Mary Leo - Christmas with the Rancher

But when it came time for her to leave with her mom, she could only bring two suitcases filled with her things and the tiara didn’t make the cut. At the time, she figured she’d be back for her things later, probably in a week or so. Had she known they wouldn’t be returning to Briggs anytime soon, she would’ve brought her tiara with her. It had been one of her favorite things. She had no idea what happened to it and hadn’t thought about it in years.

“That was a long time ago. We haven’t spoken to each other since we were kids. How can we possibly still be best friends?”

Jaycee threw Bella a look as if she didn’t understand the question. “Did you get another best friend?”

Not even close.

“No, but friends keep in touch.”

“I figured you were busy, is all. I forgave you for not answering my letters.”

“You forgave me? You sent me one letter telling me how Travis had started hanging around with the popular girls in school and when I asked you to be more specific you never wrote back.”

The news that Travis had moved on so quickly had devastated Bella and had taken her a long time to get over the hurt.

Jaycee took a sip of her drink. “I wrote back, but you’d already moved. The letter came back to me, unopened with no forwarding address. Besides, I was mad at you for leaving and not telling me first. I eventually forgave you and sent you another letter, but that one came back, as well. Now that I have kids of my own I know exactly how much they misinterpret situations they don’t understand. It was your mama’s decision to leave, not yours. I just couldn’t understand that when I was twelve.”

It was true. Bella knew that a twelve-year-old looked at friends and boys much differently than an adult did. And it was also true that she and her mom had moved a lot in the beginning, so she needed to cut Jaycee some slack for the absent letters. And just as a loving warm feeling washed over Bella and she leaned in to tell Jaycee how much she wanted to rekindle thier friendship, a male voice interrupted her.

“As I live and breathe. Little Bella Biondi. Now that’s a Christmas miracle.”

Bella turned to face a grown up Dusty Spenser, the one boy who could have given Travis a run for his money when they were kids. Dusty had grown into his big hands and feet. He had to be at least six-four with a shock of jet-black hair, the same chiseled nose and baby-blue eyes that used to make her swoon whenever she gazed into them.

Dusty marched right up to her, scooped her up in his strong arms and twirled her around like a cloth doll. As she twirled she spotted Travis, looking as gorgeous as ever in a dark green sweater and tight jeans. She thought she never wanted to see him again since he’d so rudely left her on the ground outside.

Until now.

Now she wanted to be in his arms and not Dusty’s, just as she had wanted to be his girlfriend when they were kids, but she knew darn well where that would lead as adults.

Nowhere.

Dusty finally stopped twirling her and plopped her down. Travis stood nearby the buffet table, which featured every combination of potatoes known to mankind. He was staring right at her as he looked up from a conversation he was having with several women Bella recognized as the more popular girls from school. What they were doing at her party, she didn’t know. She never liked them, and they never liked her.

Apparently, Travis had a much different relationship.

One of the women seemed to be tugging on his hand, while another pulled on his arm to go in the opposite direction. Bella couldn’t be sure if he was seriously trying to get away from them or simply flirting. Regardless, she wished he hadn’t come to her party.

Granted, seeing her childhood friends had been enjoyable, especially Jaycee who she would like to see again sometime, but that was as far as it went. This town was not her home and these people were no longer her people. She truly didn’t fit in anymore. If her dad thought seeing everyone would change her mind about the sale, it had accomplished the exact opposite.

For one thing, Travis seemed to have grown into the man that Jaycee had only mildly described in her letter. Now he seemed to be more of the town stud instead of the school flirt that Jaycee had noted.

Dusty yammered on about how glad he was to see her. How he was a Realtor now, with his own business out of Jackson, Wyoming. He even gave her a card, but all Bella wanted was to get the heck out of there, and not just the tavern, but the entire state.

And as soon as the world stopped spinning, she would do just that.

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