Free Holiday Escort by Julia P. Lynde

and that I got it all wrong."
    "I wasn't flirting with her. I kept trying to get away from her. But you were right. She was flirting with me."
    "You were smiling at her, Karen, and you let her keep her hand on your arm."
    "She was nattering on about something. I don't know what. I was smiling because I was thinking about you." She paused. "You're right, she's a skank . But her husband is important, and he dotes on her."
    "He dotes on her chest."
    Karen laughed. "Probably."
    I slid closer and kissed her cheek. "You're forgiven."
    * * *
    There were no more events before Christmas Eve, for which I was thankful. Karen had warned me her family could be rough to manage.
    "Are they going to snipe at my cooking?"
    "My sister will probably find something to be snide about."
    "Does your sister make krumkake ?"
    Karen laughed. "No."
    "Do any of them tango?"
    "No."
    "Do any of them have the awesome body I have?"
    She laughed again. "No."
    "Then your sister can take her snide comments and stuff them in her Christmas stocking."
    The morning of Christmas Eve came. Karen went to work but promised she would be home by three.
    "If you are not here by four, I will tell your family about our relationship," I told her. "I am serious. You will not arrive late and make me worry I'll be greeting your family without you here."
    She promised me she'd be home by three. I didn't believe her.
    I ran around in the morning, making sure everything in the house was absolutely perfect . My present to Karen was under the tree, as were all of her presents to her family and the ones I'd take to mine on Christmas Day . I had several bottles of white wine chilling, and every decoration was perfect.
    I gave myself a solid workout session in the ballroom downstairs, which I'd been using as my little gym. Full of endorphins, I took a shower and began cooking.
    I baked fresh bread and a new batch of krumkake . The turkey was in the oven right on time .
    Three o'clock came and went. No surprise. I called Karen. She didn't answer. I texted her. "You better be ignoring the phone because you don't want to pick it up while driving." She arrived ten minutes later. She got a kiss for being on time, sort of. We both went upstairs and changed clothes.
    Karen's parents arrived first at four fifteen. There were a little early, but it was okay.
    Karen's father, Fred, was a big man with a ruddy complexion. He was a business owner. Karen's mother, Rhonda, looked like a businessman's wife. She was slender, well coifed, and expensively dressed. Her throat, ears, and wrists all glittered. My greeting from them at the front door felt slightly cool, but Rhonda seemed to warm up as we moved into the house.
    "Who decorated, Dear ?" she asked Karen.
    "Madeline did."
    "It's all lovely," she said. "Did you hire someone to help?" she asked me.
    "I hired a handyman to do the heavy lifting," I said. "He strung the lights and garland outside. He was quite good, actually." I paused. "If you'll excuse me, I need to check on the bread."
    In the end there were twelve of us. Karen's sister, Lisa, came with her husband, Bob, and their two darling rug rats. Karen's brother, Luke, was single, and their cousin, Chris, came with her husband and daughter. No one brought so much as a bottle of wine to go with the meal.
    The two rug rats wanted to open presents right away. Karen tried to fetch me from the kitchen.
    "If you want to open presents," I said. "Go ahead. I'm not leaving the kitchen until the meal is on. There's a present for you from me under the tree, and you don't get to open it until the morning." Karen made them wait, which didn't go over well with the two brats, but I caught a look from Rhonda that looked vaguely like approval.
    The bread came out of the oven. Rhonda looked over from the living room and saw what I was removing. She got up from her chair and came into the kitchen.
    "Fresh bread?"
    "Yes. With rosemary and a little garlic," I said. "The ones I made earlier are plain." I looked at