Operation: Married by Christmas. Debra Clopton

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СКАЧАТЬ of eggs and bacon. It smelled fabulous. Haley had tried becoming a vegetarian when she first left Mule Hollow, but her Texas roots went too deep. She loved bacon and steak, and though she usually ate chicken or fish, she planned to enjoy Sam’s cooking to the fullest while she was here.

      “So tell us about this last man you walked out on—”

      “Esther Mae,” Adela said in her soft voice. “Let’s not pry into Haley’s business.”

      Haley gave Adela a grateful smile, took a bite of crisp bacon and realized that at some point she would have to explain her actions. It was either get it out now or spend the rest of her visit dodging the subject.

      “It’s okay,” she said, wiping her lips with her napkin.

      “See,” Esther Mae said, beaming. “I knew she’d tell us. We’re practically family. Besides, all it takes is a good look at her to know she needs somebody to talk to. And that she’s been working herself to the bone. Really, honey, you’re so thin. You haven’t had any of that liposuction, have you?”

      Haley chuckled. She couldn’t help it; the out-spoken Esther Mae cracked her up. “No lipo for me,” she said, stirring a packet of sugar into her coffee. Thin was fashionable where she lived. To fit in she had to stay “spit-shined and polished,” as Applegate would have called it. “I work out regularly at the gym—I’m too chicken for anything else. Okay, here’s the lowdown. His name is Lincoln Billings, and I shouldn’t have agreed to marry him—”

      “Not that I’m judging or anything,” Sam said, coming over to top off her coffee and refill everyone else’s. “But just ’cause a man asks ya to marry him don’t mean ya gotta say yes.”

      “Sam,” Norma Sue said, frowning and waving him off. “This here is woman talk, if you don’t mind.”

      Sam bristled. “All I’m saying is Haley needs to learn to say no. Seems it’d save her on wedding dresses—”

      “Sam, dear, it’s okay.” Adela placed her hand on his. “You have a very valid point. But we don’t want to overwhelm Haley when she’s only just come home. Especially after going through what she went through.”

      Sam looked down at his wife and melted before Haley’s eyes. The man absolutely adored Adela.

      “You’re right.” Beaming, he patted her hand then strutted toward the kitchen. For a tiny man, he suddenly looked nine feet tall.

      “He is such a dear,” Adela sighed, watching him go before meeting Haley’s gaze. “You know, Haley, one day there’s going to be a man who can truly win your heart and you won’t want to run away anymore. I’ll pray for you on that one.”

      Haley sobered, thinking that one already had won her heart. He’d also broken it. And though she’d tried to force her heart back together, she was starting to think it couldn’t be done. She wondered if her hardened heart would ever truly let a man in again. She couldn’t help thinking that it might be too late for her. Maybe that was why she’d said yes to Linc when she’d known better. He’d caught her on a low night, during a beautiful candlelit dinner, and for a little while she’d let herself be…different. She’d pretended that her heart wasn’t jaded and cold.

      But in the end it just hadn’t been enough.

      

      Three hours later, back at her grandpa’s house, Haley put a call in to her office. It wasn’t pretty.

      “Haley, what is the matter with you?”

      “Sugar, I’m tired. I told you that.” Haley had just finished talking to Linc. It was just as she’d suspected—he was okay and already moving forward.

      Unlike some people she knew, like her assistant, Sugar. There was silence over the telephone line, and she braced for more questions. Sugar didn’t give up easily. That was one reason she made such a great assistant.

      “Look, Haley, you are delusional if you think I’m buying that bit of nonsense. Something is up, and I know it. Look, I know you didn’t love Lincoln, but, girl, I have never seen you pass up a good deal. And Lincoln Billings was a great deal. I don’t mean to hurt your feelings, but I think you must be sick. I mean really sick. This isn’t like you.”

      “Sugar, we’ve already been through this. It was exactly like me. I walked out on two other men before Linc. It’s a pattern.”

      “True, but they weren’t Lincoln Billings. With Linc you had it made.”

      “Sugar, stop it, you’re not selling me a house. The only reason Linc wanted to marry me was because I was a challenge and he was bored. Once the challenge wore off he’d have grown bored again and I’d have joined the ranks of all his other exes.”

      “Well, hon, you’re probably right about that…but, Haley, you would’ve had it made for a little while. I’m telling you, I’d have grabbed him up so fast—”

      “Stop it, Sugar.” Haley couldn’t help smiling. Sugar was Sugar, her assistant by day but an aspiring actress on the side. If Haley thought she was in a cutthroat business, Sugar could really tell some horror stories. She’d bought into the whole Hollywood scene and was constantly auditioning for parts looking for her big break, knowing that every day that passed was another day taking her further away from her dream. But she was sweet and endearing, and Haley worried about her. Still, right now Haley just needed her to be her assistant and take instruction without all this chatter. “Sugar, I don’t want to talk about Linc anymore. I talked to him before calling you and all is well. He’s fine, I’m fine, so drop it.”

      “Oh, all right,” she huffed into the line. “So if that’s not what’s got you so tied in knots, what is it? You just don’t sound like yourself, Haley.”

      She didn’t feel like herself, but she didn’t tell her friend that. “Look, Sugar, I’m fine. Just keep your eyes and ears open, and if any spectacular opportunities arise that I need to know about call me. Cell phones are worthless here, but leave a message on the machine and I’ll get back to you.”

      They said their goodbyes and, as soon as the line went dead, Haley felt isolated. Sugar was her connection to the world she’d come to know. The world she’d worked hard to belong to. So if that was true, then why was she back here in Mule Hollow? Why was she feeling so unsettled?

      Haley covered her face with her hands then raked them through her hair as she stared out Applegate’s kitchen window toward the barn. In a simpler time, she’d loved it here. Being homeschooled and living in a travel trailer was normal for many kids whose fathers worked the pipeline and whose mothers chose to travel with them. However, her parents chose to let her live with her grandparents because she’d loved it there so much when she was younger. But as a teen she’d grown restless and dreamed of more. Looking back, she realized that those dreams had overshadowed her love of the small-town life. Still she’d needed to leave. She knew that now. She’d had to prove herself by following her dreams. No matter what it had cost her.

      Which was all the more reason for the turmoil she was feeling.

      She might not be certain about why she’d come home, or why she’d felt the urgent need to come directly here after calling off her wedding, but she knew that she didn’t regret having left Mule Hollow. She regretted only having hurt Will Sutton. And, she had to admit, the way he’d hurt her.

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