The Sheriff Takes a Wife by Debbie Macomber

Author:Debbie Macomber [Macomber, Debbie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2016-01-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

“James,” Christy said quietly, “you know I consider you one of my dearest friends. I’ve always heard good friends make the best husbands…No,” she mumbled, her hands tightening around the steering wheel. “That doesn’t sound right. Think, Christy, think!”

She’d just crossed the Idaho–Washington border and was within six hours of Seattle and home. Every mile, every minute, led her closer to the confrontation with James and her parents.

For the past two days Christy had carefully rehearsed what she planned to say, outlining her speech, inordinately conscious of each word.

James would be devastated, her parents shocked.

When it came right down to it, Christy was more worried about confronting her parents than she was James, especially her father, whom she adored. Eric Manning always seemed to think he knew what was best for her; for the most part, Christy had agreed with him. And he’d decided James would be the perfect husband for his youngest daughter.

The hours sped past, far too quickly to suit Christy. As she approached the outskirts of Seattle she found that she was traveling well below the speed limit, which produced several heated stares from her fellow travelers.

Once she’d arrived at her apartment building and had unloaded her car, Christy paced her living room restlessly. She’d assumed that once she was surrounded by everything that was familiar, some of the uneasiness would leave her.

It didn’t. In fact, she was more agitated now than ever.

Gathering her courage, she decided to call her family and deal with them first. She planned to ask if it was convenient for her to come over, hoping it would be. Then she could quickly put an end to this madness.

Once she was alone with her parents, she’d tell them she intended to break her engagement. Her argument was prepared, her decision unshakable.

Her first choice would have been to do it over the phone, but that would be the cowardly way out. Her only option was to confront them together. Once that was finished she’d go and see James.

As she reached for her phone, her stomach tensed. She wasn’t sure what to expect from her parents or James and tried not to dwell on how they’d react to her news. She closed her eyes and prayed someone would answer before she lost her courage and hung up the phone.

“Hello.”

“Jason?” He was her second-oldest brother and the handsomest of the lot, or so he liked to claim. At thirty-two he was a “catch,” only he enjoyed playing the field far too much to settle down with any one woman.

“Christy? When did you get back?”

“Just a few minutes ago.” How odd she sounded. Christy prayed Jason wouldn’t notice. “What are you doing there? Are Mom and Dad around?”

“I’m here ’cause I took the day off. Mom and Dad are out but they’ll be back any minute.” He paused. “You don’t know yet, do you?”

“Know what?” Jason loved playing games, dangling bits of information in front of her like bait, making her hungry for more.

“Never mind.”

“Jason, I’ve been on the road for two days, and to be frank, I’m not up to any of your trick questions.

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