Secret Santa (24 page)
Charli gave a laugh that came out bitter and harsh. “Let’s just say I wasn’t responding to any reporters’ calls.”
“But I’m not just any reporter.”
She winced. “No, Neil, you’re not. You’re anything but. I let you down. I let Brevis down. Maybe it’s better that I leave. Because honestly...”
“Honestly what?” Would she say that he’d killed off any chance at a future with her? If she stayed in Brevis, he had that chance―at least, he hoped so.
But Charli didn’t explain her cryptic comment. She started to turn away from him, but he stopped her with a touch of his hand to her shoulder.
“You don’t have to leave,” he told her.
Charli sighed. “It’s okay. Like my mom said, I have to face the consequences of my decisions. I made some really crappy ones, Neil. And I know I let you down. I know I’m not the person you thought I was—the person I should have been.”
“Neither was I. I jumped the gun big-time. I let my anger get the best of me, and I broke a lot of the personal rules I’d made when it came to reporting.”
She bit her lip. “Folks here definitely won’t want me after they find out about my dad. Plus, I don’t have a prayer as long as Lige is here.”
“About Lige... I left you a voice mail or three about him. The other members of the hospital authority revolted, and when the migrant workers turned up and started talking, the board forced Lige to resign. Once I reported that the DPH cleared you, the new chairman lifted your suspension.”
“Wow. Lige is gone?”
“Well, not gone, and he still has the bank, but he’s a bit too busy now with immigration violations and keeping his onion farm going to be bothered with you.”
“You mean I don’t have to find another job?” Joy lit her face. “I don’t have to leave?”
He pulled her into his arms, and gazed down at her. Life without her, just for the past few days, had been flat and empty, and not even Christmas lights could brighten it up.
“God, I hope not. I hope you’ll stay in Brevis for the next hundred years. Right here with me. I hope I don’t ever make you want to leave again.”
She leaned her cheek against his shoulder and hugged him back, hard. “No, you make me want to stay,” Charli said firmly.
As if on cue, his timer clicked, and a version of “Winter Wonderland” blasted out of his speakers. Charli shook her head and asked over the music, “Guess the Christmas decorations are part of the package?” But she didn’t seem to mind. Instead, she laughed and reached up and kissed him.
* * * * *
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ISBN-13: 9781460322079
SECRET SANTA
Copyright © 2013 by Cynthia R. Reese
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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