Take Me Home for Christmas Read Online Free PDF Page A

feel we should be here in case he calls.”
    “Okay, but you won’t drink tonight, will you? With all the stress you’re under—” she narrowed her eyes “—I wouldn’t want you to resort to your old tricks.”
    Tricks? Sophia glanced at her daughter. She hated having Alexa hear that. “I haven’t had a drink since I went into New Beginnings.”
    “Or so she says,” Dale muttered under his breath. “If that was true, maybe she’d have a clearer memory of...certain details.”
    Like where their son had gone or what had happened to him. She understood that. But she didn’t dignify the remark with a response for fear he’d try to make her look worse. She didn’t want Alexa to blame her, to believe alcohol was the reason she had no idea when Skip had gotten up or where he might’ve gone. “Thanks again.”
    When they drove away, Sophia stared after them. If Skip didn’t come back, she’d have to continue dealing with his parents on her own, and she could tell that wouldn’t be any easier than dealing with the FBI.
    “You coming?” Alexa spoke as she climbed the steps to the elaborately carved front doors Skip had purchased abroad.
    “Right behind you.” Normally, she would’ve stopped to admire the Halloween decorations she’d put up before they left. She loved the holidays, from Halloween to Christmas. But tonight none of that seemed important.
    She bumped her suitcase up the steps because she was too tired to carry it, and let them in. The house smelled of grapefruit and mango from the expensive candles Sophia liked to burn.
    “Home at last,” she breathed.
    “If only Dad was home with us,” Lexi mumbled and, head bowed, started for her room.
    “No kiss good-night?” Sophia called after her.
    Dropping her suitcase onto the marble floor with a resounding bang, she came hurrying back. “I’m sorry, Momma. I’m just... It hurts. I’m afraid I’ll never see him again.”
    “I know.” She held her daughter tight, wishing she loved Skip as much as Lexi did. At least now she wanted him back—for their daughter’s sake and because living with him, difficult as it was, would probably be easier than solving the problems he’d left behind. “Let’s get some sleep,” she said as she straightened.
    After Alexa had settled in, Sophia went to bed telling herself that it would all get better in the morning. But the call that woke her in the middle of the night told her it was only going to get worse.
    * * *
    Ted Dixon almost didn’t attend Friday morning coffee with his friends. It was a ritual, something he looked forward to all week. As a novelist, he sat in front of his computer for hours every day, didn’t get out of the house very often. And he’d known most of the people he met at Black Gold since he was in grade school. He always enjoyed seeing them. But after the shocking news that had swept through town the past week, he could easily guess what the topic of conversation would be, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to participate. Everyone would be studying him, trying to ascertain his reaction—and although he’d had plenty of practice at pretending he wasn’t interested in anything to do with his old flame, he felt that some of his friends could see through him.
    On the other hand, if he didn’t go, they’d likely figure out why. Not showing up might give away more than joining the group as if this Friday was no different from any other.
    “Hey, you made it.” Callie Pendleton, a photographer by trade, was the first to greet him. She’d had a liver transplant a year and a half ago, but no one would’ve been able to tell. She looked as healthy and robust as any other woman. Levi, her husband, was in line to order, along with Riley Stinson, a building contractor who had a fourteen-year-old son but had never married.
    “Why wouldn’t I make it?” he asked, pretending to be unaware of the added interest he was about to face.
    “You haven’t heard?” This came from Noah Rackham,