Read Online I'll Be Home for Christmas by Fern Michaels - Free Book Online

stacked the papers neatly in the folder. From the kitchen drawer she ripped off a long piece of gray electrical tape. She taped it to the folder and plastered it on the door of the clinic. She locked the doors and slid the dead bolt into place. She turned off all the lights from the top of the steps. Only a dim hall light glowed in the house.
    She made her way to the attic. The small window under the eaves was the perfect place to watch the parking lot. Sneaky bastard. The report chronicled her life, right down to her bank balance, her student aid, her credit report, and her relationships with men. Her cheeks flamed when she remembered one incident where her landlady said Tyler Mitchel arrived early in the evening and didn’t leave for three days. The line in bold letters that said “The lady uses a diaphragm” was what sent her flying to the attic. That could only mean someone had been here in her house going through her things. Unless Tyler or Jack or maybe Stan volunteered the information.
    â€œYou son of a bitch!”
    Headlights arched into the driveway. Andi’s eyes narrowed. Down below, the animals went into their howling, snarling routine.
    Andi nibbled on her thumbnail as she watched Peter walk back to his car, the folder in his hand. Her phone rang on the second floor. She knew it was Peter calling on his car phone. She sat down on the window seat and cried. The phone continued to ring. Like she cared. “Go to hell, Mr. Lipstick!”
    When there were no more tears, Andi wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her shirt. She had things to do. Empty cartons beckoned. She worked industriously until past midnight, packing and sorting, refusing to go to the window. Tears dripped down her cheeks from time to time. At one-thirty she crept downstairs for a soda. She carried it back to the attic and gulped at it from her perch on the window seat. He was still there. He was still there at four in the morning when she called a halt to her activities.
    Andi curled herself into a ball on top of the bed with a comforter where she cried herself to sleep. She woke at seven and raced to the window. “We’ll see about that!”
    With shaking hands, Andi dialed the police, identified herself and said in a cold, angry voice, “I want you to send someone here right now and remove a…person from my parking lot. He’s been sitting there all night. You tell him he’s not to dare set foot on my property until January. If I have to sign something, I’ll come down to the police station. Right now. I want you to come here right now. My animals are going crazy. I have a gun and a license to use it,” she said dramatically. “Thank you.”
    Her heart thundering in her chest, Andi raced back to the attic. She knew the dirt and grime on the window prevented Peter from seeing her. She clenched her teeth when she saw the patrol car careen into her driveway, the red and blue lights flashing ominously. She just knew he was going to give the officers a box of Raspberry Cheese Louise lipsticks for their wives.
    Five minutes later the Mercedes backed out of her parking lot. It didn’t look like any lipstick had changed hands. “He’s probably going to mail them,” she snorted as she raced down the steps to answer the door, the din behind her so loud she could barely hear the officer’s voice.
    â€œDo you want to file a complaint?”
    â€œYou’re damn right I do,” Andi screamed.
    â€œAll right, come down to the station this afternoon.”
    â€œI’ll be there.”
    Andi closed the door and locked it. She tended to the animals, showered and ate some cornflakes before she resumed her packing. “You are dead in the water, Mr. Lipstick,” she sniveled as she started to clean out her closet and dresser drawers.
    At ten o’clock she called the Finnerans. “You really and truly found something in Freehold!…I can move in on Sunday?