LITMIR.BIZ

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evening. I’m Dallas Dubois, for WTAL News. Good night and Roll, Tide!”

      Daniel gave the signal the mic was off. “Okay, we’re clear.”

      “Oh, my God, I cannot stand kids!” Dallas blurted out as soon as she was off the hook. Then she caught a glimpse of herself in the monitor, and the producer began shouting frantically in her ear, “We’re live! We’re still live!”

      Dallas froze. Her career and that anchor chair were hanging in the balance.

      “I just cannot, uh, stand kids, uh...to be alone during the holidays,” she said trying to save herself.

      Daniel had the camera on a tripod and began writing notes on his hand at lightning speed for Dallas to read. She squinted as she spoke.

      “So don’t forget to join us in a few short weeks for the Tuscaloosa production of...uhm...Sleigh Bells, to benefit the...uhm...Children’s Home. I’m Dallas Dubois, WTAL News.”

      “And now we’re clear.” Daniel knew he was in a heap of trouble.

      Dallas was fuming.

      “Next time, you idiot, make sure I’m actually clear when you tell me clear. My God, you’re gonna cost me my job.”

      She was perched somewhere between infuriated and mortified. With Cal causing a flare-up, kids ruining her skirt, not to mention telling all of Tuscaloosa County that she hated children, Dallas decided it was best to ignore her racing heart and her raging temper, and get the heck outta there as fast as possible.

      She ran straight out into the cold November night as fast as her five-inch stilettos would carry her, jumped in the TV truck and switched on the heater. Daniel followed close behind, slamming the double doors in the back and jumping into the satellite truck. They sped away from the happy hospital waiting room, now in full party mode. Dallas had never really been part of that group anyway, although her father had been married to Blake’s mother for about ten years at one time, back when the girls were teenagers. Blake could technically have been considered her stepsister. Instead, they’d remained archrivals throughout their lives.

      With Vivi and Blake best friends, and Lewis and Cal best friends, the circle was pretty tight, and they purposely left no room for Dallas. Not that she would have wanted to be part of that group in the first place. They all considered her a snob, and Dallas told herself she was just fine with all that. And she thought she was, till she had that flare-up tonight.

      “See Cal’s back in town,” Daniel said, breaking the silence.

      “Yeah, I saw. He’s been back since the spring, I think,” Dallas answered, making small talk.

      “Didn’t y’all have a fling or somethin’?” Daniel asked her.

      “I most certainly did not have a fling with him. I absolutely can’t stand that man,” she shot back. “And if you don’t hush your mouth, I swear I’m fixin’ to beat your ass,” she said with only a hint of sarcasm.

      “I know what I saw. You looked a little nervous when he hugged you there.”

      “No, I was just surprised. You know, caught in the moment, all the excitement.” Dallas fidgeted in her seat. “I’m cold, can you please just let it go and turn up the heat?”

      Daniel had been Dallas’s cameraman the whole time she had worked at WTAL: six years and counting now. He was a smallish man with a dark receding hairline, though he was only about thirty. He had a warm smile and inviting, sweet brown eyes. He wasn’t married, and the girlfriends were here and there—no one at the moment. Dallas had never been interested in him romantically. She towered over him for one thing, and she wouldn’t be caught dead wearing flats to accommodate a man. She hardly was ever really nice to him, though she claimed it was because he was out to push her buttons, which he was doing right this second.

      But then, she was hardly nice to anyone.

      “From what I saw, you were already hot back there in Cal’s arms,” Daniel teased her. He grinned and reached for the heater controls as Dallas yanked her coat up around her neck. Unfortunately, Cal’s cologne was lingering on her jacket, making the flare-up continue, even though they had left the hospital.

      Something about Cal made Dallas want to hit him. He was so cocky, for one thing, but mostly it was because he ignored her when what she really wanted was to fall into his arms. That wasn’t going to happen, so she clung to the idea of hitting him. That way she was safe from her own feelings. Add another layer to that emotional firewall.

      Whatever emotions and secrets brewed behind her crystal-blue eyes, she was determined no one would find out. With long legs up to here and her busty cleavage usually visible down to there, Dallas looked like a centerfold. It was part of her armor, and she had absolutely no intention of letting those barriers crumble. Ever. And especially not now with her dream job at stake.

      With her future on the line, she certainly could not afford to lose any control. And Cal made her lose control. As they arrived back at the TV station, she promised herself she’d stay away from him at all costs. No matter what. She’d managed it since they’d finished college, and she could manage it now.

      But with Cal back in town, that might just be a bit harder than she hoped.

      2

      Two weeks later

      “Absolutely not! There is no earthly way I can take over directing that play. I have no time for that. I’m a professional reporter! I have a busy career! And anyway, the rehearsals conflict with my pedicure appointments.” Dallas fumed as she sat at her desk in the WTAL newsroom sipping her sweet tea she’d picked up from Taco Casa. In Alabama, sweet iced tea was a way of life, year-round. Known commonly as the house wine of the Deep South, it was the drink of choice for any time of the day. And after the news Dallas had just received, it was gonna be either sweet tea or vodka.

      It was a little over two weeks before Christmas and the director of the children’s Christmas play Sleigh Bells had come down with the flu. Since Dallas had been at a few of the rehearsals because she was the celebrity emcee, the board of the theater had decided she was the best candidate and had asked her to step in and direct. This was the cause for her latest in a recent string of hissy fits.

      “Dallas, I’m sorry, but it’s station policy for staff to volunteer for charity during Christmas,” Mike Maddox, the news director, told her. “You know the way it works, and this is the perfect opportunity.”

      “I certainly do, and that’s exactly what I was doing by going to the occasional rehearsal—my required community appearances. Appearances! I just cannot direct the whole play, Mike. C’mon.”

      “The president of the board called me and asked if we would support this, and I told him absolutely. It’s our duty to the city of Tuscaloosa during Christmas. Imagine the press we’ll get over this. Imagine the press you’ll get over this. I know how bad you want that anchor chair, Dallas, and this ingrains you into the city of Tuscaloosa a little deeper. It’s a win-win, you know?”

      While the responsibility of directing a play didn’t appeal to her at all—and the thought of working with kids appealed to her even less—she couldn’t deny that any publicity right now would be good publicity. Dallas rolled her eyes. “Ugh! Fine! I’ll just reschedule my standing mani-pedis. I should tell you, though—I’m not an actress, and I don’t know the first thing about theater and, oh, by the way, I’m not so great with children either. But, sure, if this is what they want...great.”

      “Good, I knew you’d see it my way,” Mike said as he headed off toward the studio—either oblivious to the sarcasm in Dallas’s voice or else just ignoring it.

      She looked at her Gucci watch. It was early afternoon in mid-December in Tuscaloosa. The crisp fall air had given way to winter, and Christmastime was twinkling from every corner of this college town. She thought about the Christmas parade next week and her spot atop the WTAL-TV News float right behind the mayor’s float. She loved the idea that the entire

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