by Paige Sleuth
Christmas in Cherry Hills
A Cozy Cat Caper Mystery
Book 12
Paige Sleuth
Copyright © 2016 Marla Bradeen (writing as Paige Sleuth)
All rights reserved.
Published by Marla Bradeen.
This book or portions of it (excluding brief quotations) may not be reproduced without prior written permission from the publisher/author.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons (living or dead), actual businesses, or actual events is purely coincidental.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. If this ebook copy was not purchased by or for you, please purchase your own copy before reading. Thank you for respecting this author’s work.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
CHOKED IN CHERRY HILLS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CHAPTER ONE
“Merry Christmas!” Andrew Milhone said as he lugged a bundle of green into Katherine Harper’s apartment.
“You bought a tree already?” Kat planted her hands on her hips. “You were supposed to call me to help pick one out.”
“I know, but when I drove by the lot earlier the pickings were getting slim. I wasn’t sure there would be any left by the time you got off work.”
Kat’s jaw dropped open. “Christmas is still two days away, and they’re already almost sold out?”
“What can I say, some people plan ahead better than you do.”
Kat stuck her tongue out at him.
Andrew adjusted his hold on the trunk. “So where do you want this thing? It’s starting to get heavy.”
Kat pointed to the space she had cleared next to the living room window. “You can put it over there.”
Andrew eyed her. “Some help would be nice.”
Matty and Tom, Kat’s two cats, evidently thought that was their cue to offer assistance. They both wandered over, turning into a black, brown, and yellow blur as they weaved between Kat’s and Andrew’s legs in an attempt to get close to the tree.
“You’re going to get stepped on,” Kat warned them.
The animals weren’t concerned, too enraptured by this new addition to their home. Kat accommodated them by shuffling her feet as she made her way across the living room with her end of the tree.
“Tip your side up,” Andrew instructed.
Kat did. When she’d raised the tree top as high as she could, Andrew took over, grabbing hold of the side and securing the base of the trunk to the stand. He verified it was steady, then pulled out a pocket knife to snip the twine wrapped around the branches. Matty and Tom watched in awe as the tree unfolded into its full, glorious splendor.
“There!” Andrew brushed his sandy hair away from his eyes. “It fits perfectly.”
The burst of joy that seized Kat then took her by surprise. “I never thought I’d ever be looking forward to celebrating Christmas.”
Tom didn’t waste any time moving in to inspect the pine needles within reach. Matty sat off to the side, her gray-striped tail swishing across the carpet. She stared up at the tree, then crouched low to the ground before springing toward one of the branches. Tom stopped what he was doing to watch as the yellow-and-brown tortoiseshell pulled herself into the tree, her hind feet scrabbling to find a good foothold.
Kat laughed. “I can tell you right now, with Matty and Tom here this Christmas is shaping up to be the best one I’ve had in all of my thirty-two years.”
Andrew slung his arm around Kat’s shoulders and kissed her cheek. “I know this will be my best Christmas ever. I have you.”
Kat leaned into him, his words making her giddy.
He chuckled. “Look at us getting into the holiday spirit. Remember when we were a couple of kids grumbling about Christmas while everybody else at school couldn’t wait to see what kind of loot they were going to be getting?”
“It was different for us. We were in foster care. Christmas isn’t much fun when you’re sitting around with somebody else’s family, opening up generic gifts picked up at the last minute so you don’t feel left out. I can’t tell you how many times Santa brought me a pair of cheap socks patterned in some kind of reindeer theme.”
Kat smiled as Tom swatted at Matty, who was shielded by the branches surrounding her. Matty retaliated by taking a swing at his head. Neither cat made contact, but it was clear they were having a grand time trying.
“They’re so cute,” Kat said. “I bought some baubles, but now I’m not sure we shouldn’t leave the tree as it is. The cats can enjoy it more this way.”
Andrew squeezed her shoulder. “It’s your tree. You can do whatever you want.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist as she rotated toward him. “Thank you for buying it and bringing it over. How much do I owe you?”
He kissed her nose. “Consider it to be a gift.”
“We agreed not to exchange gifts.”
“Then consider it to be on loan. You can give it back to me after your mom leaves town.”
The reminder that Maybelle Harper was currently on her way to Cherry Hills, Washington sent a flurry of butterflies erupting in Kat’s stomach. “I’m nervous about meeting her. What if we don’t get along?”
Andrew smirked. “Then you’ll be just like every other family.”
“I’m serious, Andrew.” Kat stepped away from him and flopped onto the couch. “I haven’t seen her in twenty-some-odd years. What if we have nothing in common?” What if she doesn’t like me? was what Kat was really thinking.
Andrew sat down beside her. “You’ve been talking on the phone, haven’t you?”
“We hold five-minute conversations about the weather and how our jobs are going every other week. We don’t talk about anything important.”
Andrew paused, then said, “Have you told her about me?”
“No,” Kat admitted.
“Huh.”
