“I talked to your doctor,” Joe retorted. “He said your ulcers were caused by bacteria.”
         
“Probably caused by bacteria,” Eleanor said. “Not definitely.”

“I’m gonna hang up my coat,” Alex announced before Joe came back with another zinger. It used to seem to Alex that the Novaks were on the brink of divorce until he realized they enjoyed arguing. They were actually the most devoted couple Alex knew. Eleanor acted as Joe’s nurse. Joe had cried when Eleanor had been admitted to the hospital. “Dad, can I take your coat?”

Alex’s father handed over his black overcoat, then slipped off his fake white beard and gave that to Alex too. “Can’t risk getting food in my valuables.”

Alex smiled and headed for the coat closet in the foyer, one ear listening for Krista’s return. He admitted to himself he was angling for a moment alone with her. He stepped back to make room when she came in the front door.

In her high-heeled boots, she was only a few inches shorter than him. For a moment, they stared at each other and it seemed to Alex that electricity flowed through his veins.

He finally found his voice. “How have you been?”

“Fine.” She cleared her throat, the sound a sexy purr. “Now that I’ve gotten over the shock of seeing you in my parents’ kitchen.”

“My dad and I are here a lot,” Alex said. “We couldn’t ask for better neighbors.”

She tilted her head quizzically. “You live with your dad? In this neighborhood?”

When she knew him, Alex had been renting a one-bedroom apartment in downtown Jarrell above a hardware store. Back then, his father had lived in an equally small condo he’d purchased after Alex’s mother died and he sold the house where Alex had grown up.

“I moved in when he bought the house next door,” Alex said.

“Recently?” Krista asked.

“Three years ago,” Alex said.

“Nobody told me,” Krista muttered.

Nobody should have to tell her. If she visited her parents even semi-regularly, she’d know who their neighbors were.

She unbuttoned her coat and slipped it off to reveal a long blue sweater worn over skinny black jeans tucked into her boots. The clothes were wrinkled from traveling, but the jeans outlined the shape of her lovely legs and the sweater hugged her breasts. He took the coat from her and missed the rod on his first attempt at hanging it up.

“How long are you home for?” he asked.              

“Now that I know Mom’s okay,” she said, “just until the day after Christmas.”

The news hit Alex like a snowball to the face. Holding back his reaction would have been impossible. “You’re kidding me! That’s only four days. You haven’t been home in eight years!”

Krista’s spine stiffened and her chin lifted. “I wasn’t going to come at all. I made other plans.”

“Are your plans more important than being with your family?” Alex had witnessed Eleanor’s tears when she talked about how much she missed her daughter. “Look at the lengths your mother went to get you here.”

“You’re out of line,” Krista said tightly.

“Why?” Alex shot back. “Because I’m telling you something you don’t want to hear?”

She glared at him, her mouth a straight line.

“Alex! Krista!” Eleanor’s voice drowned out the Christmas carols drifting through the house. “Time for dinner.”

Alex swept a hand in front of him, calling himself a fool for maneuvering to be alone with her. “After you.”

With a toss of her head, Krista preceded him into the kitchen. He fought to keep his eyes from dipping to the sway of her hips, reminding himself that what had happened between them had been very brief and very long ago.

He’d been right to break things off the instant Krista told him she was moving to Europe, no matter how wrenching the decision had been.

A woman who could stay away from her family for eight years, returning home for a few days only because she thought her mother was gravely ill, was not the one for him.