The Blonde Before Christmas: a Barb Jackson Mysteries holiday short story by Anna Snow Page B

in front of Kelly. She's my assistant, so she's going to hear all of the ins and outs as to why you're here anyway."
    He cleared his throat and cast another furtive glance at Kelly, then back at me. "I understand that, but I'd feel more comfortable speaking to you alone this first meeting. Please, Barb? This is important."
    For the love of… Enough with the puppy dog eyes already. I was afraid that if he kept batting those obscenely long lashes at me he was going to take flight.
    The last thing I wanted was to be alone with Jason, but if shooing Kelly from the room was the only way to get what he wanted out of him so he could hurry up and be on his way, then so be it.
    Kelly gave me an almost-imperceptive nod.
    "Um, sure. Kelly, its fine. I can handle this."
    Kelly winked at me and left the room. She knew the moment that he left my office I'd tell her everything he said anyway. We didn't keep secrets from each other, except the one sitting before me, but as I said before, he was a part of my past I had no desire to dredge up.
    The second the door closed behind her I knew I was in trouble.
    "I've missed you."
    "Is that why you're here? Because if it is, you're wasting your time." I ignored the needy look in his eyes.
    "Time with you is never wasted."
    Boy, was he full of crap or what?
    "That's obviously not what you thought when we were together, or you wouldn't have spent your every waking moment on top of your secretary."
    "I apologized for that." He frowned. "I was immature, stupid even. I'm different now."
    Different?
    Yeah, and the sky was red, wine was nasty-stinky-poo-poo water, and turkey bacon tasted better than the real thing.
    Different, my butt. The only thing that appeared different about Jason was that it looked like he'd lightened his hair color half a shade.
    "Jason, is this why you're here? To rehash our past? If it is, then I'm going to have to ask you to leave. I have work to do, and our past relationship is a part of my life I'd rather never again revisit."
    I started to stand. Jason held up a hand to stop me.
    "No, that's not why I'm here," he said quickly. "I really do need your help, Barb. This is serious."
    I took in his expression. He really did look like he was having a hard time. Against my better judgment I sat back down and asked, "What exactly do you need my help with that's so serious? What's going on? Are you in some kind of trouble?"
    He released what sounded like a frustrated sigh and ran his hand through his normally immaculate hair. For the first time since he'd walked into my office, I studied him. He looked exhausted. Faint bags sat dark beneath his tired brown eyes. His hair was slightly disheveled, his body strung tight with tension, and his dress shirt and black slacks were starting to rumple. The man seated before me with his less-than-perfect appearance was not the Jason I knew. Something was definitely up. But did I really want to know what was causing his distress? Did I want to step in the middle of whatever he'd gotten himself into? Because if he was in fact in the middle of something nefarious, there was no doubt in my mind that he'd gotten himself into it.
    I didn't want to find myself mixed up in any of Jason's schemes.
    Were I a vain, conceited woman, I would've let myself believe that his tension was due to the fact that he was sitting across from me, a woman he was lucky to have had but screwed over and lost…but I wasn't that kind of girl. As much as I sometimes wished I was that girl, I just wasn't.
    "Jason?" I prodded.
    "Yeah. Kind of."
    "Care to elaborate?" I pressed. "Because in my line of work, kind of doesn't cut the cake."
    "You know I started my own accounting firm four years ago?" He leaned his elbows on his knees.
    "Yes." I nodded. If there was one thing Jason was good with, it was numbers.
    "I do a lot of business for individuals as well as some larger companies. One of those companies in particular being Hatchett Enterprises."
    "Hatchett?" I interrupted. "As in