Nogged Off by Barbara Ross

Author:Barbara Ross [Ross, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Books
Published: 2016-08-24T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

In the morning, as usual, I awakened to the happy sounds and smells of breakfast being served downstairs at Gus’s. “Pancakes!” I whooped, shaking Chris. “Must have pancakes.”

Le Roi looked up lazily from the folds of the duvet. “Go on, you crazy kid,” his yellow eyes seemed to say. “I’ll stay here where it’s warm.”

Showered and dressed, Chris and I climbed down the stairs into Gus’s busy front room. Everyone sitting at the counter, and everyone in the dining room just beyond it, was wearing pajamas.

“Why did we get dressed?” Chris asked from behind me.

The Busman’s Harbor Pajama Party. Like Gentleman’s Night, it was another long tradition, and one that I usually loved. The town shops opened at 6:00 AM, had huge sales, and everyone shopped in their pajamas. Really. At some stores, you got an extra discount if you came in your pajamas. At others, it was a progressive thing, the deepest discount at six o’clock, slightly less at seven, and so on, until prices returned to normal at ten. It was kind of genius. The shops, many of which would close down for the season at the end of the weekend, got one more chance to unload their merchandise. Local people got to shop for the holidays at tourist-focused stores they usually couldn’t afford. People came in from out of town, so the B & Bs got one last gasp of business for the season. Families treated it like a happy, relaxed time together, capping the morning off with breakfast out at Gus’s.

Chris and I avoided the line for tables by grabbing two seats at the counter. Gus, running his tail off, just as we had the night before, served up two heaping plates of blueberry pancakes with real maple syrup. I looked around the room, full of laughing people, buoyed by the dent they’d put in their holiday shopping. “I’m so happy I’m home,” I said.

“I’m happy you’re home, too.” Chris grazed my cheek with his lips.

After breakfast, I made my way to Mom’s house. The day was sunny and cold, like the one before. Still no snow, but like Imogen, I was beginning to wish for it.

I found Sonny out front, on a ladder, cursing loudly as he strung lights along the evergreen bushes that surrounded the high front porch.

“What the heck?” Mom had never decorated outdoors except for a simple Maine-made wreath on the front door.

“I know, right?” Sonny responded. “I came over to drop off Livvie and Page. They’re inside finishing the cookie baking. Then your mother cornered me. More decorations from her discount at Linens and Pantries, this time for the outside.”

Sonny’s bright red hair was covered by a ski cap. He was so big, with his broad shoulders, bull neck, and barrel chest, he looked like he might topple the ladder. We’d had our differences over the year. Our attempt to run the Snowden Family Clambake together had been like two people trying to drive the same car, each tugging the steering wheel in the opposite direction.

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