Oklahoma Christmas Blues Read online

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  It was a gorgeous afternoon, chilly enough so you could see your breath, but sunny and bright. Sophia was glad she hadn’t taken her jacket off. Darryl closed the back door and crossed the snow-dusted lawn toward the massive wooden play set where the kids were already climbing like monkeys.

  Sophia brushed off a swing, then sat down and pushed it into motion with her feet. She watched the kids playing while she did. Dahlia wasn’t shy at all about asking Darryl to help her up the ladder into the tower on top of the set. Not that she needed any help at all, as she demonstrated by careening down the slide, and then scurrying back up the ladder again all by herself.

  No longer needed, Darryl came and sat on the empty swing beside Sophia’s. “I owe you an apology.”

  “Yes, you do,” she said. She was in a playful, happy, holiday mood. Thanks to this crazy huge family. “I hope that wasn’t it.”

  He sighed, lowered his head. He was sitting still on the swing, but she was rocking back and forth on hers, not too high. Just high enough. When he lifted his head again he said, “I’m sorry I wasn’t honest with you.”

  “Nope, not gonna cut it. Not only is it insincere, but it wasn’t the least bit creative. You can do better.”

  He seemed surprised. “It’s very sincere. I didn’t expect there to be…sparks between us, or I’d have told you the truth right off the bat.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Pointless sparks, since you can hardly wait to get back to Texas.” Maybe he’d tell her he’d decided to stay here in Big Falls. Maybe he’d ask her to stay, too. So she dangled the bait, but he didn’t take it.

  “And since you’re heading back to New York soon,” he said. “That’s still the plan, right?” he asked.

  “Um-hm.” She had to avert her eyes. She didn’t like lying, so she said, “Probably. I mean, I haven’t really decided yet.”

  “So, then, what were you doing this morning at that big old Victorian on the south edge of town with the for sale sign on the front lawn?”

  She glanced at him sideways. “How do you know where I was this morning? Still spying on me for my cousins?”

  “Not for your cousins, no.”

  She frowned, preparing to ask what that was supposed to mean, but he went on before she could. “I was passing by and saw your car. Noticed that place had another sign on the lawn. ‘Big Falls Family Clinic.’”

  Sophia shrugged. “I was just curious. That’s all. Sunny, from the bakery, says the local doctor is retiring and moving to Boca.”


  “So then, you’re thinking seriously about staying?”

  She hated to be the first one in the water here, but she decided there was no point playing it cagey with him. He was too sharp. “Yeah, I am thinking about it.” Then she sent him a pointed look. “What about you, Darryl? Why are you still here?”

  “I was hungry and I was invited.”

  She shook her head. “I didn’t mean here at Bobby Joe and Vidalia’s local version of the North Pole. I meant here in Big Falls. I thought you’d leave once your job of spying on me was over.”

  “Watching over you, not spying on you,” he corrected. Then he shrugged. “The guys wanted two weeks to find a replacement.”

  She narrowed her eyes on him and he looked away. “You’re not cooking up a scheme to keep right on playing big strong male to the poor helpless little damsel in distress, are you?”

  He shook his head solemnly.

  “Why don’t I believe you?”

  “Because you don’t trust me. And that’s probably my fault for being less than honest at the start.”

  Sensing an opening, she stopped her swing. “Maybe I’d trust you more if I knew more about you,” she said.

  “I’m pretty much an open book. What do you want to know?”

  Sophia pounced on the opening like a kitten on a catnip mouse. “What made you so sad that you wrote that heartbreakingly beautiful Christmas song of yours?”