Page 15 of Snowed Inn For Christmas

Eight

Gage

Iknew that Julie wasgoing to be pissed once she heard what her brother wanted to talk to me about, which was exactly why I didn’t tell her.It wasn’t that I wanted to be a dick about it, but he was right—the best way to protect Julie and Daisy was to make sure we eliminated the threat directly.

Growing up with Patrick quickly taught me how short-tempered he was and how long he could hold a grudge.Just because we spoke for the first time in four years didn’t mean that it was progress of any sort in mending our friendship.Things were still as rocky between us as they had been the day he looked me dead in the eye and said he never wanted to speak to me again.

I didn’t worry about Patrick handling things for his little sister.The one I worried about was Joel, because when Patrick was pissed off, he would set the whole fucking world on fire.

And me?Well, I was more than happy to hand him the matches if it meant keeping Julie and Daisy safe.

Nine

Julie

Ihated that Gage wouldn’ttell me what Patrick wanted to talk to him about.It had been eating at me all afternoon, and every time I would try to approach it, he would shake his head at me and walk away.I didn’t even have to say anything—it was like he just knew what I was going to say.

We were in the middle of making dinner while Daisy colored at the coffee table in the living room when my phone rang.I cleaned my hands on the dishtowel and pulled it out of my pocket, feeling relieved when I saw Patrick’s name.Perhaps he was calling to update me on their conversation.

“Hey,” I said as I answered and pressed the phone between my ear and shoulder so I could finish cutting the veggies for the fajitas.“What’s up?”

“I wanted to talk to you about Christmas.”

“Okay.What about it?”

“Well, since it’s only two weeks away, I talked with Mom and Dad.We all thought it would be nice to spend the holiday together this year.”

I frowned as I set the knife down on the cutting board and processed what he said.