All I Want For Christmas: A Sweet Serenade Christmas Novella Read Online Free Page B

door. She smoothed the skirt of her red dress, although it didn’t show any wrinkles. It burst open, and a laughing couple ran out, bumping past Hailey. A woman with impossibly red hair was draped all over Corey. “You look absolutely delicious.” She purred before locking her lips on his.
    Hailey stared at the water with a sick churning in her stomach. Corey didn’t seem in any hurry to free himself, and she no longer wanted to be here but had no idea how to handle this situation.
    He extricated himself finally and produced a handkerchief. “Tisha, this is Hailey.” He wiped lipstick from his mouth and sent Hailey a pleading look.
    “Pretty.” The red-haired woman eyed Hailey. “But when did you go for the wholesome type?”
    Corey draped an arm over Hailey’s shoulders. “This one is special.”
    Tisha scowled, but then her face covered over in a mask of politeness. The fingernails she dug into Hailey’s shoulders were painted red and set with tiny gems. “I’ll take your coats.”
    The last thing Hailey wanted was to give this woman her coat, but Tisha pulled it from her shoulders and made off down the hall. Hailey sighed. She wanted to go home, and they’d only just arrived. Tisha came back without their coats, and they followed her into a living room with lacquered furniture arranged on an oriental rug almost covering the hardwood flooring. The party was already going, with chattering people cramming the room and a bartender behind a long counter near the kitchen working to keep up. Over a cranked speaker system, Koko Taylor’s smoky tones belted out the lyrics of Merry, Merry Christmas .
    Corey steered her toward a side chair upholstered in red silk and shouted beside her ear. “Tisha’s a little…enthusiastic where I’m concerned.”
    “Is that what you call it?”
    “Let me make it up to you. Can I get you something to drink?”
    “A glass of white wine.”
    “Sure.”
    “Chablis? Chardonnay? Riesling? Pinot Gris?”
    She wasn’t much of a drinker, so she didn’t know what to choose, but she made a stab at it anyway. “Riesling?”
    He smiled. “I’ll be right back.”
    Tisha had other plans for him, as it turned out. She pulled him aside, relieved him of the glass of wine he’d been bringing to Hailey, and sipped it while keeping him tied up in a long conversation. Corey caught Hailey’s eye and gave a small shrug, but she wasn’t convinced of his victim status. Why had he brought her in the first place if he was going to abandon her? Maybe it was Tisha, rather than Evangeline, he’d wanted to make jealous. Whatever the truth of that, she had no intention of waiting around to find out.
    Corey didn’t even turn his head as she walked out of the room. She followed the hallway and spotted her coat piled with others on a bed. Thank goodness she’d brought some ‘mad money’ to see her home in an emergency. She hadn’t expected to need it, though. Outside on the dock she took a moment to fill her lungs with clean air before pulling her cell phone from her pocket. She’d better call a cab.
    Maybe Matt will help me.
    Much as she hated to admit it, he’d been right about Corey. She’d eat crow if she had to, but more than anything she wanted Matt to comfort her. She punched in his cell number and waited with her breath held. Her call went to voice mail. He must have it turned off, maybe charging. She tried his home number. The phone rang and went on ringing. She was about to hang up when his familiar voice spoke in her ear. “Hello.”
    Her heart lifted, but as he went on talking she realized it was only a recorded greeting. She ended the call without leaving a message. Why wasn’t he answering? Hopefully he wasn’t avoiding her now. The thought brought a lump to her throat, and she nearly gave in to tears.
    She’d better pull it together. A dark dockside street wasn’t the place to lose it. She came to a lighted bus stop with a covered bench, which felt safer and gave her a