Operation: Married by Christmas by Debra Clopton

Author:Debra Clopton
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Debra Clopton
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2007-10-02T04:00:00+00:00

Will slammed his thumb with the hammer, held in a yelp of pain as he dropped the nail and tried to shake off the sting.

“Hey, buddy, if we’re ever going to get this prop finished, you’re going to have to stop watching Haley.”

Will glared at Clint Matlock, who was also nailing a two-by-four onto the back of the prop. He was grinning. “That had to hurt.”

“I wasn’t—”

Clint shook his head, totally enjoying Will’s discomfort. “No use denying it, Will. I’ve got eyes, too, you know. Me and everyone else on this crew back here. And believe me, I’m not the only one noticing that you can’t keep your eyes off that stage. And since I know you’re not watching my wife, and she’s the only other female up there—” he shrugged “—that makes it pretty obvious who you’re staring at.”

Will snatched another nail from the bag but refused to admit or deny that he’d been watching Haley. Instead he bashed the nail into the support bar. “Look,” he snapped when he was done. “It’s not what you’re thinking.”

“And what exactly would I be thinking?”

Will halted his hammer midswing and shot Clint a look of exasperation. “I’m not going to answer that.”

Clint chuckled and leaned closer so that no one else could overhear him. “Will, ask her out.”

“What?”

“Hey, don’t look at me like that. You know you want to. So do it. Ask her out. You guys never have talked about what happened, have you?”

Will slammed the nail in with two strikes. “Not really. Well, some. She did say that I was mean and inconsiderate. Not those exact words, but you get my drift. The woman walks out on our wedding and then tells me it was my fault. That I was a jerk.”

“You gotta admit, there were all those jokes.”

“Jokes?”

“Yeah, you know, the Haley Bell stories.”

Will let the hammer rest on the plywood and stared blankly at Clint. “I told those stories because she was so cute. I told her that.”

“I know that. Look, Will, we were young and stupid. But I’ve got to tell you. I’m married to about the most impulsive woman God ever created. That Lacy can get into more scrapes. The woman is a walking funny bone. But here’s what I know now that I might not have known then—I don’t go around telling things on her that I think others will take to the extreme and never let her live down. She trusts me.”

She trusts me. Will stared at Clint as his words sank in like hot tar melting into hard pavement. Had Haley trusted him, and he’d unknowingly let her down?

He turned and stared at her. She was laughing at something Bob or Lacy had said. Her head was tilted back, and her shoulders were shaking she was laughing so hard.

He wondered what was so funny and felt a pang of regret that he wasn’t in on the joke.

“Clint, I’m a jerk. But that doesn’t change all the facts. There’s too much old news between us.

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