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    STAR COOKIES & COMFORT
    A Sweet Christmas Romance
    Plus 7 Sweet-Treat Recipes
     
    Mimi Riser
     
    Copyright 2012 by Mimi Riser
    www.mimiriser.com
     
    Kindle Edition
     
    All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the author, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review. Also, this ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be re-sold or given away to other people. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
     
    [Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of the author's imagination, or have been used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales, or events is entirely coincidental.]
     
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    Star Cookies & Comfort
    by Mimi Riser
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    Debbie Dawn Dixon limped into Star on three and a half tires and a tank full of fumes. It had been a fast, hard haul from Nashville, but having finally reached the little West Texas town, she didn’t have much farther to go—nothing in Star was very far from anything else.
    “Don’t worry, we’ll make it,” she told her companion. “Aunt Ina’s house is just around the corner. Think she’ll be surprised to see us?”
    A long, plaintive meow answered her.
    The cat must be a mind reader.
    Aunt Ina would be surprised all right. She was Debbie’s great-aunt, actually, near ninety but still going strong, and she didn’t much approve of country singer nieces who never visited and seldom called. But Ina Lorene Dixon was also the only family Debbie had left in Star. And it was Christmas Eve. If a girl couldn’t come home for Christmas, when could she come home?
    Her sputtering car gave up the ghost as she rounded the corner, and Debbie coasted to a rocky stop in front of a weathered wood house—then sat a moment, resting her forehead on the top of the steering wheel and gathering her courage.
    A tap on the passenger side window made her jump in her seat.
    “Sorry, ma’am, didn’t mean to startle you,” a deep voice said. “I couldn’t help noticing your right rear tire’s flat. I’ll be happy to change it for you if you got a spare.”
    Debbie heaved a sigh. “That is the spare.”
    “Oh.” The man walked around the front of the car to peer in the driver’s window.
    She rolled it down for a better look at him. A man about her age, with brown hair and a mild manner. Not handsome by any stretch of the word, not her type at all, but that was probably a good thing since “her type” always turned out to be all show and no substance, all fancy clothes and fancy talk full of empty promises. This man looked real at least. Looked friendly.
    Looked familiar?
    Her heart hitched as recognition dawned. He wore faded denims and a plaid shirt and squinted as though he needed glasses but hated to wear them. He always had, she remembered.
    Tears stung Debbie’s eyes even as a tiny grin tugged at the corners of her mouth. “Hey, Harvey, been a long time. It’s good to see you.”
    “It is?” He squinted harder, no doubt wondering how this strange blurry blonde happened to know him.
    “Oh, for heaven’s sake, Harvey, put your glasses on so you can see me right.”
    He coughed, blushed, and fished his black-rimmed specs out of his shirt pocket. A big silly smile spread over his face. “Well, I’ll be danged… Debbie Dawn! What brings you home after all these years?”
    The tears suddenly flooded down Debbie’s cheeks. She and Harvey Baker had played together almost everyday as kids. They’d never had any secrets from each other back then, and it seemed somehow pointless to start now.
    “Because I’m tired and broke and didn’t have anywhere else to go!” she wailed.
    “Oh, heck…” Harvey’s blush deepened. He obviously couldn’t think what else to say.
    Neither could Debbie. The cat covered