Operation: Married by Christmas

by Debra Clopton

  He turned to stare at her. All it took was the blank expression on his face to send her blood pressure through the roof! “That does it! Stop with the blank looks. You’re the one who blew up at me the other day and now every time I’m around you look like a wax dummy in a museum. We are walking on eggshells, and I can’t stand it.”

  He lifted a perfect thick eyebrow. Other than that, his expression didn’t change.

  “Say something. You had plenty to say when we had an audience.”

  His brows creased, and his lips flattened. “All that was just reaction from the shock of seeing you after all these years. That’s all it was. We have been put on a project together, and all I want is to get through it like two adults and move on. I realized that there really is no sense in rehashing our sordid past.”

  “Sordid. Meaning my walking out on you.”

  “Call it whatever you want. I don’t really care.”

  “I get that clearly. I got that clearly all those years ago and that’s why I left. You never really did get it.”

  The room grew silent again all but for the ticking of the clock and the sound of Haley’s heart pounding in her chest.

  “Look, I really can’t do this.” She headed toward the back door. There was no use fighting this. He was bent on trying to make her feel bad and she wasn’t going to give in to that. She refused to just pretend it wasn’t happening. He knew and she knew that he could take care of the drawing of the props without her, so there was no sense in her having to stress out over being around him.

  She yanked her coat off the rack, threw open the door and stormed onto the porch.

  “What do you want from me?”

  His words stopped her halfway down the steps. She swung toward him, fighting an embarrassing need to cry. Cry! She didn’t cry. “I want you to admit you were partly to blame for what happened between us.”

  By the look in his eyes, she knew he still didn’t get it and that he never would. To him, he hadn’t done anything wrong. It was all her fault.

  She shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. “And that right there assures me that I made the right decision.”

  Spinning away, she stalked down the brick path and got into her car. She didn’t even look back to see if he was still standing on the porch.

  His fault! Who was she kidding? Haley had turned her back on everything they’d had between them, and she wanted to blame it on him?

  Well, he may have been a fool in love all those years ago, but he wasn’t one any longer. He’d been pining away for her all this time—and for what? A woman who saw nothing except herself. That wasn’t the kind of woman he wanted to love.

  Will closed his eyes and let the cold air seep into him. Hardening his resolve, he refused to listen to the small voice that was trying to get his attention. He went back into the kitchen, snatched up the props sketchbook and stormed into his office.

  He didn’t need Haley Bell Thornton to do this job. He’d didn’t need Haley Bell Thornton, period.

  Chapter Eight

  “Haley, what are you doin’ here?”

  Haley slammed the door of her car and stalked toward Applegate. He was sitting on his front porch peeling a green apple. “We need to talk, Granddad.”

  “Well, I kin tell ya got a spur in yor saddle so sit down and talk.”

  Haley settled into the chair beside him and brought her knees up so she could wrap her arms around them, partly to block out the cold air and partly to comfort her frazzled nerves. “Whatever you have planned for me and Will isn’t going to work.”

  Applegate kept peeling the apple. “I ain’t got any idea what yer talking about.”

  “I don’t believe you,” she said, staring at him with hooded eyes.

  He met her accusing gaze straight on. “Well that’s a fine thing to say to yer poor ol’ grandpa.”

  Haley tightened her arms around her knees and rested her chin on top, fortifying herself with the hug. “There’s nothing poor about you. You’re as smart as a whip and as cunning as they come. And don’t think I don’t know it.”

  His eyes shifted briefly, then held hers. “Haley Bell, you spend yer life running from weddings. You ever thank it was Will you shouldn’t have run away from?”

  “Applegate,” she warned. “There’s more to the story than you know.”

  “And if you don’t tell me what it is then I won’t know what that is, now will I?”

  Haley hesitated to share her personal life with anyone. Even her granddad. “Look, you’re just going to have to believe me. Will Sutton was never the right man for me. I’ll find the right one some day. Until then, don’t get your hopes up. And don’t think I haven’t picked up on the fact that you and the ladies are having romantic ideas about the two of us. That’s nonsense.”

