* * *
Cal’s stomach pitched when Dallas walked through the doors to the Bama Theatre. He’d never felt so worked up about a woman before, but Dallas just did something to him that he couldn’t explain. He hoped that she’d be willing to talk to him now that she was here.
“Hey...” Cal said, not really knowing what to say.
She put her chin up as she always did and kept right on walking. “Hey,” she said as she wooshed by him, making it clear she didn’t have anything she wanted to say to him.
He felt crushed. She wasn’t the only one who had let her guard down to get so quickly involved in a new relationship. Cal had been through several tough breakups in his past. He wanted the kind of love his parents and his brothers had in their marriages: the real thing. A love that lasted a lifetime.
Oh, it was easy for him to get women. He knew he was good-looking, and being a star football hero from a really wealthy family hadn’t hurt either. But he didn’t trust his own instincts, and it hadn’t been long before he’d started doubting the relationships he was in—sure they wouldn’t last for the long term. Until he got involved with Dallas. With her, things were like the race cars his dad collected: they went from zero to eighty in seconds. He was falling hard for her, but now everything had fallen apart. The magic seemed all but gone. Dallas’s smug attitude wasn’t helping either.
As she walked past, he grabbed her arm.
“We need to talk, Dallas. Come on,” he pleaded.
“Look, Cal, there’s nothing to talk about. Unless you have something to tell me about the emails I’m getting, I have an incredibly busy next few days. And I’m late today as it is.” She pulled away and stormed off.
But Cal wasn’t the type to be hurt and not face it head-on. He was an Alabama football player, and Crimson Tide men didn’t walk away from a battle. He wasn’t trained that way. Head-on was his nature. He had to make a plan.
* * *
“Hey, kiddos,” Dallas said from the audience seats as she approached the stage. She was determined to block Cal from her mind and get through this rehearsal.
Betty Ann and Corey ran around and got everyone to their places for the run-through. Dallas looked up at Cal and queued the music. The choir began what would be the overture and the lights lowered, and Tristan, Jay, Chris and Sara Grace took the stage to tell the story of a Victorian Christmas.
“What about the house, Miss Dallas? The gingerbread house doesn’t have a roof,” Tristan asked.
“It’s broken right now, so for today we need to stand next to it and just pretend to go in,” Dallas answered. But Chris wasn’t listening and into the little candy house he went. As soon as he opened the door, the rest of the Twizzlers fell down from the collapsed roof, leaving Chris covered in candy. All the children laughed and ran over to help the giggling Chris out from under the sticky, red confections. Dallas smiled, and she and Betty Ann joined them to help with the mess. Sara Grace was laughing hard, too. The little girl spontaneously reached over and hugged Dallas tightly around the waist. Dallas was taken in the moment. The sweet encounter held her still in the chaos that had become her life over the past few days. Dallas suddenly realized she needed that affection, too. Sara Grace made her feel included and needed.
Once they’d gotten organized, the kids returned to their spots and picked up where they’d left off. When it came time for Sara Grace’s solo, she approached center stage and the music began. But no one could hear her.
“Miss Dallas, I’m singing but I don’t hear myself,” she said, tapping the mic that was clipped to her little blue dress.
“Here, baby, let me take a look,” Dallas said, walking over. She clicked it off and on. Nothing. Dallas saw Cal looking down from the balcony and then messing with some buttons on the board.
“Did I break it?” Sara Grace asked, looking worried.
“Oh, no, baby, you didn’t do anything.”
“Oh, here comes Mr. Cal. He’ll fix it.”
Cal skipped up the side stairs and was within inches of Dallas before she knew it. His sleeve brushed her hair as he reached for the broken mic. A tingle shot through her and she tried to ignore the heat it sent, but she tingled anyway.
“Here, let me see it,” Cal said, taking a look. He took the back off and changed out the batteries that he just happened to have in his pocket and clipped it all back in place. “Now, give it a try.”
Sara Grace sang a few words and it worked.
“See? Just a battery, sweetheart, nothing to worry about.” He let his hand fall and squeezed the tiny singer’s shoulder. “Now, sing like the angel you are, okay? Mr. Cal wants to hear you all the way up there,” he said, pointing to the balcony booth.
“Thanks! See, Ms. Dallas, I knew he could fix it.” Sara Grace stopped abruptly and hugged Cal around the waist. “Aren’t you gonna hug him thank-you, too, Ms. Dallas?”
Cal glanced over at a surprised Dallas.
“Sure,” she said, uncomfortably smiling at Cal. She reached over for a sideways one-handed hug when he slipped his other arm around her waist.
“We need to talk after rehearsal,” he whispered in her ear as he hugged her. He clearly wasn’t going to give up.
Dallas didn’t say anything. She just kept smiling as if she were the butt of a bad joke.
Rehearsal resumed, and they finally made it to the part where a live manger scene would be the grand finale. The children knew the donkey and the sheep weren’t going to be there until the final dress rehearsal, but Dallas took the opportunity to remind them that they weren’t allowed to touch the animals when they arrived.
