Snowed In Sample Chapters

Chapter One

ELLA

My older sister Jane glared at me. "Let me tell you a story. It starts like this," she said. "'Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, except for the megalomaniac four-year-old whose irresponsible aunt fed her twelve candy canes before dropping her off."

I grinned, hoping to lighten the mood. "I don't think that's how it goes."

She shook her head, black hair brushing her shoulders. "It does in this hellish version."

Behind her, Willow, the niece I was an irresponsible aunt to, roared in jolly incoherence. I slanted my eyes toward her and nearly choked. She'd somehow managed to strip naked in the three minutes since we'd walked through the door, the light brown skin with golden undertones she inherited from Jane now on full display.

What was it with kids her age being allergic to clothing?

Jane caught my expression and turned to follow my gaze. Together, we watched Willow grab the end of the garland that adorned the staircase and take off at a dead sprint. The festive decor pulled loose with surprising violence. Twine snapped. Twigs splintered in half and scattered small, stabby pieces of bark all over the living room carpet.

"Sweet Jesus, no," Jane said.

Willow's long black hair whirled out behind her as she raced toward us. The greenery she clutched in her tyrannical little fist left a mess of pine needles and winterberries in her wake that would be a pain in the ass to clean up.

I was never going to live this down.

As she neared, I caught a familiar tune through the madness and realized that she wasn't actually incoherent, but scream-singing a badly butchered version of a holiday classic.

"Jangly balls! Jangly balls!"

Oh, God. Where had she even heard that?

Jane and I reached for her as she ran past, but she managed to evade us, twisting and ducking like a running back at the peak of their game. Sensing freedom, she dropped the garland and fled down the hallway, her singing replaced by a sinister cackle that was unsettling coming from a four-year-old.

I turned back to my sister. "In my defense, I didn't know she could reach the jar I hid the candy canes in."

Jane pointed at me and opened her mouth, but before she could launch into what I'm sure would have been an epic telling off, a distant thud came from the back of the house. It sounded like Willow had literally just bounced off a wall.

"I will get you back for this," Jane told me before hurrying off to save her sugar-addled daughter from herself.

"I'm sorry!" I called after her.

She flipped me the bird and disappeared down the hallway.

I sighed. What a disaster. I loved spending time with Willow and was usually pretty good with her. Today had been an off day. One I'd pay for. Knowing Jane, it would take me weeks to convince her to let me babysit again.

A pocket door slid open in my periphery. Cropped blonde hair peeked out from it, followed, slowly, by the head of my brother in law.

"Hey, Dave," I said.

He glanced around the room like he was searching for threats. The lights from the nearby Christmas tree sparkled in the reflection of his black-framed glasses. His gaze landed on me, expression flat. "Go now, Ella. While you still can."