Have Yourself a Merry Little Witness - Dakota Cassidy Page 0,2

queen, landing wherever the road or an airplane took him. Atti didn’t like that Darling didn’t have a permanent residence until he and Monty bought a place in Cape Cod five years ago.

Atticus also thinks my uncle is responsible for encouraging my mother to have an impromptu summer fling with my father. My father, Hugh Granite, is a movie star—well, in Japan. He’s sort of what David Hasselhoff is to Germany, and he’ll tell you so—even if you don’t ask.

Anyway, my mother, Keeva, met him when he was here in our little town, filming a movie. From what I understand, they had a whirlwind romance, but he left when the movie was done and never looked back.

She never looked back either, but she also never told him about me, or me about him. I didn’t know until the reading of my mother’s will and I didn’t go looking for him. I was too wrapped up in my grief. However, he came looking for me.

I think it might have to do with aging and atonement, but it’s not for me to judge, I suppose. I’m honest when I say, I wasn’t one of those kids who wondered where her father was all the time or felt like I’d missed out on having a father. I had my grandfather and two incredibly strong women in my life. I never lacked for guidance and love, even when I didn’t want either of the aforementioned.

When Hugh located me, I was shocked, but I knew he was telling the truth about who he was when Atti all but turned him into a bullfrog the moment I opened the door. If my father hadn’t blocked his spell, I shudder to think what the aftermath would have been.

Also, we look a bunch alike. There’s no denying Hugh’s my father. All in all, he’s really a good guy, if not vain and almost comically superficial.

To say there’s no love lost between my father and Atti is an understatement. However, meeting him led me to find my sister, Stevie, who’s technically my half-sister (my dad was a busy, busy guy in the romance department), but I couldn’t be more pleased to still have a relative I can count on if things get tough. My life has become so much richer for having Stevie in it, and her familiar, Belfry.

Anyway, my uncle’s whimsical, devil-may-care nature never sat well with my hummingbird familiar, and he hasn’t a single qualm about sharing his displeasure.

“Listen, Atti, if not for that fling Uncle Darling encouraged Mom to have, you wouldn’t have me. Are you saying you’d rather she didn’t have a summer romance and didn’t end up knocked up by the famous-only-in-Japan star of stage, screen, and TV, Hugh Granite?” I teased.

He pecked at my ponytail with his long beak before landing on my shoulder. “Don’t be so crass, Halliday,” he drawled. “She was not knocked up. She became impregnated by a two-bit, D-list actor who happens to look like Cary Grant and Rock Hudson all rolled into one vain, muscled package. Of course I’m not saying that. I’m saying, your Andrew encourages poor behavior. That’s what I’m saying. I worry he’ll encourage you to do the same.”

I grinned. “So you think I’m going to have a summer romance and get knocked up because Uncle Darling’s here? It’s winter, in case you hadn’t noticed. Too cold for a fling—no matter what Uncle Darling says.”

“Says you. How quickly we’ve forgotten your gentleman caller, Hobbs.”

I sighed, maybe a little too breathy to hide. I liked Hobbs. I liked him a lot. I liked that he rented the cottage behind my house and I liked his dog, Stephen King. But I really liked that we’d spent a lot of time together since we were almost killed last week.

I know that sounds a little off-kilter, but we’d bonded over having to run for our lives. In fact, we’d spent a good portion of our days together since, sharing meals, and decorating, and talking about everything from my life in New York as an interior designer to his prior job as a financial advisor.

“He’s not fling material, my funny feathered friend. Hobbs is a fine Southern gentleman who’s never been anything other than respectful.”

“As he should be, or I shall turn him into something dreadful like a gargoyle or a hedgehog.”

“Do gargoyle’s really exist, Atti?”

“I’ve seen many things in my time, Halliday. I’m certain I’ve seen one or two.”

“Your time as in when the dinosaurs roamed the earth?” I