Hark, the Herald Angels Sing, one of Chloe’s favorites, and the attendees stood to sing along. Her nieces belted out the song, off-key and not caring one bit. She kept her hand in her pocket on her phone, but it remained still.
She checked that it was still turned on.
What had happened to Hunter?
And what issue could he possibly have with her schedule? It wasn’t any of his business!
Hunter grabbed some Vietnamese take-out and returned to his current house-sitting gig on the Upper West Side. He spent an hour going through Chloe’s calendar of festive events, making a list of his own. Then he watched sit-coms until 10:30, wanting it to be crystal clear that he was breaking rule number five on purpose.
Let the games begin.
“What are you doing?” Chloe said when she answered.
“Ditching the traditional greeting already,” Hunter teased. “Aren’t there rules about that?”
“It’s after ten!”
“Yes. Rule number five bites the dust. I’m making good progress, don’t you think?”
“No. No, I don’t think so.” She was stern and he could easily imagine her scowling at him, maybe shaking a finger, too. She’d try to look tough, but a tendril of hair would escape from her up-do or her glasses would fog and he’d think she was just delicious. Hunter leaned back and closed his eyes, letting her tell him off. “You’re being irresponsible and a pest, deliberately trying to make trouble...”
“You’re whispering.”
“I don’t want anyone else to hear.”
“It’s like we have a secret meeting...”
“No, it’s not. It’s like you’re calling when you shouldn’t be.”
“Where are you?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Come on. Give me the visuals. Help me imagine. Tell me who’s listening in.”
“Nobody.” Chloe exhaled and it sounded like she growled a bit. “I’m in my bedroom at my mom’s apartment. I retreated here when the phone rang, abandoning a perfectly lovely evening in front of the fire with my family.”
“Has the interrogation started yet?”
“No.”
“So, I helped you miss it. Bonus.”
“Is there a specific reason why you called?”
“Other than to hear your voice again? Yes.”
She waited and he let the silence stretch long. “Well?” she invited finally.
“The thing is that I have some comments on the schedule.”
“It’s not your schedule...”
“No, but there are some issues that should be addressed.”
“Like what?” Her tone was glacial.
He tossed her an easy one, an early victory. “Well, Sunday afternoon you’re going skating at Rockefeller Plaza. I just wanted to verify with you that you’ve made your reservations...”
“Because the sessions are ninety minutes long and otherwise we’d end up standing in line for a long time. Done and done, Hunter. I did live here for twenty-seven years, you know.”
“So, you’re not interested in my input.”
“Rule number seven,” she said.
“Okay,” he agreed easily. “Although your nieces might be disappointed.” He heard the prick of her interest but carried on. “It’s too bad you’re going back Thursday. You’ll miss New Years’ Eve at F5F.”
“We celebrate it at F5F West, too, Hunter.”
“Got it. Goodnight, then.” He wondered how long she’d look at the phone. He wondered how much time she’d spend going over her schedule. He smiled at the prospect of making her sleepless and knew his campaign to keep himself in Chloe’s thoughts was proceeding well.
Time to clean up the kitchen and get some sleep.
Rudolph the grumpy reindeer had a very bad head cold...
What was wrong with her schedule?
What could she have overlooked? Chloe went over it again, verifying that she had tickets for each event, that she’d confirmed the hours for every store they planned to visit, and couldn’t see a single issue. She scrolled through it twice. She pulled up the master schedule on her laptop and studied it, mystified.
“Working so late?” Mandy asked, after a gentle tap on the door.
“No, just checking that everything is arranged.”
Her sister came into the room and dropped to sit on the bed, bouncing a little. Although both sisters were tall and slender, Chloe had always thought that Mandy had all the verve. Her big sister had dark blond hair and green eyes, and Chloe thought she was prettier. She dressed with flair, choosing garments with arty angles and unexpected pops of color. She taught Art and Chloe guessed that she was known as the funky teacher. She was as blunt as Chloe was practical. “I thought maybe you were trying to find extra time to be with Hunter.”
“No, not that.”
“Because if you want to dump us anytime, it’s okay. I didn’t expect you to spend every day with me and the girls.” Mandy smiled. “It’s great, but I don’t want