The Snow Globe Read Online Free

four-year-old-nephew Beau into the air. The child’s brown curls bounced and he let out a fresh shriek. If Beau was having this much fun it meant his twin Christopher couldn’t be far behind. Sure enough, Beau’s mirror image charged into the living room from the other direction and latched onto Mark’s legs. Her other cousin, Zach, who was equally muscled, pried him off and sent him in the air, too. Meanwhile, Pansy, her parents’ toy poodle, added to the confusion by yapping at them all.
    Next to her Uncle Al, her brother Corey sprawled on the couch, a freckle-faced giant, grinning complacently while his cousins tossed the boys around like nerf footballs. Dad was beingone with his easy chair, happily tolerating the abuse of his only grandchildren. And there, on a chair in the other corner of the room, sat Jeremy, resplendent in holiday casual clothes and acting as if he still belonged here. Which he did. Which made her stomach clench again.
    Kiley was wondering if she was going to cry when Corey happened to glance her way and see her standing in the doorway. “Hey Road Runner,” he called. “About time you got here.”
    Road Runner. It had been her nickname since she took up track in high school.
    â€œHi, Super Jock,” she shot back. Her brother was now a football coach at a small high school in eastern Washington and she didn’t get to see him nearly as often as she’d have liked. He still looked fit enough to get on the field and mow down a quarterback. When he first heard about the breakup he’d called and offered to crush Jeremy for her, adding, “Gwinnie can always find another idiot.”
    The sight of her made the idiot squirm in his seat. A bigger woman would have felt bad for him, Kiley supposed.
    â€œHey, Kiles,” said Mark. He set Beau down and came to scoop her up in a bear hug. “You’re lookin’ good.”
    She couldn’t resist stealing a glance in Jeremy’s direction. Did he think she was looking good? Did he wonder what the heck he’d been thinking when he dumped her?
    He was licking his lips, running a finger along the collar of his Polo shirt as if his neck was being squeezed by an invisible necktie. He nodded in her direction and gave her an uncertain smile. She ignored it, hugging each of her little nephews, whohad started clamoring for her attention. She kissed her father on the top of his head, waved at her other cousin and her uncle, and then left to deliver the punch makings to the kitchen. There. That had been easy.
    Except Jeremy was only one half of the traitor team. Gwinnie still waited in the kitchen.
    Kiley took a deep breath. You can do this. She forced herself to walk through the dining room to the kitchen and run the next gauntlet. Grandma was still in charge of the gravy and stood at the stainless-steel stove, wearing her favorite slacks with the elastic waistband and a floral blouse, wiping her brow and stirring while Mom checked on her famous pumpkin rolls.
    At Mom’s state-of-the-art refrigerator, Kiley’s sister-in-law, Tara, six months pregnant, paused in the middle of handing a huge bowl of fruit salad to Aunt Marion, gaping at Kiley as if uncertain where to place her family loyalties.
    And, speaking of loyalties, there at the sink, whipping cream so she would have an excuse to continually dip her fingers in the bowl and sample, stood Gwinnie, dressed in jeans and the low-cut sweater Kiley had predicted she’d be wearing. Blond, blue-eyed, and beautiful—every man’s dream.
    Kiley narrowed her eyes and marched into the kitchen with murder in her heart.

Three
    The only thing that saved Gwinnie from annihilation was Mom looking up from the oven and beaming lovingly at Kiley, saying, “Hello, sweetie.” She took out the baking sheet with the rolls and then hurried forward to kiss Kiley, cutting off access to Gwinnie the traitor. Mom was obviously psychic and knew what