  Applegate sliced a piece of apple and took the whole piece into his mouth, chewing slowly. She was not fooled. He was thinking of the right response. But she wasn’t waiting around. “You have been evading the issue of your health for the past two days. Tell me exactly what the doctor said about the problems you’ve been having. Tell me, please. I don’t like being in the dark. I’m worried sick.”

  “Well,” he sighed and shook his head. “I didn’t want ta tell ya, but I’ve got the Zackly disease.”

  Haley slid her feet to the ground as alarm shot through her. “Zackly disease? What is it? Can it be cured? Are you in pain?” All kinds of questions bombarded her as she racked her brain for anything she’d ever heard about the disease.

  Applegate suddenly looked pensive. “Now, don’t go gettin’ all riled up. I told ya it ain’t nothin’ to worry about.”

  “Granddad, I worry, okay? Tell me what’s wrong with you.”

  He dropped his gaze to the floor and mumbled. Haley’s ears perked up.

  “What did you say?” Haley asked, catching a few of his mumbled words. Enough to know she was about to be madder than a hornet.

  “I said, I don’t zackly have nothin’ wrong.”

  “Applegate Thornton!” She shot out of her chair. “How could you do that? This is not funny. It’s not. Stop that chuckling.”

  He chuckled harder, his drooping face coming alive with laughter. She slammed down into her chair and, despite her anger at him, found herself smiling. He always had been a prankster. Her grandmother always said there were times in their marriage he’d almost driven her crazy with his jokes. Especially the times he’d told her something and then forgot to right it. Like the time he said that the singer Phil Collins was the same guy who played the character Ernest T. Bass and threw rocks at everyone on The Andy Griffith Show. Her grandma Birdie hadn’t believed him for the longest time, then he’d finally convinced her he was telling the truth. She’d promptly told all of her friends and, despite most of them telling her she was wrong, she’d argued the fact. Applegate sure had hated to face the music when he’d realized a week later he’d neglected to tell her it was a joke.

  “Has all this just been a big joke?” Haley asked now, knowing the truth before she asked the question.

  At least he had the decency to look slightly ashamed. “Haley Bell. Come on, now. The doctor told me he thought I had an ulcer, but he didn’t know fer sure. He had to do some test to know exactly. I didn’t thank it was nuttin’ to be gettin’ all riled up about. Certainly didn’t figure ta tell ya about it on the phone, but then you broke the news that you was thinking about gettin’ married again—and well, I gotta bad feeling and needed a reason to try and git you home. I been wanting to see you ferever anyway.” His face drooped back into a frown once more. “It ain’t right that a poor old grandpa has ta fib about being sick to git his granddaughter to come see him.”

  Shame melted Haley’s heart. “You’re right, Grandpa.” She hopped from the chair and hugged him tight. “I am so sorry. I’ve been so busy trying to prove myself…I just forgot what was important is all.”

  She kissed his cheek then sat back in her chair. “I promise when I go back to Beverly Hil
ls, I’ll make it a point to come back more often. But you’ve got to stop telling me fibs about your health.”

  He harrumphed, surprising her with his stern gaze.

  “Haley, you don’t belong out thar. You belong here. Kin’t you see that Mule Hollow needs a real-estate agent? Why, we’re gettin’ more and more folks wantin’ to move out here. That agent out of Ranger’s tryin’, but that’s seventy miles away and she’s got her hands full in her own town.”

  For the briefest moment, Haley wondered what it would be like selling property in a rural setting. No glitz and glamour. She pushed the thought aside. She was good at what she did. She’d worked hard to get where she was. Not to mention, well, she didn’t think she could live in the same town with Will. There was simply too much of a strain when she was around him. And she felt completely out of her element when she was near him. The morning fiasco proved it. Every time they were near each other, she acted irrationally. Storming out of his house like a teenager. How could she have done that? It was embarrassingly adolescent.

  If she was honest with herself, Will and everyone who knew her were probably having a hard time keeping their faces straight when they were around her.

