Sleigh Belles
Join the Sassy Belles - It's Christmas, Southern-style!With her hair perfectly coiffed, nails freshly manicured and a heavy trail of perfume wafting behind her, local news reporter Dallas Dubois is sure she’s about to kick her career – and maybe her love life – into high gear. The director of the Tuscaloosa children’s Christmas play has fallen ill and Dallas is ordered by her station manager to take the reins. Everyone is shocked – especially Cal Hollingsworth, who still remembers her as the Ice Queen from high school.If nothing else, Dallas has never met a challenge that a little lip gloss and a Chanel knock-off couldn’t fix. But she has no idea how to relate to these kids and their brutal honesty is giving her pause. Things are made even more complicated by the butterflies she getswhenever Cal is near…But when long-lost family members re-enter her life, Dallas’s icy veneer begins to melt. And, with Cal by her side, she soon realises that it’s what’s under all the hair spray that counts.Sexy Southern fun… with a hint of magnolia! theSassyBelles.com
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Join the Sassy Belles this holiday seasonâitâs Christmas, Southern-style!
With her hair perfectly coiffed, nails freshly manicured and a heavy trail of perfume wafting behind her, local news reporter Dallas Dubois is sure sheâs about to kick her careerâand maybe her love lifeâinto high gear. The director of the Tuscaloosa childrenâs Christmas play has fallen ill, and Dallas is ordered by her station manager to take the reins. Everyone is shockedâespecially Cal Hollingsworth, who still remembers her as the Ice Queen from high school.
If nothing else, Dallas has never met a challenge that a little lip gloss and a Chanel knockoff couldnât fix. But she has no idea how to relate to these kids, and their brutal honesty is giving her pause. Things are made even more complicated by the butterflies she gets whenever Cal is near....
But when long-lost family members reenter her life, Dallasâs icy veneer begins to melt. And with Cal by her side, she soon realizes that itâs whatâs under all the hair spray that counts.
For my Brooks, my son, my precious friend, the center of my universe. I loved you from the moment I thought of you and it has grown into the most wonderful priceless love I have ever known. You are a special soul, and I am the luckiest mother on earth to have you for my child. This book is all about family, and you are the very definition of the word. I am so proud of the man you have become, brilliant and sensitive, thoughtful and loving. As in everything I do, this is all for you.
I love you more than any words could ever express.
For my Ted, and my precious mother, Bettyâ
our little family is absolutely everything to me.
Contents
1
Dallas couldnât believe she was having another flare-up. Not now, not tonight, when she had this huge story to report. For Dallas Dubois, trying to get over Cal Hollingsworth was like trying to get over a chronic allergy. You could pretty much count on flare-ups for the rest of your life. Like if youâre allergic to bee stings. One little prick and youâll find yourself in the emergency room.
Ironically, thatâs exactly where she was when she began having the latest of these chronic flare-ups: in the waiting room of the hospital E.R.
Not that anything was wrong with her. She was there to cover a story: Lewis Heart, the Alabama Crimson Tide star football announcer, was rushing to the hospital to see his brand-new baby girl make her way into the world. He had just finished announcing the big win over rival Auburn in the Iron Bowl Classic, and he was sliding into the E.R. just under the wire. Dallas was right there on the scene to cover the birth of the new baby, which was big news in the college town of Tuscaloosa. Lewis was considered Tuscaloosa royalty since he was the âVoiceâ of the Crimson Tide, the national champion football team, and that was reason enough to cover this big arrival.
âThe biggest rivalry in all of college football is going down today, and this is the day that redheaded Vivi chooses to have her baby,â Dallas muttered as she ran into the emergency room just barely ahead of Lewis.
âWell, I think this is par for her. Remember, they got married on the day of the season kickoff,â Daniel, her cameraman, said as he raced in after her, nearly tripping over the camera cords.
âI know it! Who the hell gets married during football season?â
Lewis dashed into the emergency room, huffing and puffing right past Dallas. His best friend, Cal, was running in right after him, just like the days when they both played for the college football team themselves. In they ran, Cal swooshing right by Dallas without even noticing her. Thatâs when she felt the acute symptoms of this chronic condition coming on again.
Great, she thought. How can I do my job with him here?
This report had to be good, but Cal always had a way of making Dallas lose her train of thought. Already her heart was racing and her mouth was dry.
How does he do this to me? This is ridiculous. She smoothed her hair and slid her lipstick over her lips one last time, trying to get ready for her live shot.
Dallas had fought this allergy ever since high school when sheâd first developed an infatuation with Cal, the super-smart quarterback of the Tuscaloosa High School Warriors. Dallas had such a crush on him back then, and that old crush was the source of all these symptoms now because, the truth was, her feelings never really went away.
Dallas forced herself to focus. She smiled into the camera as Daniel counted her down to showtime.
