The Best Christmas Ever Read Online Free

covered, he undressed.
    Because of his actions, Mickie would probably never see Sarah again. She’d be stuck with a baby-sitter all day—
    Baby-sitter!
    Justin didn’t have a baby-sitter for his daughter, tomorrow or anytime. He collapsed on the side of the bed and dropped his head into his hands. How could he have forgotten?
    Easy. Big blue eyes and a heart-stopping smile had clouded his thinking.
    Well, he couldn’t let them distract him now. He had to find someone for tomorrow. Justin lifted his head. Maybe this was a way to prove to Sarah that he wanted to accept her apology and make amends. He could ask her to baby-sit this weekend, since she probably didn’t work on weekends, and Mickie could get to know her. Of course his day would be short on Saturday. He only had to finish up the paperwork related to tonight’s merger and make sure everything was running smoothly. Then he could invite Sarah over for dinneron Sunday as a gesture of thanks. That should smooth over the mistake he’d made tonight.
    He reached into the drawer by his bed and pulled out the phone book. After finding her number, he dialed it.
    He listened as the call connected.
    On the third ring, instead of an answering machine picking up, he heard a message saying the phone was disconnected.
    Frowning, he put the receiver down. Had she moved lately? He called Information and the operator told him she had no listing under Sarah’s name.
    Thinking back, he remembered Bill, from church, mentioning he’d talked to Sarah only last week. He hadn’t said where he’d seen her or what they’d talked about. His friends were that way. If they met up with Sarah they only informed him that they’d seen her. Few of his friends felt the need to gossip and dredge up past pains. And, he thought, a few were still friends with Sarah, though none ever really talked about her when he was around.
    Bill was the answer. If it had been only last week since he’d talked to her he would know where she was now living. Despite the late hour, Justin picked up the phone and dialed Bill’s number. On the second ring, Bill answered it. Justin smiled. Bill had a thing for computers and was usually up until one or two in the morning playing around with some new software or game.
    “Hey, Bill,” he said. “Uh, sorry to call so late.”
    “Justin? No problem. I’m up. What’s going on?”
    “I just tried to get hold of Sarah. She stopped by earlier today and I need to talk to her. I tried the phonenumber I have for her, but the service has been disconnected. I figured you could tell me where she moved.”
    Silence followed.
    Justin frowned.
    Finally, Bill spoke, but it wasn’t with the answer Justin had wanted.
    “You say you talked to her today?”
    “Yeah. She, uh, watched Mickie for me. I was in a bind—”
    “You let her baby-sit your daughter?”
    Why was Bill sounding so shocked? “Yeah. She came by to visit. My baby-sitter had an emergency and Mickie seemed taken with Sarah. Look,” Justin said, becoming impatient, “do you know where she moved? I’d like to get hold of her.” Suddenly, it dawned on Justin what had been bothering him. Her number had not been changed but disconnected. Why? Wait a minute. She had been engaged—“Or what her new last name is,” he added, drawing the conclusion that she must now be married and that was why she no longer had a phone number of her own. “I’d like to…thank her,” he finished, thinking that if she was married, then she wouldn’t want to baby-sit on a weekend. He couldn’t believe she had stayed tonight with a husband waiting for her at home. At least her marriage explained her decreased anger and bitterness since the last time they’d seen each other.
    “Sarah didn’t tell you?”
    Confused, Justin wrinkled his brow. “Tell me what? That she had married? No, but I know she was engaged—”
    “ Was is the operative word there, buddy. You’d better sit down.”
    Justin stood, instead. “Look,