Page 73 of Wait a HO HO HO Second!

Fiancée? There was no way in hell she was his fiancée. They broke up ages ago. What was Kian up to?

“Not as his fiancée, no,” Marci said, probably knowing Joy couldn’t form a sentence after that bombshell delivery.

“Well, he’s bringing me in to replace the current general manager after the holidays. He wants me to put my special touch on the place and bring it up to Van Adler’s standards.”

When Sabrina’s lip curled in distaste as she glanced around the room, Joy’s heart crumbled into a million pieces. All she could do was turn and walk out the door. On her way past her apartment, she grabbed her coat from the hook, shrugged it on, then walked to her car. Kian didn’t want her here, so she’d leave. Being replaced would be worse than death, after all the hours she’d dedicated to this mall. If he thought his fiancée could manage it better, more power to him, but she wouldn’t stand by and let him lie to her face any longer.

As she started the car and shifted into Drive, she sobbed once. “Goodbye,” she whispered, then pulled away, leaving behind the only life she’d ever known.

37

#Shehastobeokay

Satisfied that everything was in place for the next two days, Kian walked to the kitchen for coffee. It was almost six, so the mall would be closing soon. He intended to whisk Joy away to her apartment and make love to her at least twice before letting her sleep in his arms.

It had been two days since he’d made love to her, and that was two days too long in his opinion. If this weren’t the holiday season, he might have convinced her to let him stay at her apartment, but she had a job to do, so he’d be patient.

His phone rang, and he pulled it out. The caller ID showed it was the outlet mall. “This is Kian,” he answered, distracted as he poured a cup of coffee.

“Kian? It’s Marci.”

“Hey, I figured you guys would be busy closing up. Do you need any help?”

“We have a problem.”

A problem Joy couldn’t fix? “What’s wrong?” he asked, his heart hammering. “Did something happen to Joy? She always has any problems under control.”

He listened as Marci filled him in on their visitor. Shock and anger quickly followed. “Sabrina said what?”

“That she’s your fiancée and she’s taking Joy’s job because you want her special touch on the place.” The words that escaped his lips went unchallenged by Marci. “You can say that again. I can’t believe you’d do this to Joy! We thought you’d changed, Kian.”

“Sabrina is lying! I broke up with her a year ago! Where’s Joy?”

“She walked out the door as soon as Sabrina told us why she was here. She grabbed her coat and left. I’m worried about her. She shouldn’t be driving if she’s upset. Maybe she’s headed your way?”

Forgetting the coffee, Kian raced to the front door, threw on his coat, and grabbed his keys. “I’ll start driving toward the mall and try to call her.”

“You can’t. She left her phone on the counter. She’d been using it when Sabrina walked in, and then she forgot it.”

“So she’s upset and driving in the dark without her phone? Not good. Where is Sabrina now?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t care, Kian! We have to find Joy!” Marci exclaimed.

“I’m already in my car,” he said, throwing it into Drive. “Dammit, it’s snowing. How long ago did she leave?”

“Maybe five minutes. It took me two minutes to get rid of your fiancée before I could go look for her car.”

“She’s not my fiancée!” he growled. “We broke up while my mom was still alive. I have no idea why Sabrina is in Snowcap Ridge, but it’s not because I’m replacing Joy. That doesn’t even make sense. Why would Joy believe that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it was because Sabrina didn’t know who Joy was when she told us. Sabrina put on a good show. I bought it until she said you wanted her to run the mall so she could put the Van Adler polish on it.”

Seething, Kian pounded the steering wheel. “She’s been a problem since we broke up. I have to find Joy and explain. Not that I know why Sabrina would pull this crap so close to Christmas. It doesn’t matter. I’ll deal with Sabrina later. And by deal with, I mean fire. Right now, we have to find Joy.”

“I’ll find someone to close the mall and head out too,” Marci said, her voice rushed.

“No! Stay at the mall in case she returns. I’ll come straight to you if I don’t see her on the way. I have a couple of friends on the force. Let’s hang up, and I’ll call in her plate number so they can be on the lookout.”

“Okay, but hurry! I have a bad feeling about this, Kian.”