Stranded With a Hero by Karen Erickson, Cindi Madsen, Coleen Kwan, Roxanne Snopek Page A

only he could blame one big catastrophe, but rather it was a string of quiet calamities—some large, others infinitesimal—that had built up his aversion over time, like weightless snowflakes falling on a roof and finally crushing it.
    “Nothing like that.” He lifted one shoulder. “But Christmas always makes me feel uncomfortable. Everyone else around me has this rabid look in their eyes and goes into this…frenzy, and I don’t get it. I don’t get the hype. And the expectations. Oh my God, the expectations. Sometimes I feel like Christmas is being forced down my throat.”
    “ Forced down your throat?” Her reindeer antlers quivered as she blinked at him. “That’s an exaggeration, surely.”
    “Of course it’s forced.” He waved his hand. He’d never aired his dislike so bluntly before, and he found it liberating to express himself. “Every year I’m forced to endure an orgy of Christmas because everyone around me acts as if something terrible will happen if I don’t.”
    She eyed him suspiciously over her tea mug. “What are you forced to do?”
    “What am I not? I have to fight through overcrowded, overheated stores searching for gifts without a clue what to buy. I have to make a four-hour trip through bumper-to-bumper traffic out of the city. I have to wear a ludicrous holiday sweater that no man in his right mind would choose. I have to eat more food than I want, listen to the same carols year in, year out, read bragging letters from cousins I barely know, then chew a Pepto-Bismol while I fix Christmas lights in the freezing cold.” He paused for breath, but the impulse that had loosened his tongue grew even stronger. “Don’t get me wrong—I love my family. My parents are great. My sister and brother-in-law and nieces are great. I like hanging out with them. I like going to church with them. But where is it carved in stone that I have to be with them on December twenty-fifth every year? Why do I feel I’m a traitor for thinking that just once, just once in my twenty-nine years, I’d like to spend Christmas Day anywhere else except Mecklenburg, New York?”
    He was steaming, he realized. Literally and figuratively. Where had all this acrimony sprung from? He didn’t hate spending time with his family that much, did he? Confused, he gulped hot tea, which only brought a fresh outbreak of perspiration to his nape. Across the table, Naomi was eyeing him with renewed distrust.
    “Look, I didn’t mean to mouth off like that.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s not just Christmas; it’s also returning to my hometown. It’s kind of provincial and”—he sought for the right description but could only come up with— “small.”
    A charged silence fell between them.
    Naomi cleared her throat. “There’s no need to apologize. I asked for your genuine opinion, and you gave that.” Leaning back in her chair, she drew her finger through some crumbs on the table. “But you and I will have to agree to disagree, because I can’t think of anything better than Christmas in a small country town with the people you love the most.”
    Her head tilted up, and despite the wacky antlers and the glitter on her cheek, the look she gave him was cool and steely.
    …
    Thank God this Aaron Cade was only staying a few days and would be gone before Christmas Eve, Naomi thought as she stacked dirty dinner plates in the dishwasher. She didn’t need his bah-humbug attitude ruining the Christmas she’d been looking forward to for so long. After her wrenching breakup with Justin, all she wanted was to surround herself with family and immerse herself in the seasonal celebrations.
    A few hours ago Luke, his wife Tyler, and five-year-old Chloe had arrived home, allowing Naomi to retreat thankfully to the background. Luke and Aaron had greeted each other with warm, heartfelt hugs and no residual awkwardness, despite the fact they hadn’t seen each other for several years. The two men appeared to be genuine