Bring Me Home for Christmas

thank God. There’s still time, Becca. He’s upset, but he’ll come around. You have to call him, apologize, tell him you weren’t thinking—”
    “How did you find me here?”
    “I called the number Doug gave me, but there was no answer. Your brother finally answered his cell and said I might try this number.”
    “Aren’t you supposed to be on an airplane right about now?” Becca asked.
    “Yes! I’ll be boarding soon! Are you listening to me?”
    “Yes. I hear you loud and clear,” she said. “But I don’t think you’re listening to me. I—”
    “You’re throwing away the opportunity of a lifetime! I’d never have to worry about you again if you were married to Doug! You can’t possibly be giving all that up for Denny! What does he have?”
    A five-year-old Nissan truck. A bunch of good friends. A couple of jobs he enjoys. A life that makes him happy.
    “You should get on your plane, Mom,” she said. “I’m not talking to you about this. This is between me and Doug. Or…it was between me and Doug.”
    “Becca, don’t be foolish!”
    “Mother, I’m saying goodbye. I’ll call you in a couple of days. I’m sorry you’re disappointed, but you should know, I’m very relieved. I don’t want to marry Doug Carey.”
    “Life isn’t some little Cinderella story, Becca. It takes more than the right size slipper to be happy—it takes security! It takes—”
    She was cut off by a beep.
    “I have to hang up on you, Mother. There’s another call coming on this line and it’s not my phone. I’ll call in a couple of days when we’re both calmer.” And then she clicked off. “Middletons,” she answered.
    “Becca, is that you?” Doug asked.
    “How did you get this number?” she asked.
    “From your brother.”
    The reasons to kill Big Richie were stacking up.
    “I was angry,” Doug said. “You caught me off guard and I was angry. I never expected it. I had no idea you were still hung up on the ex. We’ll work it out. You come back home, I’ll take the weekend off and spend it with you, we’ll talk things over and we’ll get it sorted out.”
    “If I change my mind, I’ll call you, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
    “Becca, we’ve been together for a year!”
    “I know. I know. And I really wanted it to work, but no matter how hard I tried, it just wasn’t. I just wasn’t feeling it, Doug. I had too many doubts. And I’m glad to know that before I was in too deep. Really, I am sorry. I am. You’re a great guy, a great catch. The right woman is just waiting for you to find her.”
    “You just need some time to think this through! You can’t really be this stupid!”
    She sighed, not even offended. She remembered how clumsy it felt each time she said I love you. “You need someone who is totally, completely and uncompromisingly in love with you. Doug, I’m sorry. I wanted it to be me, but it’s not.”
    She disconnected.
    The phone immediately rang. She looked at the caller ID and there he was. Big Richie. “I’m going to kill you!”
    “What? It’s not like this is my fault!”
    “You gave out this number—to Mother and Doug! Are you crazy? Do you just plain hate me?”
    “It’s true, then? You broke up with Doug?”
    “Surprised me as much as you,” she said. “It wasn’t what I intended to do, but I thought I had to tell him I was here with Denny… Well, not with him, but that I hoped while I was here I’d figure out… Oh, never mind, I’m tired of trying to explain this. Bottom line, I learned something important, and just in time. I don’t love Doug. I don’t think I ever did.”
    “So,” Rich said, “you pretty much just lied to me about wanting to go hunting.”
    “Yeah, sorry about that. Although, I was kind of curious about hunting and I think I’d actually like to learn fly-fishing. You know I caught that big sailfish deep-sea fishing and—”
    “Becca!” he yelled.
    “What?”
    “What’s going to happen now?”
    “I have absolutely no idea,” she said, rubbing her temples. “Mother’s furious with me for giving up a lawyer, Doug is furious with me for even thinking about giving him up and I’m stuck in Virgin River with a guy I used to love, who seems to be pretty distant right now. And you’re giving out any number where I might be found!”
    “I never saw you with Doug,” Rich said.
    “What are you talking about? You saw me with him all the time. You like Doug.”
    “Yeah, he’s okay. I’m not