Operation: Married by Christmas (15 page)

“W
hat'd ya do to my Haley Bell?” Applegate demanded, glaring though Will's screen door. Will had been expecting him ever since the disaster of yesterday. He still didn't understand what had happened. But every time he thought about it, he got madder. There had been no talking to the woman. None. He'd spent a sleepless night tossing and turning, and seeing her face and how incensed she'd been.

And all because of a kiss.

Well, not just any kiss.

A weak-kneed, melt-his-bones kiss that had set his world on end.

Will forced the thoughts away and stared at Stanley, who was bowed up worse than Applegate, his plump face all knotted with the desire to wring Will's neck.

Disgusted with the whole situation, Will pushed the screen open. “Come on in and let's get this over with.” He stalked down the hallway toward his kitchen. “Might as well face this over coffee.”

Grabbing three mugs, he set them on the table then poured the steaming coffee into them, motioning for App and Stanley to sit. Will opted to lean against the counter and take what they had to say standing. A man didn't take a woman out and bring her back covered in mud, madder than the dickens, and not expect trouble. Will had known better than to kiss her. He'd known it in his gut. He'd done it anyway, and now he had to face the consequences.

“Will.” Applegate opted to stand, too, as he belted his question out loud enough to disturb the cows in the pasture. “What do ya have to say fer yerself? I didn't work so hard ta git my Haley Bell home for you to run her off afore we married her off.”

Will glowered at Applegate standing tall and as rigid as the $1.98 stiff-starched, button-down shirt he wore. “Run her off?”

“Yup,” Stanley answered, his lips flattening into a hard line. Anger didn't look right on the usually affable man. “She done started packing. Applegate had ta sneak outside and diddle with her car so's she couldn't drive off like she'd told him she was going ta do first thang this morning.”

Will had known he'd upset Haley with the kissing. It had blown him away and, sure, he shouldn't have crossed that line, but he'd thought they might talk about it after she'd calmed down. He'd thought he'd have time to at least reason with her and try and make sense out of everything she'd said. He hadn't thought she'd run off. Then again, wasn't that what she did? She always ran.

He was so tense that his entire body ached with frustration. Angry, he turned away and slammed his palms into the kitchen counter. Leaning his weight on his arms, he willed himself to think straight.

What did God expect from him?

He was no saint. He raked his hand down his face.

“Don't worry, son, I stopped her for now. 'At little piece of metal she calls a car ain't going anywhere fer the time being. And I done stopped by Purdy's mechanic shop and told him that if she calls him ta come take a look at her car that he ain't s' posed to go out to my place under any circumstances.”

“So what do you want me to do? If she wants to leave, then who am I to stop her?” Will turned and leaned against the counter.

Applegate and Stanley were both staring at him as if he were the dumbest cowpoke on the block.

“Don't you think it's about time you and that little gal of mine worked out yor differences? I mean really, son, I got her here. I can't do every thang for you. And I kin tell ya that sitting around here in your house ain't gonna fix nothing.”

Will studied his bare feet and decided now wouldn't be the best time to point out to them that it was six-thirty in the morning and barely light outside.

The fact that he'd hardly slept at all didn't mean much, but he'd been debating his situation all night. “App, I won't lie to you. I've still got feelings for Haley. But there are just some things that aren't meant to be. The woman hates me.”

Stanley looked from Will to Applegate and back to Will. “Who told you that bunch of hogwash? For a smart fella, you ain't so smart. Here's the deal. Me and Applegate and all the ladies are gonna do our best at keeping that little gal from taking flight again. And if you don't figure out how to hold her, it's gonna be everybody's loss when she leaves. But mostly yours. Come on App. We done all we kin do here.”

Will watched Stanley storm down the hall and slam through the screen door. Applegate was as stunned as Will and didn't make a move at first. Finally, he shook his head, then followed his buddy.

“She's at my house. Now get yor shoes on and get out there.”

Will figured it was pretty bad when a man had a couple of old codgers telling him how to run his love life.

Not that he had a love life, he thought glumly.

Haley's first reaction to his kiss had been inspiring. For a brief moment his world had been right and he'd felt the sun come out. For a moment it was as if the Lord was smiling on him, and then like a light switch clicking off she'd pulled out of his arms and marched up that hill.

Needless to say, it hadn't been his best moment.

What had he done that was so unforgivable? All these years he'd blamed her. But Haley, his sweet, gullible Haley had run because in her opinion, he'd let her down. She'd denied it Thanksgiving Day, denied that he'd cut her so deep. But it was more than apparent that what he'd done to her went far deeper than she was letting on.

Though he wanted to say she was all wrong…he couldn't. Not totally. He hadn't given her the chance to spread her wings. Instead he'd chosen to try and protect her from a harsh world outside the county line surrounding Mule Hollow. In doing so he'd asked her to choose between his love and her dreams.

He'd given her no choice. What would she have been if he'd held her back?

Will took a long hard look at himself and didn't like what he saw.

But he knew the truth now. He'd sent Haley running, and it was up to him to get her to stop. No matter what it cost him.

 

Will waited until nine o'clock to drive over to Applegate's place. There wasn't any sense making her angrier in case she'd decided to sleep late…although the boys had assured him she was planning on rising early to hit the road. That being the case, he wanted to give her a little time to adjust to the fact that she was stuck.

He pulled up the drive and parked his truck beside Haley's car. Pausing as he closed the truck's door, he glanced around the yard. The wind had picked up and the sting of it whispered that the temperature was dropping yet again. Flipping his collar up, Will strode onto the porch and knocked on the heavy wooden door.

