Mrs. Miracle Page 0,20

not, right?"

Jayne chuckled. "You guessed it."

Reba waited. Jayne glanced at her almost as if she were afraid to speak. "The church needs an adult, someone who's good with children, to step in and oversee the Christmas pageant."

"Yes, and your wonderfully generous aunt Harriett volunteered you. Remember?"

"I'm not the right person." Jayne's objection was adamant. "But I know someone well suited to the task. A woman who's familiar with overseeing large projects. Someone with infinite patience, flexible hours, and a love of children. Someone who sings like a dream."

Reba shook her head before Jayne got around to making the suggestion. She raised both hands to stop her friend from continuing. "Don't even say it."

"You, Reba Maxwell. You're the perfect choice."

This was all a bad joke. Limitless patience, her? Besides, Reba knew next to nothing about children, zilch about the Christmas program and what it entailed, and although she liked children, her experience with them was limited to her teenage baby-sitting years. She'd be an idiot to step into the coordinator's role with less than a month before Christmas.

"You're wrong, Jayne. I'm flattered you think so highly of my talents, but in this case it'd never work."

"You want to meet Mr. Webster, don't you?"

She hesitated.

"What better way than to involve yourself with his children?"

It was too cold, too calculated. Too ridiculous. Reba dismissed the idea immediately.

She walked over to the coffee machine and refilled her mug. To hear her employee, this might well be her one and only chance of having a relationship. While it was true that eligible men weren't beating a path to her door, she didn't think of herself as desperate, either. She was attracted to Seth Webster, but that didn't mean she was willing to take on the impossible task of directing the Christmas pageant.

Jayne followed her. "You do want to meet him, don't you?" she stressed once more.

"It seems to me," Reba said, exhaling softly, "that you inherited more from your aunt Harriett than you realize."

"Ouch." Jayne grimaced.

"You deserved that for even suggesting such a thing. Me directing a Christmas program? Why, that's the most outrageous thing I've ever heard."

"You're missing something here."

Reba gazed pointedly at her watch and removed the CLOSED sign from the front window. "It's starting time."

"We've got a couple of minutes yet. First I want to know if you heard what I said."

"Yes, but I don't have a response."

"The Christmas pageant takes place Christmas Eve." Her voice escalated softly, as if this fact were of some importance.

"So?" Reba was growing tired of this conversation. She returned to her desk, intent on refocusing her attention on the ledgers.

"Wasn't it Christmas Eve your parents wanted you to attend some big family shindig?"

"Yes," Reba answered tiredly.

"And doesn't the Christmas program offer you the perfect excuse not to be stuck with relatives you don't want to see?"

Reba hesitated. Her mother couldn't very well take issue with her if she was involved with the church Christmas program. Still, she wasn't convinced a ready excuse would be worth all the time and effort it would take to direct thirty or more grade-school children in some play revolving around the Nativity. There were limits to how far she was willing to go to keep the peace with her family.

Her parents had taken Vicki's side in the issue. That much had been painfully obvious from the first. But she didn't want to drag her aunt Gerty and uncle Bill into this mess. If she failed to attend the family dinner, they were sure to feel hurt, especially since they were her godparents.

There was something else, too. The thought of everyone gathered around the festive holiday table, talking about her when she wasn't there to defend herself...It was grossly unfair.

"As an extra benefit you'd have the perfect opportunity to meet Judd and Jason Webster." Jayne's piercing eyes held hers. "And their father," she added with meaning.

"Jayne Preston, you're shameless."

"True. Are you going to do it?"

Reba hesitated, unsure. "I don't know yet. The church might already have someone."

"They don't," Jayne said, sounding utterly confident.

"And I know why." She was a fool for even considering taking on the responsibility. But Jayne made a strong point on a number of issues. It did offer her a ready excuse to avoid the family get-together. It wasn't as if her mother could argue when she learned Reba was involved in a church activity.

Jayne made a good case regarding Reba's organizational skills. Her hours were flexible, and she could leave the office on short notice. Her staff of