  After all these years of striving to be taken seriously, of trying to be more than little Haley Bell with her oddball mishaps, she’d accomplished nothing, really.

  Absolutely nothing.

  It was almost laughable even to her.

  It was just so absolutely Haley Bell of her!

  The thought was depressing. “Don’t get your hopes up. I could never live here again, Grandpa.”

  “Haley Bell, a girl like you can do anything ya want to do. That’s what I don’t git about all this.”

  That was exactly what she was trying to say. No one understood her, never had and it seemed never would.

  Will realized right after he watched Haley drive away that he was going to have to figure out a way to put his feelings aside and be able to look at Haley without getting knots in his stomach. They were not kids, after all, and she’d been perfectly right…. They were walking on eggshells when they were around each other. It needed to stop. He needed to dig deep, work with her while she was home, and watch her leave again.

  Then his life would return to normal. He’d carved out a decent life for himself. He didn’t need Haley.

  So he gave himself and Haley an hour to calm down, then he went after her. It was the right thing to do.

  He found Applegate sitting on his front porch.

  “’Bout time you showed up,” he called the second Will closed the door of his truck. “You had my Haley Bell madder than a swarm a hornets.”

  Will shifted from one boot to the other, uncomfortable that Applegate knew they’d argued. “I apologize about that, sir.”

  “No need for apologies to me. A good fight now and agin keeps the blood flowing.”

  Will didn’t want to point out that his blood had been flowing fine before Haley showed up. “Is Haley around?” he asked, watching as Applegate whittled the head of what looked like a small duck. It was cool but the older man didn’t seem the least bit worried about the chill in the air. The sun was out and with a light jacket on it was pleasant.

  “Nope,” Applegate said, spitting a sunflower seed into a bucket at his feet. The sound made a small ping as it hit dead center. App and his buddy Stanley were sunflower-seed maniacs. They bought them by the five-pound bags down at Pete’s Feed & Seed store and steadily chewed them as they played checkers down at the diner. They’d tried getting away with spitting the shells on the floor at one time, but Sam had put a stop to that right quick. Of course, the two checker players argued that there were restaurants in Ranger that supplied the peanuts and told patrons to throw the shells on the floor when they were done. Sam had been quick to point out that there was a big difference in throwing shells on the floor and spitting shells on the floor.

  Will glanced toward Haley’s high-powered sports car parked in the drive. “Can you tell me where I can find her?” The thought of her driving a car like that was a little scary to Will. But he reminded himself that she wasn’t his to worry about, and she could drive what she wanted.

  “Maybe,” Applegate said, gazing up from beneath his fuzzy caterpillar eyebrows. “Don’t need ya going out thar givin’ her a hard time, though. She didn’t come all the way out here from California to be harassed by the likes of an old flame.”

  Will stepped back. Is that what she’d told him? “Sir, I don’t know what she told you, but—”

  Applegate scowled and pointed the duck at him. “Don’t ya get smart with me. I was purdy good with my hands when I wuz your age, and I’d hate ta have to get up thar and shame you—”

  Will couldn’t quite grasp the picture of Applegate taking a swing at him. “Sir, I don’t know what’s got you so riled up, but I assure you that I didn’t mean to do anything to upset you like this.”

  “’Tain’t me that I’m worried about. It’s my Haley Bell. You need to apologize, and I mean good.”

  Will let out a long breath and kept his mouth shut instead of pointing out that was exactly what he’d come to do. But this was between him and Haley, and he wasn’t going to let Applegate intimidate him into letting him in on what was going on. If Haley wanted to tell the world her business, that was her choice. He chose not to.

  “Sir, if you could just let me know where she is.”

  “She went out on her horse fer a spell.”

  “Her horse.” Will glanced toward the barn.

  “Yer welcome to take one of the other horses out if you had a mind to do such a thing. They could use the exercise.”

  Will brightened. “I think I’ll do that, sir. Is there a certain one—”

  “Muffin could use a ride.” Applegate lifted a brow. “If you can handle him. He’s a bit ornery.”