Then the kids sang several Christmas carols and ended with the audience encouraged to join in the final songs.
Overall, the run-through was good and had gone off without too many hitches—except, of course, for the gingerbread house, and Dallas already planned to stop after rehearsal for the fix-it materials. She clapped for the kids and ended practice. Sara Grace ran over and hugged her as she grabbed her bag and coat.
“I love you, Ms. Dallas,” Sara Grace said with a giant ear-to-ear smile.
The innocence of the moment made the words even more genuine. Dallas felt as if a warm arrow had gone through her. The child’s gushing comment was the real thing. She knew she meant it. She also knew Sara Grace didn’t have very many people to love. Neither did Dallas, for that matter. In that moment, Dallas knelt to one knee and, for the first time, hugged Sara Grace back, face-to-face. She held her securely, caressing the back of her head.
When she let go, Dallas looked the child in the eyes. “I love you, too, Sara Grace.” Dallas smiled at her as she gazed into her eyes, making sure the little girl heard her clearly and knew she meant it. And she did. It was a moment between them that became a bond of sorts. The two of them were so similar on so many levels.
For the first time, Dallas felt real love coming from an unassuming place: from someone who didn’t expect much and didn’t have anything to give.
Just exactly like Dallas herself.
31
The theater was all but dark by the time Dallas gathered her things and began her walk back up toward the lobby. Cal was sitting in an audience seat, and she walked right by him without even seeing him. Only the little twinkling stars were on overhead, barely illuminating the theater. His voice came from nowhere in the darkness, like a ghost.
“Will you please talk to me?” he asked as she passed him.
“Oh, my God, Cal, you scared the crap outta me. No, really, I need to get going. I have several stops to make tonight before I can get home.”
Cal stood and followed her to the front of the theater.
“If we can’t work this out, you know it’s just a damn shame. Things were going great,” he said.
His persistence irritated and excited her at the same time
. But right now she was mostly just hurt by him. She felt he’d betrayed her.
“I know. It really is a shame. And you’re right, things were going great, but you are no different from the rest, Cal. Nobody has ever really been on my side. Everybody’s always telling me to accept my family and just move on. Well, you know what? It’s not that easy.”
“I know, but at some point you can’t hold on to all this anger anymore.”
“You know what everyone seems to keep forgetting? I am the victim here. I’m the one that was abandoned. And now you’re telling me to just call up the one person who destroyed my entire life, who wouldn’t forgive me for trying to save him, and just make up?”
“Forgive? You are a fine one to talk about forgiving, Dallas. You know what? That’s your whole entire problem. With your family and now with me—if somebody hurts you or makes a mistake, you hold on with a white-knuckle grip and never, ever forgive. Forgiveness—that’s your problem.”
“You can shut the hell up now. I don’t need this.” Dallas swallowed and held the lump forming in her throat until she was clearly out of his sight.
As she turned to walk out, Cal gave her one last parting thought. “You’re only hurting yourself.”
Dallas walked out into the dark, downtown street, the light poles decorated with garland and ribbon, the restaurants filling up with the supper crowds. She made her way to the art supply shop, managing not to run into any other long-lost family members along the way. She picked up the materials she needed and went on to University Mall to shop for the kids. She didn’t have much money, but she knew she had to buy them some nice things, and especially for Sara Grace. Just the thought of this sort of retail therapy and she was already feeling better.
She ran into several stores and got a few things for girls, tiny bottles of nail polish and sample perfumes. Lord, if she ever did have a girl of her own, she’d obviously have her trained to be a girly-girl and ready for the pageant circuit by the time she was six. Dallas was, after all, Dallas.
She was having so much fun she decided to head over to Toys “R” Us. Oh, my, she was in pageant-baby heaven: crowns and little tiaras, toy jewelry and even little pink costumes with clouds of crinoline. She filled her buggy to overflowing and took it up front to check out.
“Sure is a lucky little girl to have you,” the cashier said as she rang up the total.
“Actually, I’m the lucky one to have her.”
32
Friday came in a flurry as everything was gearing up for Christmas week. Dallas was in the thick of it all, and she was crazy busy just like she liked to be. The parade would be covered live tonight, and everyone in the newsroom was gearing up for the event. Not to mention the big staff Christmas party following the parade.
Dallas arrived at the station early and was running around the newsroom arranging her day when she ran right into Courtney.
“Hey, did you hear the great news?” Courtney asked, beaming.
“Um, news?”
“Yeah! It looks like we’re on the float together tonight,” Courtney told her.
“Huh?” Dallas replied, stunned.
“Yeah, I just heard.”
She couldn’t believe this was happening. The float was supposed to be her moment to shine—her time in the spotlight. But she figured they must have wanted to have Courtney out in the public eye, considering the announcement that would be happening next week. Still, she’d thought Mike would have at least granted her this one dignity before giving her the boot.
“Well, that should be...delightful,” she replied with a bit of sarcasm. Dallas shot her a fake smile and turned away. She definitely believed in that motto: never let ’em see you sweat. But she wasn’t about to let this go without a fight. She beelined straight into Mike’s office and shut the door.
