Sleigh Belles

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“No way, kiddo. I’ve known that woman my whole life and she is nothing but bad news.” Then he laughed. “No pun intended.”

“I think I’d sacrifice the headline for her,” Justin teased. “She’s easily the hottest reporter Tuscaloosa has ever had.”

“Yeah, but she’s also incredibly full of herself. No room for me and all that hairspray in my little car.”

They laughed and rejoined the others curbside, waiting for the parade to begin.

10

Dallas positioned herself on the street corner where the bagpipe parade would march right behind her as she did her live stand-up. Everything was in place and ready to go. For a quick fix, she’d taken her scarf out of her coat and let it hang over the chocolate spatters so no one could see her little accident. Dallas was nothing if not resourceful.

The top of the newscast was playing in her earpiece, and she could hear the anchors introduce her. Daniel pointed and, giving her the signal, she was on.

“Good evening, Tuscaloosa. We are live at Dixie Dickens Downtown where we have traveled back to the lush and lovely times of the storybook Victorian era. So many Tuscaloosans are braving the chilly temperatures to be out here tonight just to have a chance to immerse themselves in the days of Charles Dickens and Tiny Tim.”

That was the toss to her packaged story, which was now playing while she waited for the engineers to toss it back to her for her live stand-up. Dallas could hear the bagpipes approaching from down the street. It was all going just as she’d planned.

Just then, the children’s choir rounded the street corner singing “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” as they came up behind her in front of the bagpipes. She turned, recognizing the little faces as those from the Christmas play she was directing, and Betty Ann was walking backward in front of them, directing.

As Dallas watched them, her eyes locked with little Tristan, who had been there when she’d fallen down the stairs. She was suddenly caught in the memory of what he’d asked her: Why don’t you like us? The question shook her even more now as the children sang the song that reminded her of the days when her own childhood was happy, when she’d had her older brother and her mother home with her for Christmas. Behind Tristan she recognized one of the older children who’d caroled cruelly on her doorstep the night before. Behind the choir, Kitty and the mayor walked happily, arm in arm, waving merrily at the gathered crowds.

A knot began to form in her stomach. It was as if the town had planned this—to parade all the uncomfortable moments she’d been dealing with lately in front of her right before she was meant to be live on TV.

Dallas was fixin’ to hit overload when she turned and saw Lewis and Vivi, Blake and Sonny, all standing and laughing with Cal. In that very second, the engineers threw the shot back to her. Between the cute little boy, the song, the thought of being Mrs. Grinch and seeing the Cal clique, it was just too much for her.

Daniel signaled her to go. “You’re on....”

“We are live in downtown Tuscaloosa....”

She could feel all the eyes searing her like laser beams. She locked gazes with Blake, who smiled at her. Dallas took that as a dare, assuming Blake meant, Go on, I dare you to finish the broadcast under all this pressure.

“So come on out and join us...um... Yes, we are live at the, uh, Dixie Dickens....”

She looked at Cal. Of course he could tell she was having trouble, but he didn’t smile back, and she took that as a vote of no confidence. It was her first live shot in weeks, yet suddenly, every single insecurity Dallas had ever had hit her all at once in this one important moment. The anchor seat hung in the balance. And Dallas was blowing it. In front of everyone.

“Dallas Dubois...good night.” She didn’t even utter the station call letters. Totally embarrassed, she tossed her microphone to Daniel and ran off into the darkness. This was the first major mistake she had ever made on live TV. Well, unless you counted a few weeks ago when she’d told all of Tuscaloosa she hated children, but she had covered herself on that one, so it didn’t count. This time, there was no way to hide her blundering.

Everyone heard her stutter. The Cal clique watched her run off. Anyone who’d had the TV on tonight would have seen her fail miserably—including Mike, her station manager. Dallas couldn’t imagine how this night could get any worse.

* * *

Blake felt terrible as she watched Dallas make a quick exit through the commotion of the parade. Even after everything she and Dallas had been through over the years, Blake still wanted her to succeed. She placed her hand on her burgeoning belly, her other hand held tightly by the love of her life, police chief Sonny Bartholomew. It hadn’t been an easy road to find this kind of happiness, to find the love and the family she’d always hoped for. She knew Dallas must be searching for the same thing, even if she wasn’t exactly the warmest person Blake knew.

Suddenly Blake was struck with the memory of a certain beauty pageant when she and her best friend, Vivi, had covered Dallas’s sparkly dress with itching powder. Dallas had been driving them crazy with her bad attitude and downright meanness, so they’d thought a little public humiliation might put her in her place. But once the plan was in effect, Blake regretted having gone so far. She’d felt so bad when they found Dallas sitting in the wings of the stage, sixteen years old, itching and crying and all alone. Dallas didn’t have a mother to come backstage and tend to her, they’d realized. And Blake was supposed to have been her family.

In a split second, Blake knew she had a once-in-a-lifetime chance to fix that. To make up for that awful trick and to take some responsibility. She kissed Sonny on the cheek and said, “I’ll be right back,” then she darted off into the darkness after Dallas.

Eventually she found her sitting on a dark street corner behind the courthouse, and she was crying. Dallas never cried in front of anyone, Blake knew. Not ever. She had buried her face in her knees, and didn’t see Blake approaching until she was right in front of her. Blake knelt down on one knee.

“Dallas. It’s okay. Really.” She barely knew what to say, with all their history of bad blood.

“Oh, perfect,” Dallas groaned. “Blake, just get out of here. Leave me alone.”

“Please, let me talk to you. I promise I am being for real. Listen to me, it’s all okay.”

