He nodded, tapping his pen against his chin as he considered her across the room. “I’ll be there,” he said.
Sabrina released the breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding. “Wonderful,” she said, excited but terribly nervous at the same time. She pulled the door open quickly, deciding a fast exit was better than falling on the floor in excitement over the prospect of spending time with this dynamic man. “I’ll give directions to Liz,” Sabrina said and smiled brightly again.
Sabrina let herself out and gave directions Sid’s secretary, hoping the older woman didn’t detect the butterflies whirling around inside her stomach. She left the executive area and walked slowly down the hallway towards the casino area, careful to hide her excitement. “Cool it, Sabrina,” she warned herself as she walked sedately to her office. “He didn’t have any other plans. It means nothing except that he’s probably bored and wanted some company on Christmas.”
Regardless, Sabrina left work early that day and rushed to the store to buy several bottles of wine. She had no idea what he might like and knew that he probably was used to wine that cost more than her weekly salary, but she got the best she could afford as well as some gourmet cheese and a few other items that were nicer than what she’d originally planned to serve.
She and her neighbors had agreed on a pot luck dinner and Sabrina had volunteered to make a salad and dessert as well as act as hostess for the event. She’s said it would be simple, but there wasn’t anything wrong with spicing things up a bit, was there?
Chapter 2
“Good morning, sunshine,” Nina Matthews called out loudly, opening the door to Sabrina’s small cottage home with her own key. The sisters had exchanged keys the moment they’d both settled into Las Vegas, far away from parents who lived on the East Coast. “Aren’t you awake yet?” Sabrina’s younger sister called up the stair case.
Sabrina groaned with the fatigue that kept her magnetized to the soft mattress. Opening one blurry eye wearily, she rolled over to look out her window. When she saw the glorious, bright sunshine, she grimaced. “No,” she called back down and pulled the rose and chintz patterned comforter over her head. Sabrina had been up until two in the morning making a special dessert she’d remembered from her mother’s Christmas dinners. She’d had to try it twice before it looked right. The first one she dumped into the trash since it looked, and tasted, awful. There was no way she’d bring out something like that when Sid Matthews arrived.
Nina laughed at the grumpy sounding voice but was unrelenting. “Wake up, sleepy head,” she called back and walked farther into the foyer. “If you don’t get down here, I’ll come up and you know you won’t like that,” her younger sister called up over the banister.
Sabrina rolled over and peered out the window just to be sure her sleepy eyes hadn’t deceived her. It was no use. Sunny again. She sighed and pushed the covers back. She knew she’d have to get out of bed. Staying under the covers while her sister was around was always a bad idea. Nina would be merciless, pulling off sheets and blankets, pillows and generally just being a nuisance until Sabrina got out of bed. Better to do it on her own, she knew from past experience.
Frowning at the window, she hurried as fast as her muddled mind would allow. “Doesn’t it ever get cloudy here? I want snow, woman!” she said and padded down the stairs in her red Christmas socks and red sleep shirt with a reindeer on the front.
Sabrina enfolded her sister in her arms. “Merry Christmas,” she said grumpily, still not recovered from her sleep, or more specifically, her lack of it.
Eyeing her sister’s rumpled mass of bright red curls, she chuckled under her breath. “Uh oh. Did you miss your run this morning?” Nina said cheerfully and dropped her presents under Sabrina’s tree then headed for the kitchen to start coffee.
Sabrina followed and sat down on one of the stools pulled up to the counter. She pushed her fiery red hair out of her face and propped her head onto her hands. “Yes,” she sighed, grateful to her sister for initiating the caffeine jump start since she’d slept through her physical one.
Nina stopped dumping coffee grounds into the coffee maker, her face showing her astonishment over Sabrina’s announcement. “Wow! This is a first. You never miss your morning run. What’s your jogging group going to say?” she joked and dumped an extra scoop of coffee into the machine for good measure.
Sabrina’s eyes were already closing and she ignored her sister’s cheerfulness. “Who cares, just speed up the process,” Sabrina yawned. “And could you shave some ice and sprinkle it around outside please? I don’t understand why you like this area so much. There’s no snow. There’s no change in the weather. It is sunny every day!” she said, her tone expressing her frustration.
Nina laughed and poured the water into the coffee machine. “Sabrina, it’s the desert. You’re not living on the east coast anymore. You’re living in the world’s largest adult playground. The weather is beautiful. Get used to it.”
“Hmmph,” was Sabrina’s only muffled response as she laid her head in her arms on top of the kitchen counter.
Nina drove home her point with more statistics, not giving Sabrina a chance to fall back to sleep while the coffee brewed. “The average monthly rainfall here is less than a quarter of an inch. You’re not going to get a whole lot of snow,” Nina went on. She laughed at her sister’s shudder at that tid bit of information. “Sorry, most people learn to like it. Eventually.”
Her sister didn’t sound very sorry, Sabrina thought as her eyes faded a little more. “Why are you so cheerful?” she groused.
Nina smiled as she leaned against the sink, watching her older sister fall back to sleep on the counter. “Perhaps because it’s a wonderful day and I get to spend some time with you?” she suggested.
That opened Sabrina’s eyes wide. “Oh,” she started to say, instantly feeling guilty for being so grumpy when her sister had only sweet things to say about their planned day together. “I’m sor…” she began, but then stopped when she saw her sister’s teasing look. “You’re evil, Nina,” she grumped, her chin falling back onto her palm, not having the energy to hold it up on her own. “What’s going on?” she demanded.