“Well put, little sister,” Kristen said. She shrugged off her coat, then joined Carley at the foot of the bed.

Noelle smiled at her two sisters and realized with a pang how much she missed them. Back in Texas it was all too easy to let work consume her life—to relegate these important relationships to fifteen-minute conversations on the phone.

“Look,” Kristen said and stretched out her arm so Noelle could see her engagement ring. It was a solitaire diamond, virtually flawless, in a classic setting. A perfect choice for Kristen. “Jon and I shopped for weeks. He wanted the highest-quality stone for the best price.” Her eyes softened as she studied the ring.

“It’s beautiful,” Noelle whispered, overcome for a moment by the sheer joy she saw in her sister’s face.

“You’ll be my maid of honor, won’t you?”

“As long as I don’t have to wear a dress the color of Pepto-Bismol.”

“You’re safe on that account.”

“If you ask me to be the flower girl, I think I’ll scream,” Carley muttered. “Why won’t anyone believe me when I tell them I’m not a little kid anymore? I’m almost fourteen!”

“Not for ten months,” Noelle reminded her.

“But, I’m going to be fourteen.”

Kristen brushed the hair away from Carley’s face. “Actually, I intended to ask you to be a bridesmaid.”

“You did?” Carley shrieked with happiness. “Well, then, I’ll tell you what I overheard Mom tell Dad.” Her voice dropped to a whisper as she detailed a conversation between their parents regarding Christmas baskets.

“Mom’s meeting with Mrs. Sutton tomorrow morning?” Noelle repeated incredulously.

“That’s what she said. She didn’t sound happy about it, either.”

“I’ll just bet she didn’t.”

“This should be interesting,” Kristen murmured.

Yes, it should, Noelle silently agreed. It should be very interesting, indeed.

NOELLE McDOWELL’S JOURNAL

December 19

(2:00 a.m.)

So I saw him before I even got back to town. Of all the flights I could’ve taken…

Seeing Thom after all these years was probably the most humbling experience of my life, except for the last time I was with him. Correction. Wasn’t with him. Why did this have to happen to me? Or did I bring it on myself because of my obsession over seeing him again?

Okay, the thing to do is look at the positive aspect of this. It’s over. I saw him, it was worse than I could have imagined, but now I don’t need to worry about it anymore. Thom made it clear that he wasn’t any happier to see me than I was about running into him. At least the feeling’s mutual. Although I’m kind of confused by that, since I’m the offended one. He jilted me. Unfortunately, after this latest run-in, he doesn’t have any reason to regret that. I behaved like an idiot.