  Will hid a smile, remembering the big black and how Haley always had given her animals cutesy names. “I think I can handle him, sir.”

  Applegate shrugged. “Okay, have at him. He’s the black.”

  “I remember, sir,” Will said, tipping his hat in respect for Haley’s grandfather as he headed toward the barn. Applegate always had been protective of Haley. Since he and Birdie had helped raise her, Will didn’t blame him. Haley’s dad worked on the pipeline, which meant he was on the road most of the time, criss-crossing the country. Haley’s mother chose to travel with him and they lived in a large travel trailer, only coming home when work was periodically slow. Because of it, Haley had lived most of the time with Applegate and Birdie. So the older man had a right to be protective of his granddaughter. Will was pretty certain if he ever had any kids, especially little girls, he’d be a boyfriend’s worst nightmare. Of course, he wasn’t Haley’s boyfriend anymore. But he didn’t think it appropriate to point that out to App.

  It didn’t take Will long to saddle the big black and head out. There hadn’t been any reason to ask which way Haley had ridden out. After this long an absence from Mule Hollow, there was only one direction she’d have gone—toward the river. Haley always loved the river, and she and Will spent many hours riding the trails that followed along its peaceful banks. Back then Muffin had been a spunky two-year-old, and Puddin, Haley’s favorite horse, hadn’t been much older. The two horses loved to run as much as he and Haley had loved being together, riding with the wind in their hair and their love in the air.

  It had been their favorite date.

  Will’s mood soured thinking about it, wondering how all of that could have been such a lie. He’d spent some long nights raging at the Lord about it, and he’d come away with little satisfaction. Eventually he’d just let it go…. God’s plans were God’s plans, and he and Haley as one obviously wasn’t part of them.

  Still, riding into the woods, he could almost hear her laughter and see her on Puddin, riding out ahead of him. “I need a hand here,” Will said out loud, looking up toward the sky, searching for some sign from the Lord that he was going to get a lit
tle support in the awkward situation.

  But it was a clear sky, and Will didn’t feel any kind of support.

  It was as Miss Adela was fond of saying, “God was God. He does what He wants and watches how we respond to His actions.”

  Will figured if that were so, then the Lord was probably not too happy with him right now.

  Will figured that just made them even.

  Chapter Nine

  Haley hadn’t been on a horse in ten years, but it was like riding a bicycle. When she’d climbed onto Puddin’s back, she’d felt an excitement she hadn’t experienced in years. She hadn’t realized how much she’d missed riding every day. Of course, tomorrow her sore legs would remind her just how long it had been since she’d been in the saddle. The pain would be worth it, though, because riding always had been a way for her to relax and unwind. She did some of her best thinking while riding, and she needed stress relief as she’d never needed it before. She’d acted like a child.

  What had she been thinking? Stomping out like that—ohhhh how she hated to apologize for anything. She always had. She was stubborn when it came to backtracking. And now, just look at the situation she’d put herself into. If she’d just kept her cool, held her tongue and talked about production props, she’d have been fine.

  Then talking to Applegate, well that had been like a big fat slam to her conscience. How could she have left him here all this time and not come home to check on him? Was she one of those people who forgot about her responsibility to the people who loved her? Who just walked away? It was a hard fact to face about herself…and she needed to think.

  Sensing it, Applegate had told her that he’d stashed in the hall closet a big box of clothes she’d left behind. She hadn’t wasted any time dragging it out. Sure enough, there was a box of her old jeans, some T-shirts and a couple of pairs of boots. One of them was her favorite pair, soft and worn and as comfortable as slippers. Elated, she’d changed clothes, thrilled that she could actually fit into the jeans. Of course, her figure had shifted a bit and they were a little tighter than she remembered them being ten years earlier, but she wasn’t complaining. She’d quickly pulled on her boots and coat, then hurried to the barn and saddled up her horse, Sweet Puddin. Funny how she’d let something she loved so much slip away, but keeping up with the fast-paced real-estate market of Beverly Hills hadn’t left much room for horses.