Page 134 of Mistletoe and Mischief

He reached for his coat and, after a few words of farewell, was out the door.

“I know it’s none of my business, but who was that?” Dave asked Beth.

“His...friend,” Beth said.

Emily looked at Dave just as he turned to look at her. So the rumors of a female companion had been correct, and for some reason this woman had stayed back at the B and B. There were more obstacles to a reconciliation between Beth and her ex-husband than either of them had guessed.

17

“Did you see the way Dad looked at Mom during the service?” Bailey whispered to her sister in the darkened bedroom. Sophie was in the twin bed next to hers. Although she’d turned out the lights several minutes ago, Bailey was too excited to sleep.

“Yes, I know but—”

“They’re falling in love all over again,” Bailey broke in. “I canfeelit.”

“Well, maybe, but...”

“But what?” Bailey muttered. Sometimes her sister could be so...negative. Well, she refused to allow Sophie’s skeptical remarks to dampen her good feelings. For a time it seemed that everything they’d planned was about to fall apart. Then, at the very last minute, their father had shown up at the church...alone. It’d been perfect. Just perfect.

Bailey hadn’t asked about Danielle and neither had Sophie. Their dad had slipped into the pew next to Beth, and their mother had smiled over at him and...

Oh, it’d been sheer bliss. Love radiated between them. If this were a movie, a crescendo of music would have burst forth, and there would’ve been joyful singing in the background. Actually, therewasmusic, but it had come from the church choir. Still, the effect was pretty satisfying.

“Can I talk now?” Sophie asked impatiently.

“Oh, all right.”

“I have a question.”

“Ask away.” Bailey sighed, suspecting that Sophie was going to ruin Bailey’s Christmas Eve by casting doubt on the likelihood of their parents reuniting. Her father had introduced Danielle as a “friend.”Theywere the ones who’d made the assumption that she was more than that.

“What about when Danielle phoned? Dad left in a mighty big hurry after that.”

“Yeah, I know,” Bailey admitted with more than a little reluctance.

“He’s still at Danielle’s beck and call.”

“But we can’t be sure of all the circumstances and—”

“There are nobutshere,” Sophie fumed. “I don’t know what Dad sees in Danielle, but there’s obviously something.”

“Whatever it is, I trust Dad to do the right thing.” Bailey rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. Leave it to Sophie.... Now she was worried again. Their father was smart—she hoped. Deep down, she couldn’t believe he was involved with Danielle. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more certain she was. He might have brought Danielle with him, but from the moment he arrived Kent only seemed interested in Beth. Danielle was far more attached to her cell phone than she was to their father.

“Mark my words, Dad doesn’t care about Danielle,” Bailey insisted in a confident voice.

Sophie sighed loudly. “I wish I could believe that.”

“Maybe we should help him along.”

“Bailey, no!”

“No?”

“No,” she repeated. “If we step in now, it’ll just complicate everything. Dad has to do this on his own. Otherwise, we’ll sabotage the whole reconciliation.”

Bailey slowly absorbed her sister’s words. Although Sophie was younger—and not studying psychology—she could occasionally be really smart. “Have you ever thought of going into diplomacy? You’d be great.”

“You think so?” Sophie loved getting compliments.

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