Excerpt of The Christmas Gift by Darlene Gardner

"So while we're being outspoken and clearing the air, let's
hear why you dumped me," Krista said.

Alex swung his gaze from the road to Krista, not able to
determine from her expression if she were joking. "I didn't
dump you! You moved to the Czech Republic."

"Two weeks after you dropped me like a hot potato." She
gasped and pointed at the road. "Red light!"

They were approaching a traffic light that was turning from
yellow to red, but Alex only had one choice because of the
SUV on his bumper. He kept his foot steady on the gas and
went through the intersection. Behind them, the SUV came to
a screeching stop.

"You ran that red light!" Krista said.

"It was safer than stopping." Alex counted himself lucky he
didn't hear a police siren. How could he explain missing
the red light when he'd driven this route thousands of
times?

"Am I distracting you?" she asked.

"Ya think?" He vowed to keep his eyes on the road, but his
mind was mired in the past. "To set the record straight, I
didn't break things off until after you accepted the job."

"You had to realize I would have liked to keep seeing you
in those two weeks before I moved," Krista said.

"What would have been the point?" he asked.

"We were having a good time together," she said.

"The good times had to end, sooner or later."

"It would have been nice if it was later," she said.

Were they really having this conversation? Alex didn't know
any other woman who talked so bluntly. Was that one of the
reasons he'd been attracted to her?

"More time together would have changed nothing," he
said. "You still would have moved to Europe and I still
would have stayed here."

"I suppose," she said, a sigh in her voice. "But it's not
like we had a commitment."

The few weeks they'd known each other had been enough time
for Alex to suspect he wanted more from Krista than sex.
Her surprise announcement that she was leaving had forced
him to conclude he hadn't known her at all.

"Why didn't you mention you were considering moving to
Europe?" Alex posed a question he should have asked back
then.

"I wasn't," Krista said. "The job offer came from out of
the blue, and I accepted on the spot."

Alex hadn't seen it coming. One day, he was dating a woman
with a semester left at a college less than three hours
away in Philadelphia. The next, she was moving across the
Atlantic Ocean.

Looking back on it, Alex had envisioned the same future for
Krista that her mother had. She was a business major at the
University of Pennsylvania and her parents owned a nursery.
It seemed a given that she'd eventually join the family
business, perhaps because that was the choice Alex made.

No, he hadn't known Krista well at all.

"You sound like you have no regrets," he said.

"Not about moving," Krista said. "But if I had it to do
over again, I'd wait a lot longer until I told you I was
taking the job."

The last mile before they reached the nursery was on a
fairly steep road with a narrow shoulder. Krista didn't
sound like she was teasing but Alex couldn't risk a glance
at her to find out.

"We still would have had an expiration date," he said.

"Yeah," Krista said, "but think of the fun we could have
had in the meantime."

Alex would rather not. "What's over is over."

The paved parking lot that served both Novaks' Nursery and
the adjoining Christmas shop came into view, half filled
with cars even though it was barely past ten o'clock. Alex
switched on his turn signal and slowed down.

"What if it's not over? What would you say if I
propositioned you now?" Krista asked in the same low voice
she once used when they were in bed together. Just like
that, remembered sensations assailed him. The smooth
texture of her skin. The fresh smell of her hair. The sweet
taste of her kiss.

Alex focused on another memory as he pulled the truck into
the parking lot, found a space and shut off the ignition:
The disappointment that Krista was leaving when things
between them had barely begun.

"You won't proposition me," he said in an equally soft
voice. "You won't be here long enough."