A Heartfelt Christmas Promise - Nancy Naigle Page 0,1

could she turn her down? There was plenty of room here for long visits, if she couldn’t convince her to move in at first. Vanessa hugged her arms around herself. That’s what she truly wanted.

“Wasn’t easy to find everything on your list.” Sally looked quite proud of herself. “This one even has the fence for the dog you don’t have yet.”

“But you did find it. Thank you.” She opened her arms wide, taking in the fresh spa colors of the great room. “This was totally worth the wait.”

Sally lifted a finger in the air. “Well, there is one teensy hitch.”

The glow in Vanessa’s heart faded. “Don’t tell me this is over my budget.” She tried to maintain her cool, but with her teeth clenched and her fists now too, she was probably far from looking calm. She’d never had a good poker face. “I told you not to show me anything over the budget. I hate it when Realtors pull that, and I left work to meet you today with no notice. Let it be anything but that.”

Her finger and thumb about an inch apart, Sally said, “Just a smidge over.” She winked and expanded the space between her fingers a little more.

That wink about pushed Vanessa over the edge. “You called me away from work to see this house, and it’s over my budget? Really? I had meetings scheduled. You said it was urgent.”

“It’s a sweet deal. It’s going to go quick. We can come in under the listing price, but the agent said they are expecting other offers.”

Don’t they always say that? The house was perfect. “How much over budget are we talking here?”

Sally handed her the listing she’d been twisting in her hands.

Vanessa pulled the paper straight and scanned the information. Her jaw pulsed. This wasn’t teensy at all. “This is a hundred thousand dollars over my budget.”

“But you qualified for—”

Swallowing back what she really wanted to say, she responded simply with a “No ma’am. I set my budget. Not the lender. Period.” Trying to maintain her temper, she turned and walked out. She took her frustration out on the car door, which she slammed twice as hard as necessary. The clock showed she’d just fallen in love with that house in record time. On a good note, she could probably get back to the office for the acquisition and merger meeting.

Sally still stood in the doorway as Vanessa backed down the long winding driveway.

What a waste of time.

She pressed the accelerator and headed for the highway without another look back. Once on the interstate, she pushed the buttons to start the heated massage feature on the driver’s seat.

A quick glance in the rearview mirror highlighted a deep line on her forehead. The one that always appeared when she was stressed out. She rubbed her finger across it, and opened her eyes wide, trying to force herself to relax.

“I need to focus on work. There are never any surprises there. Just the way I like it.” She patted the steering wheel as if she expected it to repeat words of confirmation back. “Forget the house. Even if it was perfect. That’ll have to be a project for another time. Another year.”

Suddenly, for no apparent reason at all, the traffic snarled to a standstill—cars nose-to-tail for as far as she could see. “Of course.”

The car idled at a stop. Her phone rang, and she cringed. Sally would be begging her to reconsider. Just as she was about to silence the ringer, she noticed the caller ID. It wasn’t Sally; it was Anna. Her mood lifted instantaneously.

“Anna? How do you always know when I’m out of sorts, and need a friend?”

“It’s my superpower, cuz.”

Anna might have been joking, but she honestly had an uncanny ability to arrive at every godmother-appropriate point in Vanessa’s life. They were first cousins once removed, or was that the same as being second cousins? She never could figure that stuff out. No one knew genealogy like Mom. All Vanessa really cared about was that Anna was like family, blood relatives or not.

Anna had always called Vanessa “cuz,” even though she’d been more like a much, much older sister all Vanessa’s life. “Anna, it’s so good to hear from you.”

“We are way overdue, aren’t we?”

Anna was so much better about calling than she was. “I’ve been meaning to call.”

“I know you’re busy. How have you been? You’re still working too much, aren’t you?”

Vanessa groaned. “Actually, I took a little personal time this morning. I’m on