Bound for Christmas Read Online Free PDF

Evan.”
    He waved and went to the hook by the garage door in the kitchen and grabbed the keys to his dad’s car. He’d sold his own car before leaving Texas. His dad owned a truck and a car that he couldn’t drive. Having three cars at the house would just be ridiculous.
    Once inside the car he called Tre on his cell. “Guess who’s coming to dinner?” he said, when his friend answered the phone.
    “I’ll see you when you get here.” Tre chuckled.
    Disconnecting the call, Evan fired up the engine and pressed the remote on the dash to open the garage door. If he and his father couldn’t find a way to live in peace it wouldn’t take long before Evan lost his mind. He was already looking forward to his first flight and being away from the older man.
    *           *           *
    “Home sweet, home.” Zoey closed the door to her apartment and leaned back against it. Dragged through an emotional roller coaster over the last week, she had never been so happy to be home before.
    Due to her job, she rarely had more than two days that she was home, but she loved her place and appreciated it more because of the limited time in it. Her schedule was normally from sixteen to eighteen hours a day, off at nights. However, this new client she’d had for over six months required around the clock care and she lived with him except her days off. Pushing away from the door, she headed to her room to deposit her suitcase on the bed. She would unpack it soon enough. Kicking off her heels, she headed back into the living room. Once there she went over to her answering machine, noted the red blinking light and pushed the play button. Not many people had her cell phone number, she didn’t like to be tracked down while she was working or having a million telemarketers blowing it up.
    In the kitchen that was off from the living room she pulled out items she would need for dinner as she listened to the messages. She enjoyed cooking, but just like her apartment, her job interfered with her being able to play around with different dishes in the kitchen often.
    Pulling out the drawer of fruit in the refrigerator she was happy to see that her mangos were still good. “Mango-orange chicken it is.”
    There was a call from two telemarketers wanting to sell her health insurance and one from an online college. Neither of those did she need nor did she apply for them. She wasn’t surprised to hear her Aunt Gertie’s voice come blaring out.
    “Zoey. This is Aunt Gertrude.”
    “Nooo…” Zoey laughed, pretending to be shocked as she stared through the opening at the answering machine on her desk.
    “Call me when you get in. We need to talk. Don’t make the wrong decision for your life. Zoey… Do you hear me? Call me. This is your aunt. Aunt Gertrude.”
    There was a pause as if her aunt was waiting for her to pick up the line, then a dial tone.
    Her aunt was definitely one of the people on the do not give cell number list. Hell, she was number one.
    The next message was from her aunt as well.
    “Zoey. This is Aunt Gertrude. I’ve been thinking. We didn’t get to spend a lot of time together while you were here. How about I come and visit you? Wouldn’t that be nice?”
    “Frontal brain surgery without anesthesia would be nicer.” Zoey removed the chicken breast from the freezer, then pulled off the wrapper and placed her chicken in a bowl of water and heavy salt for a rapid thaw.
    The last message was from her co-worker telling her how cantankerous her client was while she was away. Zoey had to smile to herself, because not all people could deal with geriatric patients and especially not around the clock. Most of her friends worked with children and teens, finding them more agreeable. However, for Zoey she enjoyed the challenge of assisting someone who had lost part of their life through accidents or bad health and see them return to their former glory.
    Sadness enveloped her for a moment as she thought about the