Hating Christmas (Holiday Series) by Carol Rose

holidays, I was always sent to
hang the lights on the roof…and it’s always colder than a witch’s
behind. Is that the last one?”
    He clipped the final light of the strand on the spine
of the roof.
    “That’s it. Can we quit having fun now?” he
asked, referring to Holly’s mother’s insistence that they’d enjoy
themselves putting on the final string of lights she’d
purchased.
    “I’m ready if you are.” She disappeared down the
ladder.
    Levi inched his way back across the snowy roof,
trying to remember the icy patches. When he finally reached the
ladder, he swung his snow-damped leg over and descended. Reaching
the ground, Levi brushed loose snow off his jeans.
    “I should have made you do the roof-work. You’re
experienced and you owe me something for your nefarious behavior
with Mac Toledo.”
    “I don’t owe you anything,” she shot back, stopping
her attempts to brush the clumped snow off his back.
    “Oh, I think you do,” he said to her retreating
figure.
    “No, I don’t!” She stopped walking toward the door to
sing out her disagreement.
    “Yes, you do!” He bent to brush more flakes off his
jeans and straightened—
    “ Ffluump!”
    --and got a kisser full of snow.
    “What the—“ This time Levi saw the snowball coming
and he dodged behind a tree trunk. “You terror, you! This means
war!”
    Holly had taken cover around the corner of the porch.
“Nanny nanny boo boo,” she yelled, taunting him.
    Scooping up snow for a snowball, he swiftly formed
the crystals and rifled it at her before he jumped back behind the
tree trunk’s cover. Just as he retreated, a spray of snow shot out
from the other side of the tree as Holly’s retaliation splattered
against the tree.
    “Ha! Missed me!” Scraping up another ball, it
occurred to him that this wasn’t the most eloquent response.
    “You’re a sissy, Harper,” she yelled. “No wonder Mac
didn’t call you about my project!”
    This brought Levi’s head around and he squatted
before lunging around the tree again to throw a snowball from this
lower vantage.
    “Hey!” Holly sputtered as the snowball hit the corner
of the house in front of her.
    “Now who’s the sissy?” he taunted, his determination
to best her. He considered his position. Here behind the tree, all
he could do was respond in a defensive manner. This didn’t seem
tremendously effective. Levi thought about it. What was called for
was a brilliant—or at least better—plan.
    From her spot by the corner of the house, Holly
continued to scoff and mock him. “What’s the matter, Harper? Scared
of a little snow? Thrown by a girl ?”
    He needed her to move from her safe zone. If he was
quiet here and didn’t respond to her teasing—and the occasional
snow ball that whizzed past—she might think it was safe to close in
for the kill. It always worked in his favor to be under-estimated.
Ignoring her catcalls, Levi bent to make several really tight
snowballs. Despite his hands freezing, he used them to grip several
snowballs so tightly that they melted a little. He stuck his hands
back into his pockets and waited.
    “Whoo hoo! Harper, did you die of the cold? Or are
you just a big chicken?” She made chicken sounds.
    He could tell that she’d come from the corner of the
house and was moving closer to his tree. Without any real plan, he
just waited. Closer was better. He was bigger and he’d learned in
his business to use any advantage.
    “Did you fall asleep?” She was right behind the tree
now.
    Grabbing up the two now-frozen snowballs he’d set
beside him, he lunged from behind the tree and fired them at her,
one after the other.
    Caught full in the chest with the first snowball,
Holly shrieked and turned to flee back to her spot by the house.
The second snowball hit her lower back, splattering on impact. Levi
charged after her, his longer legs helping him catch hold of her
next to the prickly hedge beside the front porch. Grasping her arm,
he tugged as she