It Started With A Christmas Tree - A Lizzie Fuller Christmas Novella Read Online Free PDF Page A

help me decorate it.
    I made sure I had enough alcohol in the
cupboard and as usual we were ordering pizza, so I didn’t need to worry about
cooking. I will confess that neither Molly, Danny nor I had inherited mum’s
cooking abilities. We all sucked at it. I was getting better at it, and I hadn’t poisoned Riley yet so that was good
thing, right? Even though, I did scare myself the night that he vomited after
eating my first roast, but I later found out six of his work buddies vomited
also and I hadn’t fed them, so it wasn’t my fault. But to this day, I still
haven’t cooked another one and Riley hasn’t asked.
    Riley arrived home just after I had put
the vacuum away. I screwed up my nose as he leaned in for a kiss.
    “It smells like you had a successful day,”
I said after kissing him on the lips.
    “What? Don’t you like the smell of fish?” He
laughed, pulling his shirt over his head and ready to move it to the laundry
basket.
    I considered the smell for a minute and
looked at his stomach, all muscles clearly defined and a soft trail of hair
leading its way to his jeans.
    Bugger the smell, I thought, following
him.

 
    ****

 
    At exactly six o’clock, there
was a knock at the door. I knew it was Danny. He was the only person I knew who
could knock with such drama. I jumped out of bed, pulled on my jeans and
t-shirt and smoothed my hair. I looked at Riley, stretched out on the bed and
sighed, wondering if I could ignore the door and pretend we weren’t home. Knowing
Danny, I knew that would never happen. He would just keep knocking and ringing
until I opened it. I turned my back on Riley, hearing him laugh. The only
defense I had against him was not to look. Once I did that, I was history.
    I put Cat in the bedroom and closed the
door behind me, leaving Riley to finish getting dressed. Walking down the
stairs, I skipped over the now fixed stair tread and moved to the front door. That
tread had been loose when I first moved in here and on more than one occasion I
had slipped on it and fallen down the stairs. After my third fall, I avoided it
and even though Riley had fixed it months ago, I still found myself skipping
over it.
    “Hi guys,” I smiled, opening the door and
stepping back to allow them entry.
    “God, take long enough?” asked Danny,
lightly kissing my cheek as he moved past.
    “Hello possum,” smiled Drew, the more
patient of the two.
    “Hi Drew,” I said, giving him a small hug.
    At that moment Riley opened the bedroom
door and moved towards the stairs, pulling a clean shirt over his head. I
looked at Danny and saw his jaw drop and maybe even a little bit of drool run
down his chin.
    “Alright, you’re forgiven,” he whispered,
giving me a sly smile.
    I was about to close the front door, when
I heard Molly sigh. I turned to see her staring at Riley also.
    “Enjoy the view guys, but remember—he’s
mine!” I laughed.
    “Judging by the smile, you just affirmed
that with him too,” said Molly, kissing me on the cheek as her dog Harper ran
between my legs, sniffing the ground, looking for Cat.
    Danny and I had rescued Harper from the
local animal shelter for Molly’s last birthday and it turned out he was a bit
of a hero. When I needed a knight in shining armor, he had appeared to me in a
white fluffy suit.
    I closed the door and ushered everybody
into the lounge whilst I went to the kitchen and got Harper his chewy treat. I
will always appreciate what he did for me, helping me fight off the bald-headed
sedan man who had stalked me earlier this year. Without him, I may not even be
here.
    “Harper!” I called. I watched as he ran at
me, tongue hanging out to the side. I wanted to give him a bone, but he’d had
the last of his front teeth removed last month, so a bone would just be cruel. He
didn’t mind though. He loved his Smacko’s just as much.
    “Lizzie, you have to stop giving them to
him,” reprimanded Molly. “The vet said he’s getting fat.”
    “Oh, a little