Kat could see the disappointment in his eyes, and it twisted her heart. “It’s not because I don’t want my mother to know we’re dating or anything. But when we’re on the phone we end up chatting about mundane stuff.”
“You’ve told her about the cats though.”
“Yes.” Realizing he might think that meant she valued Matty and Tom more than him, she added, “But that’s only because she’s staying with me for three days. I had to know if she was allergic.”
She held her breath, hoping Andrew didn’t call her on the lie. The truth was, she often filled her mother in on Matty and Tom’s antics just to have something to talk about. Plus, hearing about the cats always made Maybelle laugh.
But if Andrew could tell she was fibbing he didn’t let on. “What time is she getting here?” he asked.
“It’s a five-hour drive from Estacada, so any minute now.”
“Would you like me to leave?”
“What?” Kat sat up. “You mean because my mother’s coming?”
“If you don’t want her to meet me—”
“No.” She laid her hand on his wrist. “It’s not like that at all. I’d love for you to be here when she shows up.”
Andrew relaxed, a smile breaking out on his face. The sight of his twin dimples sent guilt swirling in Kat’s stomach. She hadn’t confessed the real reas
on why she wanted him here, and it wasn’t so she could introduce him to her mother as one would a serious boyfriend. It was so he could act as a buffer if things didn’t go well between them.
“I don’t even know what to call her,” Kat said. “She was Maybelle Harper when she lived here. Then there was all that business about her having to flee town and hide out, and now she goes by Kelly Watson.”
“You don’t call her Mom?”
She shook her head. Although she thought of Maybelle as her mother, ‘Mom’ suggested a level of familiarity that wasn’t there. Maybelle had barely been around during Kat’s childhood, and, until recently, she had been completely absent from her adulthood.
“I’ll just go with Maybelle,” she decided. “That’s how I think of her anyway.”
The buzzer rang, and Kat’s stomach flip-flopped. Maybelle Harper had arrived.
CHAPTER TWO
Maybelle Harper looked just as glamorous in person as she did in the photograph she’d emailed Kat when they’d first reconnected this past summer. Kat had suspected then that the teased-out sable hair, heavy eye makeup, and ruby-red lipstick had been for the benefit of the camera, but now she could see that was her mother’s day-to-day look.
“Katherine,” Maybelle said, smiling across the threshold, “my baby girl.”
Kat smiled back. “Hi, Maybelle.”
Disappointment flashed in her eyes. “You know you can call me Mom.”
“I know.”
The silence stretched between them. Kat flexed her fingers, wondering if she should try for a hug. It seemed like something a mother and daughter would do after reuniting for the first time in two decades. It was actually how Kat had always envisioned a reunion, complete with tears and gushing confessions about how much they loved each other. But as many times as she had dreamed of this moment, now that it was really happening she had no idea what to do.
Maybelle fluffed her hair, and the opportunity was lost. “So, were you going to invite me inside?”
“Oh.” Kat held the door open. “Please, come in.”
Maybelle breezed into the living room, dragging two huge suitcases behind her. When Kat closed the door, she saw her mother was wearing heels. Had she actually driven all the way from Oregon in those things? Her feet must be killing her.
“Oh, hello.” Maybelle stopped short in the middle of the room, her eyes on Andrew. “I didn’t realize Katherine had company.”
Andrew stood up and held out his hand. “Andrew Milhone.”
“Andrew . . .” Maybelle’s eyes widened. “You’re that scrawny little blond boy who used to run around with Katherine, aren’t you?”
Andrew laughed. “Guilty as charged.”
Maybelle let go of her luggage and sandwiched his hand between hers. “You’ve certainly filled out well. If I do say so myself, you’re a bona fide hunk.”
Kat stilled, not missing how her mother’s voice had turned low and throaty. She couldn’t be hitting on Andrew, could she? Even if she wasn’t aware of his and Kat’s relationship, he was still a good twenty years her junior.
When Maybelle finally released Andrew’s hand, he slipped it into his pants pocket. “How was the drive?” he asked.
“Long.” Maybelle perched on the edge of the sofa armrest and crossed her legs. “But the weather was all right. When I started off this afternoon the skies were looking like snow. Thank stars things cleared up the farther I drove. Snow is nice to look at, but . . .”
Kat’s heart sank as her mother droned on. She had hoped they could move past the inconsequential small talk once they were face-to-face, but so far this visit was turning into a repeat of one of their phone conversations.
“Oh, my!” Maybelle jumped away from the couch, her list of most hated weather-related road hazards dying on her lips. “Something’s moving in that tree.”
“That would be Matty and Tom,” Kat replied.
“Your cats?” Maybelle frowned. “I didn’t realize they were so . . . disruptive.”
“They’re just having fun.”
Maybelle, Kat, and Andrew watched in silence for a minute as Matty and Tom climbed between branches. Kat wasn’t sure exactly what they were trying to accomplish, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves.
“What on earth is a tree doing inside your place?” Maybelle asked Kat.
“It’s a Christmas tree.”
