LITMIR.BIZ

       Chapter One

      This is the time of year to offer thanks for all the wonderful people in our lives.

      —Muriel Sterling, A Guide to Happy Holidays

      Thanksgiving, a day to spend with family, to give thanks for all your blessings, to...have a close encounter with your cranky neighbor’s shrubbery. Oh, yes, this was how Sienna Moreno wanted to start her day.

      Why, oh, why, had she ventured out in her car on an icy street to go to the grocery store for more milk when she could have asked her cousin Rita Reyes to bring it? Rita’s husband, Tito, worked at the Safeway meat department. He could have picked up a gallon.

      But oh, no. She had to go out on her cheap no-weather tires. She should have stretched her budget a little further and gotten those snow tires like Rita had told her to do. “Here in the mountains, you want snow tires,” Rita had said.

      Yes, she did, especially now as she was skidding toward Mr. Cratchett’s front yard.

      “We’re gonna die!” her nine-year-old son, Leo, cried, clapping his hands over his eyes as they slid up and over Mr. Cratchett’s juniper bush. Sienna could hear the branches crunching under them, the bush equivalent of breaking bones. Madre de Dios!

      The good news was the bush brought her to a stop. The bad news was she was stopped right in front of Mr. Cratchett’s house.

      Maybe she hadn’t damaged the bush too much. “It’s okay, honey. We’re fine,” she assured her son and got out of the car on shaky legs. She probably couldn’t say the same for Mr. Cratchett’s landscaping.

      She was barely out of her car before her neighbor stormed down the walk, an ancient navy pea coat thrown on over pajama bottoms stuffed into boots, a knit cap pulled over his sparse gray hair. He was scowling. Great.

      “What have you done to my juniper bush?” he demanded.

      “I’m so sorry, Mr. Cratchett. I hit a slippery spot.”

      “You shouldn’t be out if you don’t know how to drive in the snow,” Cratchett growled.

      She wasn’t sure how she’d learn to drive in the snow if she didn’t get out in it but she decided this wasn’t the time for that observation.

      He leaned over the bush like a detective examining a corpse. “This thing will never come back. You’ve damaged it beyond repair.”

      “I’ll buy you a new one this spring,” Sienna promised.

      “You certainly will,” he snapped. “If you don’t, you’ll be hearing from my lawyer. You’re becoming a real nuisance.”

      “So are you,” she muttered as she got back into her car.

      “He’s mad,” Leo observed.

      There was an understatement. “It’s okay,” she said as much to herself as her son. She put the car in gear, held her breath and inched toward their driveway. The car swayed as they turned in. Ooh.

      “I want to get out,” Leo said.

      “Stay put. We’re fine.” She bit her lip as she braked—oh, so gently—and the car fishtailed to a stop right before she hit the garage door.

      She let out her breath. There. Something to be thankful for.

      She could see Cratchett standing on his front walk, glaring at her. “You shouldn’t be driving,” he called.

      Yeah, well, neither should he. She’d seen him behind the wheel and he was scary even when there wasn’t snow. Honestly, what had she ever done to deserve inheriting him?

      “Just lucky, I guess,” teased her cousin Rita Reyes later as Sienna recounted her day’s adventures to her family over their evening Thanksgiving feast.

      There were plenty of people present to enjoy it—Rita, her husband, Tito, and their toddler, Linda, were present, along with Sienna’s tía, Mami Luci, and Tito’s sister and brother-in-law and their two small children. It was Sienna’s first holiday celebration in her new house and she loved being able to fill it with company.

      Especially on Thanksgiving, which was her favorite holiday. The food—turkey and pork, tamales, Mami’s arroz con gandules, coquito and flan for dessert; the music—salsa, merengue and bachata; and, of course, time with family. With her parents and two brothers still in LA, it was a comfort to be able to have her aunt and cousin living in the same town. It was also nice to have them right here to complain to.

      No, wait. No complaining on Thanksgiving. She was simply venting. Justifiably venting. “I mean, it’s not like I meant to run over Mr. Cratchett’s juniper bush.”

      “You didn’t exactly get practice driving in snow down in LA,” Rita said consolingly. “That man.” She shook her head in disgust as she helped herself to more fruit salad. “Neighbors should come with a warning label.”

      “This one should have,” Sienna said. “He shouldn’t be allowed to have neighbors. He should be a hermit. Actually, he’s already close to one. He hardly ever comes out of that big, overgrown house of his except to yell at me.” Okay, maybe that was a slight exaggeration.

      Or not.

      “Mr. Cratchett’s mean to me, too, Mommy,” put in Leo.

      Tito shook his head. “Threatening to call the cops over a baseball through the window.”

      “I didn’t do that,” Leo declared hotly. “It was Tommy Haskel. Tommy said it was me.”

      Poor Leo had taken the fall and Sienna had bought Mr. Cratchett a new window.

      “Culo,” muttered Tito. “I should have come over and taken a baseball to the old dude’s head.”

      Tito’s sister pointed her fork at him. “Then he really would have called the cops.”

      “He’s been there, done that,” Sienna said. “Remember?”

      “Yes, making such a stink when we had your housewarming party,” Rita said in disgust. “Too loud, my ass. It was barely nine.”

      “Maybe that’s what got us started on the wrong foot,” Sienna mused. That had been back in the summer. Even after all those months it would appear she and her crusty neighbor still hadn’t found the right foot.

      Tito shook his head. “No. The dude’s a

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