Sleigh Belles. Beth Albright

lunged after the birds, shaking her hands wildly and shooing them off the porch. “This is gonna be a long two weeks,” she said, smiling at Dallas before making her way over to re-explain the rules of the contest to her visitor.

      “Good luck,” Dallas responded, a bit surprised at how sweet Abigail seemed to be, even when chasing chickens around a porch. Dallas wasn’t used to that. People who were close to Lewis and Vivi didn’t usually smile at Dallas. But Abigail and her sister didn’t seem to know anything about her history with the little clique from her past. The sisters had just moved here from Tennessee. Dallas kinda liked that fact. She had never had a girlfriend. Too many people in town knew what her mother had done, abandoning one child for the sake of the other; they knew about Dallas’s woman-lovin’ father and his tarnished reputation and they assumed she’d be just the same. When her relationship with Blake hadn’t panned out either, people mostly assumed Dallas was to blame, since everyone thought Blake was perfect. Truthfully, Dallas had never had a chance to prove to herself that she could even have a girlfriend. She flashed Abigail a real smile as she turned toward the news van, the possibility of a new friendship cheering her mood.

      Dallas practiced her speech to Mike all the way back to the station. Why would he be trying to hurt her chances for the anchor seat? She couldn’t even fathom an answer. As they pulled into a parking spot, she took a deep breath, ready for the confrontation. Well, the meeting. But now she had an agenda. She was determined to get to the bottom of this latest possible sabotage and find herself a lead story to cover. Dallas always had a bit of a chip on her shoulder, always assumed someone was out to get her. Maybe this time she was right.

      6

      Dallas jumped out of the news van, walking at a steady clip to the newsroom to find Mike. She was early for their meeting and could see he was in with someone else. She paced outside his window.

      Her tenacity and focus had always been strong suits. She certainly never gave up on anything she wanted. That drive and bulldog mentality hadn’t always benefited her, though. In fact, it had been one of the problems back when her mother had abandoned her. She just couldn’t give up on her brother. She was a fighter. That’s why she wrote all those letters to him that first year. But eventually, she realized he would never answer her, so she gave up trying to contact him. But she tried as hard as she could to hold what was left of her family together, even at fifteen she thought she could fix it all. That never-give-up attitude was always her innate personality.

      Those traits helped her enormously as a reporter, though, and were much of the reason she’d been as successful as she had been so early in her career. She would do whatever it took to get a story—and that had never been truer than it was now. She’d fight Mike on this if she had to, but she really hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

      Dallas went to her desk to wait on Mike. She thumbed through the message notes that had been left on her desk. At the top of the pile was another one from her mother.

      I need to see you.

      She sighed and put it in her drawer. Dallas got out her calendar, looking over the next few days. Some of her stories had already been assigned. Obviously, if they had already been assigned, they were just fluff. No breaking news. No lead stories.

      Mike emerged from his office and nodded his head to Dallas. He would see her now. She straightened her spine and gave her long hair a toss, ready to go after what she wanted and get her questions answered.

      “Hey, Dallas,” Mike said, shutting the door after her. “Come on in and have a seat.”

      Dallas sat down and crossed her long tan legs. She had on a cream-colored shift dress that hit above her knees and tall, knee-high boots with spiky high heels in nude leather. Since Mike had been the one to schedule the meeting, she had to sit through whatever he had to say before she could dig in and ask him why he was sabotaging her. But she knew she’d better rephrase that before she actually said it, for fear of sounding too accusatory. She braced herself for Mike’s comments.

      “Dallas, I need to talk to you about yesterday.”

      Here it comes.

      “I wanted to call you in here to thank you.”

      Wait...what?

      “I know this whole directing thing is really out of your comfort zone, especially since you have a lot on your plate competing for the anchor chair. So thanks for agreeing to do the play.” Mike leaned back in his swivel chair and smiled.

      Dallas didn’t know what to think. She tried to smile, to look gracious, but she was instantly suspicious. It was her nature not to trust.

      “Sure, Mike. No problem. I mean...I knew I had to do it. It’s fine.” Dallas really didn’t know what to say. She really didn’t have any idea how she was going to bring up the topic of being shoved into all the fluff pieces lately, especially after the unexpected praise. The timing seemed off, but waiting was not something Dallas did very well, especially when it came to questions about her career. With no other plan available to her, she dived right in.

      “Mike, I’ve been wondering about something.... Lately, I seem to be coverin’ a lot of...charity-based stories, you know? I just sorta miss having something more challenging. I miss the excitement of the leads.” There. It was out there and she’d used that honey method that had come to serve her so well. She batted her long lashes and uncrossed her legs, leaning forward toward Mike.

      “Oh, I don’t know. I think you’re doing the same amount of leads as all the reporters here. And you know everyone is doing lots of charity stories right now. It’s just that time of year.”

      Dallas wasn’t buying it. She leaned back in her chair and shifted position so that her skirt inched up a little higher on her thigh. She had Mike’s attention.

      “Look, Mike,” she began, “it’s no secret between me and you that I want that anchor seat. I just wanna make sure I’m on the right track to get it.”

      “Don’t worry, Dallas. It’s all good. Now look, I gotta get to another meeting downtown, but I did want you to know I appreciate you doing that play. Now, take care and get outta here.”

      He winked at her as they both stood, her towering over the short, rather chubby news director in her five-inch boots. She wasn’t satisfied but went on back to her desk anyway. Her phone was ringing as she approached. Any call could be a lead to something big, so she hurried to the ringing phone.

      “Dallas Dubois,” she answered.

      “Please don’t hang up again.” LouAnn was on the other end of the line.

      “Mother, I told you now is a bad time,” Dallas said, shocked at her persistence.

      “I just want to see you, that’s all. It’s been too long. Please.” LouAnn sounded desperate.

      “Yes, it has been a really long time. And that was most certainly not my choice. You can’t wait twenty years and expect that we’ll just pick up where we left off. Now I have a job to do. Please don’t call me again.” And she hung up.

      There it was again. That lump in her throat. It was choking her. Daniel must have seen the emotional call from his edit bay, because he was now making his way toward her.

      “Hey, you okay?” he whispered, almost nervously.

      “No, not really. But I will be. I just need a minute.”

      “What’s going on? Did Mike have a problem with the Baby Jesus story?”

      “No, it’s nothing about Mike. It’s private.”

      “Well, I’m here if you need me. I hate seein’ you sad, ya know?”

      Dallas knew Daniel had a good heart, but if she had to work with him on a daily basis, there was no way she could let her guard down in front of him. Business was business and she had to keep it that way.

      “I’m fine, Daniel. Don’t worry. Just the time of year...all that sentimental