Holiday in Your Heart by Susan Fox Read Free Book Online Page B

been—hadn’t offered child support. He’d kind of figured that once Brooke had his address, she’d go after him for money, but she didn’t. She just returned the signed forms, no doubt relieved to be rid of him. A clean break; obviously, it was what they’d both wanted.
    It was probably still what she wanted.
    â€œDo you have friends?” Maribeth’s voice cut through his thoughts. “Male or female?”
    He shrugged. “I’m not much of a people person. Yeah, I’ve hung out with some folks now and then, to shoot some pool or whatever. But that’s it.”
    Her nicely shaped eyebrows, darker than her red hair, pulled together. “What’s the longest you’ve stayed in one place?”
    â€œFive years, in Regina. That’s where I lived last. I managed an auto repair shop.”
    â€œSo you’re capable of staying in one place and holding down a responsible job.”
    â€œI guess.” It wasn’t that he’d had any particular love for Regina, but the job was a good one and he’d grown tired of drifting around. He’d have still been there if the regret about Brooke and Evan, and the desire to see them again, hadn’t become a compulsion as persistent and nagging as an engine tick that defied diagnosis.
    â€œHmm.”
    He’d asked for Maribeth’s wisdom and perspective. She was weighing him and finding him lacking, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. Mo drank the remaining hot chocolate, cold now and more bitter than sweet.
    â€œIf you’re not a people person,” she asked, “what is it that you want from Brooke and Evan?”
    â€œTo let them know that I’m sorry. I want them to know that I realize what a shit I was. If I could change the past, I would. But I can’t.”
    â€œDo you want their forgiveness?”
    He wrinkled his nose. “That’d be a lot to ask for.”
    â€œWhat, then? You apologize and then you go away again?”
    â€œI don’t know,” he admitted. “I haven’t really thought past the point of me apologizing. If there’s some way of making amends, I’d do that, but . . .” He shrugged. “Guess I don’t know if that’s possible.”
    She gave a soft huff. “That’s it? That’s your whole plan?”
    Anger stirred, but he tamped it down and admitted, “I didn’t exactly come with a plan. I just found myself thinking about them this past couple years. I wondered how they were doing, if they were still in Caribou Crossing. I found the Gazette online, and from time to time there’d be something about them. Once I started, I couldn’t get them out of my mind. I felt . . . I guess driven is the right word. Driven to see them again and, uh . . .”
    â€œProstrate yourself at their feet and tell them you know you were a shit?”
    Damn, he liked this woman even if she didn’t think much of him. “Pretty much.”
    She crossed her arms over her curvy chest. “You’re kind of a mess, aren’t you, Mo Kincaid?”
    There was only one honest answer to that question. “Yes, ma’am.”
    â€œYou really don’t have a best-case scenario in your mind?”
    He blinked, not sure what she meant.
    â€œThink about it,” she said. “You see them and apologize. After that, what’s the best thing you could imagine happening?”
    He closed his eyes and concentrated, but nothing came to mind. Shaking his head, he opened his eyes again.
    Maribeth was gazing at him, her green eyes kind of misty and soft. God, but she was one beautiful woman. “Do you ever let yourself dream?” she asked quietly.
    Dream? Tonight he might well have steamy dreams about a green-eyed redhead. But he figured that wasn’t what she was talking about. “You mean, not when I’m asleep but about the future?”
    â€œExactly. Do you dream about