“But it’s bare.”
“I bought some ornaments and lights.” Kat gestured toward the dining room table. “I was holding off on decorating until Matty and Tom are done playing.”
Maybelle’s lips puckered. “You’re talking like the cats run this house.”
Kat kept her mouth shut. That was closer to the truth than she cared to admit.
But Andrew laughed, the traitor. “Matty and Tom are definitely the ones in charge here.”
Maybelle’s lips curved up as she gave him a once-over. “Oh, now, I find that hard to believe when there’s a man as big and strong as you around.”
Kat’s stomach clenched. Her mother was definitely putting the moves on Andrew.
Maybelle took off her coat, revealing a bright red blouse tucked into her black slacks. “You know what I would do if I were the one in charge?”
“What’s that?” Kat asked.
Maybelle tossed her coat on the coffee table and spun toward the dining room. “Decorate that Christmas tree.”
“We can’t do anything while Matty and Tom are there.”
“Andrew.” Maybelle batted her eyelashes at him as she picked up a string of lights and started undoing the twist ties holding it together. “Could you be a love and lock those animals away somewhere?”
Andrew glanced at Kat. She stared back at him. When she still hadn’t spoken after several seconds passed, he shrugged and walked over to the tree.
“It’s nice to have a man around, isn’t it?” Maybelle said, ostensibly to Kat although it was Andrew she winked at.
Kat couldn’t take it anymore. “Maybelle, there’s something I need to tell you.”
“What’s that?”
“Andrew and I are dating.”
Maybelle tossed a twist tie aside. “Well, I know that.”
“You do?”
“Naturally. Why else would he be here?”
“We could just be friends.”
Maybelle snickered. “No way can a woman just be friends with a stud muffin like that.”
Andrew shot Kat a look over his shoulder. Maybelle seemed to have left him half amused, half bewildered.
Kat knew exactly how he felt. Her mother was making her head spin. If she knew Andrew was off-limits, why had she been flirting with him?
She never would have guessed Maybelle was such a tease. Although, maybe her surprise was unwarranted. After all, it wasn’t as if the topic had ever come up during one of their discussions about the weather.
Kat tried to remember if Maybelle had been this flirtatious twenty years ago but drew a blank. She had probably been too young to notice.
Andrew extricated Matty from the tree first. “I’ll put her in the bedroom,” he said to Kat as the tortoiseshell squirmed in his arms.
With his sister gone, the tree’s appeal faded in Tom’s eyes. He dropped back to the floor, shook a stray pine needle from his hind foot, and ambled over to Maybelle. He meowed twice, but Maybelle was too focused on untying lights to notice. Not one to be deterred easily, the brown-and-black cat jumped onto the dining room table and sat down.
Maybelle drew back. “What’s it doing?”
“He wants you to pet him,” Kat said.
Maybelle didn’t move. “It’s staring at me.”
“Tom’s a he. And I’ve told you before he’s an attention hog.”
Maybelle regarded Tom. “It’s bigger than I expected.”
“He,” Kat said, more firmly this time.
Tom reached a paw toward Maybelle’s hand, prompting her to cringe.
“What’s it doing now?” she asked.
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“He wants you to pet him.”
Maybelle clutched the lights to her chest. “Can you move it? I don’t want to get fur on this outfit.”
Kat frowned. Her mother didn’t want to get fur on her outfit? Why had she worn it then? She knew she was going to be bunking with cats for three days.
Andrew, who must have returned at some point during their conversation, cleared his throat. “Mind if I put Tom in the bedroom with Matty?” he asked.
“Oh, please,” Maybelle said, visibly relaxing. “You’re a lifesaver.”
Andrew lifted Tom off of the table. The big cat didn’t protest, clearly enjoying the human contact. To make up for Maybelle’s dismissal, Kat gave him a pat as Andrew toted him past her.
Maybelle shook out the cord of lights and stepped back into the living room. “Now that those animals are out of the way, we can decorate.”
Kat joined her by the tree. “I thought you liked cats.”
“Whatever gave you that idea?”
“You never mentioned not liking them all those times I brought them up on our calls.”
“Oh, well. You never asked, did you?”
“No.” Kat didn’t think she had to ask. After all, what kind of person didn’t like cats?
Maybelle started stringing lights. “Give me a hand here, will you, Katherine?”
Kat grabbed one end of the cord. “I prefer Kat.”
Maybelle’s hands stopped moving. “What?”
“My name. I prefer Kat instead of Katherine.”
“I’ve always called you Katherine.”
“I know.”
Maybelle raised one shoulder. “Okay, then. Kat it is.”
Kat ground her molars together. She knew it was childish, but she had wanted her request to be met with more resistance. She wanted her mother to feel the same sense of betrayal about Kat never mentioning her preferred nickname that Kat did upon discovering that Maybelle had kept her dislike of cats a secret.
They worked in silence. Andrew must have decided he needed a break from Maybelle because he didn’t reenter the room until the lights were up and they’d moved on to hanging baubles.