Sleigh Belles

Join the Sassy Belles this holiday season—it’s Christmas, Southern-style!

With her hair perfectly coiffed, nails freshly manicured and a heavy trail of perfume wafting behind her, local news reporter Dallas Dubois is sure she’s about to kick her career—and maybe her love life—into high gear. The director of the Tuscaloosa children’s Christmas play has fallen ill, and Dallas is ordered by her station manager to take the reins. Everyone is shocked—especially Cal Hollingsworth, who still remembers her as the Ice Queen from high school.

If nothing else, Dallas has never met a challenge that a little lip gloss and a Chanel knockoff couldn’t fix. But she has no idea how to relate to these kids, and their brutal honesty is giving her pause. Things are made even more complicated by the butterflies she gets whenever Cal is near....

But when long-lost family members reenter her life, Dallas’s icy veneer begins to melt. And with Cal by her side, she soon realizes that it’s what’s under all the hair spray that counts.

Sleigh Belles

Beth Albright

www.mirabooks.co.uk

For my Brooks, my son, my precious friend, the center of my universe. I loved you from the moment I thought of you and it has grown into the most wonderful priceless love I have ever known. You are a special soul, and I am the luckiest mother on earth to have you for my child. This book is all about family, and you are the very definition of the word. I am so proud of the man you have become, brilliant and sensitive, thoughtful and loving. As in everything I do, this is all for you.

I love you more than any words could ever express.

For my Ted, and my precious mother, Betty—

our little family is absolutely everything to me.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Acknowledgments

1

Dallas couldn’t believe she was having another flare-up. Not now, not tonight, when she had this huge story to report. For Dallas Dubois, trying to get over Cal Hollingsworth was like trying to get over a chronic allergy. You could pretty much count on flare-ups for the rest of your life. Like if you’re allergic to bee stings. One little prick and you’ll find yourself in the emergency room.

Ironically, that’s exactly where she was when she began having the latest of these chronic flare-ups: in the waiting room of the hospital E.R.

Not that anything was wrong with her. She was there to cover a story: Lewis Heart, the Alabama Crimson Tide star football announcer, was rushing to the hospital to see his brand-new baby girl make her way into the world. He had just finished announcing the big win over rival Auburn in the Iron Bowl Classic, and he was sliding into the E.R. just under the wire. Dallas was right there on the scene to cover the birth of the new baby, which was big news in the college town of Tuscaloosa. Lewis was considered Tuscaloosa royalty since he was the “Voice” of the Crimson Tide, the national champion football team, and that was reason enough to cover this big arrival.

“The biggest rivalry in all of college football is going down today, and this is the day that redheaded Vivi chooses to have her baby,” Dallas muttered as she ran into the emergency room just barely ahead of Lewis.

“Well, I think this is par for her. Remember, they got married on the day of the season kickoff,” Daniel, her cameraman, said as he raced in after her, nearly tripping over the camera cords.

“I know it! Who the hell gets married during football season?”

Lewis dashed into the emergency room, huffing and puffing right past Dallas. His best friend, Cal, was running in right after him, just like the days when they both played for the college football team themselves. In they ran, Cal swooshing right by Dallas without even noticing her. That’s when she felt the acute symptoms of this chronic condition coming on again.

Great, she thought. How can I do my job with him here?

This report had to be good, but Cal always had a way of making Dallas lose her train of thought. Already her heart was racing and her mouth was dry.

How does he do this to me? This is ridiculous. She smoothed her hair and slid her lipstick over her lips one last time, trying to get ready for her live shot.

Dallas had fought this allergy ever since high school when she’d first developed an infatuation with Cal, the super-smart quarterback of the Tuscaloosa High School Warriors. Dallas had such a crush on him back then, and that old crush was the source of all these symptoms now because, the truth was, her feelings never really went away.

Dallas forced herself to focus. She smiled into the camera as Daniel counted her down to showtime.

“Good evening, Tuscaloosa! I’m Dallas Dubois, reporting live from Druid City Hospital for WTAL News where we’re all eagerly awaiting the birth of the newest addition to our football lovin’ town! Our very own Voice of the Crimson Tide and his lovely wife, Vivi, are expecting their first child at any moment, and we’ll be right here to bring the news to you firsthand...” Dallas continued her speech into the camera, but she was having trouble concentrating. She stared at the handsome Cal, the “symptoms” taking over her completely.