After the second knock, he went in search of Haley. Thinking she may have gone for a ride, he walked toward the barn to check things out. Applegate's house was an older place, a sprawling ranch of brick and wood, and his barn was a classic—red plank two-story. There was a hayloft up top and stalls below that lined both sides of a wide alley.

The double doors were slightly open. Inside, the barn smelled of sweet hay and horses. Walking down the center alley between horse stalls, it only took one look to see that Haley hadn't taken any of them out for a ride, so she had to be somewhere nearby.

“Hey, Puddin,” he said when the curious horse stuck her head over the gate. “Where's our girl?” Will asked, reaching out to rub the star between her eyes before turning to head back out the way he'd come. He was midway down the alley when he heard a sound and looked up—just in time for a huge pile of loose hay to land on his head. He barely had time to duck his chin before it covered him.

“I'm not your girl,” Haley snapped.

So much for her having calmed down,
Will thought, shaking off the hay and looking up at her. She stood with pitchfork in hand, beat-up cowboy hat, jeans stuffed into her boots and watched him with cool eyes.

“Real funny,” he said, pushing his hat up with his thumb.

“It wasn't meant to be.”

She sounded about as friendly as the hissing alligator had the day before. But she was dazzling standing up there looking like Elly May Clampett, and Will couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face.

Haley's brows met and her lips flattened. “Will, go home, please.”

She sounded sad, and all he wanted was to make her smile. To let her know that he knew she was struggling. “I can't. Not until you come down here. We need to talk.”

Her eyes clouded and her grip tightened on the pitchfork.

“But leave the pitchfork up there, please. I'd feel safer.” He watched her as she shifted her weight from one leg to the other. Then, just when he thought she might tell him to get lost, she jammed the pitchfork into the hay bale and climbed down the ladder.

“So,” she said, crossing her arms and pinning him with wary eyes. “I'm listening.”

“I heard you were leaving.”

“Applegate tell you that?”

Will nodded, and she rolled her eyes.

“I should have known. I told him I was leaving as soon as I woke this morning. But, now I think I'm being held prisoner,” she huffed.

Despite the emotions rippling inside of him, Will had to fight a smile…. This was his Haley Bell. A bit of fire and sweet all wrapped up together. “What makes you say that?” he asked just because he wanted to hear her explain it.

“My car won't start, and no one will come out and take a look at it. Purdy went fishing.” She looked disgusted. “Like I believe that. And everyone else had
pressing
business that had to be tended to today, so no one else, all five that I called anyway, could get over here today, much less this morning, to help me.”

Will took his hat off, held its rim with both hands and studied it for a long moment. “If you'll hear me out, then I'll see what I can do about it.”

She studied him for a long moment; Will could see her mind working. And he prayed he didn't say something stupid. He'd finally started thinking after Applegate and Stanley left this morning. He'd also spent some quality time with the Lord praying for direction. He'd realized that God might have given him a second chance, but if he were to ever have a future with Haley, then they needed time. He needed her to stick around.

“Look, Haley. I let you down in the worst way. I know that now, but that doesn't mean I didn't love you. It just means I was a blind fool.”

Her expression was uncompromising as she stared at him, green eyes as bright as emeralds in sunlight, her jaw set at an unforgiving slant. The woman could be as stubborn as a mule sometimes. Shifting from boot to boot, Will slapped his hat against his hip then rammed a hand through his hair. He'd just basically said he loved her, and she acted like she hadn't even heard him. He knew there was more to this than she was acknowledging; he'd felt it in the way she'd responded to his kiss. A woman couldn't hide something like that. It was what gave him hope that with time he could right this wrong. But this wasn't about him, at least not for the immediate time being. This was about Haley and Applegate, so he backed away from his feelings and focused on what he'd come to do.

And that was to right another wrong he'd caused.

Feeling as jittery as if she was about to jump from an airplane without a parachute, Haley took a step away from Will. Even though she was still mad at him, she couldn't deny that he fuddled her brain when he was so close. Now that a little time had cooled her temper, the irrational part of her was starting to think about how wonderful she'd felt for those brief moments that she'd been in his arms. Distance wasn't helping as she took a steadying breath, hoping to clear her head. But nothing was helping because he'd said he'd loved her. Back then, all those years ago.

But she summoned up some outrage at the irony that he sure had a funny way of showing that love. What did that say about a man when he was so caught up in himself that he had no concept of how he'd hurt her by his lack of belief in her? The scars of his betrayal had impacted everything she'd done from that moment on.

Though she was physically and emotionally attracted to him even now, that deep anger that had erupted from her when he'd kissed her still left her shaken. She'd never known so much rage and resentment lived inside of her. His kiss had brought it all up, and she'd cracked under the pressure. The fact that he looked so contrite and concerned irritated her more.

“What do you want, Will?” she said tersely, just wanting him to leave. The man had no concept of loving her for who she really was. From his actions back then he'd proved that he loved the idea of her only as the balm that boosted his ego, that he adored the package as long as the brain stayed dormant and out of his way. That he would make the decisions that would determine their life and toss her needs to the side. That wasn't love. Not the kind of love she ever wanted a part of. No matter what, she wouldn't let herself weaken enough to go there again.

“Look, I stepped out of line yesterday and I'm sorry. We have a past together. A history that we will always share. And I have to admit that the selfish part of me wants to keep you here so that I can convince you to give us another chance. But, Haley, here's the deal. If you were to leave here again because of me and deprive Applegate of the holidays with you, I'd never forgive myself. So I'm asking you, whether you forgive me or not, I'm asking you to stay until Christmas, at least, for Applegate. This isn't about us, but about you and your grandfather. Please stay. I'll stay away from you if that's what you want. I promise. I'll keep out of your way as much as humanly possible. And I won't say another word about my feelings.”