Christmas in Texas Read Online Free PDF Page A

them sometimes.”
    “Yeah, I know.” He sighed. “It’s an honest mistake. A
disconnect, even. Excuse me.”
    “Where are you going?”
    He didn’t answer, strolling down the hall. She heard the front
door open, and Seagal’s voice cheerily greeting someone. Then the door closed
and he made it back to his chair.
    “Apple pie,” Seagal announced. “Courtesy of Mrs. Blankenship.
Guess Doc told his wife you were in need of something sweet.”
    “Is there a reason the doorbell isn’t ringing?” Capri
asked.
    “I disconnected it,” Seagal said, obviously pleased with
himself. “You need to rest. I didn’t want you waking up when my cop buddies drop
by.”
    This was one of the problems they’d never been able to
overcome. “There’s that disconnect you were talking about,” Capri said. “That
man-woman disconnect.”
    “Well,” Seagal said, “it’s going to be a long couple of months.
You might as well make like a bear and hibernate back here under that lacy
comforter.” He looked longingly at the bed.
    She slid the phone under her pillow so he wouldn’t decide to
commandeer that, as well. “Go away, Seagal.”
    A snore caught her attention. Just like the old days, Seagal
had dropped off like a tired baby. Even snoring he looked handsome, and she
thought about tossing another pillow at him.
    She wished he was sleeping in her bed, as he once had. Most
nights they’d barely moved, completely curled in each other’s arms.
    It could not be.
    She closed her eyes, relaxing now that Seagal wasn’t watching
her. As long as he was sleeping, he wasn’t in her business.
    That was good. It was what she wanted. She didn’t want to start
feeling close to Seagal again, not now.
    She might be in bed on doctor’s orders, but she wasn’t going to
hand her heart to her husband again—even if it was terribly hard not to remember
that once upon a time he’d meant everything to her.
    * * *
    “A T LEAST you’re not lonely,” Kelly said, grinning at Capri as she put a
beautiful Christmas-themed bouquet of flowers on the dresser in Capri’s room.
“If you think about it, matters could be a lot worse. I would love to have a
hunky man hanging out in my bedroom.”
    Capri looked at her highly energetic friend. “I still say you
only have to ask Jack and you’d probably get your wish.”
    Kelly sat down in the chair Seagal had dragged into the room
yesterday, making himself at home in her room between visits and calls from his
buddies and her friends who continuously dropped off food. He hadn’t yet let
anybody past the front door.
    “I think Jack’s got his eyes on someone else.”
    Capri looked at her friend. Kelly’s hair was pulled up on top
of her head in a flaming-red knot of bouncy fun. Dangling Christmas ornaments
hung from her ears, shiny red-striped balls that screamed festive. Capri did not
feel festive. “Jack never dated much. Who do you think it is?”
    “I think Daisy Donovan.” Kelly’s face grew downcast, a
counterpoint to the happy ornaments bobbing at her cheeks. “I saw them hanging
out at the burger joint last night.”
    Capri wrinkled her nose. “I don’t think Jack would date a woman
that Seagal was once very serious about.”
    “Serious until he fell for you,” Kelly reminded her.
    Capri always felt pain at the mention of Daisy. “What happened
was that they dated for a year. It got too serious, and Daisy decided she wanted
to date other people. I jumped on the chance to ask Seagal out.” She shrugged.
“We went out, and I’m not ashamed to say we had a very good time. I wasn’t
trying to steal him from Daisy, but I wasn’t about to leave him in the pond if
she’d decided to cast him back.”
    “Point being, he fell for you.” Kelly grinned. “You’re lying in
this bed because he’s crazy about you.”
    “That’s the thing,” Capri said, “I’ve always felt like I did
steal him from Daisy. And I think Seagal secretly was still in love with her,
but she kept