A Fool's Gold Christmas (Fool's Gold #9.5)

“He’s making you work for it,” Tammy told her. “Keep talking to him and then pet him. He’s going to make you earn his trust.”


“I can respect that,” she said, keeping her voice quiet. “If I were you, I wouldn’t be very trusting, either.”

She lightly touched his back. While he didn’t flinch, he wasn’t relaxed, either. His shoulders got a little hunchy. She continued to stroke him, moving slowly and gently, not making sudden moves.

The phone rang.

“I need to get that,” Tammy told her. “I’ll be right back.”

Evie nodded and kept her attention on the cat. She lengthened the strokes so she was petting him from shoulder to tail. After a couple of minutes, he relaxed. By the time Tammy returned, he was actually glancing at her with something slightly warmer than disdain.

“I like him,” Evie said. “I need to make sure I’m ready for a cat, but I’m leaning in that direction for sure. Has anyone else said they’re interested in him?”

“No. He’s not a kitten, which makes his adoption more challenging. But I can let you know if we get any calls before the event.”

“That would be great.” Evie glanced at her watch. “I have to run. Thanks for this, Tammy.”

“No problem. I hope you take him. He’s a great guy.”

“Bye, Alexander.”

The cat looked at her. His eyes narrowed slightly as if he realized she was leaving. Then he turned away. Evie wanted to tell him that she might be giving him a forever home, but stopped herself. Until she was sure, it wouldn’t be right to allow him to hope. Unfortunately, explaining to herself that Alexander didn’t speak English didn’t make her feel any less awful about leaving without him.

* * *

EVIE WAS ALREADY LATE. She hurried through town on her way to Ronan’s Lodge, glancing at her watch as she went. Thoughts of Dante and her family and the production had kept her tossing and turning much of the night. Now she had to face a morning of book wrapping. She hoped there was an instructional session first.

She glanced longingly at the Starbucks as she passed, but there was no time. As she waited to cross at the light, three teenaged girls came out of the coffee place and spotted her.

“OMG! That’s her!” A tall blonde in skinny jeans and a heavy down coat raced toward her. “Ms. Stryker? Could you wait a second?”

The other two girls with her were both brunettes with big eyes and wide smiles. All three of them were clutching to-go drink containers.

The blonde spoke first. “You’re Evie Stryker, right?”

Evie nodded slowly.

“This is so cool. I’m Viv and these are my friends Tai and Wendy. We’re cheerleaders.” Viv’s grin broadened. “I’m actually team captain this year.”

“Congratulations,” Evie said, hoping the uneasy feeling she had in her stomach was uncalled for and that the girls were just being extra Fool’s Gold friendly.

Viv held her drink in both hands. “Every year we do a fundraiser for the squad. We save money to go to cheerleading camp in the summer.”

“Okay,” Evie said slowly, the unease turning to sinking. “What kind of fundraiser?”

“We do a Pom-Pom-A-Thon,” Tai, or maybe Wendy, said. “People hire us to go to someone’s house and do cheers, only they’re Christmas related.”

The three of them glanced at each other, then shouted together, “Hey, hey, ho, ho. Merry Christmas and away we go.”

Viv laughed. “They’re not all that lame, I promise. We were thinking that we’re not as good as we could be. So we’ve got some friends in the creative writing club helping us with new cheers. We were wondering if you could help us with some moves. After all, you were a professional cheerleader, right?”

Evie winced. Her short-lived career as an L.A. Stallions cheerleader had ended badly and wasn’t anything she wanted to talk about.

“The Stallions’ squad was more about dance than cheering,” she said.

The three teens looked at each other, then back at her. “That’s what we want,” Viv said. “Some ideas to add a little fun to our routines. It would only take a couple of hours. Please.”

Evie thought about the book wrapping and the performance, the students she had to work with privately, her volunteering for the pet adoption and how she couldn’t seem to take a step without running into someone from her family. This was not the time to take on one more project.

But as she looked at the girls, she couldn’t seem to summon the word no. She sighed. “Sure. I can help. I have to help wrap books right now and then maybe after that?”

“You’re working with Annabelle?” Viv asked. “With the book drive? We’re going there, too.” She turned to her friends. “We need to work really hard so Evie can have more time with us.”