Bring Me Home for Christmas

San Diego,” she said. “You live in L.A. What you mean to say is you want me out of here.”
    “Same thing. You’re playing with fire here. I’m not putting up with this.”
    She thought for a moment. She had created this challenge, after all. An awful lot to ask of a boyfriend. “I guess I have to say I understand, Doug. And I’m sorry. This old relationship still feels strangely unfinished. I have to work this out. Bye.”
    She hung up.
    And felt like a dog.
    She’d done what she had to do, but she’d done it all wrong. Her original plan was to spend the week around Denny and figure something out about herself. Because it wasn’t really about whether Denny wanted her. If she still couldn’t let go, she had to break it off with Doug. It wasn’t fair to him. But then she broke her ankle and things began to change…get a little more complicated…
    The phone rang and she realized she hadn’t concealed the number when she called Doug; it had shown up on his caller ID. “Hello?”
    “I told my mother I was going to pop the question!” Doug said angrily. “I told my mother that you’d be with us at Christmas to get to know the whole family, to say yes, to talk about the wedding! You’re making me look like a damn fool!”
    She frowned. She had suspected a ring was coming soon, but he hadn’t mentioned them spending Christmas with his family. In fact, he hadn’t asked her. “Doug, we talked about spending Christmas together, but I assumed it would be with my family, since you were home at Thanksgiving. And why would I need to talk to your mother about a wedding?”
    “Why would we get married in San Diego if we’re going to live in Boston or Cape Cod? Now what am I supposed to say? That you went back to your old boyfriend? Some loser who barely made it out of high school?”
    “Whew,” she said. “I think maybe it’s a good thing this came up now. I knew something was holding me back, but I wasn’t sure what. Now at least I know, it wasn’t Denny. I’m sorry I didn’t see it sooner, Doug. I guess this is goodbye.”
    She hung up again. But this time she didn’t have regrets. This time she thought maybe she’d barely dodged a bullet.
    She’d always thought of him as uncomplicated, because he was. There weren’t a lot of options with Doug. Because he had plans.

    Becca made it down to the bar before Troy and Dirk left and she was able to say goodbye. She tried to hide her awkward emotions, but her life had just taken a leap. Truthfully, she came up here because she wasn’t sure she was ready to accept a marriage proposal, but she hadn’t really predicted she’d end things with Doug the way she had.
    On a last-minute invitation from Paige after the guys left, she wandered over to the church but rather than attending the service, she spent her time with the little ones in the church nursery. She was no good for chasing them around but she was great at reading to them or sitting on the floor to stack blocks or roll balls with them.
    She had lunch at the bar with several regulars, including Denny, but he was unusually quiet. He seemed a bit distant, which probably kept him from noticing she was a little reserved herself. He asked if she could manage on her own for a couple of hours while he checked in at Jilly’s farm. His week with his friends had probably left a lot to be done out there. “Sure. Of course,” she said. “Please, do whatever you need to do—I’m totally fine.”
    Right after he left, all hell broke loose.
    “Becca, your mother’s on the phone,” Paige said. “She wants to speak to you.”
    “My mother?”
    “Go ahead and take it in our great room—we’re all either in the kitchen or outside helping decorate the tree. You’ll have some privacy.”
    “My mother?” she said again. “Called here?”
    “She sounds a little upset.”
    When she got to the phone and said hello, her mother launched into her. “Have you completely lost your mind?”
    She sat down heavily. “I’m not sure. What are we talking about?”
    “You broke up with Doug for Denny? Do you have any idea what you’ve done to yourself? What you’ve sacrificed for a foolish young man who treated you so badly?”
    “Stop,” Becca said. “I didn’t do that. I told Doug exactly what I told you—that it was important for me to get a handle on the past before I could deal with the future. And how in the world do you know this? And how did you find this number?”
    “Doug called me,