Page 188 of Our Little Secret

“Good.”

Taking a sip of her now tepid coffee, Brooke looked at the Christmas tree with its softly twinkling lights and touched a favorite ornament, a rocking horse engraved withBaby’s First Christmasand the year of Marilee’s birth. Her heart twisted a little. There were other ornaments as well, some with pictures of their family or just Marilee or even Shep. Others had been created by Marilee’s little hands in preschool and elementary school. A Styrofoam eggshell in the shape of a bell, a wooden clothespin with tiny wings to look like an angel.

Could she really let it all go?

Neal wanted a second . . . or was it third . . . or maybe thirtieth chance, but she wasn’t ready.

Let him deal with Leah.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she saw Austin Keller’s face on the screen. Then came a simple text message:Merry Christmas.

Her stupid heart fluttered. This hadn’t been the first time they’d texted and they’d seen each other at the school. She’d felt a bit of attraction to him and told herself to forget it. A high school crush should be kept locked away in the pages of the school yearbook. And truthfully, she had so many other issues to deal with. Yet she liked his rugged good looks, his easy smile, the fact that she’d known him forever, and, most importantly, how dedicated he was to his daughter....

No, she told herself.No, no, no. She bit her lip and stared at the screen, then wrote:

Backatcha. Merry Christmas.

Bubbles appeared, then a new message.

I was thinking? How about a drink on New Year’s Eve?

Oh. Wow. It didn’t seem like the smartest move.

Yet what would it hurt? Would a simple drink cause any more damage?

Impossible.

She couldn’t help herself and wrote back:

Why not? How ’bout it?