Free The Year the Cat Saved Christmas - a novella by Barbara Bretton Page A

hands were plunged deep
into her pockets.
    "Jilly!" His strides ate up the distance.
"Stop!"
    She broke into a run. He pulled up even with
her.
    "We have to talk."
    She darted off the road and started up the
hill. "Go to hell," she threw back at him.
    Was that some kind of secret code for I
love you ? He was willing to cling to any shred of hope that he
hadn't come to his senses too late to save them.
    His foot caught on an exposed tree trunk and
he stumbled and almost fell.
    "Serves you right," she called over her
shoulder.
    "This isn't funny, Jill." He grabbed her
forearm. "Stop! Listen to me! I love--"
     
     

 
    Chapter Six

    Jill hadn't meant to flip him over her
shoulder but she'd been named Karate Mom of the Week and she
couldn't pass up a golden opportunity like that. He had her so
angry she could probably break boards with her pinky.
    "You threw me like a Frisbee," he said, as he
looked up at her from the middle of a snowdrift and gasped for air.
"When did you learn to do that?"
    "This summer. Mommy & Me karate classes.
Want to see what I can do with my feet?"
    "No, thanks. I've had enough bodily injury
for one day." He held out his hand. "Help me up, will you?"
    She shook her head and took a step back. "I
wasn't born yesterday."
    His blue eyes were wide and innocent. "I'm
not exactly in an offensive position, Jill."
    She hesitated.
    "You're the one who flipped me." He really
did look helpless, lying there like a macho snow angel. "My butt's
getting numb."
    "I suppose I owe you that much." She reached
for his hand and a second later found herself lying next to him in
the snowdrift.
    "You rat! You tricked me."
    "Stubborn redhead."
    Her fingers curled around some snow. "What
was that?"
    "You heard me."
    "I was hoping I heard wrong."
    He met her fierce look with one of his own.
"I called you a stubborn redhead."
    "Take it back."
    "The hell I will. You're the most stubborn
woman I've ever known."
    "You pigheaded lout. How dare you call me
stubborn."
    "You were born stubborn and you'll die
stubborn."
    Furious, she scrambled to her knees. "I said,
take it back."
    "Make me."
    "You asked for it, Whittaker!" She reared
back and aimed her snowball right between his eyes.
    She wanted to pelt him with snowballs until
he couldn't see straight. She wanted to bury him in snow up to his
nostrils until he realized what a stupid fool he'd been. She wanted
him to throw himself at her feet and beg her forgiveness. And then
she would withhold it until he really began to squirm.
    He lobbed a few snowballs in her
direction.
    "That's pathetic," she taunted, gaining
confidence by the second. "Is that the best you can do?"
    She landed another missile right between his
eyes.
    Splat!
    Splat!
    He was starting to look like a polar bear.
"Jilly--"
    "Don't call me that! You lost the right to
call me that."
    "--I don't want a divorce."
    "Well, that's too damn bad," she said, trying
to ignore the foolish explosion of hope inside her heart. "You
should have thought about that before you accepted that project in
San Francisco."
    "I had to make the decision on the spot. I
thought you liked San Francisco."
    "Everyone likes San Francisco." She let out a
shriek of frustration. "Don't you get it, you fool? This isn't
about San Francisco, David, this is about you."
     
     
    #
     
     
    About him?
    David forgot about the snowballs. Of all the
things he'd expected her to say, that was at the bottom of the
list.
    "You don't want that job in San Francisco any
more than I want you to take it."
    "How do you figure that?"
    "Oh, David--" She tossed another snowball in
his direction but it lacked conviction. He told himself that was a
good sign. "If you're going to leave us for some stupid job, at
least leave us for a job that's worthy of you."
    "You don't know what you're talking
about."
    "I know all I need to know. I know you
haven't been happy for a long time. I know you and I know it's all
wrong for you to put your heart and soul into some
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