Page 41 of A Cozy Christmas Blizzard
K.O. delivered the eggnog. This was going even better than she’d hoped. Max was already interested and LaVonne was issuing invitations. She recognized the gleam in the other man’s eyes. A sense of triumph filled her and she cast a glance in Wynn’s direction. Wynn was just reaching into his pocket, withdrawing a real-looking catnip mouse.
Relaxed now, Max leaned forward to pet Tom.
At that very moment, chaos broke out. Although LaVonne claimed she’d never known Tom to take a dislike to anyone, the cat clearly detested Max. Before anyone could react, he sprang from her lap and grabbed Max’s bare arm. The cat’s claws dug in, drawing blood. He wasn’t about to let go, either.
“Get him off,” Max screamed, thrashing his arm to and fro in an effort to free himself from the cat-turned-killer. Wynn was desperately—and futilely—trying to distract Tom by waving the toy mouse. It didn’t help.
“Tom, Tom!” LaVonne screeched at the top of her lungs.
Blood spurted onto the carpet.
In a panic, Max pulled at Tom’s fur. The cat then sank his teeth into Max’s hand and Max yelped in pain.
“Don’t hurt my cat,” LaVonne shrieked.
Frozen to the spot, K.O. watched in horror as the scene unfolded. Wynn dropped the mouse, and if not for his quick action, K.O. didn’t know what would have happened. Before she could fully comprehend how he’d done it, Wynn had disentangled Tom from his father’s arm. LaVonne instantly took her beloved cat into her embrace and cradled him against her side.
At the sight of his own blood, Max looked like he was about to pass out. K.O. hurriedly got him a clean towel, shocked at the amount of blood. The scratches seemed deep. “Call 911,” Max shouted.
Wynn pulled out his cell phone. “That might not be a bad idea,” he said to K.O. “Cat scratches can get infected.”
“Contact the authorities, too,” Max added, glaring at LaVonne. He stretched out his good arm and pointed at her. “I want that woman arrested and her animal destroyed.”
LaVonne cried out with alarm and hovered protectively over Tom. “My poor kitty,” she whispered.
“You’re worried about thecat?” Max said. “I’m bleeding to death and you’re worried about your cat?”
Wynn replaced his phone. “The medics are on their way.”
“Oh... good.” K.O. could already hear sirens in the background. She turned off her CD player. Thinking she should open the lobby door, she left the apartment, and when the aid car arrived, she directed the paramedics. Things had gotten worse in the short time she was gone. Max and LaVonne were shouting at each other as the small living room filled with people. Curious onlookers crowded the hallway outside her door.
“My cat scratched him and I’m sorry, but he provoked Tom,” LaVonne said stubbornly.
“I want that woman behind bars.” Max stabbed his finger in LaVonne’s direction.
“Sir, sir, we need you to settle down,” instructed the paramedic who was attempting to take his blood pressure.
“While she’s in jail, declaw her cat,” Max threw in.
Wynn stepped up behind K.O. “Yup,” he whispered. “This is a match made in heaven, all right.”
Then, just when K.O. was convinced nothing more could go wrong, her phone started to ring.
Twelve
“Don’t you think you should answer that?” the paramedic treating Max’s injuries asked.
K.O. was too upset to move. The romantic interlude she’d so carefully plotted couldn’t have gone worse. At least Wynn seemed to understand her distress.
“I’ll get it,” Wynn said, and strode into the kitchen. “O’Connor residence,” he said. At the way his eyes instantly shot to her, K.O. regretted not answering the phone herself.
“It’s your sister,” he said, holding the phone away from his ear.
Even above the racket K.O. could hear Zelda’s high-pitched excitement. Her idol, Dr. Wynn Jeffries, had just spoken to her. The last person K.O. wanted to deal with just then was her younger sister. However, she couldn’t subject Wynn to Zelda’s adoration.
She took the phone, but even before she had a chance to speak, Zelda was shrieking, “Is itreallyyou, Dr. Jeffries? Really and truly?”
“Actually, no,” K.O. informed her sister. “It’s me.”
