Page 136 of Christmas Kisses

“Fine. Enjoyed it immensely. How about you? How did your morning go?”

“Terrible,” he said.

She had opened the cooler to take out soft drinks, but she paused there. “Why? What happened?”

He lifted a hand to her face, caught a wisp of hair between his fingers and smoothed it slowly. “I missed you.”

She felt the blood rush to her face. “Jimmy, be serious.”

“I am serious.” He held her eyes for a long moment, until she turned away, unable to bear the intensity in them. “Other than that, it wasn’t too bad,” he went on. “But I’ll tell you more about that tonight.” He reached past her to grab colas from the cooler and carried them back with him to the table.

Kara joined him there and tried to eat. The man was sweeping her off her feet, and she had no doubt it was exactly what he intended.

“Hey, you guys having pizza without us?”

Everyone looked up at the shout from the doorway. Melusine stood there, arm in arm with Alex. Kara hadn’t seen her sister in weeks and she jumped up and ran to hug her hard.

“Oh, Mel, it’s so good to see you!”

Mel hugged her back. “Same here, kid.” She moved to the table to hug her mother and each sister in turn, then she turned to stare down at Jim. “You haven’t changed much,” she said.

“More than you would even believe,” he replied, rising. “Hello, Melusine.”

“Jim, this is my husband, Alex Stone. Alex, this is Jim Corona, former high school hunk and current cop with the Chicago PD.”

“Not exactly current,” he said, turning to shake Alex’s hand.

“No? What, you turn in your badge or something?”

“I’m on leave. Thinking about making it permanent.”

Kara blinked up at him, her questions in her eyes. Jim sighed. “I was going to tell you later, Kara. But I can’t wait. I spoke to Chief Wheatly this morning. I told him to hold that job on the local PD for me. I’m planning to take it.”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Jimmy, I.... I mean, just like that? Shouldn’t you give it some time before making such a drastic decision?”

“The decision is made.”

He was serious. About her. About them. He wasn’t playing around. He’d mentioned the job offer this morning, but she’d never thought he’d just up and accept it this fast. Suddenly everything turned upside down. Her head spun as she recalled telling him she would never leave Big Falls. My God, had he done this because of her?

“I... excuse me, I need to—” She got to her feet but knocked the chair over in the process. Then she hurried to the ladies’ room.

Kara leaned on the sink and stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes were wider than normal, her face perhaps a little pinker.

The bathroom door swung open, and she looked without turning, using the mirror to ascertain whether Jimmy had followed her in.

He hadn’t. It was Mel. She stood just inside the doorway, hands on her hips. “So you want me to kick his ass or what?”

“Right. The first guy to look more than twice in my direction since I don’t know when, and all I want is for my big sis to chase him away.”

Mel lifted her brows. “You’re exaggerating. Lots of guys have looked in your direction.”

She rolled her eyes. “Until they get hurt, at least.”

“You’re not a klutz anymore, Kara. Stop thinking like one.” Mel came closer, nodding slowly. “So you want this thing to work out with him?”

“Yeah. I do. It’s just... hard to believe it’s real.”

“Maybe for you it is.” Mel put a hand on her sister’s shoulder, holding her gaze in the mirror. “I gotta tell you, sis, it’s not all that surprising to anyone else.”

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