“If you find comfort in believing a lie, then do so,” he said, “but don’t involve me.” He walked away, his face hard and impassive.

Left alone in the middle of the dance floor, Noelle stared at him in amazement. Of all the nerve! He’d stopped her from leaving and now he’d taken off!

Picking up her skirt, she raced after him. “All right! You want to talk this out, then we will.”

“When?” He continued walking, tossing the question over his shoulder.

With Christmas so close, her time was booked solid. “I…soon.”

“Tonight.”

“All right.” She swallowed hard. “When and where?”

“After the dance. In the park, same place as before.”

That seemed fitting, since it was where they were originally going to meet the day they’d planned to elope.

“What time is the dance over?”

“Midnight.” He glanced at his watch. “So make it one.”

“I’ll be there.”

He shot her a look. “That was what you said the last time.”

NOELLE McDOWELL’S JOURNAL

December

21 5:00 p.m.

Everyone’s getting ready for the big dance, but my head’s still spinning and I’ve learned that it helps me sort through my emotions if I write everything down. I ran into Thom again. It’s as though we’re being drawn together, as though we’re trapped in some magnetic field and are being pulled toward each other from opposite directions. I can tell he doesn’t like it any better than I do.

It happened yesterday when I met Kristen for lunch at The Rose Garden. No sooner had our order arrived when in walked Thom and his mother.

Try as I might, I couldn’t keep my eyes off him. He apparently suffered from the same malady. Every time I glanced up, he was staring at me—and frowning. His mother was with him and I could see that he was trying to keep her distracted so she wouldn’t notice Kristen and me. I didn’t completely understand why until we arrived home and discovered that Mom and Mrs. Sutton had had another run-in while shopping for the Christmas baskets. That must have been something to see, although I’m grateful I didn’t!

After we left the restaurant, Kristen and I had a long talk about Thom. I told her far more than I meant to. I don’t think I’ve thought or talked this much about Thom in years, and I found myself experiencing all those pathetic emotions all over again. Kristen confessed that she’s been hurt and upset with me for staying away, and now that I’m home, I can understand her disappointment. It’s ironic, because after I told her how devastated I was when Thom and I broke up, she said she could understand why I’d stayed away. She even said she’d probably have done the same thing.