Betting On Santa. Debra Salonen

hard for fixed goals. Her long-range planning included a college fund for Joey and retirement security for her mother, not something Autumn was likely to create for herself. If a man felt threatened by Tessa’s drive and ambition, then she didn’t need him in her life.

      Some people probably considered her materialistic, but Tessa refused to apologize for surrounding herself with nice things, name brands and designer clothes. She loved driving her BMW SUV into her reserved parking space and taking the elevator to her apartment…fourteen floors above the street where she’d once panhandled for change while her stepfather played his guitar. Until he became too sick to hold a chord.

      Maybe Alan would have understood if she’d told him the whole story, but there were parts of her past she didn’t talk about. To anybody.

      She hadn’t dated since Alan. The idea seemed so pointless. Men either didn’t get her or felt threatened by her drive and success. She imagined she’d scare the wits out of Cole Lawry. Not that he was someone she’d ever consider dating. From what she’d learned about him on the Internet, he was a man who had had it all, then lost it.

      “How does someone go from successful businessman to part-time carpenter and volunteer Santa?” she murmured, conscious of her nephew asleep a few feet away. “Honestly, Joey, I hope he’s not your father. You deserve better. He seems like a nice guy and all, but what kind of role model would he be for you? Not as bad as Zeb, of course.”

      She pushed the thought of her stepfather away.

      “Focus. Focus on the task at hand,” she ordered. “If Cole Lawry isn’t the one, then what next?”

      At a soft knock on the door, she hurried across the room to unlock the extra bolt and open the door. “That was fast.”

      “Small town. I’d have been here sooner, but my sister called to talk about one of my poker buddies who’s back in town and might be reopening his mother’s old bar.”

      “Poker?”

      The word tripped something in her memory. When Sunny first returned home from Texas, she went on and on about how much fun she’d had playing in a bar tournament. “I won fifty bucks my first time out,” she’d bragged.

      When Tessa asked how much it cost to enter the game, Sunny had admitted the fee was twenty-five. “But I still came out ahead, Tess. And I had a lot of fun playing. So don’t give me a hard time about something you’ve never tried.”

      Never would try.

      He dangled her keys from the end of his index finger. She couldn’t help noticing how rough and callused his hands looked. “I locked the car. Do you need anything out of it? Your suitcase or diaper bag?”

      “I’ll get it later.” She motioned at the small round table near the window. “Tell me about poker,” she said, stalling. Why? She didn’t know. Unless he had a gambling problem that might play a factor in Joey’s future, if he turned out to be the one. “Sunny came home hooked on the game. She made it sound like an organized sport.”

      He pulled out the lone chair and sat. “I’m not surprised. Texas Hold ’Em is pretty popular around here. Some friends and I have had a game going since high school. My sister labeled us the Wild Bunch because we used to play in the back room of the Wild Card Saloon.”

      “And you still get together?”

      “Once a week. Although now Annie calls us the Not-So-Wild Bunch.”

      She smiled because he smiled, but she couldn’t get her head around the dedication and commitment required to keep a game going for so long. A card game, of all things. “What about after high school? Didn’t some of you go to college? Or get jobs out of the area?”

      “Yeah, that happened, of course. Brady had a football scholarship and played in the NFL until he got injured. Luke was career military. They’re both home now, but even when they were gone, the game went on. Since I was living in San Antonio, I usually managed to come back once a week to play with some of the old-timers.”

      “Why?”

      He shrugged. “I take it you don’t play.”

      “You mean gamble? No. I work far too hard for my money to just throw it away.”

      “Too bad. New blood is always welcome.”

      His tone was light but the arch of his brow suggested he was put off by her statement, which had probably come off as judgmental. She sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her purse onto her lap.

      “Okay, let’s get this over with.” She dug into the main compartment until she found the plastic bag that contained her sister’s diary. “I should warn you up front that my sister has a unique way of journaling. It’s hit-and-miss. Kinda like reading a jigsaw puzzle,” she said, holding up the bulging book.

      “Then how did you decide to contact me?”

      She removed the well-worn journal from the plastic bag. The cover was faded black silk with a Chinese design of white and pink lotus flowers in gold thread. All four corners were frayed, the stitching along the binding tattered and torn. Bits and pieces of paper stuck out at odd angles. “I’ve marked a couple of spots. If I can find them.”

      “What’s all the other stuff?”

      “Junk. A horoscope here. Fortune-cookie proverb there. Recipes ripped from a magazine. Photos of people I’ve never met. Even a grease-stained menu from a fast-food restaurant. Things that mean nothing to me but probably have some significance to Sunny.” She couldn’t help seeing her sister, small and lifeless.

      She swallowed the lump in her throat and frantically flipped pages until she found the spot she was looking for. “Here it is. The entry isn’t dated but it says, ‘I met my first real-life Texas hero today. His name is Cole Lawry. I have a feeling he’s going to play a huge role in the story of my life.’ Then she drew four curlicue hearts beside your name.”

      “Four hearts? Let me see.” He took the book from her and studied the page she’d marked with a newspaper clipping Sunny had saved that showed Tessa and Marci opening their new office. Small-business Consultants Go BIG, the headline read.

      He read the passage, which continued on from what she’d read aloud with a dozen or so lines filled with flowery words like magnanimous and gentlemanly. The first time she’d read the excerpt, Tessa had wondered if her sister had copied them from a thesaurus.

      He let out a soft whistle. “Well, that’s weird. It doesn’t exactly say anything about having sex, does it?”

      She got up and leaned close enough to point out the last line. It was written in teal-colored ink, where the rest of the passage was in black. “I believe she added this later. It references your giving new meaning to the word friendship.”

      He frowned. “That could mean anything. No attorney in the world would base a paternity suit on something this flimsy. Did my ex-wife put you up to this?”

      “I beg your pardon?” She pulled back sharply, bumping into the bed.

      He ran a hand through his hair with an air of frustration. “Crystal’s convinced I have some hidden assets stashed away that she somehow managed to miss when she was taking me to the cleaners. Maybe if I rolled over at the threat of a paternity lawsuit, I’d—”

      She snatched the book out of his hand and pointed to the door. “I want you to leave. Now. Forget the DNA sample. Joey doesn’t need a man like you for a dad.”

      He blinked. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

      “It means I made a mistake by reading more into those four little hearts than my sister intended. She’s never been a very good judge of character, but she definitely blew it with you.”

      “Hey. Wait. Back up. I’m sorry. I lost it there for a minute. You’re not working for Crystal, are you?”

      “I have no idea who you’re talking