Thankfully, it was only minutes before Lewis rushed out to the eager crowd that had gathered in the waiting room. “It’s a girl! Baby Tallulah is finally here! Oh, my God, she is gorgeous!” Lewis was totally over-the-top excited. “I barely made it,” he admitted. “Now I got me two little redheads!”

Everyone clapped and hugged each other, celebrating and high-fiving while Daniel captured the whole event on camera. Before Dallas even knew what happened, she found herself pushed into Cal’s arms.

“Hey, Cal.” She swallowed hard and forced a smile.

“Hey, Dallas...”

They were face-to-face, inches apart.

He looked at her awkwardly. She pulled away with an uncomfortable grin. Seeing Cal was dangerous. It threatened the thick emotional walls she’d built up over the years to protect her most intimate secrets.

The worst part was, in her opinion, Cal could be such a jerk. He’d never really liked her, always telling his friends she was self-absorbed, the Original Ice Queen.

How could he make her heart always feel as if it was fixin’ to jump right outta her chest if they really didn’t even like each other? That little question had always bothered her. But she figured it was pointless trying to make sense of how these things worked. The heart wants what the heart wants and all that. What she did know is that they were never going to be together.

Whatever this was, this chronic allergy she had to Cal, she also knew she could never find herself in this position again—within inches of Cal’s gorgeous face. Being anywhere within five hundred yards of him and she could feel that emotional firewall grow weak and start to crumble. That wall had taken her years to build.

Dallas was a model-like beauty, tall, with long legs and long, bouncy, blond hair. She loved her makeup, too, like any good pageant girl from the Deep South. The saying in the pageant world was More is better, and Dallas followed that to perfection. She justified it because she was on TV. But she would have worn that much makeup if she had been an employee at Taco Casa, her very favorite place to feed her biggest habit, sweet iced tea.

Whenever Dallas was around, you knew it. She was just as generous with her perfume as she was with her makeup. Flowerbomb was her trademark scent, and, since she always wanted to leave her mark, a heavy cloud of it followed her wherever she went.

Dallas glanced around the waiting room. It was literally bursting at the seams, not even room for a sneeze. Her archrival in all things from beauty pageants to men, Blake O’Hara Heart, was there, of course. She was Vivi’s best friend and the two were almost always together. Blake’s mother and grandmother were also there, along with Lewis’s older brother, newly elected Alabama Senator Harry Heart, who Blake was now divorcing. He was talking to everyone in the waiting room as if he was still on the campaign stump.

And Cal, unfortunately, was part of that little clique, making Dallas even more uncomfortable. She spotted him chatting with Blake and Sonny Bartholomew, the chief homicide investigator and Blake’s lover. Cal and Sonny had just solved a huge murder investigation together a few months ago, and they had become fast friends.

Dallas caught herself staring at Cal, and she noticed immediately that he still wasn’t wearing a wedding ring. He was tall—about six foot three—which had really helped him as a quarterback. He had dark golden sandy-brown hair that he wore a little long, swept over his forehead. His eyes were a light grayish green, and that body was still in perfect quarterback shape. People had always told him he was heartthrob handsome. He ran the computer sciences department out at the university now, which gave him a sexy-academic quality that made Dallas weak in the knees.

Dallas stiffened herself and put the microphone to her mouth as the camera began to roll again.

Just then, a child from another family in the waiting room zipped by her, slamming into her thigh and splashing her winter-white skirt with red punch.

“Oh, my Lord,” Dallas screeched. “Can’t y’all keep these kids under control? Look at me!”

Dallas was comin’ unglued, but she refused to ruin her broadcast. Her job was everything to her.

“And you’re on in five, four, three...” Daniel gave the countdown, and then she was on the air, red stain and all.

He pushed in tight, trying not to show the giant red blemish on her skirt. The kids were going wild, running around and around her in the excitement of getting on camera, their mother chasing them down on live TV.

Dallas kept it together. She was a pro.

