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Jake leaned back on his side of the booth they shared and sighed. “It is. The one and only Coralee.” He wasn’t sure what to make of the whole thing. Running into her stirred his old feelings up, and he didn’t know what to do with them.
“What do you think she was doing here? Pretty huge coincidence to run into her in Houston of all places, wouldn’t you say?” Dana asked.
“I’m guessing she works here. I haven’t kept in touch. Obviously.”
“Mmhmm. Obviously,” Dana replied. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Me? Nothing. It was just weird to see her. I missed the last couple of Christmases back home, so I didn’t see her. Which was for the best.”
“If it was for the best, then why do you look so twisted up over it?”
“Things didn’t end . . . well. Our parents are best friends, so it was, uncomfortable I guess you could say, for a long time when we’d come home from college and stuff to visit. Her mom and my mom are literally best friends; they hang out all the time.”
“Uh huh. I see. That doesn’t explain why you look like you lost your puppy or something.” Dana eyed him suspiciously, and Jake knew he couldn’t lie about how he felt.
“I never wanted things to end. One day she just decided that was it. No explanation. No anything, just wouldn’t talk to me anymore. Finally, I just went off to college and avoided getting any updates on her or seeing her for as long as I could. She broke my damn heart.”
“Aww, Jakey.” He glared at her surreptitiously. “Seriously. Maybe this is a sign.”
“A sign? What kind of sign? That I need to move on past high school?” Jake’s laugh didn’t hold humor, and he was a little disappointed she’d affected him this way. “In all seriousness, it’s not a sign of anything other than that I’ll probably see her at Christmas when our parents get together I’m sure.”
“If you say so,” Dana said, skepticism in her voice.
Jake spent the rest of the evening in his hotel room thinking over what Dana had said. Was it a sign? He hadn’t seen Coralee in at least two years, best he could recall, and even then she stirred up his emotions. Maybe it was time to get some closure. He decided to give it some consideration and maybe try to talk to her when they were both home for Christmas. He didn’t know how long she’d be there; he guessed she was living in Houston now but had no idea. She’d evaded his question earlier. Another thing to wonder about.
By the next morning, the snow had started, and Jake wanted to get on the road back to El Paso as quickly as possible. He needed to head back to the rodeo offices to meet up with Billy and sign the papers for the sheep. He’d coordinated with his brothers in advance what was a fair price, and even got their dad’s input as well, who was thrilled to see his boys expanding the ranch they’d grown up on.
When Jake arrived at the rodeo office, it was fairly quiet, but the snow had picked up, as had Jake’s concern about the weather and getting on his way. Billy was waiting for him, and the receptionist led them to an office where they could go through the paperwork and seal the deal. After a brief chat and a handshake, the papers were signed, and Corriente Ranch was the proud owner of 30 new sheep who would be delivered to them between Christmas and New Year’s Day.
As he was preparing to leave, he caught sight of Coralee out of the corner of his eye. She was pacing up and down the hallway on her cell phone where she seemed to be having an exasperated conversation of some kind judging by the way she waved her free hand around. Deciding to stay for a moment to at least say hello, he loitered at Maggie’s empty desk. Coralee couldn’t see him sitting in Maggie’s chair, and when she rushed out to the lobby and slammed her phone down on the desk, she immediately shrieked at not finding Maggie there.
“Jesus Christ, Jake!” She clutched at her chest. He chuckled at her. “What the fuck are you doing here?” she asked, still catching her breath.
“Now is that any way to greet an oldfriend?” he replied.
“Old friend? Okay, if that’s what we’re doing. Sure. What are you doing here? Is there something I can help you with? Are you looking for Billy?”
“Nope, I came to see you.”
“Why would you come to see me?”
“Well, I saw you on the phone, and you looked upset. I wanted to see if there was anything I could do before I head back home.”
Coralee scrunched her nose and pursed her lips slightly. It was one of her cuter expressions Jake always loved, and he couldn’t help but grin at her.
“No, I’m fine, but thanks.”
Jake could tell she wasn’t fine. It didn’t take training at Quantico to figure out when a woman said something was “fine” rarely was it fine at all.
“We both know that’s not true. What’s going on?”
“My flight home got cancelled. I’m just trying to figure out what to do. The airline said there’s no other flights until after Christmas.”
“Come home with me.” The words came out of his mouth before they registered in his brain. It was a perfectly logical solution; they were going the same place after all. He knew as soon as he suggested it she would say no.
“I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
