A Christmas Affair by Adrianne Byrd Read Free Book Online Page B

image of Corona Mae smiling at Hollywood’s most bankable star like she had finally found
The One.
    He tipped up his fourth drink, hoping that this bottle would be the one to dull the persistent and growing ache in the center of his chest. It didn’t.
    Corona had definitely developed into quite a looker. She was no longer the seventeen-year-old teenager engrained in his memory. For years he wondered what he would say or do if their paths ever crossed again. Fourteen years later, he still didn’t have an answer. It looked like he really didn’t need one either. They lived in two different worlds.
    “C’mon. You’re going to have to try to cheer up,” Jacob said, walking over to Lyfe. “This is supposed to be a birthday party, remember?”
    “Oh, yeah? So where are my gifts?” Lyfe challenged.
    The brother’s started whistling and looking all around like bees were buzzing about their heads.
    “Cheap bastards,” Lyfe mumbled.
    Suddenly they all broke out into smiles and guffaws. Dorian stepped forward and looped his arm around Lyfe’s neck. “I have a gift for you.”
    The cocksure smile that covered his brother’s face made Lyfe curious and suspicious.
    “Since you seem to have it for a Banks girl. Maybe all this time, you’ve just been looking at the wrong one?”
    “What?”
    Dorian grabbed him by the shoulders and spun himaround toward the front door as Tess Banks strolled into the place, looking like a million bucks and waaaay too much like her sister.

Chapter 6
     
    November 30. Lyfe’s birthday.
    After all these years, Corona had never forgotten the date. It had become a private tradition for her to stop and wonder what Lyfe was doing, who he was seeing and whether he was happy. And, more importantly, whether he had found it in his heart to forgive her. While riding in the back of a Maybach, Corona removed her reading glasses and stared out of the tinted windows. In the years since she had transplanted to New York, she had never really gotten used to the fast pace of the concrete jungle. She didn’t know how anyone really got used to it. People were always in a rush to get to God knows where, and there was rarely a smile to be seen anywhere. It was a far cry from Thomason, where everybody knew everyone else’s business. Smiles were given out like Halloween candy; and if you stood still, you’dswear you could hear the grass growing in everyone’s front yard.
    Corona closed her eyes, and a memory of home materialized. She remembered how every Monday the scent of fresh baked bread would fill the entire house. Tuesday it would be the pie of the week that would get most of the family in trouble when they tried to sneak slices before dinner. Wednesday it would be some mouthwatering cake that would always be handed out after Bible study. Baking wasn’t her mother’s only talent. From pot roast to collard greens, her mother was a master in the kitchen.
    Tugging in a deep breath, Corona was almost certain that she could smell her momma’s cooking right now. So much so, that she almost clicked her heels three times. How could a place so far away suddenly seemed so close?
    An image of seventeen-year-old Lyfe tugging on his oversized tuxedo surfaced and guilt’s spidery fingers crept up her spine and then settled on her shoulders. She wasn’t supposed to see him before the wedding, but her nerves were so knotted together that she thought if she just snuck a peek, it would calm her down.
    It hadn’t.
    Corona slipped on her reading glasses and turned another page.
    December 23, 1998
    Dear Diary,
    It’s been a week since my parents walked in on me and Lyfe. And so much is changing so fast. Just this morning, I was standing in the middle of my bedroom, staring at my reflection while Mommacarefully looped what seemed like the millionth pearl button on the back of her old wedding gown.
    “Oh, just look at you.” Momma sighed. “My dress fits you perfectly.”
    Did it? I thought the virginal white gown was