Free A Christmas Hope by Stacy Henrie Page A

“Have you always been this good at reading people?” he asked, hoping to cover his embarrassment over his scalding mouth and her truthful opinion.
    Unexpected sorrow lined her pretty face. She sipped more hot chocolate, as if to delay answering as he had moments ago. “I think it may have been a gift I always possessed, but I didn’t use.” Her mouth lifted in a regretful smile. “Up until this year, I don’t know that I cared too much for what others thought or felt, unless it impacted me.”
    “What changed that?”
    She blew out a sigh and shifted in her seat. “I was…in love. Or so I thought. It was a very painful revelation to find out I wasn’t the one he wanted. But I had the chance to do something to help him, really help him. Even though it meant letting go of any remaining hope I had for us.”
    Dale studied her, momentarily caught up in the beauty of her open and vulnerable expression. There was so much more to this woman than he’d suspected on first acquaintance. She was compassionate and strong, and possessed an innate ability to put people at ease, making them laugh or smile or feel understood.
    When she paused, he said simply, “But you chose to help him anyway.”
    “I did.” She sat upright, her shoulders squared. “Only then did I realize how selfish I’d been, how blind to what was going on around me. That’s when I decided to make a difference in people’s lives. No matter how small.”
    The waitress returned with his water and Dale took a good, long gulp before asking, “And the young man?”
    “He chose someone else.” Maria gave a nonchalant shrug, but her voice resounded with pain. “I may not have been who he wanted in the end, but I was grateful to finally win his respect.”
    Dale recalled her words from the other week when she’d revealed her feelings about being the baby of the family. Maria craved respect as much as he craved acceptance. No wonder she’d been upset at his innocent remarks that first day. He hadn’t taken her position at the bank seriously.
    Reaching across the table, he encircled her wrist with his fingers. She glanced at his hand, then up to his face. “You are amazing woman, Maria Schmitt. And any man who doesn’t have respect for that is a fool.”
    She licked her lips, drawing his attention to them—again. “Thank you,” she murmured.
    He rubbed her wrist with his thumb and felt her pulse quicken beneath his touch. The urge to kiss her, to fully remove the sadness still clinging to her, filled him to near distraction. With great effort, he banished the notion. They were not alone, and he wouldn’t take advantage of her vulnerability.
    Needing a diversion, he reached into his vest pocket and pulled out his Life Savers. He extracted two mints from the roll. “Want one in your cocoa?”
    A genuine smile lifted Maria’s mouth, as he’d hoped. “Why not?” Dale plunked a mint into each of their mugs. “You really are obsessed with that candy, aren’t you?”
    He grinned as he lifted his cup to his mouth and drank a long sip of the mint-laced chocolate, his burnt tongue forgotten. Who would have thought his love of Pep-O-Mints would actually prove comforting and helpful to someone else, like that boy today?
    He watched Maria sample her peppermint cocoa and smiled when she breathed a contented sigh. Surely there was something he could do to show her his appreciation for all she’d done to help him. He just had to figure out what.

Chapter 6
    P ine needles scratched her cheek and the strong scent of fir filled her nose as Maria wrestled the Christmas tree through the door and into the bank lobby. She’d eaten her lunch quickly, then walked to the tree lot down the block, a few dollars from Dale tucked into her coat pocket, to finally purchase a tree.
    Customers still filled the main room as she propped the fir tree into a corner. Things had been overly busy the past two weeks, but she wasn’t convinced the rapidly approaching Christmas