Read Online We'll Be Home for Christmas by Helenkay Dimon - Free Book Online Page B

said.
    “You didn’t like Cassidy at all when she first came back to town,” Darla pointed out.
    Cleo kept talking as if Darla had never spoken. “Cassidy was off living somewhere else before finding Mitch, but I’m betting we have wedding news after the holidays. The lead in the town’s betting pool is Christmas Eve. I say New Year’s. Mitch seems like the new-year-big-news type.”
    Lila had no idea what they were talking about.
    Darla turned to Lila. “But you have time.”
    Still lost . “For what?”
    Cleo shook her empty mug at Darla again. “To get Spence to commit, of course.”
    This older one never stopped with her agenda. “I’m not looking for—”
    Darla pointed at the glass doors to the diner. “His truck just pulled up. You better get going.”
    Lila looked up and saw lights outlining the window and a plastic Santa sitting right outside. “Why?”
    “There’s no reason to keep a good man waiting. Go get him, honey. I’m betting on you moving in with him by Christmas.” Darla finished the comment at a near shout that had the diner patrons mumbling in agreement.
    It took Lila an entire doughnut and two cups of coffee, but she was starting to get it. Darla wasn’t spouting off town folksiness. She said what was in her head and meant it. And sometimes that seemed like a bad thing. “And you mean an actual bet, right? Someone has actually started a pool already.”
    Darla flipped her order pad over and looked at the lines of blue print. “You want in?”
    Lila didn’t even know a head could pound this hard. “I’m trying to figure out how to get out.”
    Cleo picked up Lila’s coat and handed it to her. “Go get him.”
    “What?”
    She shook her head. “When will you modern ladies figure that out and stop with all this hard to get?”
    Darla laughed. “Words of wisdom.”
    What was happening here? The way Lila saw it she came in for breakfast and dropped down a hole. The town was Spence-obsessed and the more everyone talked about him, the harder it was for her not to think about him. It was like some evil matchmaking plan.
    “Go.” Cleo actually shooed Lila away. Pushed on her arm, shoving Lila off the chair.
    The older lady had a lot of strength behind that wall of gardenias. But suddenly the idea of running sounded good to Lila. She reached for the five tucked in her front jeans pocket. “I need to—”
    Darla waved her off. “Breakfast is on me today.”
    “I...uh. Okay.” Lila would have argued but she’d lost the ability to say much of anything. She put on her gloves, figuring getting out of there—and fast—might be the best response. Possibly the only response.
    She somehow made it to the door and through another round of quick smiles and small waves to the other diners. The cold air hit her and rushed down her throat the minute she stepped out onto the flurry-dampened sidewalk with her coat in her arms. The chill should have revived her but she couldn’t shake off the female conversation.
    Spence got out of the company truck and stood there by the open door. “I was just coming in to see if you had any interest in breakfast.”
    Now there was a terrible idea. “I wouldn’t go in there if I were you.”
    His smile dropped and his eyes narrowed as she got closer. “You look like someone punched you.”
    “They kind of did.”
    He came around the front of the vehicle in three long strides and met her at the passenger door. His hands went to her arms, rubbing up and down her now-frozen limbs. “Are you okay? What happened?”
    Lila nibbled on her bottom lip as she internally debated how much to tell him. “Darla and this lady named Cleo—”
    “Ah, Cleo.” The tension pulling across his cheeks left as he began to nod. “She’s a town treasure.”
    “Is that what we call her?” Lila tried to ignore the way her breath curled in a puff of smoke when she talked. Also tried to wiggle her toes to get the feeling back down there. The cold had settled the second she