaw and strode off toward the house as a fast as he could. Alden kept up easily.
Arianna smiled, climbed back in the truck. “That was a thing of beauty,” she said.
Mia chuckled. “Yes, it was. I think Wyatt has finally met someone who won’t put up with his nonsense.”
“It should have been me.”
“It will be from now on,” Mia predicted.
A moment later the men were back, Sophie running ahead of them. She scrambled into the back of the truck to join Mia and Buster. “Hi, Grammy! Hi, Buster! Hi, Mommy!” Her forehead was sweaty and her cheeks pink and she had a chocolate smear on her chin, probably from ice cream.
“Did you have fun?” Arianna asked.
“Yeah, I did, but Mommy, I thought you forgot about me.”
“Why was that?” Arianna asked.
“Daddy said you’d come get me, but that was forever ago.”
“Oh, he did, did he?”That skunk turd.
“A little misunderstanding, but it’s been cleared up. I don’t think there will be many more in the future,” said Mia.
“There certainly won’t,” said Arianna, still steaming.
Wyatt had broken away from Alden without a word and marched back to his game. Alden ambled back to the truck, an easy smile on his face. He climbed back in and put on his seat belt.
“We all ready for fun?” he asked.
“I am!” Sophie crowed.
“Me, too,” said Mia.
“Me, three,” said Arianna, tossing off her irritation.
“Then let’s go,” said Alden.
“That was pretty amazing,” Arianna said to him as they got underway.
“Sometimes you have to let people know who the big dog is,” he said.
“And you’re the big dog?”
He grinned. “Arf.”
