Snow Job Read Online Free Page A

the pocket of the fluffy white bathrobe she’d thrown on over her pajamas when she’d anticipated doing battle with intruders. “Sit, Astro! Off! Sit!”
    The shaggy mongrel sat for the briefest of instants, then hopped up again and dashed off around the house to reacquaint himself with al its smel s. Karl had closed the door but stil stood next to it, seeming reluctant to venture any farther, just taking in the room with his eyes.
    Elyce found herself looking around as wel for a second, trying to see the space as if for the first time. She wondered what he saw, what he thought. There was no entry hal . The front door opened directly into a smal living room, ten by twelve at the most, with a smal wood-burning potbel ied stove in the corner. The stove was functional and, in the very coldest weather, a very welcome addition as the house had no central heating. A battered leather loveseat with a few paisley brocade pil ows, an unpainted pine bookcase that was already fil ed to capacity, with extra books slipped in on their sides to lie on top of the others.
    Slightly out of keeping with the rustic theme was the flat-panel television mounted to the wal opposite the couch.
    It had been Elyce’s one extravagance when she’d moved out, and her choice had been driven primarily by space concerns. The room was far too smal to al ow for an entertainment center or even a television stand. But the house had been a bargain, too smal and rundown even by California standards to command anything like the exorbitant rents that were the norm in the neighborhood.
    She was more than wil ing to put up with the cramped and rough conditions in order to live surrounded by redwoods.
    “So. What are you doing here?” Elyce final y thought to ask, turning back around to confront Karl.
    “Astro wanted to visit,” he said with a shrug. On his broad shoulders, the gesture looked less than casual. “Nice robe.”
    Elyce looked down, fol owing his gaze to where the nubbly terry fabric gaped open over the low-cut pajama top.
    Tugging the robe closed over her chest, she gestured to the couch. “Since you’re here, have a seat. I haven’t had tea yet, and I’m not having whatever conversation this is without any caffeine in my system.”
    Karl smirked. “I thought about bringing you a latté, but the last coffee place I saw was pretty far away. I thought it would be cold by the time I got here. Are you going to give me the grand tour?”
    “You’re right, it would have been cold. I’l be back in a minute,” Elyce cal ed over her shoulder as she left the room, deliberately ignoring his question. One doorway down the narrow hal with its peeling wal paper and curiously slanting floor was the miniscule kitchen, where she lit the gas burner beneath the kettle. She took a minute to measure the tea into a hinged infuser, adding a level teaspoon of sugar to her favorite mug with much more care than was real y necessary.

    “Anything I can do to help?”
    With a squeak, she jumped and whirled around to see Karl standing in the narrow doorway, fil ing the frame. “No thank you. I’ve got it.” And then, because she felt a little desperate, trapped there in her utterly inadequate kitchen,
    “Please just go sit down. I’l be back out in a minute.” Astro chose that moment to dash by, carrying the squeaky bone that he had left under her bed on his last visit, and Elyce was relieved when Karl fol owed the boisterous dog back down the hal .
    After the short reprieve, with her teacup firmly in hand, she squared her shoulders and prepared to face her nearly ex-husband again. She had planned to march in boldly but paused at the entrance to the living room, where Karl was now engaged in a mortal battle with Astro over the squeaky bone. Wresting it away from the dog at last with a cry of triumph, he flung it toward the hal way, looking up only too late to realize Elyce was in the line of fire.
    She caught the toy deftly, holding her tea safely in the clear