Read Merry Humbug Christmas for Free Online Page B

can’t stomach a whole season of this stuff.”
    “What stuff is that? Christmas?”
    “Yeah.” She shrugged.
    “You don’t like Christmas?”
    “No.”
    “Why?”
    “Long story.”
    Merry Humbug Christmas.indd 42
    7/23/13 1:06 PM
    Once Upon a Jingle Bell
    43
    “It’s a big boat,” Patrick commented. “By the time we hike it,
    you’ll have gotten the whole long story out of you. Think of it as festive therapy.”
    Joss looked at him and arched an eyebrow. “I’m sorry. I can’t take you seriously in that sweater.”
    “Imagine how I feel.” The elevator doors slipped open, and Patrick backed against the opening, holding the doors for Joss to pass. “Now step out here to my office and tell me why you hate Christmas.” He shook his head. “And with a name like Snow.”
    “Oh, you don’t know the half of it.”
    “Of what? Your name?”
    Joss chuckled. “Well,” she said with a one-shoulder shrug. “Yes.”
    She moved past him into the corridor and headed toward her
    cabin without looking back.
    PATRICK LOOKED AROUND AT the garland-draped hallway as they
    meandered along, Joss explaining how she and her longtime friend
    always spent the holidays playing the diversion game.
    “But Damian—that’s her boyfriend . . . well, her fiancé now—
    proposed, and years of Christmas avoidance came to a screeching
    halt,” she explained, only pausing long enough to poise her index finger and thumb into the shape of a gun to fire off an imaginary shot at a large cardboard Santa hanging on the wall. She made the sound effect of the shooting with her curled-up mouth, barely missing a beat in her monologue. “I mean, I’m happy for her and everything.
    Damian’s a great guy, and they’re really suited to one another, but doing this without her is just a little daunting after all these years, you know?”
    “I can imagine,” he said, nodding. “But you still didn’t tell me
    why you’re so opposed to Christmas.”
    “I’m not opposed to it exactly,” she said. “I mean, I like a cel-
    ebration as much as the next person, and the Lord and Savior
    of the whole world certainly has every right to celebrate His
    birthday and to want us to celebrate with Him. But the whole
    Merry Humbug Christmas.indd 43
    7/23/13 1:06 PM
    44
    Merry
    Humbug Christmas
    Santa-elves-evergreens-mistletoe thing, well, what does that really have to do with Jesus anyway?” She stopped in her tracks and turned to face him expectantly. “Can you explain that to me?”
    Patrick raised both hands in surrender as he continued down the
    corridor. Joss hurried to catch up to him.
    “So I guess you’re one of those Christmas-spirited humans then,
    huh?” she asked him.
    “Well, I wouldn’t turn down a glass of eggnog and some wreath-
    shaped cookies,” he replied. “But it’s not really what gets my holiday spirit revved up.”
    “No?”
    “No. I prefer a more relaxed Christmas celebration without all of the accouterments. I like to keep in mind the reason for the season rather than the colorful, conspiratorial assault on our senses.”
    “This, from the man in the manger sweater, cruising to the
    Mexican Riviera on a 12 Days of Fun Christmas cruise.”
    “Hey, I wouldn’t be here if not for my mother. She asked me to
    join her and her friends, and I’m one of those blokes who likes to buy his mother’s love by wearing hideous sweaters and escorting her to tree lightings.”
    Joss snickered. “Hey, far be it from me to criticize a man who
    loves his mother.” After a moment, she added, “And your mom is
    quite sweet, by the way.”
    “That she is.”
    They strolled on in silence until Joss stopped at her door, reached into her bag, and produced her room key. Patrick took it and swiped it for her.
    “Thanks,” she said, and he handed it back.
    “I still don’t know why you hate Christmas the way you do, Miss
    Snow.”
    “I hear the Irish love a good mystery,” she replied, and the pirate smile that slipped across