Operation: Married by Christmas

A flash of red caught his eye and, as quick as that, he was watching Haley again as she removed the little red coat she’d been wearing. The room was warm as toast, but when she slipped her graceful arms from the wool coat, he wished the heat would stop working. It was obvious that she’d stayed in shape, though she did look a bit thin to him. She probably worked out alongside the rich and famous at one of those preppy little gyms. After all, networking was a fact of life in any business, especially Haley’s profession. If you wanted to be successful, you had to go where your clients were—and looking at the tanned, lean muscles of Haley’s arms and her trim figure clad in the shimmering sleeveless top and flowing skirt that clung to her hips then flared out about her legs in a soft swirl of vibrant cloth, it was more than apparent that she must know all about networking.

“Hey, Will, what’s up?” Sheri Gentry said, sailing past him to grab the coffeepot. Will sidestepped out of the way. Everyone knew that Sheri, the local nail tech and co-owner with Lacy of the salon Heavenly Inspirations, was a coffee-drinking dynamo. She and her husband, Pace, had just arrived back from a trip to Australia and like Haley, Sheri had a tan that wouldn’t quit.

“Not much, Sheri. How’s life treating you?”

She glanced at him over her shoulder. “Peachy.”

Will chuckled then found himself glancing back toward Haley. He was so surprised to find her walking his way that he almost dropped his cup. He’d been out of line at their last meeting. If they were going to be working together, he had to be a man about it and act like an adult. That meant holding his tongue and keeping the past in the past.

Haley stopped beside Applegate, resting a hand on App’s crossed arms and lifting an eyebrow. “Interesting group we have for the prop production.”

It wasn’t a question but a forthright statement that said she, too, hadn’t missed that they were on the same team. And she had her suspicions. Applegate’s expression didn’t change at all. He looked from Haley to Will. “We needed persons with creativity and abilities, and the two of you fit the bill purdy perfect. I ’spect the good Lord was smiling on us when He brought the two of you back here. So, of course, I picked the both of you fer the design team. Now, I got me a good group of painters and such, but seein’ how the two of you is so good at drawin’ I figured y’ all kin git in here first, draw up the different sets Lacy’s askin’ fer and then we kin pull the others away from their other projects to paint.”

Will met Haley’s gaze and couldn’t miss her look of displeasure. Well, he wasn’t any more thrilled at being thrown in with her than she was. All the years since she’d abandoned him at the altar had left him with emotions he tried to keep buried deep. There was no way of getting around the fact that he’d thought all these years that he still loved her. But he’d realized just this week that there was indeed a fine line between love and hate. And though he didn’t hate Haley, these feelings he’d been carrying around couldn’t still be love. More likely they were a mixture of hurt, loss and longing for what she’d left behind.

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