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, 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 sure I liked him for you.”

“Huh?”

“It just didn’t seem… I don’t know. Maybe I was still hung up on you and my best friend or something. I couldn’t see you with Doug.”

“Now, that’s interesting. Especially since I wouldn’t consider you sensitive. Or intuitive. Or even conscious, most of the time.”

“Try not to insult the only person on your side, Becca.”

“Then try to tell me why. If you like Doug, why don’t you like him for me?”

“Not sure,” Big Richie said. “Maybe it was that stick he has up his ass…”

She laughed in spite of herself. “The major important contacts through my fraternity stick?”

“Possibly,” Rich said, laughing.

“Or could it be the you’d give me up for a guy with only a high school education shtick?”

“Did he say that?” Rich asked. “I bet he actually said that, didn’t he?”

“He actually did,” Becca confirmed.

“See, that’s the thing about Doug. He can be cool. He can be fun. And he can be a real dick. Every once in a while, he has a hard time holding his dickness down.”

She laughed again. “I think this is the closest I’ve ever felt to you.”

“We’re the same age,” he informed her soberly. “I never had anyone special. I had a lot of girls I thought might get special, but they didn’t. I saw you all lit up once because you were totally caught… I didn’t know what it was at the time. Then I saw it gone and I started to get it. Then I saw you with Doug and it just wasn’t there. He had all the stuff that was going to make him a winner. But he didn’t have any of the stuff that lit you up.”

“Richie,” she said, touched and almost teary.

“Until everyone started freaking out, I thought you’d play it safe. Find a way to go for the lawyer, shtick or not. Problem is…I have no idea where Denny stands. You could be looking for the right one as long as me.”

“That’s okay. That makes more sense than playing it safe.”

“And, Becca?”

“Yes?”

“You ever lie to me and trick me like that again, you’re gonna pay!”

After everyone who felt they had a stake in her love life had called, Becca spent most of the afternoon outside watching the rest of the tree trimming, an occupation that required a lot of volunteers and plenty of time in the cherry pickers. From her spot on the porch at Jack’s bar, she had another look at the town. The tree was surrounded by people—children and adults—all smiling, laughing, running around. A few who she assumed lived right on the street, held steaming mugs in their mitten-covered hands.

Had she called the town dumpy? In one week, it had taken on the appearance of a friendly, welcoming, unpretentious town. It was simple and kind of sweet. And that tree—a town project—was awesome. Finally done, it was trimmed with red, white and blue balls, laminated military unit badges and strung with gold tinsel. It was gorgeous in daylight; it would be magnificent lit against the night sky.

Denny returned at dinnertime and they were together for some of Preacher’s stew and for the grand, official Christmas tree lighting, after which there was some tree-side caroling. Lots of people stopped into the bar to warm their bones against the snow. Denny spent much of that time behind the bar and even she could see he was kept extremely busy. Too busy to spend much time with her.