Christmas On Nutcracker Court by Duarte Judy

Author:Duarte, Judy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp.
Published: 2012-08-21T04:00:00+00:00

Max couldn’t find a place to park in front of the bistro, and by the time he found one a few spaces away from the entrance to Shear Magic, he was more than five minutes late. But that couldn’t be helped.

As he’d gotten ready to leave the house, he’d glanced out in the backyard and noticed that Hemingway was gone again. If the dog had been looking for the kids, as Maggie had suggested he was doing when he escaped, the laugh was on both of them. School was in session, and there weren’t any potential playmates roaming the neighborhood.

Still, Max had gone through the motions, calling the dog’s name and checking the gate—which had been closed.

On a whim, and wondering how Hemingway had gotten out this time, he’d searched the yard carefully, looking for holes under the fence that he could have missed.

While looking behind a bush that needed pruning in the worst way, he found Hemingway snoozing.

“Hey,” Max had said, “what are you doing under there?”

The mutt looked up, but didn’t raise his head very far from the front paws on which he’d been resting his chin.

“I’m taking off for a while. See if you can stay out of trouble, okay?”

Hemingway didn’t appear to be going anywhere, so Max had returned to the house and grabbed his car keys. Then he’d driven to the salon.

He’d no more than approached the front door of the shop, where bright red letters announced WALK-INS WELCOME, when his neighbor, Grant Barrows, walked out.

Grant’s hair, which was usually a lot longer than Max would have ever worn his, had been cut and styled. When he noticed Max, he gave a quick nod of his chin in greeting. “Hey, how’s it going?”

“Not bad.”

“You’re out and about early today,” Grant said.

Max didn’t see the need to explain what he was up to or why. He just lifted the briefcase he held and said, “Business meeting.”

They stood like that for a moment, both a little surprised to see each other anywhere other than Nutcracker Court.

“Nice haircut,” Max said.

“Thanks.” Grant nodded toward the salon. “The stylist was Carly.”

“Oh, yeah?” How was that for a coincidence? “Have you been going to her long?”

“No, this was my first visit.”

“She did a good job.”

Grant chuckled. “I think so, too, but even if she’d whacked it all off, I’d probably make another appointment. She’s a real sweetheart and nice to look at, too.”

Max, who kept things close to the vest, wasn’t about to admit that he had a lunch date with that same sweetheart of a stylist. Okay, so their meeting wasn’t actually a date.

Before either man could continue, Lynette, the young blonde who played poker with the Diamond Lils at Helen’s house, came out of the shop.

She winked at Grant and said hello to Max.

Another coincidence? Before Max could come to a conclusion, she said, “I’ve gotta run. I’ll see you guys later.” Then she struck off down the street, swaying her denim-clad hips.

Grant must have noticed the question in Max’s eyes because he said, “Lynette’s been trying to set me up with Carly, her hairdresser.

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