Read The 6'1" Grinch for Free Online Page B

price.”
    She didn’t say anything as she jotted down the figure.
    â€œYou don’t agree?” he asked.
    â€œIt’s your money. I’m just surprised you’re haggling when you’re so anxious to get into a house and out of town before Christmas.”
    â€œNo one expects you to offer the full price. I may be anxious, but I’m not foolish. Or sad,” he insisted.
    Hollie laughed. “You don’t like being told anything, do you?”
    â€œAnd you do?” he countered, signing the offer she slid across the counter to him.
    He had her there. She didn’t like being told much. Growing up alone had made her self-sufficient.
    â€œWell, I’ll present the offer for you and let you know as soon as I hear something.” She folded the form and put it in her briefcase, then withdrew the cellular phone. “As soon as I put in a call on it, we can go.”
    Noel didn’t walk around and inspect the house further while she made the call. He couldn’t have appeared more uninterested. The house must just be a business investment for him, she decided. He’d probably grown tired of living out of hotel rooms. Sarah had mentioned something about him moving every year to set up new stores. What a terribly lonely life. No wonder he was sad.
    She felt sorry for both him and the house.
    H OLLIE HADN’T BELIEVED Noel was serious when he volunteered to go shopping with her while they waited to hear back on his offer. She had thought he’d be a wet blanket, complain nonstop about how long it took her to make up her mind, the holiday crowds, the long waits.
    Instead he’d been a lot of help. With his assistance, she’d already gotten her business gifts out of the way, negotiated a great deal on some new lights for her Christmas mantel and found the Barbie Elena wanted for Christmas.
    The last Barbie like it in the toy store.
    Unfortunately, the Barbie had on the wrong color dress. Elena wanted the one with the pink dress, not the peach one. Noel even understood the distinction. She stood pondering the dilemma in the middle of the crowded toy store, her arms full of packages. He’d offered to carry, but she hadn’t wanted to push her luck. The smart thing would be to return to the car and unload the packages into the trunk.
    However, she didn’t want to buy the Barbie in the peach dress if the toy store at the other end of the mall had it in the pink dress. She knew that if she put down the Barbie she’d found, the chances were very good someone else would buy it before she returned to the store. Better a Barbie with the wrong color dress than no Barbie at all.
    â€œHere, you hold this,” Hollie said impulsively, shoving her packages and the Barbie into Noel’s arms. Left with two small Barbie accessory packets, she slipped them into Noel’s jacket pocket. “Whatever you do, hang on to the Barbie. I’ll be right back.”
    â€œWhere are you—” Noel started to ask, but she’d disappeared into the crowd.
    The only thing he could do was wait—not his favorite thing.
    And worse, clutching a Barbie the woman with the red hair was eyeing.
    A four-year-old miniature of the woman was tugging her arm, yelling, “I want that Barbie, Mommy. I want it—I want it.”
    â€œThere aren’t any more,” the woman tried saying patiently.
    â€œBut I want it,” the child screamed.
    Tired and cranky and just full of the holiday spirit, Noel thought, wanting to be somewhere else. He glanced around for Hollie, but she was nowhere in sight. If he moved she’d never find him, so he was stuck.
    â€œI want that Barbie, Mommy. Why does that man have a Barbie?”
    Oh, great. Now he felt like a pervert. And people were beginning to stare.
    The woman approached him with her child in tow. “Are you planning to buy that doll?” she asked.
    â€œMaybe,” he answered honestly.
    â€œWell, when