Free The Christmas Angel by Jim Cangany Page B

wasn't hard to figure out who was getting her way and who
wasn't.
    "Dude, you could've tied your shoe, like, nineteen times by now. Get up and make some
room." Seth's words didn't really register with Michael, but the soft kick to his leg did.
    With the grace of a drunken sailor on shore leave, he scrambled to his feet and was
brushing off his knee when the ladies came to a stop in the gap he'd created between them and a
couple with three kids.
    "Mind if we join you, gentlemen?" the blonde bombshell said.
    Michael had to swallow and count to five before he could respond. "Uh, yeah, sure." He
leaned past her and indicated the chairs and blankets under the cutie's arm. "Can I give you some
help with those? You look like you've got a pretty full load there." Without waiting for an answer, he
held his hands out.
    As she transferred her burden to him, she gave him a shy smile.
    He couldn't tell if the rosy hue of her cheeks was due to the cold or him, but he hoped it
was the latter. Her green eyes sparkled, but the dark circles underneath them hinted at something
less merry.
    With the practiced hand of somebody who'd hung out at tailgate parties for years, he
had the chairs in position, with the blankets draped over them, in no time flat.
    The blonde relaxed into her chair and eased her hot chocolate into the cup holder. "Now
this is more like it. Thank you." She smiled and batted her long eyelashes at all three of them. "I'm
Dani."
    "Nice to meet you. I'm Seth."
    Before she could respond, Kal slipped himself between Seth and Dani. "And I am Kal. It
is quite the pleasure to meet you." He took her gloved hand and bowed.
    "My, my, how chivalrous. And what, pray tell, brings you gentlemen to our humble
parade?"
    "Other than to spend time with a vision from Heaven such as yourself? I'm proud to say
I'm a devotee of parades."
    "Oh, really?" Dani leaned toward Kal. "Do tell."
    Once Dani and Kal found out they were both parade buffs, they started chattering away
like long-lost friends. Michael made eye contact with Seth, who simply shook his head, as if to say, Did you really think Kal was going to let a chance like this go by ?
    With a flock of butterflies bouncing around his insides, Michael turned to the cutie. In
the mid-day sun, her brown hair revealed a few reddish highlights that he had to force himself not
to touch.
    He offered to shake. "I'm Michael."
    After removing an emerald-colored mitten, she took his hand. The hair on the back of
his neck sprang to attention at her warm touch. "Hi I'm Kaitlin, and your hands are way cold."
    In spite of the temperature, Michael's face burned as he shoved his hands into his
pockets. "Yeah, sorry about that. This is my first time here and I'm learning the hard way I'm not
quite dressed for the occasion."
    "Well then, you're in for a treat. Here, you can borrow my blanket to warm up a
little."
    "Thanks." Michael wrapped the heavy, cotton covering around him.
    "That blanket's more than big enough for two to share, you know," Dani said.
    Kaitlin rolled her eyes. "Don't mind her. She's been trying to set me up with a guy ever
since...well, for a while." A few clouds drifted in front of the sun, making the cold seem even colder.
Kaitlin shivered.
    Michael had a feeling that just being near Kaitlin would keep his temperature on the
plus side of a hundred, so he took the blanket off and wrapped it around her. He leaned close for a
moment and breathed in deeply. She smelled like a pine forest after a spring shower. The scent
mingled with the hot chocolate aroma drifting up from her cup to conjure images of sitting around a
nighttime campfire, one of his top three favorite things to do in the world.
    A long, high-pitched whistle blast from down the street drew everybody's attention. A
moment later, the Central High School Marching Knights struck up a marching band version of
"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," and the parade began.
    Michael took up station behind Kaitlin as the parade went by. Every