Read Online The Nine Lives of Christmas by Sheila Roberts - Free Book Online

of a drama queen back at the store, but maybe she had a right to be a little dramatic. After all, the cat did scratch her.
    The candle purchased and bagged, she propelled him toward the door. Outside, though, she stopped to put her change in the Salvation Army bell-ringer’s bucket.
    “Thank you,” said the man. “Merry Christmas.”
    “Merry Christmas to you, too,” she said. “I never pass one of those buckets without putting in something,” she informed Zach.
    How could a guy stay mad at a woman when she did things like that?
    “Now,” she said briskly, “let’s go get some dinner. And when we get back to the house I’ve got a surprise for you.”
    New lingerie? He grinned. “Okay.”
    But the surprise was nothing pleasant.
    “A tree?” he said, staring at the gigantic cardboard box in the back of her SUV.
    She nodded eagerly. “I found it on sale, fifty percent off. Merry Christmas early!”
    “A tree,” he repeated. And a fake one at that.
    “And I’ve got the most gorgeous ornaments for it,” she continued, grabbing a smaller box. “We can put it up tonight.” She smiled at him. “Are you surprised?”
    “Speechless.” She was looking so pleased with herself, so ready to please him. How to tell her he didn’t want the thing?
    There was no way, of course, not without hurting her feelings. A tree in the bay window, and a wife and kids . He suddenly felt like all the air had been sucked from his lungs. In a desperate search for oxygen, he took a deep breath.
    “You don’t like it?”
    He knew that expression. She was staring at him in disbelief, like he’d somehow betrayed her.
    “No, no. It’s just, well, I hadn’t planned on a tree. I mean, what does a single guy need with a tree?”
    “It’ll give you Christmas spirit,” said Blair.
    “I don’t know.” Zach had pretty much lost his Christmas spirit. Watching your dad move out over Christmas break, getting dumped by your fiancée on Christmas Eve—little things like that tended to make a man lose his zest for the holidays.
    “Trust me,” Blair said. “It’ll be gorgeous, and we’ll have fun putting it up together, just you and me.”
    He swallowed his reluctance and nodded.
    “Anyway, this is our first Christmas together and I wanted to give you something special, something significant.”
    Something significant? What was she expecting to get from him? He forced a smile and tried to breathe.
    “Come on,” she said eagerly. “Let’s get it in the house and get started.”
    More like get it over with. Tom sat watching from a far corner, tail flicking back and forth, as they set up the lighted tree. Zach was feeling a little twitchy himself. “Now, before we start, let’s set the mood,” said Blair. Next thing he knew she’d set up his iPod to give them some background Christmas music, the scented candle she’d bought was burning, and they were trimming the tree with silver garlands. Okay, this wasn’t bad, kind of nice, actually.
    “Our first Christmas together,” Blair observed as she pulled out a box of blue ornaments. “I wonder what my sweetie got for me.” She gave him a playful look. “Something from Tiffany’s maybe? I love Tiffany’s. Or maybe a vacation? It’s been forever since I’ve been to Cabo.”
    Zach turned to hang an ornament and hide his dismay. He thought of the chocolates he’d ordered on line. He’d been pretty pleased with himself at the time. Now the words “not going to cut it” echoed through his mind.
    It was no secret that Blair had never lacked for the finer things in life. Her parents and her ex-husband had made sure she was well provided for—and then some. The last time he’d gone shopping with her she’d dropped more money on a single handbag than he’d spent on his entire wardrobe … for the past three years.
    Still, she knew he was a firefighter so she couldn’t really be expecting anything that lavish. Could she? She’d been teasing. Hadn’t she?
    Ho, boy.
    They