“What do you know about it? Anyway, I can’t trust you. You’ve lived for this moment!” Dallas was furious, her cheeks wet with tears but her eyes blazing with anger. “You’ve always wanted to see how hard I can fall. So, go ahead and have your laugh. You’ve been out to get me my whole life. I’m sure you and your friends are just delighted with that display back there. Just get the hell outta here.”

“Dallas, I’m not going anywhere. I can be just as stubborn as you. I’m a lawyer, remember?”

“How could I forget?” Dallas rolled her eyes. “You’ve been bragging about that since graduation day.”

“What I mean is, we’re a lot alike, Dallas. Strong and determined. And no matter what happened out there tonight, you are a wonderful reporter.”

Dallas’s mouth hung open. Her brows were bent. She looked utterly stunned to hear that statement from her archenemy.

“You are.” Blake was looking Dallas right in the eyes as she spoke, and she meant every word that she said. Blake had been through some huge changes recently—her divorce from political-minded Harry, finding Sonny, her high-school sweetheart and true love, and now she was carrying Sonny’s baby. She had matured since those days when all she and Dallas could do was bicker. She was genuine and sincere in her words to Dallas, and she just hoped Dallas would be able to see that.

“I know it seemed rough out there,” Blake continued, “but you did better than you think. Honestly, it just looked like those damn bagpipes were too freakin’ loud and you couldn’t hear yourself think. That’s all. You were great, and I bet no one will even think twice about that. Don’t worry about it anymore. You need to get out there and enjoy this party now.”

“Blake, I don’t know why you’re doing this. Is this just some way to mock me?” Dallas seemed worn down but hopeful.

“No...not at all. I just wanted you to know you’re good at this. I know we’ve never been all that nice to each other, and I’m really sorry about that. We’ve both made mistakes, but, listen, I want to put all that in the past, okay?”

“Sure, I mean...I guess.” Dallas took a tissue from her coat pocket and wiped the tears from her cheeks. “I still have no idea why in the world you are doin’ this.”

“I’m doing it ’cause it’s time. That’s all. It was overdue.” Blake reached over and squeezed Dallas’s cold hand and smiled a confident smile. “Now, go have some fun. I’ll see you later.” And Blake walked away.

* * *

Dallas stood alone on the dark street corner. What the hell had just happened? She felt her head swimming as she tried to process everything. Something was stirring inside her that she hadn’t felt in a very long time. Even though she had messed up her report, even though everything seemed to be hitting her at once, and her job—heck, her happiness—was on the line, something inside her felt really good. It was a feeling she hadn’t felt since childhood. It was a sense of hope, and she held on to it as tightly as she could.

Dallas walked slowly back to the news van, and Daniel hugged her as soon as she stepped up into the back.

“You were fine, ya know?” he said softly. “Besides, nobody really heard anything, those freakin’ bagpipers were so loud,” he added, laughing. She knew it was obvious that she’d been crying, and he was trying to lighten the mood. He knew she put so much pressure on herself, and the bubble had burst tonight. At least in her eyes.

Dallas sat in the passenger seat and buckled up. “Let’s just head back, okay? I need to go home.” She had to reconcile to herself that tonight’s performance didn’t do anything to help her shot at the anchor seat. And she had to try to wrap her mind around the idea of Blake and...friendship? Even the thought of that was too crazy to process.

“You sure you don’t wanna go back to the station?”

“No, I really need to get off this ankle.” She gave him a small smile. She was tired. And she really didn’t want to face anyone at WTAL. She just wanted to get home to Wilhelmina, where she felt safe. Where everything still made sense.

* * *

Daniel let Dallas out in front of her house, and she made her way up to the front porch. It was dark. She had forgotten to leave the light on, and her few Christmas lights weren’t on any sort of automatic timer. The neighbor’s Times Square lights were glaring, as usual, so she used them to find her way up the stairs of her front porch and fumbled to put her key in the front door. Out of the shadows of the porch, a figure approached her.

“Dallas?” The person reached for her arm, and Dallas nearly jumped out of her skin.

“I’m sorry to show up like this,” the woman said softly. “I didn’t mean to scare you, but I really needed to see you. And since you wouldn’t return my calls, I had to come here.”

“Mother!” Dallas had to take this in a minute. She hadn’t seen her mother in so many years and, looking at her now, she realized she would have hardly recognized her on the street. “You shouldn’t have come here,” she said as she opened her front door and flicked on the porch light, all of the Christmas lights coming on at the same time.

“Please, let me come in. It’s freezing out here.”

“Fine,” Dallas said after a slight pause. “But you can’t stay long. I have an early meeting tomorrow and I just got back from work.” She allowed her mother inside. LouAnn looked frail. She was certainly not aging well. She was already a small woman, but she had withered over the years. Her dry gray hair was unruly, sticking out from under her knitted winter hat.

Dallas took her coat and hat, hanging them on a hook by the door before leading her mother into the living room. They sat awkwardly at opposite ends of the couch, both of them silent for a few moments.

Eventually, LouAnn spoke. “Dallas, I want you to know I think it’s time we all get together this year, you know, for Christmas.”

“Really? You think it’s time? Why not last year? Why not twenty years ago, Mother?”

“Look, I know you’re still angry...”

“Angry? Is that all you think I am? Let me clue you in. I’m infuriated. I’m appalled. I want nothing to do with you. Ever! You left me. You chose Houston over me—something no proper mother would ever even consider. I’m not just angry, Mother. I’m alone! And it’s because of you and your inability to take responsibilities. I was your daughter and you abandoned me. I’m not sure why you think you can turn up on my doorstep after twenty years of silence and think we’re gonna have a nice little chat. It’s laughable, really. Now, thank you very much for this little surprise visit, but I want you to go.”