Page 19 of A Tiny House Christmas

“Where is he? Does he want to talk?”

The vulnerability in her voice gutted Joey.

Blake gave a slight shake of his head. “I don’t know.”

“Then why are you here?” Karlene’s anger was back.

“Because it’s not right.”

“What isn’t?”

“All of it.” He cut a glare at Joey. “You’ve run away! There’s tons of family at home and it’s Christmas and it’s all a big mess and everyone’s upset. You need to come home and fix this.”

Joey shuffled a few steps to the porch, anything to ease off the urge to jump in and set his friend straight. This wasn’t aboutthem.

Karlene jammed her hands on her hips, glaring at her brother. “So you’re not here because you care. Because you realized that what Tom and I have is more a friendship than true love and that I just saved us both years of quiet agony and pretending?”

Joey worked to bite back a smile. There were so many things to love about his beautiful Karlene Spragg.

“That’s really sweet, Blake,” she continued. “And especially sweet that you’re worried that I might be hurt or humiliated. And that you’re worried that I feel rejected instead of supported by our family, and that nobody cares to understand why I left that church.”

Joey’s smile had faded, and his heart ached for Karlene.

“Maybe it hurts that Tom never came to see how I am. To fight for me. So why are you here to fight for him when he’s not? And you know what? Maybe that’s the proof that everyone needs in order to understand that I did the very best thing for both of us by running out of that church.”

Her brother inhaled slowly while Joey exhaled. Then Blake got back in his truck muttering “Okay, okay, okay. Merry Christmas little sis.”

CHAPTER 5

Karlene thanked Joey as he swung by her parents’ place on Friday night. As they came up the street she could see her car sitting under the streetlight at the end of the short driveway, thankfully not decorated with “Just Married” signs, paint, and streamers. Thomas was the one who’d had to face that on his Dodge Ram dually last Tuesday.

She cursed under her breath, realizing that while she might have a hidden key for her car, she needed her purse and phone, which were probably in the house. Or possibly even still at the church. Either way, she was going to have to face her parents and all the relatives still staying with them.

Even though tomorrow was Saturday, she was needed at the rink as several of her players were in physical rehab and were due for some beating up. That meant she had to get back to her apartment in the city. After that, she could figure out the rest of her week, her month, her life.

Her life. What was she going to do?

Live in Joey’s tiny house forever? And what about Joey? He’d been holding back with her since Blake’s visit, and last night’s Christmas dinner had been quiet, their earlier fun deflated.Today had been mostly chores, no kisses and she didn’t know how to fix whatever was bothering Joey.

“I have a trip to Jamaica in June,” she stated dryly to Joey, thinking of the honeymoon trip she and Thomas were to take. “Want to run away with me?”

“I don’t think that would be a good idea,” he replied gently.

“A trip for two,” she sang. “Paid for.”

Joey’s grip on the steering wheel tightened, and he kept his gaze out the windshield. “I don’t think that would be the sensitive thing to do—to take that trip with you.”

Karlene leaned back in the seat and whispered, “I was joking.” She turned to Joey as he stoped the truck in front of her parents’ house. “What happened? Between us? We were having fun, weren’t we?”

His eyes cut to hers, a certain sadness expanding in them. “Karlene, you’re on the rebound.” His gaze dropped to her bare left hand. “Possibly even still engaged.”

She reached for the door, eyes wet, but he grabbed her hand, holding her back. She waited for him to speak.

“I want something real,” he said, his voice low. “Someone who’s in the free and clear to love me fully. No regrets. No what-ifs. Nothing hanging over her heart.”

She sniffed and let herself out of the truck, his hand slipping from hers.

“Don’t you want that, too?” he asked, his voice filled with uncharacteristic hesitance before becoming firm. “Don’t choose me because I’m an easy defence against what you don’t want to face.”

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