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Christmas On Nutcracker Court

Page 30

by Duarte, Judy


  When she turned to face him, her lips parted, and he knew they were on the same page. He was going to kiss her—and she was going to let him.

  As their lips met, and Carly leaned into his embrace, wrapping her arms around him, their kiss blossomed with innocence and awe, with the promise of a future together.

  How about that?

  Max had been given an unexpected gift this Christmas, too—an incredible blessing he didn’t deserve.

  But one he would cherish from this day forward.

  Josh couldn’t believe how incredible Christmas had turned out to be—or what a surprise it had been to wake up and find Max and the dog at their house.

  The guy had even given him a fishing pole and gear, which was cool by itself. But what made it even better was that Max planned to take Josh to Lake Jennings tomorrow.

  How cool was that?

  Then Max had given his dog to Mikey, something his little brother had gone nuts over.

  “For real?” he’d asked, looking first at Max, then at Mom, and back again. “I get to keep him?”

  They’d both assured him the dog was his. So now maybe Mikey wouldn’t expect Josh to entertain him so much, which meant babysitting him wouldn’t be such a chore. And the dog could even sleep with him, so Josh could have a room to himself again.

  His mom had loved her scarf, too. She’d put it on as soon as she opened it up, even though she wasn’t going anywhere.

  Now, as the adults took a seat on the sofa, looking kind of lovey-dovey, Josh figured it would be best to let them have some privacy. Maybe, if he was lucky, they’d fall in love and Max would start coming around more often.

  “Hey, Josh,” Mikey said. “Do you want to go with me and Hemingway?”

  “Where to?”

  “For a walk.”

  Josh glanced at the adults one last time and saw that they still wore those goofy smiles. So he said, “Sure. I’ll go with you.”

  “Bundle up,” Mom said. “It’s looking pretty cold and nasty outside.”

  After putting on their jackets, they headed outdoors, then turned down the street toward the path that led to the canyon.

  “Want to take Hemingway on the Bushman Trail?” Mikey asked.

  “I guess so.”

  They’d barely made it as far as the creek, when Mikey glanced up in the sky at some little white fluffs of nothing coming down like fairy dust. “What’s that stuff?”

  It wasn’t rain. Or hail, either. It was too soft for that.

  Oh, man. Was it snow? In Fairbrook?

  “I could be wrong,” Josh said, “but I think it might be snowing.”

  Mikey let out a wild whoop-de-doo that caused the dog to jump. “He did it. He really did it. I told you God could do anything. You just gotta believe that He can. Wait until Nick sees this.”

  “Yeah, but it’ll probably melt as soon as it hits the ground.”

  “But it’s still snow,” Mikey said. “You gotta admit that.”

  Josh supposed there was no argument there.

  As they stood in the center of the canyon for a while, they watched the snow fall and tried to catch it on their tongues. They probably looked kind of dorky doing that, but Josh didn’t care. Kids around here didn’t see this kind of thing every day.

  “Hey, dude,” a boy’s voice called—and not very nice.

  Josh turned to see Ross “the Boss” standing near the creek, holding a shiny black skateboard and wearing what looked like brand-new clothes—shoes, jeans, a white sweatshirt.

  Ross might have gotten more presents, but Josh had gotten a much better deal for Christmas.

  “What are you doing out here?” Ross asked, his voice not the least bit friendly.

  Before Josh could answer, Mikey popped off with, “We’re walking our dog. He used to work for the military, sniffing out bombs and eating bad guys. His name’s Killer, so you better not get too close.”

  A grin tugged at Josh’s lips. His baby brother was getting kind of smart these days.

  Unfortunately, Josh didn’t think Ross would fall for the killer-dog story, which was too bad.

  Him being here right now was also lousy timing. Josh had been all happy and thanking God for the snow, then dumb ol’ Ross had to show up and ruin a totally cool miracle.

  “Yeah, well, you guys need to get out of here,” Ross said. “And take your wimpy dog with you. The Bushman Trail is part of my backyard, and you’re trespassing.”

  He was full of it. The canyon was city property—and it backed up to a lot of people’s yards. But Josh wasn’t going to challenge Ross.

  “Whatever,” he said. “Come on, Mikey.”

  About that time, Ross bent over and picked up a rock, no doubt planning to throw it at them. But as he wound his arm, his foot slipped. And just like in the cartoons, his legs went out from under him, landing him right on the muddy slope of the stream.

  The look on his face was worth a hundred bucks, especially when he slid into the cold, muddy water.

  Josh wanted to laugh and tease him in the worst way, which would probably be suicide, no matter how funny it was—or how badly he deserved it.

  Instead, he turned to Mikey. “Come on. Let’s go home.”

  As they trudged up the snow-littered path to the street, trying not to slip like Ross had, Mikey asked, “Do you know what I think?”

  “What’s that?”

  “His guardian angel probably got sick and tired of watching him pick on people and gave him a big push.”

  Actually, Josh wasn’t so sure guys like Ross had a guardian angel. But if they did, angels probably weren’t in the habit of pushing anyone around. Of course, he didn’t know that for sure.

  By the time they got home, the snow had stayed on the ground long enough to turn it a frosty white. Josh was going to call his mom and Max to the window, but before he got a chance, Mikey shouted out the good news.

  At that, the adults went to check it out.

  “I can’t believe this,” Mom said. “Mikey prayed that it would snow. And while I knew it wasn’t completely impossible, I really didn’t expect it.”

  “It probably won’t last long,” Max said, “but it sure makes for a perfect Christmas, doesn’t it?”

  “I couldn’t agree more.” Mom leaned into Max just a little, like they were good friends sharing a secret or some really good news.

  “And you know what else?” Mikey said. “Ross ‘the Boss’ was giving Josh a hard time out in the canyon, but right before he could chuck a rock at us, he slipped and fell into the creek.”

  At that, Mom stiffened as though she was going to run outside and check on him. “Is he okay?”

  “He’s fine,” Mikey said. “I think it was God’s way of giving him a spanking.”

  “His fall was just a coincidence,” Mom said. “But are you sure he’s all right?”

  “Yeah, but when his mother gets a look at how wet and dirty he is, he’ll be in plenty of trouble with her.”

  “Well, speaking of getting in trouble with Moms, you guys need to take off those dirty shoes and leave them by the door. Then wash up. Max and I are making hot cocoa and opening a box of graham crackers.”

  It wasn’t exactly a special treat, but it was the kind of thing a normal family might do.

  How cool was that?

  Boy, things really seemed to be coming together. God had answered every one of Josh’s prayers, although not in the way he’d imagined.

  So even if his mom and Max didn’t get married, even if they had to move out of this house, and Ross never did become a decent kid instead of a jerk, everything was going to be okay.

  As Josh was kicking off his shoes, he heard his mom say to Max, “I received the Christmas miracle I’d been praying for—happy kids, loving hearts, good friends . . .”

  “I know what you mean.” Max gave her hand a squeeze. “Some of us even received a miracle we hadn’t been praying for.”

  Ain’t that the truth, Josh thought. And he had a feeling th
at a lot of those kinds of miracles were still in the works.

  KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by

  Kensington Publishing Corp.

  119 West 40th Street

  New York, NY 10018

  Copyright © 2011 by Judy Duarte

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

  Kensington and the K logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.

  ISBN: 978-0-7582-7879-1

  ISBN-10: 0-7582-7506-4

 

 

 


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