“Courtney tells me she is riding on the float with me tonight.”
“She is correct.”
“Mike, what gives here? I thought I was going live on the six o’clock from the float.”
“You are.”
“Okay, so why does Courtney need to be there during my live shot?”
“Dallas, I always said you had tenacity to spare, and I love that. Look at how energetic and riled up you are! Listen, I’m just having her ride on the float. She doesn’t have a story and she’s not busy, and I’m trying to help Tuscaloosa get to know her. So she and my ten o’clock weather guy, Marty Rains, will be sittin’ on the back of the float wavin’ at the people while you do your thing.”
Dallas still wasn’t happy. She didn’t want to share anything with Courtney, especially not a spotlight like a parade. Mike obviously didn’t think it was a big deal, but she needed a sympathetic ear to vent, so she went to look for Daniel down the long hallway of edit bays.
“Daniel, wait till you hear this. Courtney’s ridin’ on the damn float with me tonight!”
“No way.” Daniel was always ready to listen.
“I know. It’s ridiculous. I was looking so forward to making my one last live shot the best I could. But I guess she’s already got the job, so why should I even care, right?”
“I still think you’re getting ahead of yourself about that. Just go do what you do best and ignore the rest.”
Dallas sighed. “You’re right. Okay, I’ll meet you at the setup location in a little while.”
“You going to the party after?”
“Yep, wouldn’t miss that. Are they still doin’ the blooper reel?”
“Finishing it up right now.”
“Should I be worried?”
Daniel smirked. “Everyone should be worried.”
* * *
At five o’clock, Dallas pulled into her spot near the courthouse downtown. The Tuscaloosa Christmas tree was glittering with more than a thousand tiny lights. Everything was beautiful and festive. Her thoughts turned to Cal, and she gave a deep sigh. The disappointment was a weight on her as she tried to prepare for her live shot that was just an hour away.
Not many knew Dallas deeply, and Cal had been the only one to crack through her tough exterior. Deep down she was a passionate romantic, and all the twinkling Christmas lights had her longing to share these festive moments with Cal. As she sat and looked up at the fifty-two-foot-tall cedar, she recognized that she cared for him even more than she wanted to admit. But he’d let her down, and she wasn’t sure how to get past that.
She got out of her car, grabbing her long, white coat and crimson gloves and scarf and headed to the venue. The parade was to begin at Greensboro Avenue and Fourteenth Street, then it would turn to head up University Boulevard. The lineup included local school choirs and marching bands, dancers, horses and more than one hundred floats, with Santa Claus and the mayor being the highlights of the evening. WTAL was set up with the satellite truck near the midway spot of the route. The theme of the parade this year was Twelve Days of Christmas, to tie in with the radio contest to benefit the children’s home. Dallas knew that Vivi and Lewis would be riding in the WRCT radio float, along with some of their newest personalities, like Annabelle Harper, Abigail’s sister and the host of the new Saved by the Belle radio call-in show.
The whole town would be out for the big event. It was safe to say, this was the biggest night of the entire Christmas season for Tuscaloosa.
“Hey, Miss Christmas,” Daniel said as she approached. He was sitting in front of the control panel gearing up for the live parade.
“There was a day when I actually was Miss Christmas and rode on the back of a convertible in this very parade,” Dallas said, removing her gloves and grabbing a ready-made hot chocolate from a nearby tray.
“I bet you were. I can just see you in that tiara.”
“Those were some good times,” she said, taking a sip of the warm cocoa. She held the hot sweet confection in her mo
uth and let it settle her.
“You need to get to the float so we can do a sound check.”
“Okay, I’m ready.”
She patted Daniel on the shoulder as she passed behind him. A gesture of solidarity. They had been through a lot together, and just recently she had begun to realize he had her back. Even when she was, well...bitchy.
Dallas arrived at the WTAL float and climbed up. Mike was already there.
“Hey, Dallas, come aboard,” he said.
“Thanks,” she said as he helped her up. The float was made to look like a TV newsroom. And the tree on the float featured pictures of some of the foster children from the Tuscaloosa Children’s Home. Dallas immediately walked over to look at them. The float was situated in between the seven swans a-swimming and the eight maids a-milking.
At least this looked as if it might be a safe spot—a good distance from the Civil War Cavalry riding their beautiful but shit-dropping horses. But then she realized that the eight maids were sitting on little milking stools and, yes, real cows were on the float. At least her float would be upwind of the cows.
Dallas got her earpiece and microphone hooked up.
“Sound check,” she said into the mic. “Daniel, can you hear me?”
“Sounds great. Now, go get ’em,” he said in her ear.
Courtney arrived all dressed in a dark green suit and cranberry-colored gloves. She took her seat in the center of the float, ready to start waving to her public. Dallas walked over to...welcome her.
“Hey, Courtney. Aren’t you lookin’ mighty Christmassy?” Dallas could hear Daniel snicker in her ear.
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