The Heart of Christmas Read Online Free PDF

once.”
    “She always tries to get it out of him early. That’s why we know when it’s due. We’ve heard him complain that he’s supposed to have until the fifteenth. Anyway, this time she told him the utility company was going to shut off her electricity.”
    “He fell for that old trick?”
    “Kyle’s a big softie. And he still feels guilty for getting involved with her in the first place.” She took a moment to text him back.
    Hoping Cheyenne and Kyle’s conversation would end there, Eve entered a few more checks in her electronic register, but heard Cheyenne say her name a few seconds later.
    “Eve?”
    She curved her fingernails into her palms. “Yes?”
    “Noelle’s been telling Kyle some crazy stuff.”
    A knot formed in Eve’s stomach, but she had to answer. “Like what?”
    Eve could hear the change in Cheyenne’s voice, even though she wasn’t facing in that direction. “You didn’t go out last night, did you?”
    “For a while,” she hedged, and then did what she could to take control of the conversation. “But if Kyle wants to know what I did for my birthday, why isn’t he texting
me?
”
    “He says he tried and got no response. It has him worried.”
    After surveying her desk, she realized she must’ve left her phone in her car.
    “He wanted to know if you were at coffee this morning. Wants to make sure you’re okay.”
    “You can tell him I’m fine.” And to butt out. But she knew that wasn’t going to happen when Cheyenne gave a cry of surprise.
    “Noelle is claiming you took some guy home from Sexy Sadie’s!” With her extended abdomen, it was a struggle for Cheyenne to get to her feet. “Is that true?”
    Damn Noelle! Eve had suspected she wouldn’t keep her mouth shut, not while she was privy to such a delicious secret. And now that she’d blabbed, everyone in town would hear about Eve’s mistake.
    “Is it?”
Cheyenne asked.
    Letting her breath go in a sigh, Eve stopped pretending to work and turned. “I’m afraid I had a little too much to drink.”
    “Who were you with?”
    “Jared Somebody.”
    “
Somebody?
You don’t know his last name?”
    “We didn’t get that far,” Eve said with a shrug. “It was just a...a quick encounter. He left almost right away.”
    “But not before...”
    Eve was tempted to lie. But this was Chey. If she couldn’t tell her best friend when she screwed up, who could she tell? “No.”
    “Wow, that’s
so
unlike you.” Eyes wide with shock, she sank back into her seat. “I don’t think you’ve ever done anything like that in your life.”
    “I haven’t.”
    “What made you do it last night?”
    “That’s hard to explain.” She rubbed her temples.
    “Give it a try.”
    “You know how I feel about turning thirty-five.”
    “I do. And I understand why. But lots of women are marrying later in life. And they’re having children, too.” She touched her belly. “Look at me.”
    True. However, Chey’s situation was anything but typical. If not for the fact that Aaron, her brother-in-law, had donated sperm for an artificial insemination, which had happened in secret, she would be childless. Her husband didn’t know he wasn’t really the father. Eve wouldn’t know, either, if Cheyenne hadn’t broken down and told her during a brief scare when she began to spot at three months and feared she was about to have a miscarriage.
    “I was determined not to spend my birthday alone, so—”
    “I feel terrible,” Cheyenne broke in. “I should’ve been there for you.”
    “You couldn’t. You have a husband and other responsibilities now.” Not that it made the loss of her best friend’s time and attention any easier. Eve was more alone than she’d ever been. With her parents traveling so much, and her friends busy with their own lives, all she had to devote herself to was the B and B. Since she’d dated Ted last year, and he’d broken up with her for Sophia, she’d been even lonelier.
    “It wasn’t Dylan who