She was always perfect when it came to her reporting, since there was nothing in the world she valued more than her flourishing career. She was used to shoving down her emotions and just doing her job. She had been doing that for years, working so hard to become the star reporter she was. Now she was pushing for that coveted anchor chair that would soon be vacant, so there was no room to be anything less than stunning.

“Baby Tallulah Heart has finally arrived,” she began, her smile gleaming for the camera, “topping off this incredible night for our Voice of the Crimson Tide. Alabama slammed Auburn in this year’s Iron Bowl earlier today, and our own Lewis Heart adds another redhead to his family, so we can count that as two victories this 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 town would be watching and cheering as she rode on by, but now that she had the Christmas play to direct, her schedule was growing tighter by the minute.

Though she already had another story to cover today, the next rehearsal was in just a couple of hours, Mike had told her, and Dallas knew she had to introduce herself to the kids and try to make this transition as easy as possible. Just get through it, she told herself, as if going to rehearsal was like scheduling surgery.

She grabbed her coat as she ran out the door to visit Miss Peaches Shelby who’d had part of her holiday manger scene stolen from her yard. Peaches was so upset ’cause it was the second year in a row that her plastic Baby Jesus was snatched right outta her plastic stable. “They always leave the shepherds, but they take that Baby Jesus every single time,” she’d complained on the phone to Dallas. It wasn’t exactly big news, but Dallas would never turn down the possibility of camera time.

Climbing into the van where Daniel was already waiting, she buckled in with a loud huff. “Hey, Daniel, let’s get this over with as quick as possible, okay? I have a thing at the Bama Theatre this afternoon,” Dallas barked as they drove out of the parking lot heading to Miss Peaches’s house. “Lucky me, I get all these lead stories. This one should surely get me that anchor chair,” she muttered sarcastically.

“I remember we interviewed her last year about this very same thing,” he said.

“I know, and now she says pictures are being sent to her from everywhere on campus showing her Baby Jesus statue first one place and then another.”

“Kinda like those little gnomes people take on vacation for pictures everywhere, huh?”

They pulled into the driveway of Peaches Shelby’s home, her little plastic manger scene filled to capacity, except for Baby Jesus. Peaches met them outside, and Daniel began setting up the shot with his camera. Dallas trotted across the cold ground in her usual five-inch heels to greet Miss Peaches.

“Hey, Ms. Dubois,” she said, smiling as Dallas showed her where to stand. “I’m so happy to see you again, but of course not under these circumstances.” She quickly switched to a sulky frown, visibly upset as she related the story of the stolen plastic statue to Dallas and the cameraman.

“And the very next morning, he was pure ole dee gone, I tell ya. Just like into thin air. And that ain’t no miracle! I do believe it’s those same boys from that frat house that did this last year.”

“Have you called the police?” Dallas asked with her microphone now under Ms. Peaches’s nose.

“Yes, I most certainly did. They said they’d be lookin’ all over campus.”

“Where have these pictures been taken, can you tell?” Dallas asked her.

“Well, there was one with Baby Jesus at Denny Chimes sittin’ on Joe Namath’s handprints. Then they sent one from the steps of the library. They’s crazy, whoever took it. That’s just pure awful, don’t y’all think?”

“Yes, Miss Peaches. We will do what we can to get the word out.” Dallas thanked her and repositioned herself near the empty manger to do her stand-up.

“As you can see, Miss Peaches’s stable is empty. There have been sightings of the statue all over the University of Alabama’s campus. If anyone knows the whereabouts of Baby Jesus, please call the Tuscaloosa Police department or WTAL TV. I’m Dallas Dubois, WTAL. Okay, Daniel that’s a wrap.”

She told Miss Peaches goodbye and turned toward the van to wait for Daniel with the heater on high. It was nearly four o’clock, and the kids were going to be waiting at the theater. She was dreading this. It was true that she was not really a fan of kids—anyone’s kids—but mostly Dallas just didn’t want to be bothered by other people. Call it selfish or self-preservation, she did whatever she had to do to take care of herself, of her career, and that didn’t leave much room in her life for anyone else. Especially not for little children in a Christmas play.