Exclusive Excerpt from A Die Hard Holiday

by Aimee Nicole Walker

The grandmas snatched my children away from me before I could take them upstairs for their nightly bath. Josh chuckled at my scowl and pointed toward the newspaper folded neatly on the table. “Why don’t you make the most of it and read the paper since you didn’t get the chance to this morning.”

“Where’s my glass of sherry, pipe, and slippers?” I asked.

“The fifties are calling and they want their Neanderthal back,” Josh replied sassily.

“You love it when I go caveman on you.”

“Yes, in bed. You just keep it up and see where it gets you.”

“Oh, are you threatening to withhold sex again? I wonder if you can make it past ten minutes this time.” I scanned the front page and didn’t see anything too interesting. I opened to the second page and all my good humor vanished when I saw a smug, smiling face of a man I wanted to punch. “Did you know about this?”

“Can you be more specific, dear?”

“Did you know your ex-lover is the newest resident at Blissville Family Medicine?”

“Uh, I might’ve seen something about it on their Facebook page last week.”

“Last week?” I asked hotly. “When were you going to tell me?”

Josh snorted and said, “I was hoping for never.” My husband washed and dried his hands before he turned to look at me. “He won’t last long around here, babe. He’s a big city boy not suited for a small town. He’ll get bored and move on to someplace else. I didn’t see the need to upset you.”

“Of all the places he could’ve gone, he chose your hometown?”

Josh shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter though, does it? He’s not you.” Josh returned back to his beloved stove and lowered the battered meat into the hot oil. To him, the conversation was over, but my mind was still rolling the new information as I processed it from every angle.

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